from today's Nikkei

規制改革　医薬ネット販売緩和へ　酒類卸免許も　行政会議が検討　　８分野２５０項目　ＴＰＰもにらむ

At present the regulation and system reform subcommittee of the Government Revitalization Unit presided by Prime Minister Naoto Kan is going to compile an immediate regulation reform policy within the month. And the draft of it was made public on Tuesday.It describes 250 items in 8 areas as targets of reviewing. Among them is a derugulation toward selling through the Internet of general medicine like some cold remedies or herb medicine.

from yesterday's Nikkei

年金給付５０兆円突破　2009年度　名目GDPの１割　１．８人で１人支える

The amount of Japan's public pension benifits paid exceeded the \50 trillion threshold for the first time in fiscal 2009 and its ratio to nominal gross domestic product was more than 10%, according to a survey carried out by the Ministry of Health,Labor and Welfare.While the number of public pension beneficiaries reached 37.03 million, 3.1% up from the previous fiscal year,the number of contributors,or pension premium-paying persons, was 68.74 million,o.9% down from the previous fiscal year. This means that 1.8 younger persons are shoudering 1 old person. So the foundation of the pension scheme is on the verge of collapse.