Tag - japanese

 
 

JAPANESE

A crowd of tourists at Nishiki Market in the city of Kyoto. Gains in land prices have been helped by a surge in inbound tourism, which has boosted demand for hotels and shops.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 18, 2025
Japan's land prices rise at strongest pace in 34 years, government survey shows
Data shows recovery spreading to regional areas, thanks to sustained economic growth, in the latest sign of a pickup in the property market.
Singer and actor Ayumi Ishida was well known for her hit song "Blue Light Yokohama."
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Mar 18, 2025
Japanese singer and actor Ayumi Ishida dies at 76
"Blue Light Yokohama," released in 1968, sold over 1 million copies.
Myanmar from Thailand's side of the border, in the Mae Sot district on Feb. 5. Osaka police plan to arrest a Japanese man — who is being detained in Thailand for allegedly forcing a Japanese high school student to participate in a fraud scheme in Myanmar — on suspicion he imprisoned an acquaintance in Osaka last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 18, 2025
Osaka police to arrest Japanese man detained in Thailand
The arrest could happen as early as March 25, after he is transferred to Japan from Thailand.
Despite recent market volatility and trade tariff concerns, Japan continues to see fund launches as global investors are drawn to its stock market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 18, 2025
Hong Kong hedge fund Polymer joins rush to debut pure Japan funds, sources say
The move will see the heavyweight joining a wave of fund launches in Japan.
By promoting healthier aging through measures to extend workforce participation, increase social engagement and improve health care systems, Asia’s policymakers could create a “silver demographic dividend” that helps to sustain the region’s economic dynamism.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2025
Reaping Asia’s silver demographic dividend
Concerns that older workers are not as productive as their younger counterparts are overblown.
The Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. Tokyo police have arrested a number of suspects this month in connection with home improvement scams.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 17, 2025
Police issue warning over home improvement scams
Such scams use similar tactics to those employed by fraudsters who impersonate relatives or public agency officials over the phone to defraud victims of their money.
Bank of Japan headquarters building in February. In January, the BOJ voted to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25%, taking it to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 17, 2025
Bank of Japan unlikely to raise rates this week as trade war intensifies
The central bank voted to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25% in January, taking it to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
One year on from the Bank of Japan's historic rate hike, the biggest winners are the banks.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 17, 2025
Banks boom and shoppers scrimp a year after Japan’s rate pivot
Higher borrowing costs are also fueling a political battle over how the government can rein in its outlays.
Then-U.S. President Joe Biden awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson during a ceremony at the White House in July 2022.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 16, 2025
Former U.S. senator who aided Japanese American internees dies
Former Sen. Alan Simpson, who died Friday, was a cross-party ally of the late Democrat Norman Mineta, the first Japanese American to hold a U.S. Cabinet post.
Tucked away behind the historic Tsuchida sake brewery, Ventinove's location and sleek, angular architecture make for impressive destination dining.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Mar 16, 2025
At Ventinove, Tuscan specialties taken to new heights
A former Italian favorite in Tokyo now enjoys a renaissance in a bucolic village in Gunma Prefecture.
These two wild vegetables combine well to create a simple yet tantalizing side dish to any Japanese meal.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 16, 2025
After a long winter, wild veggies can brighten up any dish
Edible vegetables foraged in Japan's countryside can be an easy way to add texture and freshness.
Japanese soldiers prepare to go underground amid a sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2025
Ex-police official regrets delays in raiding Aum facilities
A former National Police Agency executive regrets failing to raid Aum Shinrikyo bases before the doomsday cult mounted its sarin nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subway system.
According to the ministry, Japan has about 4,500 companies with annual sales of ¥10 billion or more. But many of them are concentrated in metropolitan areas.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 15, 2025
Japan to invite small businesses to declare ¥10 billion sales targets
The country has about 4,500 companies with annual sales of ¥10 billion or more, but many of them are concentrated in metropolitan areas.
The logo of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, better known as the Unification Church, is seen at the entrance of its Japan branch headquarters in Tokyo in October 2023.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Mar 15, 2025
Unification Church faces dissolution in Japan
The dissolution would remove the church's tax-exempt status while branding the organization a harmful entity.
Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time” won the award for best film at the 48th Japan Academy Film Prize ceremony.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 15, 2025
‘A Samurai in Time’ wins top prize at Japan’s premier film event
This country’s answer to the Oscars also saw awards go to “Oppenheimer” and “Faceless.”
NHK Party chief Takashi Tachibana speaks after being attacked outside the Finance Ministry on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2025
Man arrested after NHK Party leader injured in attack in Tokyo
NHK Party chief Takashi Tachibana was bleeding from in the ear, but he was conscious before he was sent to a hospital, a report said.
Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear plant in the town of Takahama, Fukui Prefecture
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2025
Nagoya court upholds NRA approvals extending use of reactors in Fukui Prefecture
The district court decision clears the operation of reactors at Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear plant and Mihama plant for up to 20 more years, beyond the 40 year maximum.
Flowers placed near the scene where a woman was stabbed on Tuesday in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2025
Tokyo murder suspect stabbed woman for more than a minute
The Metropolitan Police Department believes that the suspect, Kenichi Takano, 42, had developed a grudge against the victim, Airi Sato, 22.
The Nikkei stock average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Many firms on the TSE have price-to-book ratios of less than 1, lowering the perceived quality of the exchange, which should consider taking steps to increase valuations and trading volume.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2025
Tokyo Stock Exchange must weed out underperforming firms
Tokyo wants to become Asia's top financial hub, but faces big obstacles. Among them, the presence of too many companies with low profitability and growth prospects.
A worker keeps a tally of wages Wednesday in Tokyo at the head office of UA Zensen, Japan's largest industrial trade union that represents workers mostly at small and medium-sized firms.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 14, 2025
Japan’s unions win largest pay hike in more than three decades
Some 760 affiliated unions under the trade union federation Rengo have so far secured an average pay gain of 5.46% in ongoing annual wage negotiations.

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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