From the Associate Press, via Canidian Press: “Japan plans to explore natural gas fields in a disputed area of the East China Sea that rival China has also been surveying, Japanese media said Tuesday, amid growing tensions between the two countries.
Tokyo has earmarked about 23 billion yen, or $219 million US, in its budget for the fiscal year starting April 1 for research, test drilling and construction of a ship to survey the sea bed, the mass-circulation Yomiuri newspaper said on its Web site.”