Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–Iranian Ambassador to Japan Peyman Saadat urged Tokyo on Thursday to play a leading role in helping end the U.S.-Iran conflict. “Japan is a friend of Iran. We trust Japan,” Saadat told reporters after a meeting with a

Cernay-la-Ville, France, March 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Thursday agreed with his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, to enhance bilateral relations in a wide range of fields, including security and economic security. At a meeting in Cernay-la-Ville near Paris that

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–Foreign residents in Japan holding the country’s specified skilled worker status totaled a record 390,296 at the end of 2025, the Immigration Services Agency said Friday. Of the total, holders of the Type 2 status for highly skilled

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Aegis destroyer Chokai, currently deployed to the United States, has completed upgrades and crew training for launching U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missiles, the Japanese Defense Ministry said Friday. The destroyer, based at the MSDF’s

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–The man who killed a woman at the Sunshine City commercial complex in Tokyo on Thursday is believed to have stabbed the victim more than 10 times, Jiji Press learned Friday. Sources from the Japanese capital’s Metropolitan Police

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–The 12 member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the European Union plan to hold a joint ministerial meeting as early as Friday, people familiar with the matter told Jiji Press. The two

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–Shizuoka Financial Group Inc., the parent of Shizuoka Bank, and Bank of Nagoya said Friday that they have reached basic agreement to merge operations in April 2028. Shizuoka Financial will take full control of Bank of Nagoya through

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–The number of lives lost to suicide fell below 20,000 for the first time on record in Japan last year, a revised government report showed Friday. According to the report for 2025 compiled jointly by the health ministry

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–Japan will implement a 10-year residency requirement for foreigners seeking nationality, starting Wednesday, Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said Friday. Currently, the nationality law requires applicants to live in Japan for at least five years. The ministry will tighten

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government adopted a new target Friday to increase the number of regions implementing measures against overtourism from 47 in 2025 to 100 by 2030. The target, included in the government’s new basic plan for tourism promotion

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government adopted a stopgap budget plan with 8,564.1 billion yen in general-account spending on Friday to cover expenditures for the first 11 days of fiscal 2026, which begins on Wednesday. The government remains committed to enacting

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government adopted a stopgap budget plan with 8,564.1 billion yen in general-account spending on Friday to cover expenditures for the first 11 days of fiscal 2026, which begins on Wednesday. The government remains committed to enacting

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Aegis destroyer Chokai, currently deployed to the United States, has completed upgrades and crew training for launching U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missiles, the Japanese Defense Ministry said Friday. The destroyer, based at the MSDF’s

Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)–A financial support program operated by Japan’s internal affairs ministry, known as the “Local 10,000 Project,” is drawing increasing interest from startups and new business initiatives working to address local community challenges. Designed to foster new regional economic

Hikone, Shiga Pref., March 27 (Jiji Press)–“Hikonyan,” the beloved official white cat mascot of the city of Hikone in Shiga Prefecture, western Japan, will mark the 20th anniversary of its debut in April. Hikonyan derives from a legend that a white cat

Oita, March 27 (Jiji Press)–Haruo Obata, an 86-year-old man who is known in Japan as the “super volunteer” for his disaster relief work throughout the country, looks forward to attending a night school from April. Obata is set to attend the first

Lyon, France, March 26 (Jiji Press)–A court in Lyon, France, on Thursday sentenced a Chilean man facing murder charges over a case in which a Japanese woman went missing in France in 2016 to life in prison. The sentence for Nicolas Zepeda,

Tokyo, March 26, (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government plans to lifts for one year from April the restrictions imposed on the operations of coal-fired thermal power plant, in order to ensure stable electricity supply amid Middle East tensions, it was learned Thursday. As

Tokyo, March 26 (Jiji Press)–A woman was fatally stabbed Thursday in the Sunshine City commercial complex in the Higashi-ikebukuro district of Tokyo’s Toshima Ward, and the attacker killed himself. The incident occurred at the Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo character goods store, located

Tokyo, March 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Rohm Co., Toshiba Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. will start discussions on integrating their power semiconductor operations, it was learned Thursday. Power semiconductors, which control electric currents and voltage, are used for electric vehicles, home appliances and

Tokyo, March 26 (Jiji Press)–The Liberal Democratic Party says in the draft of its 2026 policy platform approved at a party council Thursday that the Japanese ruling party is still only halfway to regaining public trust. According to the draft platform, endorsed

(Adnkronos) – A European Parliament vote on Thursday backing plans to allow European Union nations to create ‘return hubs’ or detention centres outside the block for failed asylum-seekers and to impose tougher penalties on illegal immigrants is “an important step”, Italy’s far-right

(Adnkronos) – On April 15, Sudan enters its 4th year of war. In Darfur, women continue to be victims of systematic sexual violence, both in active conflict zones and in daily life settings far from the front lines. Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

(Adnkronos) – Belarus and North Korea have signed a “treaty of friendship and cooperation” during President Alexander Lukashenko’s first official visit to Pyongyang. “Our economies are complementary, we need each other and we must move forward in this direction,” Lukashenko said, according

(Adnkronos) – An officer of the Berlin Ministry of Defense has been suspended on suspicion of having transmitted sensitive information about Germany’s armaments programs. Internal investigations had confirmed the suspicion that a frigate captain working at the ministry had passed a classified

(Adnkronos) – One of the Venezuelan immigrants deported in March to the Cecot super prison in El Salvador has sued the Trump administration, demanding 1.3 million in compensation. In the lawsuit, filed with the District Court for the District of Columbia, 28-year-old

(Adnkronos) – A saleswoman in her early twenties was killed inside the Pokémon Center in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district, the world’s largest store dedicated to the franchise. The assailant, a man also in his 20s or 30s, then inflicted fatal wounds upon himself

(Adnkronos) – Iran is preparing a “strong response” against the United Arab Emirates for their “active role in the aggression” of the United States and Israel. This was stated by a high-level Iranian intelligence source quoted by Press TV. 

(Adnkronos) – Today concludes the experience of the European Convoy to Cuba with the return to Italy of the European delegation, which departed last March 17 as part of the ‘Let Cuba Breathe’ campaign promoted by Aicec. The Convoy – reads a

Tokyo, March 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese public prosecutors on Thursday sought a fine of 1.5 million yen for former Japanese lawmaker Yasutada Ono for allegedly failing to record a portion of revenue in political funds reports in a high-profile “slush funds” scandal involving