By Yuka Moriyama Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Justin Hayhurst, the outgoing Australian ambassador to Japan, on Monday stressed the importance of continued efforts to deepen defense and security cooperation between the two nations. At the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, he

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s health ministry on Monday proposed to an expert panel a plan to revise ceilings on long-term patients’ burdens for high-cost medical care. Specifically, the ministry plans to introduce an annual cap on such patients’ out-of-pocket expenses, in

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese Fisheries Agency panel on Monday approved a new catch quota allocation plan for Japanese common squid for the current fishing season. While the overall catch quota itself will not be changed, a total of 2,485 tons

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–The yield on the latest issue of 10-year Japanese government bonds, regarded as the country’s benchmark long-term interest rate, rose to 1.970 pct in Tokyo interdealer trading Monday, hitting the highest level since June 2007. JGBs were under

Oita, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Sanrio Co. on Monday unveiled a basic concept to turn its Harmonyland outdoor theme park in the town of Hiji in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Oita into a resort facility. Initial investment will total 10 billion yen,

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Sentiment among so-called economy watchers in Japan dropped for the first time in seven months in November, a Cabinet Office survey showed Monday. The seasonally adjusted diffusion index for economy watchers’ current sentiment fell 0.4 point from the

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s opposition forces agreed Monday to demand postponement of discussions on the ruling coalition-proposed bill to cut the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament. The agreement came

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s transport ministry is likely to delay the start planned for fiscal 2026 of construction on the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line’s extension linking Tsuruga Station in the central prefecture of Fukui and Shin-Osaka Station in the western

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan dropped 7.4 pct from a year earlier to 778 in November, marking the first decline in six months and the second-lowest level so far this year, Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. said

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–The yield on the latest issue of 10-year Japanese government bonds, regarded as the country’s benchmark long-term interest rate, rose to 1.965 pct in Tokyo trading Monday, hitting the highest level since June 2007. JGBs were under pressure

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japanese actor Hiroya Shimizu pleaded guilty to violating the narcotics control law, at the first hearing of his trial at Tokyo District Court on Monday. The prosecution demanded a one-year jail sentence for Shimizu, while the defense sought

Ito, Shizuoka Pref., Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–A record nine candidates have filed to run in the upcoming mayoral election in the central Japan city of Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture, following the ouster of former Mayor Maki Takubo over a scandal concerning her academic

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama on Monday called for cooperation from both ruling and opposition parties to enact the government’s supplementary budget swiftly. The Japanese economy is not strong enough as inflation has continued to outpace wage growth,

Stockholm, Dec. 7 (Jiji Press)–Shimon Sakaguchi, the Japanese winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, emphasized in a lecture Sunday that the clinical application of regulatory T cells he discovered in 1995 is possible now. In his Nobel Lecture

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government on Monday disputed claims by Beijing that that Japanese Air-Self Defense Force fighter jets have disrupted Chinese military exercises. “It is wrong to say that SDF aircraft have seriously impeded safe flights by Chinese aircraft,”

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japan has confirmed aircraft takeoffs and landings on the Chinese carrier Liaoning near the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, even amid a row over Saturday’s incident in which Chinese fighter jets directed radar at Japanese jets. According to the

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s gross domestic product in July-September fell an annualized 2.3 pct from the previous quarter after price and seasonal adjustment, the Cabinet Office said in a revised report Monday. The decline was steeper than the 1.8 pct drop

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–The four suspected masterminds behind a series of robberies in the Tokyo metropolitan area last year used other people’s X, formerly Twitter, accounts to recruit individuals for “dark” part-time jobs, investigative sources said Monday. By analyzing smartphones seized

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Gas Co. does not see any increase in risks in continuing to procure liquefied natural gas from Russia despite stepped-up Western sanctions, President Shinichi Sasayama said. The company will keep working with the government to maintain its

Stockholm, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Kyoto University professor Susumu Kitagawa, among the three co-winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has called for long-term financial support for basic research at a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government on Monday submitted to the Diet, the country’s parliament, its fiscal 2025 draft supplementary budget with 18,303.4 billion yen in general-account spending mainly to finance the first comprehensive economic package under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s current account surplus grew 15.5 pct in October from a year before to 2,833.5 billion yen thanks mainly to increased exports and higher dividend income, the Finance Ministry said Monday. The country posted a surplus in the

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s inflation-adjusted real wage index dropped 0.7 pct year on year in October, falling for the 10th straight month as increases in prices of goods such as food continued to outpace wage growth, labor ministry data showed Monday.

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s gross domestic product in July-September grew an annualized 2.3 pct from the previous quarter after price and seasonal adjustment, the Cabinet Office said in a revised report Monday. The decline was steeper than the 1.8 pct drop

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Housing loans with repayment periods of up to 50 years, far longer than the standard 35-year term for long-term mortgages, are gaining popularity in Japan particularly among people in their 20s. With housing prices continuing to soar, as

Tokyo, Dec. 7 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that Chinese military aircraft intermittently locked its radar onto Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets twice over the high seas of the western Pacific southeast of the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa on Saturday

Tokyo, Dec. 7 (Jiji Press)–The focus of the upcoming parliamentary deliberations on a supplementary budget bill proposed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration will be on the moves of three opposition parties–the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the

Wajima, Ishikawa Pref., Dec. 7 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Sunday visited the Noto Peninsula in the central prefecture of Ishikawa, which was severely damaged by last year’s powerful earthquake and heavy rains. Inspecting the disaster-stricken areas for the first

Tokyo, Dec. 7 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, agreed on Sunday to deepen security cooperation, mainly in response to an incident involving Chinese military aircraft targeting Japanese Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets. At their meeting

Stockholm, Dec. 6 (Jiji Press)–Shimon Sakaguchi, distinguished honorary professor at the University of Osaka, who won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, underscored the significance of medical science at a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden on Saturday.