toll removal

Japan's Democratic Party government will confine any toll removals next financial year to  the sparsely settled northern island of Hokkaido, reducing the cost to a tiny fraction of the Y600b ($6.6b @ Y=1.1c) they previously said they would spend on detolling, Yomiuri Shimbun reports. The leading newspaper cited statements made by the party leader and prime minister Yukio Hatoyama in a closed meeting of lawmakers recently.