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SOCCER
Dec 8, 2023

Japan must 'deal with anything' at Asian Cup, Moriyasu says

The Samurai Blue are one of the favorites for the tournament in Qatar, which kicks off on Jan. 12.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno attend a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 8, 2023

Kishida walks tightrope after new funds allegations against Matsuno

The top government spokesperson is believed to have received kickbacks from his faction totaling more than ¥10 million over the last five years.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2023

Empress expresses feelings of gratitude and hope as she turns 60

Empress Masako turned 60 on Saturday as she expressed her deep gratitude to all those who have helped her.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 10, 2023

CDP dithers over no-confidence motion against Kishida Cabinet

The CDP leadership is expected to make a decision on a no-confidence motion after monitoring sentiment in other parties as well as public opinion.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

G7 agrees in Japan to enhance cooperation against organized fraud

Ministers from the bloc agreed that their countries should strengthen support for developing countries from which fraudulent phone calls are made.
Rina Gonoi, a former member of the Self-Defense Forces, who has accused colleagues of sexually assaulting her during her time in the military, speaks in Yokohama on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 11, 2023

Former Japanese soldier fights for justice in landmark sexual assault case

A former Self-Defence Forces member's yearslong fight for justice against the men she has accused of sexually assaulting her will reach a climax on Tuesday when a court delivers a verdict in a trial that has drawn international attention.
Then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at Graceland, a mansion once owned by Elvis Presley, in Memphis, Tennessee, in June 2006. Koizumi was dubbed the "jujitsu prime minister” for his style of politics.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 11, 2023

Japan needs a 'jujitsu PM' to grapple with this scandal

Kishida fights for survival as the political funding scandal deepens. His predecessor, "jujitsu PM” Junichiro Koizumi, could teach him a thing or two.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

Kishida likely to shake up Cabinet in wake of political funds scandal

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is reportedly considering removing all members of the faction once led by his late predecessor Shinzo Abe.
Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers on Tokunoshima island, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Nov. 19. The government plans to secure over ¥1 trillion in fresh defense outlays by raising corporate, tobacco and income taxes in stages, but it has yet to decide when to start increasing the taxes.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

Japan unlikely to hike taxes for defense boost in '25: LDP official

The decision on when to hike taxes will be delayed into 2024 amid an unfolding fundraising scandal involving many LDP factions and senior lawmakers.
Australia rugby union coach Eddie Jones poses with Rugby Australia Chairman Hamish McLennan and CEO Andy Marinos after his first news conference since his reappointment, in Sydney on Jan. 31. Jones left the Wallabies in October.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Dec 12, 2023

Australia to have strong Japan ties regardless of Jones: RA boss

Japanese media outlets have reported that Eddie Jones will be confirmed as head coach of the Brave Blossoms in the coming days.
The Royal Theater in the city of Gifu screens 35-millimeter films.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Dec 18, 2023

Mini-theater showing 35mm films is struggling to survive

Massive amounts of funds are needed to renovate the aged facility and people involved in the theater are seeking ways to keep the place alive.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a government meeting on child policies on Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2023

Japan to boost spending on measures to tackle low birthrate

The government will make official a program that will have nursery schools accept children even if both parents do not work, among other measures.
Japan’s producer price index rose 0.3% in November from a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 12, 2023

Japan’s input inflation eases further to slowest pace since 2021

The persistent slowdown in the index this year is in line with the BOJ’s view that price pressures are cooling.
Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's largest banking group, bought 75% of AlbaCore last month to diversify its range of investment capabilities.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 12, 2023

MUFG's AlbaCore sees potential for alternative investments in Japan

Mitsubishi UFJ bought 75% of AlbaCore last month to diversify the range of investment capabilities.
As many as 31 squirrels at the Inokashira Park Zoo in Tokyo are believed to have been accidentally killed with anti-parasitic medicine this month.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2023

Tokyo zoo probes suspected mass squirrel poisoning after 31 die

Keepers at the zoo injected the animals with anti-parasitic medicine earlier this month as part of a sanitary precaution.
Former Self-Defense Forces member Rina Gonoi arrives Tuesday at the Fukushima District Court, which found three ex-soldiers guilty of sexually assaulting her.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 12, 2023

Guilty verdicts in SDF sexual assault case

Rina Gonoi, 24, took to YouTube last year to share her account after an internal military probe was dropped for lack of evidence.
Naoya Maekawa, an associate professor at Fukushima University, speaks of the importance of passing on lessons from Japan's 2011 disasters.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Dec 18, 2023

Knowledge of 2011 disaster declining among young, survey shows

An academic behind the survey says memories of the disaster are fading.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 12, 2023

Funding scandal deepens as parliament session draws to a close

The probe into a Liberal Democratic Party funds scandal looks likely to deepen in the coming days, making the political scene increasingly unpredictable.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Dec 13, 2023

Sumo's big ticketing problem

Securing tickets for sumo's biggest matches can be a headache, particularly for sumo's many foreign fans, partially due to outdated information online.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Koichi Hagiuda (center) attends a party hosted by his faction, which was previously led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in May in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 13, 2023

Focus turns to replacements as scandal-hit LDP ministers face ax

In a news conference Wednesday evening, Fumio Kishida said he would make replacements the following day but declined to comment on the details.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2023

Sapporo to stop efforts to pursue Winter Games

Sapporo initially worked toward hosting the 2030 Games but abandoned this plan because of a lack of public support.
Sareee holds Konami by the limbs during a Sukeban event in Miami on Dec. 6. A unique form of Japanese wrestling that mixes fashion and theatrics has arrived in the United States.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 14, 2023

Can Sukeban make Japan-style female wrestling fashionable with Americans?

In Japanese women’s wrestling, athletes perform theatrical, hard-hitting punches and clever defenses while telling a story with their moves and costumes.
Japan's core machinery orders climbed for a second straight month in October.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 14, 2023

Japan's October machinery orders rise despite economic uncertainty

By sector, orders from manufacturers climbed 0.2% in October from the previous month, bouncing back from a 1.8% decline in September.
The support rate for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet has fallen to 17.1%.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 15, 2023

Kishida Cabinet's approval rate falls below 20% for first time

The support rate fell 4.2 percentage points from last month, rewriting a low since the LDP's return to power for a third month in a row.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 14, 2023

Japan's ruling coalition OKs tax reforms amid public skepticism

The schedule for planned tax hikes to boost defense spending was once again not made clear.
While Hayao Miyazaki’s return to filmmaking, “The Boy and the Heron,” did not attain the ¥10 billion milestone that the beloved animator’s movies had once routinely surpassed, it debuted at the top of the North American box office and became the first original anime film to lead the box office in the United States and Canada.
CULTURE / Film / 2023 in Review
Dec 15, 2023

Japan’s auteurs and anime triumphed in 2023

From Hayao Miyazaki's “The Boy and the Heron” to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Monster,” the box-office hits kept coming.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2023

Radioactivity detected in Fukushima worker's nose

Radioactive materials may have touched the worker's face on Monday as he took off a full-face mask after finishing his work.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2023

JR Central changes opening date of maglev shinkansen line

The line will open "no earlier than 2027" due to uncertainties over when drilling works for a tunnel in Shizuoka Prefecture can commence.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2023

Okinawa promotion spending to fall to ¥267.8 billion in fiscal 2024

The outlay would stand below ¥300 billion for the third successive year, according to a government estimate.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2023

Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 victim compensation costs set to rise

Factors in the increase includes pay outs to fishery operators due to the releases into the ocean of tritium-containing treated wastewater from the plant.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years