Japanese Prime Minister Kan said Sunday, after meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Tan Dung, in Hanoi, that Vietnam chose Japan as a partner to mine rare-earth metals and to develop nuclear power in the Communist country, the Associated Press reported.

WSJ: Clinton Presses China to Do More to Restrain North Korea

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said today that plans to build new nuclear power plants should be scrapped and the nation should design a completely new energy future.

FORBES: Will Japan Move Away from Nuclear, Toward Renewable Energy?

While the government doubled the number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort to 100, 000 and sent 120, 000 blankets, 120, 000 bottles of water and 29, 000 gallons (110, 000 liters) of gasoline plus food to the affected areas, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said electricity would take days to restore.

FORBES: Clean Water Will Be Vital In Japan

Two decades of stimulative, low-interest-rate fiscal policy have made Japan the most indebted nation in the developed world, and as new Prime Minister Naoto Kan recently said, in his first address to Parliament, that situation is not sustainable.

FORBES: Japan: Land of the Rising Debt