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.

Tokyo - Japanese real estate developer C's Create Co filed for bankruptcy Friday as the US mortgage and credit crisis plagued Japan's real estate sector.

The Tokyo-based firm said it had 11.44 billion yen (107.86 million dollars) in liabilities.

C's Create faced increased difficulties in procuring funds because of a global credit squeeze sparked by the US subprime mortgage crisis, the company said.

The failure of C's Create came after the largest bankruptcy in Japan's real estate sector this year. Urban Corp filed for court protection from its creditors in August with 
255.83 billion yen in debts.

Tokyo - It has not been so long since the world worried about Japan's financial sector.

After the speculation excesses of the late 1980s and early 1990s Japan's banks moaned under a tremendous burden of non-performing loans.

Even as late as 2003 they sought financial bailout packages from foreign banks, especially from the United States.

Now the situation has changed dramatically as the US financial market has been turned upside down.

Now it is the Japanese banks that are starting to buy out their American counterparts.

Japan's banks have returned with a vengeance internationally, launching a series of major investments in the US financial sector.