Tag - japanese

 
 

JAPANESE

Customers carry shopping bags outside a supermarket in Tokyo. A new survey has found that more people are feeling the pinch from higher prices compared with a year ago.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 18, 2025
Over 95% in Japan feel impact of higher prices: BOJ survey
The survey also showed that 85.7% of respondents think prices will rise over the next year, up from 85.6%.
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas (left), chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, speaks with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell prior to the start of the International Monetary and Financial Committee plenary session at the IMF and World Bank's 2024 annual spring meetings in Washington last April.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 18, 2025
IMF keeps Japan's 2025 growth outlook intact
The IMF left its outlook for Japan for 2025 and 2026 unchanged from its previous October projection at 1.1% and 0.8%, respectively.
The average figure of winter bonuses agreed on by labor unions and employers stood 4.93% higher than a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 17, 2025
Major Japanese firms pay record winter bonuses
The average went up year on year in 18 of 21 industry sectors.
Japan’s primary balance is once again set to miss its long-standing target of achieving a balanced budget by the year ending March 2026.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2025
Japan now expects to miss its 2025 primary balance goal
The primary balance, which excludes interest payments on public debt, is projected to remain in the red with a deficit of around ¥4.5 trillion.
Fuji TV President Koichi Minato speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2025
Fuji TV to launch probe after allegations of sexual misconduct
The move comes amid rising criticism over the broadcaster’s handling of alleged sexual misconduct by former SMAP member Masahiro Nakai.
Suspect Kenichi Hosoya, who was rearrested, enters Asakusa Police Station on Friday in Tokyo's Taito Ward. The handcuffs and waist ties are blurred for privacy reasons.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 17, 2025
Tokyo couple re-arrested in ¥26 million insurance fraud murder case
The couple had already been arrested four times last year for allegedly murdering four family members.
The bill calls for mandatory prior approval by an independent organization to break into the server of an attack source and render it harmless.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2025
Japan to penalize the illicit use of cyber defense information
The penalties are part of a broader government plan to introduce active cyber defense, or preemptive action to prevent cyberattacks.
Many of the economists noted the interest rate hike is likely unless Donald Trump jolts global financial markets, after he returns to the White House four days before the Bank of Japan’s policy decision.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 17, 2025
More than 70% of BOJ watchers expect a rate hike next week
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda reinforced his deputy’s message this week that his board will consider a rate hike at the meeting, boosting the yen and expectations for action.
A district court Thursday found a former worker of a nursery school not guilty of assaulting and killing a 1-year-old girl in 2017.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2025
Ex-nursery worker ruled not guilty over girl's death in 2017
Judge Takeshi Okuyama, who presided over the lay-judge trial at Yokohama District Court in Kanagawa Prefecture, issued the ruling.
Ichiro Suzuki had 1,278 hits and a .353 batting average in nine seasons with the BlueWave in NPB.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 16, 2025
Ichiro voted into Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame
Former players Hitoki Iwase and Masayuki Kakefu and former Central League umpire Hiroya Tomizawa were also voted into the Hall.
It's taken Takuma Watanabe little time to establish himself as one of New York's hottest bartenders.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 16, 2025
From Tokyo to Manhattan, Takuma Watanabe stirs up a stiff drink
Tokyo native Takuma Watanabe offers a formidable addition to New York’s pantheon of cocktail bars.
The producer price index in 2024 rose 2.3% from the previous year to 122.6, against 100 for the base year of 2020, a Bank of Japan report showed Thursday. The index was up for the fourth year in a row.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2025
Japan's producer price index hit record high in 2024
The producer price index, which measures the costs of goods traded between companies, rose 2.3% from the previous year to 122.6.
Fuji TV in the Odaiba waterfront area in Tokyo in 2021
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2025
Fuji TV scrutinized over handling of allegations against ex-SMAP member Nakai
The scandal has sparked widespread criticism, with many questioning Fuji TV’s corporate governance and crisis management.
A masterless samurai in 15th-century Japan (Yo Oizumi) leads a popular uprising against the authorities in “Muromachi Outsiders.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2025
‘Muromachi Outsiders’: Yo Oizumi commands attention in rebellion tale
The actor convincingly breaks the mold of his comedy persona to inhabit the role of a sword-wielding folk hero in Yu Irie’s period epic.
A police officer stands guard near a McDonald's outlet in Kitakyushu on Dec. 15, a day after two teens were stabbed inside the restaurant, one fatally.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 16, 2025
Kitakyushu stabbing suspect claims targeted teens 'mocked' him
Fukuoka Prefectural Police are investigating the murder case, suspecting that the anger was triggered by a one-sided grievance.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 15, 2025
BOJ’s Ueda joins deputy chief in flagging chance of January hike
Following Ueda’s remarks, the yen strengthened as much as 0.4% to ¥157.34 against the dollar.
Tourists take photos at Sensoji temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2025
Japan saw a record 37 million visitors from abroad in 2024
The full-year number in 2024 represents a 47.1% year-to-year increase and was up 15.6% compared with 2019.
The Fuji TV building in Tokyo's Odaiba district. In a letter to Fuji Media Holdings' board of directors, Dalton Investments expressed outrage over the “serious flaws” in the broadcaster’s corporate governance in relation to its handling of the uproar sparked by TV star Masahiro Nakai, a former member of boy band SMAP.
JAPAN / Media
Jan 15, 2025
U.S. investment firm demands Fuji TV probe Nakai's alleged sex misconduct
Dalton Investments expressed outrage over the “serious flaws” in the broadcaster’s corporate governance amid the uproar sparked by the former member of boy band SMAP.
A street in Pattaya, Thailand
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2025
Thai police arrest Japanese man over ¥1.36 billion retiree scam
The scam involved fraudsters impersonating Japanese government staff to sell bogus health insurance packages, according to the police statement.
Former MUFG Bank employee Yukari Imamura, a suspect in the theft of gold ingots worth ¥260 million, leaves the Nerima Police Station in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2025
Ex-MUFG Bank employee arrested over theft of 20 kg gold deposits
At least 60 clients have been victims of the safe deposit box thefts, with the total damage expected to exceed ¥1 billion.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’