Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Monday said he would put a priority on the nation's economic recovery and an enhancement of the Japan-US alliance while mounting a challenge to the political opposition.

Aso, who assumed his post Wednesday, delivered a rare policy speech in parliament, where he confronted the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and called on it to hold debates on urgent issues.

The 68-year-old prime minister pledged a three-year plan to prop up the economy in the short term, achieve a government budget surplus in the medium term and institute reforms for long-term economic growth.

Tokyo - Japan has reached basic agreements with Vietnam and Switzerland on separate economic partnership accords, a top government spokesman said Monday.

Switzerland would be the first industrialized nation to enter such an agreement with Japan. The two nations launched talks on an economic partnership agreement (EPA) in May 2007.

With Vietnam, Japan has found basic common ground on most issues to free bilateral trade since the two nations began negotiations in January 2007, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said.

Tokyo asked both nations to reduce import tariffs on industrial materials such as automobiles and machineries.

Melbourne, Sept 28 : In response to having one of the world''s most rapidly ageing populations, Japan has staged a fashion show for adult nappies.

The Tokyo fashion show introduced a collection of 170 adult nappies and smaller pads, with male and female models walking and striking a pose to the tunes of 1980s British and American pop and rock music.

Wearing white nappies over their black stockings, the models displayed the designer’s intention of keeping the elderly clean and dry.

The moderator introduced the first design, "Relief" - a "thin, lively type of underpant that can be pulled up easily".

Tokyo - Japan's new government was off to a bad start Sunday: just four days after starting work, Transport and Tourism Minister Nariaki Nakayama, 65, resigned because of controversial remarks he made, broadcaster NHK reported.

The same day he was elected prime minister by the Japanese parliament on Tuesday, Taro Aso named Nakayama to the post.

With his resignation, the conservative former education minister took full responsibility for a series of controversial remarks, the report said.

His missteps apparently included disparaging remarks about the country's largest teachers' union Nikkyoso, which he called a "cancerous tumour" that should be removed.

Tokyo - Japan's new government was off to a bad start Sunday.

Vienna - Japan has officially nominated its United Nations ambassador in Vienna, Yukiya Amano, as a candidate for succeeding Mohamed ElBaradei as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Japanese foreign ministry said Friday.

As Director General ElBaradei's third term in office at the Vienna- based agency ends in November 2009, IAEA member states have time until the end of this year to name their candidates.

Amano previously served as Director-General of his ministry's Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department.