Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Japan will switch to a post-departure refund system for consumption tax for travelers from abroad on Nov. 1, following a series of cases in which purchased tax-free goods were resold in Japan at prices including tax. Foreign visitors

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s education ministry plans to establish a new graduate school program enabling working adults to obtain teaching licenses within one year, allowing them to retrain for teaching careers, it was learned Thursday. The program will provide participants with

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday presented a compromise proposal to cut the number of proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives by 31. The new proposal was shown at a meeting among nine political parties

(Adnkronos) – The French President, Emmanuel Macron, returning from a long mission in the Gulf, has convened a security council today at the Élysée to review the violence recorded during the October 17 demonstrations and to strengthen security measures in view of

(Adnkronos) – The US State Department has ordered some diplomats and family members of US government employees to leave Saudi Arabia, as the Gulf kingdom is being targeted by a series of almost daily attacks, with at least three people killed last

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo District Court on Thursday sentenced a former University of Tokyo professor to two years in prison, suspended for three years, and fined him about 1.83 million yen for accepting bribes over a joint research project at the

(Adnkronos) – During the night, 630 drones headed towards the Moscow region. This was written on the ‘Max’ platform by the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, adding that most of them were shot down by air defense forces while they

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s three megabank lenders will not take part in syndicated lending for a semiconductor plant construction project selected for the third batch of Japanese investments in the United States under a bilateral tariff agreement, Jiji Press learned Thursday.

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Canon Inc. plans to increase semiconductor lithography equipment production in 2027 by up to twofold from this year, it has been learned. The move comes as chipmakers around the world are increasing investment for higher production on

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Large and powerful Typhoon Champi is expected to approach the Sakishima Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, southernwestern Japan, on Friday, likely passing between Okinawa and Taiwan in the afternoon. The Japan Meteorological Agency is calling on people to be

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s internal affairs ministry on Thursday urged the education ministry, health ministry and Children and Families Agency to take measures to support health checkups for children who refuse to go to school. A survey released by the internal

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Six opposition parties in the Senate, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, on Thursday urged the ruling bloc to set up a special committee to ensure sufficient time for deliberations on a bill to cut the

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, adopted a basic vision for next year’s “shunto” annual spring wage negotiations at a central executive committee meeting on Thursday, including a basic pay increase target of “at least 5 pct”

Rotterdam, Netherlands, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese women’s gymnastics team won an all-around bronze medal at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Wednesday, marking the Asian country’s first podium finish for the event in 60 years. The five-member team

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Expectations among women for Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, have turned into disappointment over the past year, Shin Ki-young, a professor at the Institute for Gender Studies at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo, said in a recent

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average gave up over 1,700 points on Thursday, closing below 63,000 for the first time since July 30 amid selling of artificial intelligence-related issues. The index of 225 major issues listed on the

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Companies and organizations in Japan have scrambled to take precautionary measures after critical vulnerabilities were detected in the PHP programming language. Financial institutions temporarily suspended their services on Thursday as a precaution. Japanese megabank MUFG Bank said on

Sao Paulo, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)–Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori is scheduled to visit Japan on Nov. 19-20, the Nippon Foundation, a Japanese philanthropic group, said Wednesday. The visit will mark Fujimori’s first trip to Japan since she took office in July. She

New York, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)–Russia detained a Japanese reporter as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “game of intimidation and hostage-taking,” The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial in its Wednesday edition. Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, last week

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government has not received any reports of damage caused by critical vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Thursday. Kihara said the government will continue to issue warnings about the problem.

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government will cut its subsidies for the purchase of eco-friendly vehicles, including electric and fuel-cell vehicles, to 60-80 pct of their current levels next year, the industry ministry said Wednesday. The reduced subsidies will apply to

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–The Kanagawa prefectural police in eastern Japan are believed to have inappropriately used information from expired driver’s licenses collected from citizens at the time of renewal for over 30 years, according to the National Police Agency. Improper use

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government is considering providing subsidies to lower electricity and city gas costs in the first quarter of 2027, when heating demand rises, as energy prices remain elevated because of the war in the Middle East, people

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s National Police Agency plans to introduce cashless payments for minor traffic violations from July 2027, allowing offenders, including cyclists, to pay fines by credit card, smartphone payment services or other cashless means, agency officials said Thursday. The

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Japan is considering granting soft loans to Bangladesh to improve its rural infrastructure and investment environment, government sources have told Jiji Press. The two countries are expected to reach an agreement on the loans at a summit between

Moscow, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)–Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday condemned a Japanese company’s delivery of interceptor drones to Ukraine. Calling the delivery a clear act of hostility, Zakharova warned that Russia would take strong countermeasures against Japan. Japanese drone

New Delhi, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Two Japanese climbers have gone missing on a 7,000-meter-class mountain in the Annapurna Massif of the Himalayas in Nepal, a senior local municipal official said Wednesday. The two Japanese nationals have been out of contact since Oct.

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Local governments in Japan have expanded consultation services for women facing domestic violence, poverty and other hardships since a support law took effect about two and a half years ago. But efforts to provide temporary shelter for domestic

Tokyo, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Wednesday night warned of critical vulnerabilities identified in the PHP programming language widely used on websites around the world. After PHP developers said that a patch to fix the issue would be

Tokyo, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)–A river in Akita Prefecture, northeastern Japan, overflowed in some areas Wednesday, prompting a local municipality to issue emergency safety measures urging some 1,200 people from 450 households to take immediate action to protect their lives. The Japan