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A boy who came to watch the launch of Space One's Kairos rocket in Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, on Sunday shows his disappointment after the liftoff was postponed again.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 15, 2024

Japanese firm Space One postpones rocket launch again

Sunday's postponement was due to strong winds, according to the Tokyo-based company, which aims to launch 30 satellites annually by the 2030s.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of South Korea's Democratic Party, speaks to members of the media on the steps inside the National Assembly after an impeachment vote against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Dec. 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 16, 2024

Yoon’s fall gives nemesis surprise path back to lead South Korea

The impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is giving his biggest political rival, Lee Jae-myung, a chance to finally win the country's top job.
A delegation from Nihon Hidankyo poses for a photo before this year's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2024

Nihon Hidankyo raises ¥44.7 million in crowdfunding campaign

The campaign achieved its goal of ¥10 million on the first day after Nihon Hidankyo members held a news conference to seek donations.
New unmanned water-cannon robots are set to be deployed to emergency fire assistance teams nationwide.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2024

Emergency teams to be equipped with unmanned water-cannon robots

The robots, remotely operated, can navigate fire sites even during earthquakes or tsunami warnings.
Flowers and offerings are placed outside a McDonald's restaurant in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, where two junior high school students were stabbed by a man on Saturday, one fatally.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 16, 2024

Fatal knife attack in Kitakyushu McDonald’s took less than 30 seconds

One student attacked by the unknown assailant, who is still at large, died from blood loss while the other is not in a life-threatening condition.
Book Santa is a program that delivers books to children in need for Christmas, but it also operates year-round.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 17, 2024

Looking for ways to be charitable in Japan? Give the gift of reading.

Book donations are just one of many ways you can give back to the community during the holidays.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture. A government cost estimate shows that nuclear power is likely to be the cheapest baseload electricity source in Japan in 2040.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 16, 2024

Japan sees nuclear as cheapest baseload power source in 2040

A previous study published in 2021 saw LNG-fired power plants as the cheapest power source in 2030.
The secretaries-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito and the Democratic Party for the People have agreed to start raising the minimum taxable income level next year.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 16, 2024

DPP tax chief hints at termination of talks with Japan's ruling bloc

The DPP would have to consider axing the talks if the ruling coalition sticks to its proposal of raising the threshold to ¥1.23 million, Motohisa Furukawa said.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako speak with winners of the Praemium Imperiale at the Imperial Palace on Nov. 20. The imperial couple will attend a memorial ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in January.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2024

Emperor and empress to attend Hanshin Quake Memorial on anniversary

The imperial couple will be briefed by Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito on the reconstruction situation and visit the Hyogo Prefectural Hyogo-no-Tsu Museum.
A date night on Christmas Eve typically starts with a romantic dinner at a restaurant often with a great view or a private space.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 18, 2024

Silent night? Not if you want to impress your Christmas Eve date.

In Japan, a date night on Christmas Eve typically starts with a romantic dinner at a restaurant often with a great view or a private space.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (right) delivers remarks at a news conference alongside Howard Lutnik, his pick for commerce secretary, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 17, 2024

Trump says he's open to meeting Ishiba before inauguration

The U.S. president-elect says it's up to Tokyo to make the meeting happen.
Nippon Life Insurance Chairperson Yoshinobu Tsutsui is set to become the next head of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, in May next year.
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2024

Nippon Life chair to become head of Japan's main business lobby

Yoshinobu Tsutsui is set to be the first chairperson of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, from the financial industry.
Food loss happens at food-related businesses including-food makers, retailers and restaurants, as well as at households.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2024

Japan drafts more ambitious 60% goal for cutting business food loss by 2030

The government hopes to require food businesses to change practices such as rejecting foods and beverages that are close to their best-before date.
Nobuko Nishizawa, the younger sister of Kotaro Nishizawa, director of a mental health clinic in Osaka who died in an arson attack three years ago, prays outside the site on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 17, 2024

Three years on, mourners remember those lost in Osaka arson attack

“My life completely changed," said one woman who lost her son in the attack on a mental health clinic in Osaka’s Kita Ward that left 26 dead.
Employees of Takahashi Shouten working on the trial production of sake in New Delhi on Nov. 14.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 17, 2024

