Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–The first eight members of Japan’s national team for the 2026 World Baseball Classic were announced on Friday, including two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The eight members also include Yusei Kikuchi of the Los

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s transport ministry and the Cabinet Office announced on Friday a roadmap for revitalizing the country’s shipbuilding industry, aiming to double annual ship output to 18 million gross tons by 2035 through sector realignment. Japan’s share of the

Shizuoka, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Several people were attacked with a knife at a Yokohama Rubber Co. factory in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, on Friday evening. Shizuoka police received a report of the attack at around 4:30 p.m. According to rescue authorities,

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s business leaders have offered a mixed response to the government’s draft budget for fiscal 2026, which was adopted at a cabinet meeting on Friday. Yoshinobu Tsutsui, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, the country’s biggest

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo police on Friday arrested two individuals in a high-profile fraud case involving a luxury watch sharing service. The two are Takazumi Fukuhara, 44, who headed the Osaka-based company providing the service, and Taishi Nakayama, 44, a former

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–The number of new influenza patients in Japan remained above the warning level of 30 per medical institution last week, the health ministry said Friday. New flu cases reported by 3,000 regularly monitored hospitals and clinics across the

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–While the Japanese government’s fiscal 2026 budget bill, adopted on Friday, calls for record-high spending on social security, its efforts to reduce the health insurance premium burden on the working generation are still limited. The budget bill allocates

Beijing, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–The Chinese government is instructing travel agencies in the country to reduce the number of group tours to Japan, it was learned Friday. One agency has been told to lower the frequency of such tours to about 60

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s education ministry said Friday that it has revised the calculation method for the basic school survey, after it was pointed out that the survey’s university entry rate had been calculated without reflecting the rate of graduates from

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government plans to issue bonds totaling 180,692 billion yen in fiscal 2026, up 3,835.2 billion yen from the fiscal 2025 initial level, the Finance Ministry said Friday. New bonds to cover a revenue shortfall under the

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Swelling debt-servicing costs, shown by Japan’s fiscal 2026 initial budget drafted by the government, will pose the risk of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s expansionary fiscal policy losing market confidence, experts warn. The draft budget, adopted at a cabinet

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japanese screenwriter Makiko Uchidate, known for writing scripts for many television drama series in the country, died of acute left-side heart failure at a hospital in Tokyo on Dec. 17. She was 77. Uchidate was born in Akita

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–In response to continuing military buildups by China and North Korea, the Japanese government has set defense-related spending at a record 9,035.3 billion yen under its draft fiscal 2026 budget adopted at Friday’s cabinet meeting. The figure, including

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government’s general-account tax revenue in fiscal 2026, which starts next April, is projected to reach a record high of 83,735 billion yen, up 7.6 pct from the level under the fiscal 2025 initial budget, according to

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Children and Families Agency on Friday decided to collect 600 billion yen as so-called child-rearing support funds in the form of extra fees to be added to public medical insurance premiums in fiscal 2026, which starts next

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s seasonally adjusted effective job offers-to-applicants ratio stood at 1.18 in November, unchanged from the preceding month, the labor ministry said Friday. The ratio represents the number of job offers available per seeker registered at Hello Work public

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s industrial production in November fell 2.6 pct from the previous month, logging the first drop in three months as vehicle output dropped, the industry ministry said Friday. The production index for the manufacturing and mining sectors was

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government’s draft fiscal 2026 budget, adopted Friday, highlights generous funding for its crisis management and growth investment policies to build a strong economy, a goal set by the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Investments through

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government on Friday adopted an outline of an envisaged disaster management agency, including its organizational structure and operations. Aiming to set up the agency in 2026, the government will submit related legislation to next year’s ordinary

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government adopted at a cabinet meeting Friday a draft fiscal 2026 budget featuring record-high general-account spending of 122,309.2 billion yen. The expenditures, larger than the 115,197.8 billion yen under the fiscal 2025 initial budget, will hit

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government and ruling coalition plan to submit a bill to next year’s ordinary session of parliament that would give legal force to the use of maiden names in daily life by people who have changed surnames

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Buichiro Kuroda, new chief of Japan’s Imperial Household Agency, has pledged to carry out his duties to the best of his ability. “This is an extremely responsible job, so I am ready to make maximum efforts,” Kuroda, 65,

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Israeli Ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen has expressed hope that Japan would provide peace education for future generations in Gaza to prevent attacks on Israel. During an interview with Jiji Press in Tokyo on Thursday, Cohen claimed that

Tokyo, Dec. 25 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese Electrical Electronic and Information Union, which consists of labor unions at electronics makers, plans to set its unified pay scale hike demand at 18,000 yen or more per month for next year’s “shunto” spring wage negotiations,

Tokyo, Dec. 25 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo police searched locations linked to a luxury sauna facility operator on Thursday on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in the deaths of two customers earlier this month. At around 3:10 p.m., the Metropolitan Police Department began a

Otsu, Shiga Pref., Dec. 25 (Jiji Press)–Otsu District Court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by residents of Osaka and Shiga prefectures to shut down three Kansai Electric Power Co. nuclear plants along Wakasa Bay in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan. The court

Tokyo, Dec. 25 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese Justice Ministry panel has drafted an outline of a planned bill to revise the automobile driving punishment law, including an expansion of the scope of dangerous driving, it was learned Thursday. The ministry plans to submit

Tokyo, Dec. 25 (Jiji Press)–The economic benefits of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka, western Japan, are estimated to have reached around 3.6 trillion yen, exceeding the 2024 forecast of 2.9 trillion yen, the industry ministry said Thursday. The latest estimate was

Tokyo, Dec. 25 (Jiji Press)–Global vehicle production at eight major Japanese automakers fell 6.4 pct from a year earlier to 1.98 million units in November, their data showed Thursday. Honda Motor Co. saw its global production plummet 33.7 pct due to a

Tokyo, Dec. 25 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government plans to convene next year’s ordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament, on Jan. 23, it was learned Thursday. Hiroshi Kajiyama, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Diet affairs chief, conveyed the plan to his