December 25, 2024

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Japan, which relied on coal and natural gas for more than 60% of electricity generation last year, has been slow to shift to lower-emission energy sources.

JAPAN

Dec 24, 2024

Japan aims for 60% emissions cut by 2035 in target seen as lax

The target was proposed last month, and was criticized by experts who said the plans don’t align with international ambitions to curb global warming.

Japan aims to accelerate offshore wind development as part of its decarbonization strategy.

BUSINESS / Companies

Dec 24, 2024

Japan selects two groups for third offshore wind power round

The country aims to accelerate offshore wind development as part of its decarbonization strategy.

Internally displaced Syrians from eastern Ghouta queue for food in a Damascus countryside in April 2018.

WORLD / Society

Dec 24, 2024

Global hunger crisis deepens as major nations skimp on aid

The United Nations says that, at best, it will be able to raise enough money to help about 60% of the 307 million people it predicts will need humanitarian aid next year.

Rescuers work at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, in October 2022.

WORLD

Dec 24, 2024

How one man became a Ukrainian traitor and Russian spy

Before the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian nationals were mainly recruited during trips to Russia, but approaches are more often made online now using social networks.

Japanese imports of seafood are seen in a supermarket in Hong Kong in July 2023.

JAPAN / Politics

Dec 24, 2024

China and Japan expected to discuss seafood ban on Wednesday

Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya's one-day visit to Beijing, on China's invitation, is his first since assuming his role in October.

Masahiro Kihara, the CEO of Mizuho, Japan’s third-largest lender, is expecting U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to make regulations more business friendly.

BUSINESS / Companies

Dec 24, 2024

Mizuho CEO sees global boom in M&A after Trump takes office

Masahiro Kihara, the CEO of Mizuho, Japan’s third-largest lender, is expecting U.S. President-elect Trump to make regulations more business friendly.

Political reform bills clear the Upper House plenary session in Tokyo on Tuesday.

JAPAN

Dec 24, 2024

Parliament wraps up, showing minority government's lack of control

Several concessions had to be made to the opposition before the ruling coalition could garner the support it needed to get its bills passed.

Toyota is negotiating with local authorities and other parties involved to set up a wholly owned production plant in Shanghai in the wake of the Chinese government's foreign investment deregulation.

BUSINESS / Companies

Dec 24, 2024

Toyota eyes solo Lexus EV plant in Shanghai

The automaker, which currently ships Lexus models from Japan to China, intends to put the plant into production as early as around 2027.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet speaks during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22, 2023.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Dec 24, 2024

Under Cambodia’s new leader, room for dissent narrows

While Prime Minister Hun Manet has often spoken of the need for independent media and civil society in Cambodia, his government has moved in the opposite direction.

Hong Kong's Secretary for Security Chris Tang speaks to the media over the landmark national security trial, in Hong Kong on Nov. 19.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Dec 24, 2024

Hong Kong offers bounties for six more democrats in security squeeze

The move to add more names to Hong Kong's wanted list comes as the city strives to revive its economic growth and international reputation.

The Self-Defense Forces facilities are believed to have become sources of PFAS contamination because they used firefighting foam containing the toxic chemicals in the past.

JAPAN / Science & Health

Dec 24, 2024

High levels of PFAS found in water from 44 private suppliers across Japan

Among them are five that supply water to Self-Defense Forces facilities.

A North Korean hacker group is believed to have planted a virus on the computer of an employee at Ginco — a company that was entrusted with the deposit and withdrawal of DMM Bitcoin’s virtual currency — through a fake job recruitment message sent via LinkedIn.

JAPAN / Crime & Legal

Dec 24, 2024

North Korean hacker group behind DMM Bitcoin’s cryptocurrency leak

The hacker group is believed to have planted a virus on an employee's computer using a fake job recruitment message sent via LinkedIn.

From Dec. 9 to Dec. 15, there were 94,259 flu cases reported across some 5,000 hospitals and clinics nationwide, according to the health ministry.

JAPAN / Science & Health

Dec 24, 2024

Health ministry urges caution as flu cases rise nationwide

There were 94,259 cases of the flu reported across some 5,000 hospitals and clinics nationwide in the second week of December.

Tohoku University is set to be the first recipient of a new state subsidy program for universities aiming to offer world-class research capabilities.

JAPAN

Dec 24, 2024

Ministry approves 25-year plan by Tohoku University to boost research with aid

The education ministry is set to start providing the university with some ¥15.4 billion for the program's initial year.

Han Duck-soo, South Korean Prime Minister, gives a speech during an event in Seoul on May 22.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Dec 24, 2024

South Korean opposition seeks to impeach acting president Han

The exact timing of the impeachment proposal against Han will be decided after an internal party review, report says.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (second from the left) making a statement at a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday

JAPAN / Politics

Dec 24, 2024

Japan eyes regional revitalization and economic growth

A basic concept for the promotion of regional revitalization was drawn up to promote economic growth and address the issue of overcrowding in Tokyo.

Singapore's central business district in January 2023. The city-state’s supportive digital-asset environment has been credited with making it a "safe, long-term choice” for a regional hub.

BUSINESS / Tech

Dec 24, 2024

Singapore pulls ahead of Hong Kong in race to be crypto hub

The Southeast Asian city-state doled out 13 cryptocurrency licenses in 2024 to a range of operators, more than double its awards in 2023.

Supporters of the French far-right National Rally party wave French flags on Dec. 15. In Europe this year, the far right made gains in several legislatures, including that of France.

WORLD / Politics

Dec 24, 2024

Democracy heads into 2025 bloodied but unbowed

Overall, there were no attempts this year to prevent a peaceful transfer of power, but autocracies grew more repressive.

Then U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz runs up the East Capitol stairs as the deadline to avert a partial government shutdown approaches on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 30, 2023.

WORLD / Politics

Dec 24, 2024

Matt Gaetz found to have paid for sex and drugs, and obstructed U.S. Congress

Matt Gaetz was found to have paid $90,000 to 12 women, a substantial portion of which the panel found was likely for either sexual activity or drug use.

Nippon Steel's $15 billion bid for U.S. Steel has been referred to U.S. President Joe Biden after a U.S. panel on foreign investments was unable to reach a consensus.

BUSINESS / Companies

Dec 24, 2024

Nippon Steel's bid for U.S. Steel referred to Biden for final decision

Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States referred the bid to the U.S. president after failing to reach a consensus.

A Wizzair Airbus A320-200 plane lands in Riga International Airport, Latvia, in 2019.

WORLD

Dec 24, 2024

European airline pilots and crews voice concerns about Middle East routes

The safety debate about flying over the Middle East is playing out in Europe largely because pilots there are protected by unions, unlike other parts of the world.

Opposition parties have submitted a bill to make school lunches free at public elementary and junior high schools.

JAPAN / Politics

Dec 24, 2024

Japan opposition parties submit bill for free school meals

The bill to revise the school lunch program law was submitted to the House of Representatives by the CDP, DPP and Nippon Ishin no Kai.

"In order to secure quality talent, we have to raise wages above inflation," Daiwa Securities CEO Akihiko Ogino has said.

BUSINESS / Companies

Dec 24, 2024

Daiwa aims to raise wages at least 5% next year amid competition for talent

Daiwa is discussing a pay raise of at least 5% for the financial year beginning in April 2025, after hikes of 5%, 4% and 7% in the three years prior.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Site designer on why expos matter more than ever

Site designer on why expos matter more than ever

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international-reports

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.

Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?

By Kathryn Wortley