but the ministryaid 20 of the firms have not passed screening to verify their production process meets environmental standards. if the companies fail it meet their requirements, china's total rare earth exports could plungell this year, europe was gridlocked over its sovereign debt but governing debt is also a reality for japan. the outstanding balance sf now about twice as big as japan's gross domestic product. the country's fiscal standing is the worst among develops nationed. the figures are concerning. but one expert sees significant differences between japan and europe. our reporter spoke with university of tokyo professor about it. >> difference between japan and greece is that is two-fold. one is that most of the debts are held by japanese residents. so that there is little room for panic. and second that there is a room for consumption tax increase. and greece is already 23% and it is very hard to raise the bat beyond 25%. japan is only 5% value added tax so there is 20% room to raise to the sort of max of value added tax. if japan government can raise the value added tax rate