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.

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

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.

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. By inspecting the disaster-stricken areas for the

Tokyo, Dec. 7 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, agreed on Sunday to deepen security cooperation in light of China’s increasingly coercive actions in the East and South China seas. At their meeting at the Japanese

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. 6 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government has drawn up a draft of its basic program on the development and use of artificial intelligence, aiming to increase the AI utilization rate among the public initially to 50 pct and eventually to 80

Tokyo, Dec. 6 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s average retail rice price hit a new record high for the first time in three weeks, according to agriculture ministry data. In the week ended last Sunday, the average price of rice sold at about 1,000 supermarkets

Tokyo, Dec. 6 (Jiji Press)–Major Japanese travel company Nippon Travel Agency Co. has introduced a one-day tour offering participants a chance to view luxurious Kabuki costumes in partnership with the Japan Traditional Culture Testing Association. This marks the first product of the

Tokyo, Dec. 6 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government, in its sixth basic program for promoting gender equality, will stipulate that it will consider legislation to legalize the use of pre-marriage family names, informed sources told the Jiji Press on Saturday. The move will

Tokyo, Dec. 6 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government is concerned about the possibility of France inviting China to next year’s Group of Seven summit in the European country, which could undermine the G-7’s unity against China. Last month, Bloomberg reported that French President

(Adnkronos) – Foreign minister Antonio Tajani is “proud” of the government’s aid to Palestinians in war-devastated Gaza, including airlifting over 200 sick and injured children and their families to Italy for medical treatment and granting over 200 scholarships to study at Italian

Tokyo, Dec. 5 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi is planning to visit the United States next month to hold talks with his U.S. counterpart, Pete Hegseth, government officials said Friday. Koizumi’s visit would likely take place before the ordinary Diet session

Tokyo, Dec. 5 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai, submitted Friday a bill to cut the number of seats in the House of Representatives by about 10

(Adnkronos) – United States ambassador Tilman J. Fertitta held “brief talks” with Italy’s premier Giorgia Meloni on Friday during a visit to the prime minister’s office in Rome, Palazzo Chigi, Adnkronos learned from sources.  Commander of the United States Central Command, Brad

Washington/Tokyo, Dec. 5 (Jiji Press)–The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has released a new national security strategy that calls for Japan to increase its defense spending to defend the chain of islands between southwestern Japan and the Philippines. “We will build

(Adnkronos) – The 18th Conference of Italian Ambassadors around the world attended by over 100 heads of mission will take place in Rome and Milan from 14 to 18 December, the foreign ministry wrote Friday on X (formerly Twitter).  The conference “will

Tokyo, Dec. 5 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government plans to establish a national intelligence bureau as early as July 2026, Jiji Press learned Friday. The government will submit related legislation to the ordinary Diet session to be convened in January, as the first

Tokyo, Dec. 5 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s composite index of coincident economic indicators for October rose 0.5 point from the previous month, improving for the second consecutive month, according to a preliminary report released by the Cabinet Office on Friday. The increase was mainly

Tokyo, Dec. 5 (Jiji Press)–The Bank of Japan is seen as increasingly likely to raise its policy interest rate from the current 0.50 pct to 0.75 pct at its Dec. 18-19 policy-setting meeting, as pressure from the administration of Prime Minister Sanae

(Adnkronos) – The foreign ministry and Adnkronos news agency have launched a new podcast, ‘The Sphere’, which dissects Italy’s foreign policy priorities, diplomacy and culture, as well as issues facing the Mediterranean region, the ministry said Friday on its website.  An array