Tokyo - Taro Aso, who is likely to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, said Friday that Japan was destined to flourish together with China and South Korea although he also foresaw continuing bumpy relations with the countries Japan occupied before and during World War II.

"There will be problems between Japan and those two nations," Aso said at a press conference. "No need to be flustered, though, because Japan, China and South Korea 
- the three nations are destined to prosper together."

Aso, who serves as secretary general of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is seen as the front-runner in Monday's LDP presidential election after Fukuda announced his resignation September 1.

Tokyo - Japanese Farm Minister Seiichi Ota said on Friday he would resign over a food scandal involving tainted rice.

"The tainted rice scandal has become a huge social problem, and I have determined that I need to clarify the responsibility of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry," Ota said at a press conference Friday.

According to Japanese broadcaster NHK the resignation was accepted by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks bounced back in morning trading Friday as the Wall Street surged overnight on news about the US government's plan to create an entity to dispose of bad loans.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average surged 378.9 points, or 3.3 per cent, to 11,868.2.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also rose 42.44 points, or 3.87 per cent, to 1,140.12.

Tokyo- Asia-Pacific stocks on Thursday mirrored the overnight plunges on Wall Street as credit dried up and fears rose that more financial companies would fail.

The biggest drops in the region were seen in Hong Kong, whose benchmark Hang Seng Index fell as much as 7.38 per cent before recovering; the Philippines at 4.25 per cent; and Thailand, which regained some ground after suffering losses of more than 5 per cent during the trading day.

The rebounds were seen after six central banks agreed to pump billions of dollars of extra credit into financial markets amid fears that this week's crisis was drying up liquidity.

Dusseldorf  - Sales of Japanese-brand cars have slumped nearly 7 per cent this year, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) said on Thursday from its German office in Dusseldorf.

The manufacturers have been hit by both consumer worries and a decline in market share that reduced JAMA companies' stake to 10.9 per cent.

Sales in the eight months from January to August were just under 229,500, down 6.7 per cent from the corresponding months of 2007.