Tag - japanese

 
 

JAPANESE

The Tokyo District Court on Friday ordered major ad firm Tokyu Agency to pay a fine of ¥200 million for bid-rigging over the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 21, 2025
Tokyu Agency fined ¥200 million in Tokyo Games bid-rigging case
In the same case, former Tokyu Agency director Mitsuo Yasuda, 62, was given a prison sentence of one year and six months, suspended for three years.
Shinobu Yamagishi, the former president of Osaka-based real estate company Pressance, speaks during a news conference on Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2025
Osaka court rejects damages suit over coercive interrogations
Shinobu Yamagishi, 62, the former president of Osaka-based real estate company Pressance, was seeking about ¥700 million in damages.
Orix Buffaloes pitcher Taisuke Yamaoka speaks to reporters in the city of Osaka on Friday for the first time since he was reported to have participated in a poker tournament run by a foreign casino website.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2025
Cabinet approves strategy to battle illegal online casinos
A National Policy Agency survey released earlier this month showed that nearly 3.37 million Japanese are estimated to have used overseas online casinos to illegally gamble.
A Self-Defense Forces officer speaks during a news conference Friday at the Tokyo District Court over a power harassment lawsuit he filed against the state earlier in the day.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2025
SDF officer sues the state over alleged power harassment
The officer is seeking more than ¥14 million in damages after being transferred to a post completely different from his field of expertise, which led to mental illness.
Wages are set for another big increase this year as annual negotiations secure generous agreements.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 21, 2025
Japanese wages likely to rise more than 5% again this year
The average wage increase is key for the central bank, which is counting on steady raises as it ends a decadeslong experiment in ultraloose monetary policy.
An economic dialogue between Japan and China will take place in Tokyo on Saturday, the same day as a meeting among top diplomats of the two countries plus South Korea.
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2025
Japan and China set for economic talks as U.S. tariff pressure rises
The scale and proximity of the Chinese market means it is in Japan’s interest to maintain stable relations despite ongoing tensions.
Citizens’ holdings of cash in the three months ended in December was down 3.4% from a year earlier in the biggest drop in the data going back to 1998.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 21, 2025
Japan’s households slash cash at record pace as inflation bites
The decline mostly likely reflects the wider adoption of cashless consumption as well as a rise in nominal consumer spending due to inflation.
The Saitama Prefectural Police will trial polo shirt-type uniforms with high breathability from May to help officers bear the scorching heat in summer.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2025
Police in Japan to abolish skirts in uniforms in April
The move reflects the fact that a vast majority of female police officers already opt to wear pants.
The Fukuoka Prefectural Police Headquarters. Between October 2022 and late September 2023, a Chinese couple developed about 2,300 square meters of land owned by 21 individuals without their consent and opened a campsite, according to police.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2025
Chinese couple arrested for opening campsite at historic Fukuoka ruins
A city official first spotted prefab huts erected at the castle ruins around October 2022 and demanded their removal, but the couple refused to comply, according to police.
While headline inflation cooled in February, underlying price pressure remains steady, raising concerns for households as real wages remain stagnant.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 21, 2025
Japan’s inflation slows less than expected, backing BOJ hikes
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.0% from a year ago in February, decelerating from a 3.2% pace in January.
A college student (Mizuki Yamashita, right) falls hopelessly in love with a stoic yet kindhearted high school student (Ryuto Sakuma) in “My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 21, 2025
‘My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999’ shows that even stoic gamers can fall in love
Yuka Yasukawa’s sweet rom-com with feather-light comedy offers more than a pastel-hued romantic fantasy.
The film to beat for the Niigata International Animation Film Festival’s top prize seems to be Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s “Look Back,” one of the two Japanese features in competition.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2025
Indie films vie for views at Niigata animation festival
From Satoshi Kon tributes to indie gems, this year's Niigata International Animation Film Festival continues its dedication to feature-length animation.
The Kyoto Family Court dismissed a petition a married person filed to have their gender designation changed in the family register.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 20, 2025
Kyoto court rejects married person's petition for gender-designation change
The petitioner's side immediately appealed the ruling.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference in January in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 19, 2025
Bank of Japan holds steady at 0.5% as trade war escalates and inflation rises
The move was widely expected, with economists unanimous in seeing back-to-back rate increases as unlikely from the central bank, which made one in January.
The number of foreign visitors to Japan exceeded 3 million in February, the first time for the month.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2025
Japan records 3.25 million visitors in February
The number shot up 16.9% from a year before, boosted mainly by an increase in travelers from China during the Lunar New Year holiday period.
A vehicle carrying Kunihiko Katsuta enters the Hyogo Prefectural Police's Tatsuno Police Station in Tatsuno, Hyogo Prefecture, in November following his arrest on suspicion of attempted murder.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 19, 2025
Man indicted over '06 and '07 Hyogo elementary school girl attacks
Both cases remained unsolved for years due to a lack of physical evidence, including the weapon used.
A former judge has admitted to buying shares using undisclosed information about tender offers while he was seconded to the Financial Services Agency last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 19, 2025
Former judge admits to insider trading
Soichiro Sato, 32, used information obtained while on secondment at the Financial Services Agency to buy company shares.
Japan's shipments abroad have advanced in the first two months of this year, as Japanese companies brace for the rollout of higher tariffs in the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 19, 2025
Japan’s exports rose more quickly in February ahead of Trump tariffs
Global trade flows face potential major disruptions as the U.S. continues to escalate its tariff campaign, targeting nations where Japanese carmakers have manufacturing bases.
Shikoku Electric Power's Ikata nuclear plant in Ehime Prefecture. The Matsuyama District Court has rejected a petition filed by some 1,500 residents near the nuclear plant in the town of Ikata over safety concerns.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2025
District court rejects residents' petition to halt Ikata nuclear power plant
The petition was filed over safety concerns by some 1,500 residents living near the plant in Ehime Prefecture, which is operated by Shikoku Electric Power.
Minoru Kariya, who lost his father, Kiyoshi, in 1995 in an abduction case involving the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, speaks during an interview in Tokyo in February.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2025
Aum Shinrikyo victim's son wants continued remorse
Minoru Kariya's father, Kiyoshi, then 68, was killed in an abduction case involving the doomsday cult in 1995.

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Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan