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International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2025

IAEA chief to visit Japan nuclear power plants this month

Rafael Grossi will visit Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 power plant and an interim storage facility for soil from radiation decontamination work.
Tomoko Akane, President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), in Tokyo in June 2024.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2025

ICC president condemns U.S. order enabling sanctions on staff

The order allows the U.S. government to impose sanctions such as an asset freeze and a travel ban on ICC staff and their families.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba talks with executives of his Liberal Democratic Party in the parliament building in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

Japan's ruling-opposition talks reach a critical point

For its enactment by the end of March, the fiscal 2025 budget bill needs to clear the Lower House on March 2, at the latest.
A new scam causing concern in Japan starts out simple, but when victims request to continue, they are instructed to set up an account on a certain app or website where they are to enter their personal information.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 12, 2025

Japan's consumer watchdog raises alarm over new social media scam

The deceptively innocent scheme requires users to do one simple thing to earn some extra cash: take screenshots of videos.
The proportion of children with tooth cavities in Japan in fiscal 2024 hit the lowest level since the survey began in fiscal 1948.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2025

Children with tooth cavities at record low in Japan

The cavity rate stood at 20.74% at kindergartens, 32.89% at elementary schools, 26.50% at junior high schools and 34.70% at high schools.
By cancer type, the 10-year survival rate was 57.9% for stomach cancer, the most common cancer among the patients surveyed.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 13, 2025

Japan's 10-year cancer survival rate stands at 54% in latest survey

The rate was 57.9% for stomach cancer, the most common cancer among patients surveyed.
Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada says the company believes joint lunar missions between United States and Japan will remain on course after the leaders of the two countries met last week.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2025

Ispace upbeat as Trump keeps Artemis lunar missions with Japan

Launched last month, Ispace's Resilience lander will approach the moon in about three months for the company's second lunar touchdown.
Police believe there is a bigger party involved in making and selling counterfeit products behind the latest arrest of three suspects.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 13, 2025

Osaka police arrest three for online sales of counterfeit eyelash serum

As the products were shipped from China, police believe there is a bigger party involved in making and selling counterfeit products.
Russian warships, including the Admiral Nevelskoy landing ship, are seen during the annual Navy Day parade in the far eastern port city of Vladivostok, Russia, on July 28, 2024.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2025

Russian Navy holds artillery firing drills in Sea of ​​Japan: report

The exercises were carried out as part of the planned combat training activities of the Russian Pacific Fleet.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters at the parliamentary building on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2025

Japan's justice minister admits to giving mooncakes to staff

The minister could be accused of violating the public office election law if the ministry staff who received the cakes include residents of the southern Kanto region.
The eastern Myanmar state of Kayin seen from Mae Sot in northwestern Thailand in May
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 19, 2025

Japanese boy says he was forced to work at scam center in Myanmar

The boy said that he was given electric shocks when he refused to take part in the fraud.
Behind a record-breaking rise in Japan's rice prices are intensifying competition among buyers since the serious shortage of the country's staple food in stores in summer 2024 and hoarding by those bullish about rice prices.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2025

Price of rice sold to wholesalers surges to another high in Japan

The January average rose 69% from a year earlier to ¥25,927 per 60 kilograms of brown rice amid intensifying demand.
The city government of Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, used corporate donations to create a volunteer tour, during which participants help farmers harvest apples and enjoy sightseeing in the city.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 20, 2025

Corporate hometown donations gain traction in Japan

Some local governments have been found to provide de facto rewards to donor companies, violating the system's rules and raising concerns about improper practices.
A bill to revise the public offices election law was submitted to the House of Representatives by Ichiro Aisawa (third from right), chairperson of the Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on the Election System, and other bipartisan lawmakers, on Thursday in the Diet.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2025

Bill calling for campaign poster decency submitted in Japan

Some campaign posters drew controversy in last summer's Tokyo gubernatorial election for depicting an almost fully naked woman and an advertisement for a sex services shop.
An example of utilizing waterfront spaces, such as developing public waterfront embarkments and privately owned roads into a unified plaza, and operating moored ships as hotels. The land ministry views this as a reference case for a public-private partnerships system. The photo was taken in December, in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 20, 2025

