Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Japan will release its oil reserves as early as Monday amid soaring crude oil prices, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday. “As oil tankers continue to be virtually unable to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, oil imports

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, will increase fares by an average 7.1 pct on Saturday, marking the first full-scale fare revision since the privatization of Japan National Railways in 1987, excluding changes due to consumption tax

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–A container ship owned by Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. has been damaged while anchored in the Persian Gulf, it was learned Wednesday. The Japanese and other crew members were unharmed. The ship is able to sail on

Saitama, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Two members of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force have recounted the experience of risking their lives during a hydrogen explosion at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in March 2011. “When the situation becomes

(Adnkronos) – Italian and Chinese companies will be encouraged to team up on joint film projects under an accord that also aims to foster cultural exchange and grow the national film industry after the cabinet approved a bill ratifying and implementing the

Osaka, March 11 (Jiji Press)–A large underground pipe rose about 13 meters from the ground at a construction site in the western Japan city of Osaka on Wednesday. At around 6:50 a.m., police received a call about the pipe protruding from the

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday that the government will release its oil reserves as early as Monday amid soaring crude oil prices. Takaichi also said that the government will keep retail gasoline prices around 170 yen

(Adnkronos) – The United Nations World Food Programme has appealed for fresh funds to keep helping 700,000 people forced to flee their homes since Israel began bombing the south of the country in retaliation for drone and missile attacks against the Jewish

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese government-chartered flight carrying South Korean nationals, along with Japanese evacuees from the Middle East, arrived at Narita International Airport near Tokyo on Wednesday. This marked the first application of a memorandum of understanding, signed by the

Natori, Miyagi Pref., March 11 (Jiji Press)–People in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures observed a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m. Wednesday, the exact time when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of the northeastern Japan region 15 years ago,

(Adnkronos) – ”There is no evidence, for the moment,” that the fire on the regular bus in Kerzers, Switzerland, which caused the death of at least six people and the injury of five others, was a terrorist attack. This was stated by

(Adnkronos) – Offices and assets of major American technology companies with operations in the region are among the targets Iran intends to strike. This is stated in the list of Tehran’s potential targets published by the state news agency Tasnim. The title

(Adnkronos) – One of the Iranian female footballers who had sought asylum in Australia had a change of heart, revealed to the Tehran embassy where her teammates were hidden, and forced the Canberra government to find them another safe place. This was

(Adnkronos) – Many people have lost their lives in Goma, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, after the city controlled by the Rwandan-backed M23 militia was targeted in air attacks that occurred overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday. Local

(Adnkronos) – Italy has sent a message of condolence to Switzerland after a bus caught fire in the western town of Kerzers on Tuesday killing at least six people and injuring five others.  “I express my deepest condolences for the tragic accident

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Nissan Motor Co. on Wednesday fully accepted its labor union’s pay increase demand during this year’s “shunto” spring wage negotiations. The struggling Japanese automaker agreed to raise monthly salaries by 10,000 yen, including pay scale increases, and to

Sendai, Miyagi Pref., March 11 (Jiji Press)–While three northeastern Japan prefectures hit hard by the March 2011 massive earthquake and tsunami have taken the disaster as a learning opportunity, tsunami evacuation measures still have issues. Just last year, residents of Iwate, Miyagi

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Retail prices of regular gasoline in Japan surpassed 160 yen per liter on average as of Monday for the first time in three months, reflecting higher crude oil prices following U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, the industry ministry said

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is poised to plow ahead with work to restart nuclear reactors, aided by the political dominance of her Liberal Democratic Party and the reduced presence of opposition parties supporting zero nuclear power. Fifteen

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Retail prices of regular gasoline in Japan surpassed 160 yen per liter on average as of Monday for the first time in three months, reflecting higher crude oil prices following U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, the industry ministry said

Seoul, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Reconstruction Agency on Monday started screening a promotional video in South Korea highlighting food and tourist sites in Fukushima, a prefecture in northeastern Japan hit by a nuclear accident following a massive earthquake and tsunami 15 years

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Sales of beer and quasi-beer products in Japan shrank by 11 pct from a year earlier in February, estimates based on four major brewers’ data showed Wednesday. The decline in sales volume came after the year-before rise due

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government does not consider the current situation in the Strait of Hormuz to constitute a so-called survival-threatening situation that would allow Japan to exercise its collective self-defense right, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Wednesday. He

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s producer prices rose 2.0 pct in February from a year earlier, driven by higher prices for food, beverages and nonferrous metals, the Bank of Japan said Wednesday. The producer price index, which measures the costs of goods

Otsuchi, Iwate Pref., March 11 (Jiji Press)–Victims of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami were remembered in the hardest hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima in northeastern Japan on Wednesday, the 15th anniversary of the disaster. Along the Pacific coast of

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–The leaders of the Group of Seven major industrial economies will meet online on Wednesday to discuss the impact on the world economy and energy supply from the widening conflict in the Middle East, the Japanese government said.

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–East Japan Railway Co. has said it will launch a trial in April of a system that uses artificial intelligence to monitor pantographs on trains running on its busy Yamanote Line in Tokyo to detect defects in train

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Japanese alcoholic drink maker Asahi Breweries Ltd. plans to resume shipments of all its products starting April 7 after a halt due to a computer system failure caused by a cyberattack on its parent. In the alcoholic drink

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Former Japanese interior affairs minister Ryota Takeda was appointed chair of the Japan-South Korea parliamentarians’ union, a suprapartisan group of Japanese lawmakers promoting ties between the two countries, on Tuesday. Takeda, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s three major nonlife insurers will expand the sea areas in which extra premiums are required under ship insurance policies to cover war and terror risks, in the wake of the conflict between U.S.-Israeli forces and Iran, it