Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s internal affairs ministry said Friday that it will bar four municipalities from taking part in the country’s “furusato nozei” hometown donation program for two years from Monday due to their excessive spending on the program. They are

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese retail rice prices fell on average for the first time in four weeks last week, agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Friday. The average price of rice sold at some 1,000 supermarkets nationwide in the week through

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who is running to become the next leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, apologized Friday after admitting that a member of his election campaign team had asked supporters to post favorable comments

Seoul, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has appointed former Ambassador to Vietnam Lee Hyuk as his first ambassador to Japan, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said Friday. Lee Hyuk, 67, is known as a Japan expert, having served as

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–Hakubun Shimomura, former policy chief of the Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party, asked to resume the practice of kicking back part of fundraising party revenues to faction members, a former chief accountant of a now-defunct LDP faction has

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s inflation-adjusted real wage index in July has been revised down to a year-on-year drop of 0.2 pct from the rise of 0.5 pct marked in a preliminary report, the labor ministry said Friday. The new data showed

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–U.S. tech giant Apple Inc. on Friday reopened its Apple Ginza store at its original location in the posh Ginza district of Tokyo’s Chuo Ward after a break of three years. The store initially opened in November 2003

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–There is a strong need for creating a backup capital in Japan that can take over Tokyo’s functions in an emergency, Yoshimasa Hayashi, a candidate in the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election, said in a recent interview. Chief

London, Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Mitsubishi Estate Co. held a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday for a large office complex to be built along the River Thames in London. The complex, named 72 Upper Ground, is scheduled to be completed in 2029 at

Chiba, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese regional lenders Chiba Bank and Chiba Kogyo Bank are planning to reach a basic agreement on their business integration by the end of this month at the earliest, people familiar with the matter have said. The two

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–The core consumer price index for Tokyo’s densely populated 23 special wards climbed 2.5 pct in September from a year earlier, marking the 49th consecutive month of increase, government data showed Friday. The pace of increase, which had

Kuala Lumpur, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–The 15 member states of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade bloc have agreed to consider expanding its membership. The agreement was reached at the fourth RCEP ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday. The

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–U.S. tech giant Apple Inc. on Friday reopened its Apple Ginza store at its original location in the posh Ginza district of Tokyo’s Chuo Ward after three years. The store initially opened in November 2003 as Apple’s first

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s government debt has reached a critical level after years of rising expenditures, while efforts to restore fiscal discipline are facing growing headwinds. The combined balance of outstanding national and local government debt now exceeds 200 percent of

Osaka, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–Kansai Electric Power Co. is preparing to decommission the No. 1 and No. 2 units at its Gobo oil-fired thermal power station in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, informed sources have said. The two units, which have a combined

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese upstart political party Sanseito is seeking to shore up its organizational structure ahead of an extraordinary session of the Diet, or parliament, expected to be convened next month. But power remains concentrated in its leader, Sohei

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi is leading in support from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s lawmakers in the party leadership race, a Jiji Press survey has suggested. Koizumi has secured votes from more than 20 pct of the

Sendai, Miyagi Pref., Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–A northeastern Japan facility that has provided mental care for about 14 years to people affected by the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami is set to finish its services at the end of this month.

(Adnkronos) – Another handshake between Ahmed al-Sharaa and Donald Trump. The self-proclaimed Syrian president, leader of post-Assad Syria, had a ‘flash’ meeting with the US president shortly after his speech to the UN General Assembly. The Syrian presidency announced the news, posting

(Adnkronos) – North Korea could possess up to two tons of highly enriched uranium. This was stated by South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young. “Intelligence agencies estimate that Pyongyang’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, with a purity greater than 90%, amounts to

Beijing, Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)–A delegation of former Japanese war orphans who were abandoned in China after the end of World War II and later came back to Japan visited Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, northeastern China, on Sept. 10-14. The trip was organized

(Adnkronos) – In a clear attempt to ridicule and delegitimize his predecessor, Donald Trump replaces Joe Biden’s portrait with a photo of the infamous autopen that signs his name in the “Presidential Walk of Fame” that he himself established in the outer

(Adnkronos) – A restaurant in Bavaria, Germany, has banned Israeli tourists due to the war in the Gaza Strip. “We believe that children should not be mistreated, regardless of the circumstances. We will not remain silent like the rest of the world,”

(Adnkronos) – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in prison for criminal association in the trial for illegal financing by Libya of his 2007 presidential campaign.  The court ordered that Sarkozy be placed in pre-trial detention soon,

(Adnkronos) – The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan has voted overwhelmingly, with 84 votes in favor out of 90, for its dissolution and the calling of early elections next November 30, an initiative that, according to independent observers, is necessary for President Sadyr Japarov

Tokyo, Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)–Shares of Orion Breweries Ltd. made a strong stock market debut in Tokyo trading on Thursday, with the company’s closing price more than double its initial public offering price. Orion Breweries fetched an initial price of 1,863 yen

Tokyo, Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)–The Japan International Cooperation Agency on Thursday announced the withdrawal of its “hometown” initiative, which aimed to promote people-to-people exchanges between African countries and their partner Japanese cities. The decision came after the Japanese cities were flooded with

Osaka, Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Prince Hisahito inspected the Grand Ring, a huge wooden structure that is a symbol of the ongoing World Exposition in Osaka, on Thursday, the second day of his two-day visit to the western Japan city. The 19-year-old

Susono, Shizuoka Pref., Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)–Toyota Motor Corp. opened the first part of its Woven City in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, on Thursday, five years after the automaker announced the experimental city’s concept. Toyota and 18 other companies are involved

Tokyo, Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)–Fujifilm Corp. said Thursday that it has completed construction of a 3.2-billion-dollar biopharmaceutical plant in North Carolina. The Japanese company said that the plant is one of the largest contract development and manufacturing facilities for biopharmaceuticals in North