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JAPANESE

Hayao Miyazaki came out of retirement this year with “The Boy and the Heron,” which opened to critical acclaim and has so far earned ¥8.56 billion — a good showing but not enough to take the top spot at the box office for the year.
CULTURE / Film / 2023 in Review
Nov 30, 2023
The year that defined the post-Miyazaki era
The success of “Oshi no Ko,” “Detective Conan” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” proved that anime is the mainstream now.
The Bank of Japan board member Toyoaki Nakamura says more time is needed before the bank phases out its massive stimulus.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 30, 2023
BOJ policymaker says more time needed before easing can be curbed
While a continued economic recovery and tight labor market hold promise for wage growth, inflation continues to suppress down real wages.
Strong shipments of cars, especially to the U.S., helped push up Japan’s industrial production more than expected in October.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 30, 2023
Japan's factory output beat expectations in October
Improvement in supply chains bolstered automakers while inventory adjustments underpinned the electronics parts industry.
University students attend a job fair. If Japanese companies continue hiring people based on the university they graduated from, acquiring extra qualifications or reskilling won't impact candidates' job prospects.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 29, 2023
Kishida’s stimulus package needs rethinking, not reskilling
The government aims to promote reskilling for nonregular workers to boost their job prospects, but this won't matter if hiring practices don't change.
National Police Agency Commissioner-General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki and other officials inspect Tokyo's Kabukicho district on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 29, 2023
Japan moves to strengthen crackdown on malicious host clubs
Some women end up with massive debts and are forced into prostitution to repay the sums.
Hiromichi Kikuchi was sentenced to eight months in prison on Tuesday for mediating organ transplants overseas without government approval.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 28, 2023
Japan NPO head sentenced for unauthorized organ transplants overseas
The Tokyo District Court handed an eight-month prison sentence to the executive for mediating organ transplants in Belarus without government approval.
Monthly regular pay rose 3.2%, or ¥9,437, on average this year, both record highs since comparative figures began in 1999.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2023
Japanese firms giving record pay raises this year, poll shows
Policymakers have said hiking wages is essential to ending deflation and to achieving and sustaining an inflation rate of 2% in a stable manner.
Nihon University Vice President Yasuhiro Sawada (right) has sued Mariko Hayashi, the university's chairperson, over power harassment claims.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 27, 2023
Nihon University vice president sues chairperson over power harassment
Yasuhiro Sawada has claimed Mariko Hayashi used her superiority to paint him as being solely responsible for the mishandling of a drug scandal.
A Bank of Japan survey shows that the services producer price index rose 2.3% in October from a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 27, 2023
Corporate service inflation rise signals broadening price pressures
The services producer price index, which measures the price companies charge each other for services, rose 2.3% in October from a year earlier.
Kanagawa Prefectural Police officers examine an area outside the K-Arena Yokohama facility in Yokohama on Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2023
Woman in suspected knife attack confesses to stabbing herself
The woman's injuries were minor, and she has already been released from the hospital, police have said.
Heidrun Holzfeind documents urban and rural scenes, such as two policemen on bicycles nonchalantly rolling down a street, in her video piece "The 49th Year." The footage is presented alongside incarcerated New Left group leader Toshihiko Kamata’s writings about Japan’s highly supervised society in the exhibition "News from K."
CULTURE / Art
Nov 26, 2023
'News From K' captures the oppression of landscape
Letters from prison by New Left group leader Toshihiko Kamata reveal a sense of limbo in Heidrun Holzfeind’s new work.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a Budget Committee session in the Lower House in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Nov 24, 2023
Why is Fumio Kishida called 'the four-eyed tax-hiker'?
The prime minister hasn’t actually raised taxes for the public at large since he took office over two years ago — at least, not yet.
A man, who said he was jailed for two years, speaks on condition of anonymity in temporary housing for former prisoners in Tokyo. Criminal recruits in Japan are being "exploited and disposed of as pawns" by gang leaders, the National Police Agency has said.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 24, 2023
Why Japan's gangs are recruiting online
For Japan's criminal underworld, social media offers an anonymous way to connect with anyone willing to commit crimes to earn money.
Helping Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s political fortunes is the Liberal Democratic Party’s inability to agree on a successor.
EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 2023
Kishida is in trouble, but he’ll survive — for now
A Jiji Press survey released earlier this month put the Kishida Cabinet's approval at 21.3%, the lowest level since his inauguration in 2021.
A photo supplied by a witness shows police officers investigating a site near the K-Arena Yokohama music venue in Yokohama after a woman was stabbed on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 24, 2023
Woman stabbed at music venue in Yokohama
The woman was taken to a hospital and is believed to be seriously injured.
Core consumer prices in Japan rose 2.9% in October from a year earlier, staying above the Bank of Japan's 2% target for the 19th straight month as products seeing price hikes continued to broaden.
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2023
Japan inflation quickens, clouding price outlook for BOJ
A weak yen has been a key driver behind high import costs, as it has stayed near a 33-year low against the dollar in recent months.
“Blue Giant,” a feature-length anime movie that centers on young men in Tokyo who aspire to become jazz stars, was so successful in Japan and overseas that director Yuzuru Tachikawa was given an even bigger budget to re-edit the film for a second screening in theaters across Japan.
CULTURE / Film / CULTURE SMASH
Nov 23, 2023
Sleeper hit anime 'Blue Giant' gets an encore
The surprise success of the big-budget feature about jazz warranted a re-edited version and a second life in theaters.
An official shot for this year’s lineup for NHK’s annual “Kohaku Uta Gassen.”
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 22, 2023
Things get warmer with Xi; Johnny’s get the cold shoulder
While Japan and China look to ease tensions, NHK makes things tense with a Johnny’s-less “Kohaku” announcement.
Cough medicine seized by police in connection with the case of unauthorized sales of the drug in the Toyoko area of Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 22, 2023
4 youths nabbed for unauthorized cough medicine sales
Reports indicate that more young people in Japan are overdosing on over-the-counter drugs such as cold pills and cough medicine.
With the 225-issue Nikkei stock average up by 28% this year and trading near its highest level since 1990, foreign investors who have plowed more than $35 billion into Japanese stocks in 2023 after years of shying away are seen as especially demanding.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 22, 2023
‘Tourist investors’ punish Japan’s earnings misses
Traders relatively new to the market with unrealistically high expectations have exited positions due to nervousness.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?