Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Department store operators and confectionery makers are trying to ride a wave of the Valentine’s Day-related shopping binge in Japan by offering products and services featuring experiences, highly valued by consumers these days. The Matsuya Ginza department store,

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. plans to postpone the restart scheduled for Tuesday of the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, sources familiar with the matter said Monday. The plan

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s seasonally adjusted core machinery orders in November last year fell 11.0 pct from the previous month, marking the first decline in three months, following large-scale orders in October, the Cabinet Office said Monday. Private-sector orders excluding those

Berlin, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japanese agriculture minister Norikazu Suzuki expressed concerns about new regulations on packaging to be introduced by the European Union, during bilateral meetings with his counterparts from EU member countries in Berlin. During the meetings on Friday and Saturday,

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–The benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yield, the country’s key long-term interest rate, rose to 2.230 pct in Tokyo interdealer bond trading Monday morning, reaching its highest level since February 1999. The rise came amid concerns that Japan’s

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Three major Japanese convenience store operators posted growth in their group operating profits for March-November 2025, according to their earnings reports. Seven & i Holdings Co., the operator of industry leader Seven-Eleven Japan Co., saw its operating profit

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Efforts to establish a sovereign wealth fund, a state-owned investment vehicle intended to manage and grow national assets in the public interest, are gathering momentum in Japan. Many politicians and experts emphasize the need for such a fund,

Tokyo, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party will lift an election penalty on party members involved in the party’s slush fund scandal, it was learned Sunday. In the next general election, the LDP will allow these members to be listed

Tokyo, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will hold a press conference on Monday evening to officially announce her intention to dissolve the House of Representatives when the Diet convenes for an ordinary session on Friday. This will be the

Toyota, Aichi Pref., Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–The burned body of a woman has been found after a fire at an apartment in the central Japan city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture. The victim was identified as Akiko Ogawa, a 42-year-old corporate employee and

Nago, Okinawa Pref., Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–The incumbent mayor and two challengers filed their candidacies on Sunday for the Jan. 25 mayoral election in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, which will focus on the planned relocation of a U.S. military base to the city’s

Toyota, Aichi Pref., Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–A burned body has been found after a fire at an apartment in the central Japan city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture. A judicial autopsy determined that the body was a woman who died from suffocation, according

Tokyo, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–Senior officials from Japan’s ruling and opposition camps both expressed willingness to cut the consumption tax, in a television debate on Sunday ahead of the anticipated general election. Shunichi Suzuki, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, indicated

New Delhi, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi has inspected the Delhi Metro subway system developed with Japanese cooperation. On Saturday, Motegi visited a station in central New Delhi and rode a train to check its safety and comfort. Opened

Osaka, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–Major Japanese political parties other than the Japan Innovation Party are expected not to participate in the upcoming double election for the governor of Osaka Prefecture and the mayor of Osaka, the prefecture’s capital. The ruling Liberal Democratic

Tokyo, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–Senior officials from Japan’s ruling and opposition camps both expressed willingness to cut the consumption tax, in a television debate on Sunday ahead of the anticipated general election. Shunichi Suzuki, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, indicated

Tokyo, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)–People in snowy regions in Japan are concerned about a snap election for the House of Representatives that is likely to be held on Feb. 8, in the middle of winter. It will be the first general election

Tokyo, Jan. 17 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Saturday that an alert system did not work during a test operation prior to the restart of the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture on the

Tokyo, Jan. 17 (Jiji Press)–The Bank of Japan is adopting a wait-and-see approach over the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, while other central banks around the globe have expressed their support for him. BOJ Governor Kazuo

Tokyo, Jan. 17 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, have agreed to boost collaboration in the fields of economic security and artificial intelligence, based on an agreement reached at last August’s bilateral summit. At Friday’s strategic

Kobe, Jan. 17 (Jiji Press)–Bereaved families and others renewed their commitment to passing on their experiences and lessons from the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in western Japan to future generations on Saturday, the 31st anniversary of the disaster, amid concerns over a

Tokyo, Jan. 17 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s annual two-day unified university entrance examinations started on Saturday at 650 venues across the country. A total of 496,237 final-year high school students and others are taking the exams. Applications for the exams were accepted online only

Tokyo, Jan. 17 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s health ministry has asked local governments across the country to survey safety management at sauna facilities following a fatal accident in Tokyo last December, Jiji Press learned Saturday. In a notice dated Wednesday, the ministry requested that

Tokyo, Jan. 17 (Jiji Press)–Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is likely to be the prime minister candidate of the Centrist Reform Alliance, a new party jointly formed by the CDP and Komeito, a former member

Tokyo, Jan. 17 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Foreign Ministry has raised its travel alert on Iran to the highest level, advising Japanese citizens not to travel to the country for any purpose, in light of heightened tension there due to anti-regime protests. The ministry

Yokohama, Jan. 17 (Jiji Press)–Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Saturday announced his decision not to run in the next House of Representatives election. “I’ve been considering the timing of retiring as a lawmaker since I turned 70,” Suga told reporters

Tokyo, Jan. 16 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese Foreign Ministry said Friday that it has confirmed moves by China to build a new structure on the Chinese side of the median line between the two countries in the East China Sea. “It is extremely

Tokyo, Jan. 16 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government said Friday that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will hold a press conference on Monday evening, when she is expected to formally announce her intention to call a snap general election. She is believed to be

Tokyo, Jan. 16 (Jiji Press)–Former Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii said Friday that he will not run in the next election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament. At a press conference at the Diet