Tokyo - Indonesian nurses and care-givers planning to train and pursue a career in Japan said Friday they hoped to break down barriers of prejudice for more of their compatriots follow.

"As a group of pioneers (in this project), we are hoping to gradually change Japan's mindset so that more of our counterparts can be easily accepted to work here for a long term," Erli Ridwan, 35, said at a press conference at Tokyo's Japan Press Centre Friday.

Ridwan arrived in Japan Thursday, along with 204 other Indonesian nurses and care-givers to start working in Japan's medical sector.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened lower Friday on overnight falls in the US market.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dipped 74.03 points, or 0.56 per cent, in morning trading to 13,050.96.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 10.96 points, or 0.87 per cent, at 1,247.85.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 109.33-38 yen, down from Thursday's 5 pm quote of 109.44-46 yen.

New Delhi, August 7 : Japanese women have topped the world''''s longevity ranks for 23 years on the back of healthy food habits and tight social ties, among other factors.

A Japanese Health Ministry report suggests that girls born last year can expect to live until they are 86 years old, which would make them the longest survivors in the world.

The report also suggests that boys born in 2007 can expect to live until they are 79.2 years old, ranking third after Iceland and Hong Kong.

Government data shows that a tenth of Japan’s population is aged 75 years or older.

Tokyo - Toyota Motor Corp said Thursday its net profit in the April-June quarter fell 28.1 per cent from the same period a year before to 353.6 billion yen (3.25 billion dollars).

Japan's leading automaker saw its operating income drop 38.9 per cent to 412.5 billion yen mainly due to the yen's rise against the US dollar.

Sales also declined 4.7 per cent to 6.22 trillion yen, the company said.

Tokyo - Japan Airlines Corp said Thursday that it narrowed its net loss in the April-June quarter after cutting costs.

Japan's largest airline by revenue posted a net loss of 3.41 billion yen (31.38 million dollars) in its first quarter, down from a loss of 4.29 billion yen in the same period a year before.

It posted an operating profit of 3.91 billion yen after posting a loss of 8.55 billion yen a year earlier. Operating profits, a company's earnings minus interest payments and taxes, are seen as a measure of its earnings power from ongoing operations.

Tokyo - Japan's foreign reserves exceeded 1 trillion dollars at the end of July, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

The nation's July foreign reserves rose 3.11 billion dollars from the previous month, thanks to rises in the appraisal value of the nation's foreign securities, the ministry said.

Japan held 865.27 billion dollars in foreign securities, up from 859.25 billion dollars a month earlier.

Foreign currency deposits totaled 111.68 billion dollars.