Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)–Concerns are mounting over the Shiokaze shortwave radio program for Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea, as the number of radio transmitters is dwindling. The Japanese support group broadcasting the program is calling for an increase in the

Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)–Japanese electronics makers and retailers are enjoying strong demand for portable air conditioners, with some areas, mainly in the Tokai central region, recently experiencing “kokushobi” cruelly hot days, featuring temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius or higher. Such products

Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)–Ocean cargo transport service fees remained elevated in June amid the continuing Middle East turmoil, Bank of Japan data showed Monday. The service price index for the sector in the latest reporting month jumped 52.8 pct year on

Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)–Japan “strongly condemns” the growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference Monday. Specifically, the top Japanese government spokesman cited the dispatch of troops and supplies of weapons

(A typo in the sixth paragraph has been corrected. The seventh paragraph should have read “…on a planned tax cut. …”) No Plans to Set Up New Panel on Imperial Succession Now: Takaichi Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi

Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)–Discussions on a hike in Japan’s minimum wages for fiscal 2026 entered the final stage at a labor ministry panel Monday, but gaps between the labor and management sides remain wide. Members from the labor side at the

Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will hold a press conference from 6 p.m. Monday, following the end of an extended Diet session Saturday, the government announced. Takaichi is expected to speak about the planned consumption tax cut, as

Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)–Japan has started this year’s services allowing former Japanese residents of Russian-controlled northwestern Pacific islands to pay tribute to their ancestors from the sea. At a ceremony held Saturday afternoon on the Etopirika ship, which arrived off Kunashiri,

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