Private funds tapped for revitalization of Japan's port green areas

Many local governments across the nation are inviting businesses to boost the appeal of port areas by developing commercial facilities and cafes.
Nissan in recent weeks has been searching for a strategic partner in the tech industry, with some board members suggesting Tesla and Apple as ideal targets, the Financial Times reported.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 21, 2025

Japan seeks Tesla investment in Nissan as Foxconn approaches Honda

Taiwan's Foxconn has reportedly proposed forming a partnership with Honda, aiming for a framework that would also include Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors.
NEC's safety confirmation system for local governments to use in the event of a disaster
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2025

Japan eyeing IT to help those in need of assistance during disasters

By digitalizing operations previously done on paper, the country hopes to streamline efforts to help vulnerable people during disasters.
Under the law, information such as race, social status, medical history and any criminal record is designated as sensitive personal information, and obtaining such information requires prior consent from the individuals concerned.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 23, 2025

Japan may ease privacy rules to aid AI development

The move is intended to make it easier for AI-related businesses to utilize personal information.
Bic Camera is under investigation by the Fair Trade Commission for unreasonable reductions in payments to subcontractors.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2025

Japan's FTC to advise Bic Camera not to underpay subcontractors

The commission found that Bic Camera unreasonably cut payments by a total of about ¥500 million in violation of the subcontract law.
The government will raise the out-of-pocket expense cap for expensive medical treatments this August as planned, but will reconsider plans for further increases, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told parliament on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 2, 2025

Japan to reconsider medical expense cap hike plan: Ishiba

The expense ceiling hike is slated to be conducted in three stages from this year to 2027.
The Supreme Court has rejected FC2's appeals against two separate rulings made against it by the Intellectual Property High Court in July 2022 and May 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 4, 2025

FC2 infringed on Dwango's patent, Japan's top court rules

The Supreme Court rejected FC2's appeals against two lower court rulings ordering the Las Vegas-based firm to stop violating Dwango's patent on a video comment-posting system.
Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of Ispace, speaks during a news conference in September 2024.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025

Japan startup targets June 6 moon landing

Ispace hopes to have its own moment of glory, after the unsalvageable "hard landing" of its initial attempt in 2023.
Yoko Suetsugu at Haco, her gallery in New York
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Mar 17, 2025

Sculptor connects Fukushima to U.S. through New York gallery

Yoko Suetsugu is aiming to launch a program inviting U.S. artists to hot springs in the city of Fukushima for a creative retreat.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella lays flowers on Saturday before the cenotaph for the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2025

Italian president lays flowers at Hiroshima Peace Park

The president observed a moment of silent in front of the cenotaph and then toured the park, accompanied by Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui.
Oto, Japan's oldest lion, died Monday at Toyohashi Zoo & Botanical Park in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 10, 2025

Oto, Japan’s oldest lion, dies at 25 — equivalent to 100 human years

Born in 1999 at Asahiyama Zoo in the city of Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Oto had been at Aichi Prefecture's Toyohashi Zoo & Botanical Park since 2001.
The law will require scrap metal dealers to verify the identity of sellers during transactions.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 11, 2025

Japan moves to curb metal theft with new identity check laws

Metal theft has surged in recent years, driven by rising copper prices.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 13, 2025

Ishiba mulls visit to Iwo Jima, site of fierce WWII battle

He plans to attend a joint Japan-U.S. memorial service on March 29, which would make him the first Japanese prime minister since April 2013 to set foot on the remote island.
According to the Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative, there were about 30 cases of bonsai theft last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2025

Bonsai thefts sweep Japan as miniature trees grow more popular

About 30 cases of such theft occurred last year, according to the Nippon Bonsai Growers Cooperative.
Rail enthusiasts and local residents hold up a specially designed banner for arriving and departing trains at Higashi-Nemuro Station in Nemuro, Hokkaido, on Friday, the station's final day of operation.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2025

People bid farewell to Japan's easternmost train station

As the number of users is unlikely to recover from a prolonged decline, JR Hokkaido has decided to close the station.
Then-Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa presents a gift to a Ukrainian refugee during the Women, Peace and Security session as part of the Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction at the Japan Business Federation in February last year.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2025

Japan recognized 1,661 'quasi-refugees' in 2024

Protection was given to 1,618 Ukrainians, 17 people from Syria, 13 from Myanmar, 11 from Sudan, and one each from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.

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Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.