Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)–The Tokyo metropolitan government launched an epidural subsidy program for childbirth last October, becoming the first prefecture-level government in Japan to help cover the cost of pain-relief deliveries. In the six months through March, the metropolitan government received

Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)–Japanese retail giant Seven & i Holdings Co. has announced a decision to drop a plan to invest in leading Polish convenience store operator Zabka Group. The parent of convenience store chain Seven-Eleven Japan Co. had been considering

Tokyo, July 26 (Jiji Press)–Cyberattacks are becoming faster and more sophisticated with the use of artificial intelligence, Nobuo Miwa, president of Tokyo-based information security service provider S&J Corp., has said in a recent interview. His remarks came after a series of cyberattacks

Tokyo, July 26 (Jiji Press)–Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., which have been discussing areas of cooperation, are considering jointly developing the operating system for software-defined vehicles based on Nissan’s technology, informed sources said Sunday. SDVs can add or improve functions

Sagamihara, Kanagawa Pref., July 26 (Jiji Press)–Many people visited the Tsukui Yamayuri-en residential facility for people with disabilities in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, on Sunday, the 10th anniversary of a mass stabbing attack that left 45 residents

Tokyo, July 26 (Jiji Press)–A total of 45 local governments and regional groups across Japan had offered to host regional offices of the country’s disaster management agency, expected to be launched in November, as of Friday, Jiji Press has learned. Among them,

Tokyo, July 26 (Jiji Press)–Long lines formed from early morning at “kabayaki” grilled eel stores and restaurants across Tokyo on Sunday, this year’s Day of the Ox, with the popular delicacy attracting customers despite scorching temperatures. Japanese people traditionally eat grilled eel

Busan, South Korea, July 26 (Jiji Press)–The UNESCO World Heritage Committee on Sunday decided to inscribe the Asuka-Fujiwara archaeological sites, a collection of Asuka-period ruins in the western Japan prefecture of Nara, on the World Heritage List as a cultural property. The

Tokyo, July 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi spent significantly less time attending intensive deliberations of the budget committees of both chambers of the Diet, the country’s parliament, than her recent predecessors during the latest special Diet session that ended Saturday.

Sagamihara, Kanagawa Pref., July 25 (Jiji Press)–A memorial ceremony was held Saturday to remember the 19 victims of the 2016 mass stabbing at a care home for people with disabilities in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, a day before the 10th

Tokyo, July 25 (Jiji Press)–Tadahito Iguchi, a former manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines, a Japanese professional baseball team, has been appointed the new manager of the Japanese national baseball team, nicknamed Samurai Japan, the country’s Nippon Professional Baseball Organization said Saturday.

Tokyo, July 25 (Jiji Press)–Temperatures in Japan reached 40 degrees Celsius or higher for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday, the longest such streak in the country, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Under the influence of a Pacific high-pressure system, all

New Delhi, July 25 (Jiji Press)–A send-off event was held at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi for 22 assistant language teachers and others selected to be dispatched from India to Japan under the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program this year. This

Sagamihara, Kanagawa Pref., July 25 (Jiji Press)–A memorial ceremony was held Saturday to remember the 19 victims of the 2016 mass stabbing at a care home for people with disabilities in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, a day before the 10th

Tokyo, July 25 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Saturday reiterated that enough crude oil supplies have been secured in the country for the time being. In response to a renewed deterioration in the situation in the Middle East, the prime

Tokyo, July 25 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Princess Akiko of Mikasa will make an unofficial visit to Bhutan from Aug. 7 to 14, the Imperial Household Agency has said. According to the announcement on Friday, the princess will attend a commemorative tea ceremony hosted

Tokyo, July 25 (Jiji Press)–Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, on Friday strongly criticized Hirofumi Yoshimura, leader of the Japan Innovation Party, the country’s junior ruling party, for indicating his intention to hold a referendum on the

Tokyo, July 24 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Defense Ministry said Friday that an IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft of the Russian military intruded into Japanese territorial airspace over northwestern Pacific islands controlled by Moscow and claimed by Tokyo the same day. A fighter of the Japanese

(Adnkronos) – Italy’s ambassador to Morocco, Pasquale Salzano and the Italian Consul-General in Casablanca met the widow of 42-year-old Abderrahim Fakir, a Moroccan small business owner who died while police restrained him on Sunday during a “psychiatric episode” in the northern city

Tokyo, July 24 (Jiji Press)–The Diet, Japan’s parliament, enacted Friday night a bill to create a secondary capital of the country, after a last-minute showdown between the ruling and opposition camps a day before the end of the extended current Diet session.

(Adnkronos) – A group of young Palestinian diplomats who undertook training in Rome and the northern city of Turin on Friday attended the closing and graduation ceremony at the foreign ministry for the ‘Diplomacy for Development’ programme which reinforced their skills in

(Adnkronos) – There has been no progress yet in talks between the Indian government and the student movement of the “cockroaches” regarding the protesters’ demand for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, according to statements from both sides. “We have communicated

(Adnkronos) – The German government will have to evaluate visas for Afghans on a case-by-case basis and recognize the individual concerns of the foreign citizen concerned, regardless of the dismantling of the special admission program “Human Rights List”, related to the granting

(Adnkronos) – At least 19,000 people in the Madrid region have been evacuated or forced to remain indoors due to fires that have reached unprecedented levels in the region’s history. This was announced by regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso, adding that the

(Adnkronos) – Mass resignations in the Chp, the main opposition party in Turkey, after 91 deputies decided to follow former group leader Ozgur Ozel, ready to form his own party to challenge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ozel’s decision comes after an

(Adnkronos) – The new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has officially opened his new northern office, promising “a different way of governing Britain” in an attempt to reverse decades of power centralization in London. Burnham presented in Manchester the northern version of

(Adnkronos) – Italy’s foreign ministry is joining forces with Lebanon’s health ministry and the United Nations migration agency (IOM) to improve crucial healthcare measures at key border crossing points in the war-battered country, the embassy wrote on X, reposting an IOM tweet

Naha, Okinawa Pref., July 24 (Jiji Press)–The “Dairyuchu” dragon-shaped pillars at Shuri Castle in Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, southernmost Japan, currently undergoing restoration after being destroyed by a fire in 2019, were shown to the media on Friday. The pair

Karuizawa, Nagano Pref., July 24 (Jiji Press)–The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, vowed to lead efforts to strengthen domestic supply chains, in a document adopted on Friday to wrap up its summer seminar in the resort town of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, central

Tokyo, July 24 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government will study the “quantitative management” of foreign residents, or managing their ratio to the country’s population, it was learned Friday. At a meeting of related ministers on the day, the government decided to set up