Thank you, Chris.
I ended up with this:
svg.append("svg:g")
.attr("class", "y axis")
.call(d3.svg.axis().scale(y).orient('left').tickSize(0).tickPadding(0).tickFormat(function(d) {return '';}))
.selectAll("g")
.append("svg:foreignObject")
.attr("width",tw)
.attr("height",th)
.attr("x", tx)
.attr("y", ty)
.append("xhtml:div")
.html(function(schema) {return schema;});
Since the default labels each svg:text gets are not needed any more,
I tried to remove all svg:text nodes under y axis, but,
remove() didn't work. So, dummy svg:text nodes still remain but, the labels themselves
are hidden through tickFormat.
Thanks,
David