It marks the first major overseas expansion in three years by Sapporo, the smallest of Japan's four major brewers, as bigger rivals Kirin and Suntory have been aggressively snapping up overseas businesses to grow beyond a shrinking domestic market. "Vietnam is Asia's third-largest beer market after China and Japan and this is a fast-growing market," said Tatsuya Komatsu, a Sapporo spokesman.

Toyota, dogged by millions of recalls and claims that it still has not fixed its safety problems, took its strongest step yet Monday to silence critics who blame faulty electronics for runaway cars and trucks. Toyota assembled a group of experts in a bid to refute studies by an Illinois professor who revved Toyota engines simply by short-circuiting the wiring. Toyota's experts say the experiments were done under conditions that would never happen on the road.

Japan saw a current account surplus of ¥899.8 billion in January, compared with a record deficit of ¥132.7 billion a year earlier, as exports recovered at the fastest pace on record, the Finance Ministry said Monday. The current account, the broadest gauge of Japan's trade with the rest of the world, stayed in the black for the 12th month running, the ministry said in a preliminary report.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned local unit of the company, aims to operate the planned facility in an industrial area in Rajasthan, about 90 km from central Delhi, from the second half of next year, with annual output capacity projected at 600,000 units, Honda said.

Debts left by failed firms also fell sharply, with related liabilities plummeting 64.29 percent to ¥438.83 billion as more credit was made available by government stimulus measures and a new law aimed at assisting smaller firms, Tokyo Shoko Research said.