Japanese sake brewery to make foray into Indian market

Takahashi Shouten, based in the city of Yame in Fukuoka Prefecture, launched a subsidiary in India in February.
A flyer created by the Metropolitan Police Department to warn people about <i>yami baito</i>, or "dark" part-time jobs
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 17, 2024

Japan to let investigators go undercover to crack down on yami baito

Until now, undercover operations have been allowed only for drug- and gun-related criminal investigations.
The three Cambodian women are seeking compensation for damages over alleged sexual abuse and unpaid overtime wages.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 17, 2024

Cambodian interns accuse farmer of sexual abuse and wage theft

One woman was raped nearly every day and endured conditions “akin to sexual slavery,” the three women's lawyer said in a statement.
A Lower House committee on political reform deliberates on a revision of the political funds law on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 17, 2024

Bill to abolish funds for political activities clears Lower House

The bill will put a stop to the disbursement of such funds, criticized for their lack of transparency, by parties to their lawmakers.
Space One's Kairos No. 2 rocket is launched in Wakayama Prefecture on Wednesday. The launch subsequently failed.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 18, 2024

Tokyo startup's second satellite launch attempt ends in failure

Space One was again bidding to become the first private Japanese company to place a satellite into orbit.
Police guard the scene early Sunday morning of a stabbing incident at a McDonald's store in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 18, 2024

What we know so far about the Kitakyushu stabbings

Authorities are analyzing surveillance and dashcam footage from the area in an effort to identify and locate the attacker.
The fall of financial assets held by households in Japan reflected a decline in stock prices following the central bank's decision in July to raise interest rates, as well as a weaker yen.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 18, 2024

Japan household financial assets post first fall in eight quarters

The fall reflected a decline in stock prices following the central bank's decision in July to raise interest rates, as well as a weaker yen.
Miyagino (left), or former yokozuna Hakuho, alongside a young medalist at the Hakuho Cup in February 2023
SUMO
Dec 18, 2024

Amateur sumo world caught by surprise as Hakuho Cup set to go ahead

It was widely assumed that the tourney would be put on hiatus in the wake of an abuse scandal that resulted in the shuttering of Hakuho's Miyagino stable.
The crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 18, 2024

Government not liable for nuclear evacuations, Osaka High Court rules

Only the operator of the tsunami-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is liable to pay compensation to 92 plaintiffs evacuated following the 2011 accident.
The sentence of four years in prison and a fine of about ¥7.6 million for former House of Representatives lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto will now become final.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 18, 2024

Guilty sentence for ex-lawmaker Akimoto to become final

The sentence of four years in prison and a fine of about ¥7.6 million will now become final.
Toshiyuki Mimaki (center) and others lay flowers at the atomic bomb memorial in Hiroshima on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2024

Nihon Hidankyo members make Nobel visit to Hiroshima cenotaph

Toshiyuki Mimaki said that Nihon Hidankyo's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize represented "the moment when the activities of our predecessors bore fruit."
Tsuneo Watanabe (center) attends a gathering with former prime ministers Yasuhiro Nakasone (right) and Toshiki Kaifu in Tokyo in 2009.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 19, 2024

Tsuneo Watanabe, editor-in-chief of Yomiuri Shimbun Group, dies at 98

Watanabe was an influential figure in Japan's political and professional sports arenas.
Tsuyako Shimabukuro (front, second from left), head of the Eguchi community association in the town of Chatan, Okinawa Prefecture, and other community leaders discuss their efforts along with members of the prefectural association of families of missing persons with dementia.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Dec 30, 2024

Okinawa communities battle a rise in missing elderly with dementia

In the prefecture, 118 such cases were reported to the police last year.
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 19, 2024

Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs

After the daughter visited a Kabukicho host club for the first time five years ago, the outing spiraled into something much darker.
Nissan and Honda may be nearing a merger to address Nissan's struggles, forming a second major hub in Japan's auto industry to rival Toyota.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 19, 2024

A Honda-Nissan merger is a slow-moving savior

Nissan is struggling — burning through cash and with billions of dollars of debt due in a little over a year.
Nissan and Honda are exploring a merger, which would create a rival to Toyota Motor in Japan and better position the combined company to face competitive challenges around the world.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2024

Foxconn in talks with Nissan shareholder Renault, CNA says

Renault’s stake in Nissan is a holdover from a longstanding alliance between the French automaker, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors.

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