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SHOTLIST 1. Pan of traders clapping 2. Japanese women's football team player Kozue Ando rings ceremony bell 3. Wide of electronic board 4. Close of Nikkei 225 closing figures on electronic board 5. Various of electronic board 6. Wide of ceremony 7. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Atsushi Saito, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tokyo Stock Exchange: "Various natural disasters hit Japan this year, so (the economy and markets) weren't going so well. Towards the end of the year, serious European debt problems emerged, or rather, re-emerged, and they still weigh heavily on our outlook. So sadly, the rabbit year (2011) didn't jump up as we had anticipated." 8. Japanese women's football team coach Norio Sasaki rings closing ceremony bell, zoom out to applauding traders 9. Wide pan of Tokyo Stock Exchange 10. Various of traders at the Tokyo Stock Exchange 11. Viewers watching the ceremony from the gallery STORYLINE Tokyo stocks ended higher on the last trading day of 2011, wrapping up a year marred by the March 11 earthquake disaster, a nuclear power accident, and record high Yen levels. The benchmark Nikkei index rose 56.46 points or 0.67 percent on Friday, closing the day at 8,455.35. That's the lowest year-closing level since 1982. For the calendar year, the Nikkei average lost over 17 percent. Japan's benchmark plunged after the March 11 tsunami and earthquake disaster that destroyed huge chunks of the island nation's northeastern region, left 20-thousand people dead or missing and set off the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, a fact that the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tokyo Stock Exchange, Atsushi Saito acknowledged in his address: "Various natural disasters hit Japan this year, so (the economy and markets) weren't going so well," Saito said. "Towards the end of the year, serious European debt problems emerged, or rather, re-emerged, and they still weigh heavily on our outlook. So sadly, the rabbit year (2011) didn't jump up as we had anticipated." Disaster damage extended to key suppliers for major companies like Toyota Motor Corporation and Sony Corporation, which suffered production disruptions. The Tokyo market also saw two big-name brands lose much of their value. One was Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the utility that runs Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, where at least three reactors went into meltdown after tsunami destroyed backup generators to keep power going at the plant. Some officials say TEPCO may have to be nationalised because of ballooning losses and the costs to bring the reactors under control and compensate victims. Another was camera and medical equipment maker Olympus Corporation, whose offices have been raided by criminal investigators after fabricated accounting to cover up massive investment losses came to light. Across the board, Japanese companies have been slammed by the rising value of the yen, which erodes the value of revenue from exports. The Nikkei lost nearly a fifth of its value over the past year. It nose-dived right after the disaster, recouped some of those losses in July, but then started a decline that has the benchmark hovering at below the March value. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e0d2ba9f8065b6217a75a24a547e9762 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork