While life has gradually returned to normal almost a year since Japan downgraded COVID-19 to a lower-risk disease category, persistent waves of infections resulted in over 16,000 deaths between May and November last year, according to government data.

Health experts have stressed the need for a renewed understanding that lives are still being lost to the virus, even after the government reclassified COVID-19 as an infectious disease on par with the seasonal flu on May 8 last year, facilitating the normalization of social and economic activities.

A ninth wave of infections from last summer to fall resulted in Okinawa Prefecture's medical system being overwhelmed and difficulties in providing ambulance services. There was also a 10th wave across Japan last winter.

With the government ending its subsidies for medical expenses for people infected with COVID-19 in April, there are concerns that individuals might be discouraged from visiting medical institutions.

"In order for the public to take appropriate infection prevention measures, the government should provide timely infection information, such as the proportion of severe cases and mortality rates after hospitalization," said Kiyosu Taniguchi, director of Mie National Hospital.

COVID-19 accounts for an overwhelmingly large proportion of annual deaths from infectious diseases in Japan, with 16,043 COVID-related deaths between May and November last year, according to the health ministry. Meanwhile, deaths from seasonal influenza totaled 3,575 in 2019.

Vaccinations for the coronavirus will now focus on the elderly and other groups at high risk of developing severe symptoms.

The government is also taking measures to prepare for future outbreaks, including drawing up agreements with prefectural governments and medical institutions to secure 51,000 beds for such a situation.

A revision to the local autonomy law, which includes expanding the central government's authority over local governments, has been submitted to the current Diet session.

In September 2023, the central government established the Cabinet Agency for Infectious Disease Crisis Management, a body responsible for coordinating government responses during pandemics.

Starting in April of next year, a new organization modeled after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be established to advise the government on major outbreaks of infectious diseases.
 
 

Youth and Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo welcomed Japan's desire to bolster cooperation in the fields of youth and sports during a meeting with the Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia, Masaki Yasushi, in Jakarta on Monday.

He expressed pleasure over the offer of cooperation, saying Japan's 2024 U-23 Asian Cup win is an achievement worth emulating in developing youth sports.

"After this meeting, we will hold a further meeting to discuss cooperation opportunities between Indonesia and Japan," he said in a statement issued by his ministry on Monday.

Ariotedjo affirmed that the Ministry of Youth and Sports is currently making efforts to develop and empower youth to a greater extent, including in the fields of sports, agriculture, and technology. In this context, cooperation with Japan is being viewed as beneficial.

Ambassador Masaki noted that his country is planning to strengthen bilateral relations with Indonesia, especially in the fields of youth and sports.

He said that Indonesia has contributed significantly to Japan, especially in sports.

The Japanese badminton team was trained by a coach from Indonesia, which helped boost its achievements on the international stage, he expounded.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian football team is being coached by Japan's Satoru Mochizuki.

The ambassador also expressed appreciation for Indonesia's active role in youth exchanges between the two countries, including through the Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Program (SSEAYP).

According to him, youth exchanges are crucial and are not only being carried out between Japan and Indonesia, but also with other Southeast Asian countries.

To this end, he expressed his readiness to help Indonesia in youth development and empowerment, including in the field of agriculture.
 

The Japan National Police Agency reported last week that over 10,000 tokuryū (anonymous and fluid) criminals were arrested in the three years up to 2023. According to the NPA, tokuryū criminals are only loosely connected and are different from the traditional Yakuza, or Boryokudan, gang members in Japan.

The NPA classification of Tokuryū seems to be people who are engaged in low level criminal activity without organised crime coordination. Of the 10,378 people believed to be Tokuryū members arrested, 6,170 were involved in fraud such as telephone scams, 2,292 in drug trafficking, 1,721 in "criminal infrastructure" development such as issuing fake passports, facilitating illegal employment and operating underground banks, and 195 in robberies, thefts and other petty crimes.

Because of this wide ranging scope of criminality, it is interesting to ask why the NPA classify those arrested as “members” of Tokuryū.

Crime in Japan seems to be changing. There is a steady decline in the number and power of Yakuza gang members (Asian Crime Century briefing 19). There is a rise in more informal crime, notably related to offers of yami baito (or shady part-time jobs) that are even advertised on social media Asian Crime Century briefing January 2023).

In 2023, the Japan Internet Hotline Center requested internet service providers to remove 3,379 online postings of crime-related information, 90% of which were recruitment advertisements for yami baito jobs.

Prevention has been a key part of the police approach, and in March 2023 the NPA requested employment agencies to strengthen measures to remove such illegal and harmful job advertisements and is engaging in more public education. Even Japanese girl pop idols AKB48 have been enlisted to help educate elderly people targeted by criminals for telecom fraud (shown in the image above).

Online fraud conducted by both coordinated gangs and also individuals is wide ranging. In March, the NPA announced that in 2023 social media-based investment frauds and romance scam cases led to ¥45.52 billion (around $300 million) in losses by victims, with another ¥44.12 billion stolen in remittance and other special fraud cases.

In all 2023, Japanese police recorded 19,033 cyber and phone scams, an 8.3% increase from 2022.

Online fraud offers new opportunities for enterprising individuals without the need to join a traditional criminal gang.

In August 2023, a 25 year old woman was arrested by police for selling dating fraud manuals to her social media followers. The guides produced by Miss “Itadakijoshi Riri-chan (‘Riri the sugar baby’) included titles such as ‘Textbook for Sugar Babies: The Right Profile and Magical Words to Make Men Pay,’ which taught young women how to obtain money from middle aged men.

Top tips for women making more money from Sugar Daddies included telling them that she had had an unhappy childhood, or saying that she were unable to work due to health problems and urgently needed money to pay rent. It seems like the gig economy meets online fraud with bespoke training.


The overseas Tokuryū

The new wave of Tokuryū is not only a domestic phenomenon and Japanese criminals have been making their mark overseas. In December 2023, the NPA reported that 69 Japanese fraud suspects operating overseas were arrested by Japanese police in 2023 following extradition proceedings.

The Japanese fraud groups were found operating in Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, a trend that the NPA attributed to improved detection capabilities in Japan influencing criminals to move overseas.

Whilst the police claim may be true, it is hard to prove and it is more likely that Japanese criminals use the same advantages as criminals around the world of Internet anywhere access that enables online fraud to be operated from almost any location.

The shift overseas by some Japanese criminals is similar to the growth of international Chinese organised crime as more groups engage in online and telecom fraud from anywhere, although to a far lesser extent. One outcome of this trend, according to the NPA, is improved proactive Japanese police cooperation with overseas police agencies.

Two major overseas cases were standouts in 2023. In November, the authorities in Cambodia deported 25 Japanese nationals who were operating telecom fraud that led to multiple victims across Japan losing millions of Yen. Cambodia has been a centre for these groups, with 19 Japanese nationals arrested for fraud in April and three more in May, all later handed over to the police in Japan.

In February, the Japanese police arrested four Japanese men when they were deported from the Philippines after being found to be organising fraud in Japan that led to the loss of over $45 million.

The culprits, known as the “Luffy Gang” (after the nickname used by the leader), used the Telegram App to remotely organise from their base in the Philippines a series of violent robberies that were committed in Japan.

Over 30 Japanese nationals were arrested by the Philippines police for their involvement in calling mostly elderly people in Japan to defraud them. The gang members pretended to be police officers or government officials when they called victims in Japan, warning them that their financial accounts were compromised and they needed to check their bank details.

Further police investigations in the Philippines and Japan led to the discovery of the “JP Dragon gang”, which was allegedly controlling the “Luffy gang”.

 In March 2024, the Philippines Police arrested a Japanese national who is allegedly the “number three” leader of the “JP Dragon” gang, and one other member, both of whom are to be deported back to Japan. The “Luffy gang” case has illustrated to the Japanese authorities how easy it is for Japanese criminals to operate outside of Japan and coordinate online the commission of crimes inside the country.


Sayonara Yakuza

In contrast to the growth of online fraud and Tokuryū anonymous and fluid criminals, there are continued reports in Japan of a decline in Yakuza membership and influence, which has waned since the enactment of an anti-organised crime law in 1992.

According to the NPA, members and associates of Yakuza, or “designated crime syndicates”, was 22,400 at the end of 2022, continuing an eighteenth consecutive year-on-year decline in numbers.

Japanese police analysis has also found changes in criminal activity of some Yakuza, with those arrested for extortion and gambling decreasing whilst those engaged in fraud has increased.

Yakuza members may have adapted to post-pandemic changing economic and social conditions, with less emphasis on traditional organised criminal activities and more on individualistic online and telecom fraud.

The distributed, anonymous and fluid nature of online fraud means that there is even less need for an organised and structured Yakuza criminal enterprise that offers protection and opportunities for its members.

The decline of Yakuza gangs was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which reportedly led to a major decrease in their revenue from religious and traditional festivals in Japan.

Some Yakuza gangs had an income stream from low level street vendors selling goods at festivals, which were cancelled during 2020 because of the pandemic. Following the post-pandemic opening up some Yakuza groups reportedly tried to submit fraudulent claims for government subsidies offered as business relief, but the police quickly took action against these frauds.

The Iijima-kai, an old Yakuza gang which was formed in 1868, had 23 of its members arrested in 2022 and 2023 for allegedly receiving around 53 million yen in government subsidies in 2020 and 2021.

Whilst Yakuza membership is clearly declining, the volume of ‘hangure’ (semi-organised criminal gangs or groups) as well as dispersed online fraud is increasing.

This makes policing harder as Yakuza were historically at least largely in plain sight and even registered organisations, but the new breed of Japanese criminals do not adhere to a code and are tokuryū, anonymous and fluid.
 
 

Japan Post Co. and Seino Transportation Co. will collaborate in long-distance parcel deliveries, utilizing shared trucks, in response to concerns over a decrease in transport delivery capacity following the implementation of an overtime cap for drivers, sources familiar with the matter said Monday.

The postal service company and the major delivery firm conducted experiments in February and March in which trucks loaded with parcels from both companies operated in designated sections, such as between Tokyo and Osaka, confirming that sharing cargo would ease the impacts of the logistics shortfall resulting from the overtime restrictions, referred to as the "2024 problem."

Japan, already facing an acute shortage of drivers and other workers due to an aging workforce, introduced the overtime limit of 960 hours per year for truck drivers, among others, in April to improve standard working conditions.

A Japan Post official said, "(Sharing cargo trucks) allows us to reduce the number of trucks without changing the number of days necessary for deliveries."

While a specific date to begin the joint truck transportation has not been set yet, the two companies, which operate about 10,000 trucks daily, plan to eventually expand the effort nationwide.

According to their operation plan, a truck will collect parcels from the loading stations of both firms located in close proximity and then deliver them to their respective bases near the delivery destinations.

The collaboration will exclusively cover long-distance routes, necessitating truck drivers to work long hours.

According to the sources, short-distance deliveries from loading bases to residences and offices will continue to be carried out separately, as usual.
 

 

Japan’s ATLA (Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency) has shown to Naval News its new Extra-large unmanned underwater vehicle (XLUUV). The impressive submarine drone is now in the middle of a research and development (R&D) phase.

In a near-exclusive access (where just Naval News and another Japanese defense outlet were invited), ATLA welcomed us to their IWAKUNI Maritime Environment Test & Evaluation Satellite (IMETS) back in December 2023 to show us their XLUUV. The facility located in Yamaguchi prefecture (Southern Japan) is used to test and develop UUVs.

The new UUV named “Long Endurance UUV” is an experimental XLUUV which was first unveiled during DSEI Japan 2023. The UUV was build by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry (MHI) and it is being developed by the Naval Systems Research Center, one of the sections of ATLA.

As Japan faces an aging society with a declining birthrate, it will become increasingly difficult to operate manned equipment. In particular, it will be difficult to train crews for submarines, and it may become difficult to maintain the number of vessels.

Therefore, Japan is currently accelerating research and development of UUVs as a future complement to underwater defense capability.

The UUV is modular, consisting of a “head section” that carries the control system, an “energy section” that carries the power source, and a “tail section” that carries the propulsion system. This is the basic configuration, and additional payload modules that can carry a variety of equipment can be combined to perform a variety of missions.

As the name “long endurance” implies, this UUV is intended to operate autonomously over a long period of time, and currently in its basic configuration (10 meters in length) has achieved a week of continuous operation at 3 to 4 knots.

However, this is only a milestone, and ATLA is aiming to achieve even longer continuous operation. The UUV is powered by lithium-ion batteries, but ATLA is currently considering the use of liquid/solid fuel batteries, AIP and/or diesel-electric engines in order to achieve a longer cruising range.

Additional payload modules are being researched, including an “underwater equipment installation module” to carry heavy payloads such as sensors/communication nodes, an “ocean observation module” to carry various oceanographic survey equipment, “surface launch module” for launching drones or other equipment at surface, and an “ocean surveillance module” to conduct effective Maritime Domain Awareness（MDA).

Autonomy is the most important aspect of this XLUUV, which aims to operate underwater for long periods of time. Because radio waves cannot be received underwater, it is difficult to control the UUV from a naval vessel or from land.

Autonomous operation is therefore essential. First, the UUV uses a combination of Inertial Navigation System (INS) and Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) as a mechanism to know where it is. In addition, passive sonar is used to detect the vessel’s screw noise and other sounds in order to assess the underwater and above-water situation, and then active sonar is used for a final check when the vessel surfaces.

And as for the control logic, or in other words, the intelligence part, which is the most important for autonomous operation, research is being conducted using huge test facilities.

In Yamaguchi Prefecture, located in western Japan, there is a test facility called the IWAKUNI Maritime Environment Test & Evaluation Satellite (IMETS), which was constructed in 2021. IMETS has a huge water tank, 30 m long, 35 m wide, and 11 m deep.

In this tank, a high-performance simulator and acoustic equipment will reproduce the actual marine environment. UUVs are placed in this tank to simulate the ocean environment, such as currents, water temperature, and salinity, as well as underwater acoustics, and accumulate a variety of data, which can be used to build control logic and development of other senser.

This UUV is only a test bed, which does not mean that it will be operated by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) as is. In fact, using the data obtained from this long-term operational UUV, research is currently underway for a “UUV. control technology”.

This is to develop a UUV that can control by the commanding UUV, and also aims at automatic detection and identification of targets using sonar, etc. The research started in FY2023.

In addition, modules, software etc. have been standardized for this “Long Endurance UUV”, achieving an open architecture. This is intended to enhance UUV technology in both the government and private sector with dual-use technology. So, this UUV also aims to improve UUV technology in Japan as a whole.
 
 

Despite Japan’s well-deserved reputation a wonderland of delicious pleasures for the palate, the country isn’t immune to food/beverage crises.

We’re only two years out from the potato shortage of 2022, when some fast food chains in Japan had to restrict French fry sales or replace their spuds with something else entirely, and who can forget the dark, dry days of Butter Crisis ’14 or Pizza Potato Crisis ’17?

Now Japan looks to be facing another shortage of something ordinarily available just about anywhere: orange juice.

In early April, Megmilk Snow Brand, the Japanese distributor for Dole juices, suspended sales of its Dole Orange 100% juice in 450-milliliter and one-liter cartons, leaving the less-than-half-pint 200-milliliter pack as the only remaining option.

Then, on April 25, Morinaga Milk, Sunkist’s Japanese distributor, announced that it will be suspending sales of 200-milliliter cartons of Sunkist 100% Orange once its current ingredient supply runs out.

So what’s causing this OJ shortage? Japan imports about 90 percent of its orange juice, with much of it made from fruit grown in Brazil, which suffered significant rain damage and a citrus disease outbreak in 2023.

At the same time that supply is taking a hit, though, demand is rising in the post-pandemic world economy, leading to higher prices. Unfortunately, this is coinciding with the yen cratering in value versus foreign currencies.

According to statistics released by the Japanese government’s Ministry of Finance in March, the in-yen price for importing orange juice has jumped 69 percent from a year ago, and has doubled since 2019, making it difficult for Japanese companies to import it in the current business climate.

When faced with high import-associated costs for a popular product, the simple solution would seem to be to just produce it domestically.

That’s easier said than done, though. Japan’s small size and mountainous geography mean that farmable land isn’t so easy to come by, especially when other crops like rice, which is heavily subsidized, usually take precedence.

What’s more, what citrus farming Japan does have is primarily focused on mikan (mandarin oranges), which are a popular staple food but not really well-suited for making juice, as mikan juice tends to be very syrupy compared to orange juice.

Around the same time as Japan’s orange juice distributors were announcing sales suspensions, the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives organization of regional co-ops revived its Nokyo Kajitsu brand of 100-percent fruit juices, which had been dormant for the last 14 years.

▼ Nokyo Kajitsu

 

However, both of the Nokyo Kajitsu varieties, which went on sale in April, use mikan juice, not orange juice, and so OJ fans in Japan may be in for tough, thirsty days ahead.
 

Japan and the United States agreed to accelerate their review of the command and control framework for Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. armed forces based in Japan, at the two nations’ defense ministerial talks in Hawaii.

Amid speculation about a Taiwan contingency in which China invades Taiwan, the two countries will aim to build a system that enables smoother reciprocal communication and information-sharing.

“Negotiations are expected to speed up at both the ministerial and working levels. We want to continue discussions at all levels,” Japan’s Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said Friday in Honolulu, in answer to reporters’ questions about his meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on the previous day. Kihara’s remarks indicated his willingness to move forward with discussions on reviewing the chain of command and unit management on both sides.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed at their summit in April to review the command and control framework for the SDF and the U.S. military based in Japan.

The review is being discussed in conjunction with the planned establishment of the Joint Operations Command that will serve as the central command post for the Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defense Forces. The new SDF operational system is planned to be established by March 2025.

The two countries plan to begin concrete discussions on what form Japan-U.S. cooperation should take at the Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee, or Japan-U.S. “2+2,” among foreign and defense ministers from both countries as early as this summer.
No more ‘double role’

Currently, the chief of staff of the Joint Staff, the top SDF officer, also serves as the Japanese counterpart for U.S. forces — working with the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff on strategic matters and with the commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on joint operations.

After the Joint Operations Command is established, its commander will take charge of joint operations, making it possible for the chief of staff of the Joint Staff to concentrate on strategic affairs.

The Japanese side is aiming for prompt reciprocal communications and enhanced cooperation in joint operations with the United States with the establishment of the Joint Operations Command. Japan is asking the United States to reorganize the U.S. forces in Japan to make it possible for Japan to coordinate with the U.S. side within the country.

The command authority of the U.S. Forces in Japan, which is located at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, is currently limited to base management, among other tasks. The commander of the Indo-Pacific Command has the right to control the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, which is based at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture, and U.S. Marine Corps units in Okinawa Prefecture and elsewhere.

It has been pointed out that the time difference and distance between Tokyo and Hawaii might make smooth communications and cooperation between the commands difficult in the event of emergencies.

“It’s necessary to have a new command that mainly takes charge of defending Japan,” said Koji Yamazaki, a former chief of staff of the Joint Staff. There is also the hope of ensuring U.S. forces’ commitment to Japan in anticipation of a contingency in the Taiwan Strait.
Constitutional restrictions

The United States has agreed to review the defense command structure because cooperation with the SDF and the presence of U.S. forces in Japan are becoming increasingly important on the global stage.

China’s rapid military buildup is tilting the military balance in the western Pacific to China’s advantage. Calling for “integrated deterrence,” which utilizes the capabilities of U.S. allies, Austin is seeking to maintain the United States’ superiority to China.

Cooperation between U.S. forces in Japan – the world’s largest U.S. forces stationed abroad with more than 50,000 personnel – and the SDF, whose capabilities are strengthening, will be the cornerstone of the approach.

In what is known as the “Armitage-Nye Report,” members of a U.S. bipartisan group called in April for the Japan-U.S. alliance to evolve into “a more integrated alliance, including at the command level.”

Some people in Japan expressed concern regarding this proposal, saying that the SDF might be placed under the command of U.S. forces in the event of emergencies. But the U.S. government does not plan to seek to integrate the right to command, as it is aware of constitutional restrictions on the SDF.

“There will be no change to the principle that the SDF and U.S. forces will each follow an independent chain of command,” Kihara said to reporters.
 
 

Fifteen-year-old South Korean amateur Lee Hyo Song conjured up a birdie-eagle finish to become the youngest winner in the history of top-tier women's golf in Japan on Sunday.

Her one-shot victory at 15 years, 176 days came at the first major of the JLPGA season, the Salonpas Cup, on Ibaraki Golf Club's East Course in Tsukubamirai, northeast of Tokyo.

Lee Hyo Song made up a seven-stroke deficit to 54-hole leader Lee Ye Won, also of South Korea, shooting a 5-under 67 for an 8-under 280 total.

The teenager reached the par-5 18th green in two shots and knocked in the eagle putt, taking herself to the top of the leaderboard before her closest contenders completed the round.

Her round featured an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys. The previous youngest record holder was Minami Katsu, who won the Vantelin Ladies Open in April 2014 when she was an amateur at 15 years, 293 days.

Japan's Shuri Sakuma finished alone in second after a 71.

Lee Ye Won struggled to a 76, leaving her in third at 6 under.

Shin Ji Yai (69) and Miyuu Yamashita (74) shared fourth place, an additional shot back.
 
 

Final arrangements are under way to hold a summit among Japan, China and South Korea in Seoul on May 26 and 27, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said Sunday.

It will be the first such meeting since December 2019. The three Asian countries were unable to hold a trilateral summit due to a deterioration in Japan-South Korea relations and the COVID-19 pandemic.

At present, South Korea serves as chair of the three-way summit framework.
The three countries agreed to hold such a meeting as soon as possible and Seoul has been having talks with Tokyo and Beijing, the official said.

Final arrangements are going on to hold the meeting on May 26 and 27, the official said, adding that an announcement on the conference is likely to be made soon.

The meeting is expected to bring together Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

Their discussions are seen covering six areas including people-to-people exchanges, economy and trade, public health, and peace and security, with outcome documents likely to be released. Bilateral talks may also take place.

South Korea is working to revitalize the framework of dialogue and cooperation with China, hoping that Beijing will play a role in making North Korea stop its nuclear weapons and missile development.

Meanwhile, China is wary about moves by Japan, South Korea and the United States to strengthen their security cooperation.
 
 

 

A prayer mat made of tatami developed for Muslims is being used at prayer rooms in Osaka City. The product is anticipated to interweave Japanese and Islamic culture when it will be used in the prayer room to be set up at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo venue.

The mats are made by Kambe Co., a trading company in Kyoto City specializing in tatamis. The company spent four years developing the mat under the supervision of a group of Islamic experts based in the city with the aim of spreading tatami culture to the world.

 

While cloth is a common material for prayer rugs, Kambe’s mats use washi paper treated with water-repellent coating. The 5-milimeter-thin mat measures 115 centimeters in length, 60 centimeters in width, and incorporates the auspicious checkered ichimatsu pattern.

The Japan Da’wah Centre, an Islamic cultural exchange facility located in Osaka City, which uses these mats, said, “We hope it can be an opportunity for exchange between Japanese people and Muslims.”
 
 

Nippon Steel Corp said Friday it has postponed the expected closing of its $14.1 billion takeover of U.S. Steel by three months after the U.S.

Department of Justice requested more documentation related to the deal.
Nippon Steel said the deal, already approved by U.S. Steel's shareholders, is still expected to go through.

“Nippon Steel will continue to fully cooperate with the examination of the relevant authorities,” it said in a statement.

The sale has drawn opposition from President Joe Biden’s administration on economic and national security grounds, and from former President Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential candidate in November's election.
The new timing could push the closing beyond the election, but Nippon Steel denied the delay was related to that.

Initially the deal was supposed to have closed by September. Now it will close by December, meaning it could still close as early as September, according to a company spokesperson, who requested the anonymity customary at Japanese companies.

More than 98% of the Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel Corp shares voted at a special investor meeting in April approved the takeover. Nippon Steel has said it has prepared adequate financing to go through with the deal.

First announced in December last year, the merger of U.S. Steel into Nippon Steel has raised concerns about what that might mean for unionized workers, supply chains and U.S. national security.

The United Steelworkers union has opposed the acquisition.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met Biden last month. But there was no indication the topic came up in the summit.

When Biden visited the Pittsburgh headquarters of United Steelworkers recently, he reiterated his opposition to the Nippon Steel purchase, stressing U.S. Steel “has been an iconic American company for more than a century and it should remain totally American.”

The U.S. steel industry has declined over the decades as global steel production came to be dominated initially by Japan, and more recently by China. Under the deal, U.S. Steel will keep its name and its headquarters in Pittsburgh, where it was founded in 1901.
 
 

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and her French counterpart, Stephane Sejourne, have agreed to strengthen their countries' cooperation in the security area.

At their meeting in Paris on Friday, the two officials also confirmed the continuance of support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

They exchanged views on the situation in the Indo-Pacific region, including China, and the Middle East, as well as on Global South emerging and developing countries.
 
 

Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah met with Japanese Deputy Minister of State for Health, Labor, and Welfare Miyazaki Masahisa to discuss new employment regulations for foreign workers prepared by the Government of Japan.

"We welcome the new regulations for foreign workers in Japan. We hope these regulations can provide more protection and improve the welfare of our migrant workers in Japan," the minister noted in a statement from her office on Friday.

During the meeting on Friday, Masahisa ensured that PMIs in Japan would be able to continue their work in Japan.

"The Japanese government stated that the changes to the rules for foreign workers are not very significant. Our existing migrant workers in Japan can continue their work," Fauizyah remarked.

Earlier, Indonesia and Japan had implemented cooperation in the field of employment in several programs, including apprenticeships, through the Technical Intern Train Program (TITP) scheme that has been running since 1993.

In addition, cooperation between Indonesia and Japan is established in the form of the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA) that has been in force since July 1, 2008. Both nations have also established cooperation in worker placement through the Specified Skill Workers (SSW) program.

Based on the experience of ongoing cooperation, Fauziyah is upbeat that the Japanese Government would continue to intensify communication to support dissemination of the latest information regarding foreign worker regulations to Indonesia and other countries.

"With support from Minister Masahisa, cooperative relations between Indonesia and Japan, especially in the field of employment, will be improved and continue to develop," she remarked.

On April 24, the ministry's Secretary General, Anwar Sanusi, also called on Japanese employers to provide language training for skilled Indonesian workers, considering the high level of interest among them to work in Japan.

"We believe that the best protection for workers is to provide skills according to the needs in the destination country," he remarked.
 

The labelling of Japan as "xenophobic" by Joe Biden was "unfortunate" and "not based on an accurate" understanding of the country, Japan's US embassy says.
  The US president said during a campaign fundraising event earlier this week that Japan, India, China and Russia "don't want immigrants".
 The White House has said he meant no offence and was merely highlighting US immigration policies.
 The comment, however, has drawn scorn from some US and foreign observers.
 Speaking to a largely Asian-American audience on Wednesday, Mr Biden said: "Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble. Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they're xenophobic. They don't want immigrants."
 The US government later clarified that his comment was meant in the context of explaining "that the US is a nation of immigrants and that immigrants make the US stronger", and did not have "the intent of undermining" the US-Japan relationship.
 Japan's embassy said on Friday that it was "aware" of the clarification. "It is unfortunate that some of the comments were not based on an accurate understanding of Japan's policies," the statement added.
  Japan's traditionally strict immigration policies have been loosened in recent years to to address a steadily shrinking population.
 Mr Biden's comments came less than a month after he called the US-Japan alliance "unbreakable" during a state visit by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Washington.
 The embassy said the visit showed that the US-Japan relationship was "stronger than ever".
 Mr Biden's comments were also criticised by China.Chen Weihua, a prominent columnist for the state-owned China Daily, said on X, formerly Twitter, that the US president was "obsessed with smearing China... It's a serious mental disease."
 India's government has not directly responded to Mr Biden's comments. However, Madhavan Narayanan, an Indian economist and journalist, told the Abu Dhabi-based National newspaper that it was "incorrect" to say his country does not want immigrants.
  "India has been attractive either for the high-end expats or for the extremely low-wage kind of immigrants from Bangladesh and poor countries," he said. Opinion polls indicate widespread dissatisfaction among US voters over Mr Biden's handling of the US-Mexico border.  
 

Investigative sources say Tokyo police have decided to ask a former counselor at the Embassy of Singapore in Japan to turn himself in on suspicion of secretly filming a naked male junior high school student at a public bath in the Japanese capital in February this year.

The sources say the 55-year-old former counselor is suspected of covertly filming the 13-year-old with a smartphone in the changing room.

An employee of the bathhouse thought the man was acting suspiciously and called the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Officers who rushed to the scene checked the man's smartphone and found footage of the student and other naked images.

Sources say that during questioning by officers, the former counselor admitted that he filmed the video to watch it later by himself.
But he refused officers' requests to voluntarily accompany them to the police station, or submit his smartphone.

He reportedly deleted all the images on the spot at the request of the student's parent.

Sources say the former counselor told the police he had taken images about five times at the bathhouse.

The man has reportedly been removed from his post. The website of the Embassy of Singapore says that a counselor is a senior diplomat.
Tokyo police are investigating the case on suspicion of violations of laws banning child pornography and others.

They have reportedly decided to ask the man to turn himself in through Japan's foreign ministry, as he has diplomatic immunity from arrest until he leaves the country.

The police are also considering sending papers on the case to Japanese prosecutors.
 
 

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged Thursday to take the lead in formulating global regulations on the appropriate use of generative artificial intelligence technology through a new framework involving like-minded nations.

In a speech at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Ministerial Council Meeting, Kishida expressed his appreciation to other countries for the launch earlier in the day of the Hiroshima AI Process Friends Group.

The creation of the Hiroshima AI Process was agreed upon at the Group of Seven summit hosted in May last year by Kishida in the western Japanese city, his home constituency. He attended the OECD's ministerial gathering as Japan serves as its chair in 2024.

"Let us collaborate as nations united by a common purpose to address the universal opportunities and risks brought about by AI, and work towards achieving safe, secure and trustworthy AI," Kishida said in Paris.

The Friends group was set up as the world has been seeking ways to harness the benefits of rapidly developing generative AI tools amid fears that the spread of disinformation through misuse of the technology could threaten democracy and political stability.

Kishida also promised to work together with other OECD members in tackling climate change and various other global issues while pursuing free and open investment and trade. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Tokyo joining the Paris-based club.

In a bid to grapple with environmental problems, Kishida welcomed the recent establishment of a ministerial dialogue on decarbonization, called the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches, which is the OECD's flagship initiative.

"The climate crisis is a challenge common to all humankind that cannot be postponed, and it demands a holistic effort from all nations," Kishida said.

On the international trade front, Kishida voiced readiness to work in tandem with other countries to maintain and bolster a "rules-based, free and fair economic order, with the World Trade Organization at its core," with China apparently in mind.

"We also need to strengthen our cooperation to ensure economic resilience and economic security, such as addressing economic coercion and nonmarket policies and practices, enhancing supply chain resilience, and protecting critical technologies," he said.

Economic coercion has been condemned as a tool to attain political objectives, with some democracies said to be adversely affected by the alleged utilization of such tactics by authoritarian nations.

Kishida, meanwhile, committed to helping expand the membership of the 38-member OECD so that economies from around the world, including countries in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe as well as Southeast Asia, can participate in the organization.

"As one of the few Asian members, Japan will continue to act as a bridge between the OECD and the Asian region, contributing to the OECD's continued leadership in the global economy," he said.

Kishida visited Paris on the first stop on his six-day overseas trip that is also set to take him to Brazil and Paraguay during Japan's Golden Week holiday period in early May.
 
 

Companies in charge of redeveloping a 19-hectare lot at the former site of the Tsukiji Market vowed Wednesday the area would become a new international hub for Tokyo.

The project is guided by a philosophy of “One Park X One Town” and will create a waterfront space integrated with the Sumida River and the Hama-rikyu Gardens, as well as link with other nearby sites including the Tsukiji Outside Market, according to Mitsui Fudosan President Takashi Ueda, who spoke at a press conference held by Mitsui Fudosan Co., Toyota Fudosan Co. and The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings on the day.

“We want to make Tokyo more internationally competitive, a city that is loved by its residents and that attracts people from all over the world,” Ueda said.

The project site will see nine new buildings, including a conference hall, a hotel and an office, and provide excitement and social connection centered on a multi-use stadium that can hold 50,000. The project also aims for technological innovation in the life sciences and to share Japanese food culture.

The all-weather stadium features a field of artificial turf that is “changeable” and “multi-functional,” as the field’s shape can be changed depending on the event.“[The stadium] will be transformed into the optimal space for each match or live performance, giving the audience a real sense of being there,” said Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings President Toshikazu Yamaguchi. “We want to create a facility that is known internationally.”

Yamaguchi also shared a plan for the stadium to host international baseball games between Asian teams, as well as U.S. Major League Baseball games.

The stadium’s large roof will be covered with solar panels and greenery, and the building will catch the wind from the sea.

The south side overlooking the Sumida River will be faced entirely with glass to create a sense of openness and unity with the waterfront. There will also be 50 VIP rooms and a 7,000-square-meter lounge space equipped with many wheelchair-accessible seats.

A promotional facility will open in fiscal 2026 prior to the opening of most other facilities, including the stadium, in the early 2030s.
 
 

The value of Japanese seafood exports to China in fiscal 2023 fell to about 40% of the previous year’s level, an analysis of trade statistics for fiscal 2023 released by the Finance Ministry revealed.

China in fiscal 2022 was Japan’s largest seafood export destination, comprising about 30% of the market. But exports declined after the Chinese government suspended all imports of Japanese marine products to protest the discharge of treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean in summer last year.

Japan, which has been aiming to expand exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products, is now required to review its export strategy.

According to the statistics, the value of Japanese marine product exports fell 17% from the previous fiscal year to ¥218.5 billion, marking the first decline in three years.

This drop was due to the 57% decline of seafood exports to China — from ¥74.6 billion in fiscal 2022 to ¥32 billion in fiscal 2023 — the largest on record since comparable data became available in fiscal 1988.

The decline superseded the 49% fall in fiscal 2011 in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Exports of crab, salmon and bonito were down 90%, 88% and 77%, respectively. Exports of cod and tuna also declined notably.

The United States in fiscal 2023 was Japan’s largest export destination in terms of export value with a 22% share, surpassing China’s 15% share. In fiscal 2022, China was the largest export destination with a 28% share.

China opposed the release of the treated water, calling it “nuclear contaminated water” and has suspended all imports of Japanese seafood.

Japan has been urging China to withdraw its blanket ban on imports by providing explanations based on scientific evidence. If nothing is done, Japan’s seafood exports to China will be almost zero in fiscal 2024.

The Japanese government has been aiming to expand exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products as a pillar of its growth strategy, with a policy of increasing exports from ¥912.1 billion in 2019 to ¥2 trillion in 2025 and then to ¥5 trillion in 2030.

On the assumption that China’s strong response to the discharge may be prolonged, Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at Nomura Research Institute Ltd., said, “Japan needs to rebrand ‘safe and high quality’ Japanese products and expand their exports to countries and regions other than China.”
 
 

Japan's Mitsui expects net profit to fall 15.4 per cent to 900 billion yen ($5.7 billion) for the fiscal year ending in March 2025, hit by weaker performance of its energy business, the trading house said on Wednesday.

The company plans to buy back up to 40 million of its shares worth up to 200 billion yen by Sept. 20 to boost shareholders' returns.

It posted a drop of 6 per cent in net profit for the year ended in March to 1.1 trillion yen, on lower prices of metallurgical coal, crude oil and gas but outperformed an LSEG poll of analysts that forecast net profit of 973 billion yen.

According to the company's three-year business plan announced in May 2023, net profit is expected at 920 billion yen in the fiscal year ending in March 2026.

"Smaller one-off gains is the main reason for the profit decline for the current year," Mitsui CEO Kenichi Hori told a press conference.

Under the three-year plan, Mitsui is set to spend 1.8 trillion yen in growth segments, including 600 billion in energy transition such as natural gas, next-generation fuels and decarbonisation.

"We want to have a geographically-diversified LNG (liquefied natural gas) portfolio and complete promising LNG projects one by one so that our Japanese customers can diversify their procurement," Hori said.

Hori did not elaborate on the company's future plan for the Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia in which Mitsui owns a stake, but said the trading house would respond carefully while consulting with the Japanese government and other relevant parties.

Mitsui also said it has sold its stake in Indonesia's PT Paiton Energy, which operates coal power plants, to a unit of Thai energy firm Ratch group PCL and a unit of unlisted PT Medco Daya Abadi Lestari, and will book a profit of 44 billion yen in the April-June quarter.

After the sale, the net capacity of Mitsui's power generation assets will be 9.6 gigawatts, of which coal-fired

power generation will account for 8 per cent, down from 16 per cent as of March 2024.


($1=157.8600 yen)
 
 

It was a sad day back in March 2020 when Harajuku Station’s iconic building was dismantled and taken away, replaced with a larger and more modern complex that may have been more amenable to the growing crowds that led to its dismantlement but has far less charm than the original 1924 building, which was the oldest wooden station building in Tokyo.

▼ The old structure had beautiful design features, including half-timbered construction, a spire, and a wooden signboard that read “原宿駅” (“Harajuku Station”).

 

It was yet another case of the new replacing the old in Tokyo, but now East Japan Railway Company (JR east) has made the exciting announcement that the original station building will be returning as part of a new development project.

The company says that because it had stored the materials from the old building after it errepiece for a new commercial facility on the north side of the new station.

▼ Today’s Harajuku Station on the left, with the old building and new complex on the right.

 

The new complex, which consists of a basement level and four levels above it, will stretch across a site of 1,170 square meters.

The development is based around the concept of “connecting with time, town and culture“, and aims to become a new symbol of Harajuku by honoring its past and present heritage.

While it’s yet to be seen whether the old station will appear in its exact original state, JR East says it aims to reuse as much of the old materials as possible, while ensuring the components conform to current laws and regulations.

The construction is set to to take place in the eight months from from May to December 2026, with the opening of the commercial facility scheduled for the winter of 2026.
 

 

 

May 1 marks five years since Emperor Naruhito's enthronement. With few male heirs, Japan's dynasty faces succession issues, as conservatives block women from the throne despite broad public support.

Five years after Emperor Naruhito's coronation on May 1, 2019, Japan continues to struggle with securing a lasting succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne.

The dynasty, which has ruled the country for two millennia, now has only 17 members, including three men eligible to succeed the 64-year-old emperor.

The current emperor has only one daughter: 22-year-old Princess Aiko. Therefore, unless the rules of succession are changed, Prince Hisahito, aged 17 and nephew of the current emperor, is likely to become the last male heir to the throne, tasked with the responsibility of having at least one son. Without this, the world's oldest dynasty will cease to exist.

While 90% of Japanese favor the idea of a woman ascending the throne (according to a poll published earlier this month), the conservative ruling party opposes it. They instead support the idea of reinstating male descendants from branches of the imperial family that were stripped of nobility 77 years ago.
 

Women Barred From The Throne

Japan's throne succession order stipulates that only "legitimate male descendants of the male line" can ascend to the throne. This rule was explicitly defined for the first time in 1889 and further reinforced in 1947 by abolishing the concubine system.

The law excludes the emperor's female descendants and their children from succession. In other words, the son of an emperor's daughter cannot claim the throne.

Although eight women have been empresses in the past (the last in 1771), all 126 Japanese monarchs, male and female, were descendants of the paternal line. This is an argument used by conservatives who believe that granting women the same rights of succession as men could lead to another dynasty ascending the throne.

This succession crisis dates back to the early 2000s, as no boy had been born in the imperial family since 1965. Princess Masako, now Empress, "failed" to produce a male heir to the throne with her husband, Naruhito.

 

Attempts At Reform

In 2005, the Japanese government convened a panel of experts to explore options for ensuring a stable succession to the imperial family. The panel recommended granting succession rights to women and their descendants, allowing equal primogeniture between daughters and sons, and allowing female members who marry commoners to retain their imperial status.

In 2006, the government announced it was preparing a bill to allow women access to the throne. However, the birth of the emperor's nephew, Prince Hisahito, in September 2006 abruptly halted the planned reform. The bill was then abandoned in 2007 by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The debate resurfaced in 2016, when Emperor Akihito publicly expressed his desire to abdicate in favor of his eldest son, Naruhito. Following Naruhito's ascension on May 1, 2019, the government once again tasked a panel of experts with finding solutions to the succession crisis and preventing the dynasty's extinction.

In 2021, the expert panel delivered a report to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, recommending that imperial status be maintained for women after marriage, without granting them succession rights, or even reinstating descendants of emperors from branches stripped of nobility in 1947. 

This proposal received unanimous approval from all political parties in the country, including the conservative Liberal Democratic Party currently in power, which on April 26 declared the measures "necessary" in a statement to presidents of both chambers of parliament. The issue is scheduled to be discussed at an upcoming Parliament meeting in mid-May.
 
 

Japan is planning to begin talks with France on a new security agreement to facilitate joint exercises and disaster relief operations, government sources said Wednesday.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to discuss the pact, known as a reciprocal access agreement, during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Thursday, according to the sources.

Japan has been stepping up efforts to strengthen security relations with like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region, apparently to enhance deterrence against China's growing military assertiveness in nearby waters.

France has strategic interests in the region as it has overseas territories in the area, such as New Caledonia in the South Pacific, while Tokyo has been at odds with Beijing over the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands, claimed by its neighbor, in the East China Sea.

The Japanese government has already reached RAAs with Australia and Britain, facilitating smoother and quicker troop deployments between these nations. Additionally, Japan has initiated negotiations with the Philippines for such an accord.

Japan has had a similar pact with the United States since 1960, called the Status of Forces Agreement.

With China increasing its military influence in the region, Japan and France have already signed separate deals to expand their security cooperation, including an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, or ACSA, which simplifies the process of sharing food, fuel and ammunition between their forces.

Kishida is on a six-day overseas trip that will take him to France, Brazil and Paraguay.
 
 

Looking to book a last-minute trip to Japan? Well, if so, you're in luck. There is decent award availability in business class, but you'll need to act fast.

Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways consistently releases award seats in premium cabins to partner airlines, and the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club option is one of the best sweet spots in the industry.

As first reported by Upgraded Points, you can use the award search tool Seats.aero to find business-class availability. To search, click "Explore," then click "United MileagePlus," as this program shows ANA availability online.

There are various dates between now and June 7 showing at least two seats available in business class to Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND) and Narita International Airport (NRT) from the following U.S. airports:

• O'Hare International Airport (ORD)
• Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
• San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
• Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)
• George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
• John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)

 
If you were to book these flights through United MileagePlus, you could do this online for 110,000 miles each way per person.

However, you can also book this award ticket through Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club program, and you would need just 45,000 Virgin points one-way from the West Coast or 47,500 from central and eastern U.S. destinations.

Virgin Atlantic partners with all major transferable points programs, and if you have American Express Membership Rewards points, this becomes an even more attractive redemption. Amex is offering a 30% bonus when you transfer Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club program through May 31.

Transferring Membership Rewards points would bring the cost down to just 35,000 Amex points from the West Coast or 37,000 from other U.S. destinations. Transfers from Amex to Virgin are usually instant, and can be done online.

Unfortunately, you must call Virgin Atlantic Flying Club to book ANA award flights. While this can be a point of contention for most, it is fairly easy to book these awards via phone. To book, call 800-365-9500 and give the phone agent the exact dates and flight numbers you want to book.

Aside from Amex, Capital One is also offering a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Red (where the points will appear in your Flying Club account). However, this transfer bonus ends Tuesday.

For flights retailing for more than $4,000 each, these award rates represent exceptional value.

When booking your flight, note that ANA operates different types of business-class seats between the United States and Japan. The best product, known as "The Room," is on new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and can be found on flights from New York and select flights from Chicago and San Francisco.

Other destinations and dates will see ANA's older business-class seat. You can check Google Flights for that if you find availability on a particular date. The newest product will be listed as an "Individual suite," while the older seat will be listed as a "Lie flat seat."

The food, service and amenities will be the same regardless of whether you fly the newer or older seat, but if you can book the new seat, it is an excellent product and one of the most comfortable ways to fly to Japan.
 

Bottom line

While a last-minute trip to Japan might not suit everyone's schedule, traveling in luxury for just 35,000 American Express Membership Rewards points is a terrific offer. While there are a few hoops to jump through, it's worth your time for a deal this good. To summarize how to book this deal:

• Use either Seats.aero or a United MileagePlus account to check the availability of traveling with ANA.
• Optional: Check Google Flights to see if your flight will be operated with a newer or older product.
• Transfer Amex points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (points should transfer instantly).
• Call Virgin Atlantic at 800-365-9500 to book over the phone.

Then, pack your bags for a terrific time in Japan!
 
 

The yen's sudden surge against the U.S. dollar, suspected by financial markets to be the result of fresh intervention by Japanese authorities, will likely keep currency traders jittery and ensure they have second thoughts about aggressively selling the Japanese currency, at least for now.

While there was no official word from Japanese officials that the government did intervene after the yen slipped past a new 34-year-low in the 160 level on Monday, its quick return to the 154 zone reminded market players that Japanese authorities, who had previously only threatened to act, can indeed respond if needed, analysts said.

Japan's top currency diplomat Masato Kanda underscored his heightened sense of alarm, describing the yen's moves in recent days as being "excessive" and driven by speculators. But he declined to comment on intervention, leaving markets guessing.

"Irrespective of intervention or not, we are ready to respond 24 hours a day, 365 days," said Kanda, vice finance minister for international affairs.

Currency market analysts say the impact of an intervention, seen as a "drop in the ocean," will be short-lived, adding it will do little to fundamentally reverse the trend of a weak yen.

The yen's depreciation against the dollar is pronounced but it is also weak relative to other currencies. It fell to its lowest level against the euro since 1999.

"The timing was good for intervention because trading was thin as it was a holiday in Japan. Japanese authorities' stepping into the market can send a warning that they won't allow the yen to make a freefall and set a limit," said Koji Fukaya, a fellow at consulting firm Market Risk Advisory Co.

"The yen may not fall sharply but it's difficult to expect a reversal of yen weakness. The problem is that it's not just foreign investors and speculators but also ordinary Japanese who expect the yen to be feeble," he said.
A similar view was expressed by a Japanese government official, who said the current trend "won't be reversed quickly."

Following the suspected intervention, the yen returned to levels seen before the Bank of Japan's recent stand-pat decision on monetary policy and remarks from its governor that accelerated selling of the yen.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda had boosted expectations that the Japanese central bank would consider a rate hike should the impact of the weaker yen on inflation become too big to ignore. But he said Friday the central bank sees "no big impact" so far, apparently disappointing market players.

Speculators have jumped on the bandwagon by aggressively selling the yen, convinced that the BOJ will keep its accommodative stance, in stark contrast with the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Financial markets were paring back expectations that an interest rate cut by the Fed will be imminent, following a recent spate of strong data on the world's largest economy. The central bank is scheduled to hold a two-day policy-setting meeting from Tuesday, an event that will be closely watched by market players.

Japanese authorities issued a series of verbal warnings in recent weeks against the yen's rapid moves. But they largely let the yen break key barriers such as the 152 and 155 levels, fueling speculation that they are reluctant to step in because they know the limits of intervention.

Japan previously intervened in the market when the yen neared 152 to the dollar. The last yen-buying, dollar-selling intervention was carried out in late 2022.

Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, whose ministry must ask the BOJ to intervene in the currency market, said before the weekend that he was more concerned about the negative side of the weak yen than its benefits to the economy.

The government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is placing priority on taking steps against the cost of living crisis, exacerbated by the currency's sharp decline.

Business leaders have begun to voice their concern about the yen's rapid decline, given that excessive fluctuations make it difficult for firms to make future business plans.

The assumed exchange rate for Japanese firms is 141.42 yen to the dollar and 151.86 yen to the euro in fiscal 2024, according to the BOJ's latest Tankan survey.

A weak yen boosts the overseas profits of Japanese exporters in yen terms but it inflates import costs for resource-scarce Japan. The latter has become more prominent due to global inflation in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war with Ukraine, with heightened tensions in the Middle East adding to concerns.

"A weak yen is more dangerous and uncontrollable than a strong yen," Fukaya said.

"A big factor behind the yen's weakness is that the government and the BOJ took a wait-and see stance until now and left unorthodox monetary easing. Changing the accommodative stance is a step forward to reverse yen weakness."



© KYODO
 
 

Diagnosed with autism, Shoko Sakuma says she struggled working in accounting but now she is putting her childhood love of drawing to work in a special Japanese animation studio.

The groundbreaking initiative aims to provide job training and confidence to people with autism who can find it hard to cope in Japan's often high-stress and long-hours work environment.

"I was really bad at numbers, which was the first thing that troubled me," Sakuma said at Shake Hands, her workplace since last year in Kyoto.

"I would lose things... Customers' stuff that is very important that you should never lose," the softly-spoken 39-year-old told AFP.

With attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Sakuma says she had problems concentrating on bookkeeping and eventually started developing bipolar disorder. Sometimes she couldn't leave home.

But now she spends her working days at a partitioned desk -- which helps her to focus -- adding digital effects to an anime keyframe.

"With my personality, I cannot move onto the next step unless I thoroughly understand every detail," she told AFP. "Instructors here accept me being like that and teach me in a very gentle manner. I feel at ease here. I am having fun."

Developmental disabilities like ASD were long considered a mere matter of personality in Japan, but scientific studies have helped raise public awareness and change public policy.

In 2004, Japan passed a law recognizing conditions such as ASD, ADHD and learning disabilities, and mandated schools to detect and support children requiring special care.

It also widened the remit for so-called "Type B" facilities, workplaces which previously catered only to those with conditions like Down syndrome and which now number some 16,000.

Launched last year, Shake Hands does so with anime, an industry that with the likes of Ghibli studios ("Spirited Away") is a major success story for Japan.

Instructor Yuki Kawai said that obstacles in other settings can be an asset in animation.

"An animation movie is constructed on what is called a time-sheet, a blueprint which commands every move of characters," Kawai, 28, said. "There are no abstract rules in creating animations ... which is easy to understand for people like us."

Kawai himself was diagnosed with ADHD after graduating from art and design school and the "terrible accident" of a first job in sales.

"Often I couldn't get up in the morning or couldn't get to the office on time," he said. "I couldn't handle phone calls because many times I couldn't get the person's name right."

Such an experience for people with ASD can trigger mental health problems, said Yuji Umenaga, a Waseda University professor and specialist in mental health and learning difficulties.

"Many people who visit me have shown symptoms of depression," he told AFP, adding that some people with ASD become depressed because their symptoms make it hard "Anti-depressant medicines don't work for them because, in the case of ASD, the trigger is its symptoms which make relationships with bosses and colleagues difficult."

Shake Hands has provided animation sequences for several blockbuster films and has won an order from a Malaysian firm to produce a promotional anime movie.

In the studio, upbeat music plays in the background to help make the 10 or so employees comfortable.

"In a quiet environment, some people get sensitive about other people chatting, thinking they might be the subject of their talking," said staff member Momoka Tsuji.

Workers, who earn a nominal salary, are reminded to take hourly breaks and people can start and stop whenever they like, even late into the night.

"Some of our colleagues don't feel comfortable for having direct conversations, so we communicate through an intranet chat function," said Tomoya Sawada, 34, head of the animation studio.

Professor Umenaga hopes that Shake Hands will inspire other initiatives along the lines of Exceptional Minds, a U.S. animation studio in Hollywood that provides vocational training for autistic students.

"In order to help their wonderful potential shine, we need to provide the right environment for them, from childhood schooling to vocational trainings," he said.


© 2024 AFP
 
 

The visit by a delegation from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is welcomed by the government and people of Taiwan, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs April 26.
 
Led by Takako Suzuki, member of the House of Representatives and director of the LDP’s Youth Division, the group comprises Kazuhiro Fujii and Rio Tomonoh, members of the House of Councillors; Sakon Yamamoto and Shumpei Kaneko, of the lower house; and Masahiro Aso, head of the Taiwan-Japan friendship group of Tokyo-based Junior Chamber International Japan.
 
During their stay, which extends from April 29 through May 3, the delegates will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President Lai Ching-te, and call on Legislative Yuan President Daniel K.Y. Han, Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu, Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Chair Su Jia-chyuan, Taipei City Mayor Chiang Wan-an and Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che, the MOFA said.
 
They will also speak with Taipei-headquartered China Youth Corps and the Third Wednesday Club’s Young Entrepreneur Group, as well as pay their respects to the late President Lee Teng-hui at his tomb in New Taipei City, the ministry added.
 
According to the MOFA, the LDP’s Youth Division has long played a key role in interactions between Taiwan and Japan, with members visiting regularly to exchange views on the bilateral relationship. The division also cultivates future Japanese leaders, including incumbent Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as well as predecessors Shinzo Abe and Taro Aso, the ministry added.
 
Taiwan and Japan are important partners, the MOFA said, adding that the current visit demonstrates their solid friendship and will further deepen bilateral cooperation across the board. (YCH-E)
 

Babies cry while held up by amateur sumo wrestlers during Nakizumo or a baby-crying sumo contest, where two wrestlers hold a baby each and a referee makes faces and loud noises to make them cry and determines the winner based on the loudest baby, at Sensoji temple in Tokyo, on Sunday.

The ritual is believed to aid the healthy growth of the children and ward off evil spirits.
 

Global accounting and consulting firm PwC has appointed Masataka Kubota as its next chairman for its Japanese business.

A partner in the Assurance division, Masataka Kubota has been with PwC since 1997, growing the ranks to become partner and leader of the Assurance business. Over the past years, he served as Deputy CEO of the Japan business.

Commencing his four-year term as chairman on 1 July 2024, Kubota will lead a company with approximately 11,500 accountants, tax advisors, consultants, lawyers and other professional staff. PwC has eight offices in Japan.

Kubota will have big shoes to fill at the Big Four firm. Under the leadership of current chairman Koichiro Kimura, who will retire at the end of his term on 30 June 2024, PwC booked strong growth. Over the past eight years, the firm roughly tripled its business in Japan.

Commenting on the appointment, Kimura said: “The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically brought social changes to the fore. Global situations have also become increasingly complex as a result of rising geopolitical tensions as well as disputes and armed conflicts in various parts of the world.

Given these circumstances, we are required to address and deal with a wide range of issues, including digital transformation, climate change and the protection of human rights, all at the same time.”

“At PwC, we will do everything in our power to successfully overcome these challenges and build trust in society. We are delighted to appoint Masataka as our next chairman – with his leadership the firm is in good hands.”

Kubota said he was delighted to have received the vote of confidence from the senior leadership. Reflecting on some of his key objectives, he said: “Over the past few years, the speed and extent of social changes have increased, and this trend is likely to continue, accelerate and expand still further. In order to meet society’s expectations in this era, we are strongly committed to further improving the quality and efficiency of our services.”

“We will also enhance collaboration with various partner companies and connections with diverse people through new ways of working. As part of these efforts, we will, not only as PwC alone but also with our partners, make positive contributions to our clients as well as to our communities by implementing wide-ranging, progressive initiatives to build trust and grow sustainably.
 
 

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, headed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, lost three seats in House of Representatives by-elections Sunday, including Shimane Prefecture, known as a conservative stronghold, delivering a harsh indictment on the scandal-hit LDP.

The leading opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, led by left-leaning lower house lawmaker Kenta Izumi since November 2021, acquired all three seats by obtaining support from anti-LDP voters.

The lower house by-elections were held as the ruling LDP has come under intense scrutiny after some of its factions neglected to report portions of their income from fundraising parties and maintained slush funds for years for their members.

The LDP's crushing defeat in Shimane is set to undermine Kishida's political footing and prod LDP lawmakers to attempt to oust him from power before the next general election, making it unlikely he will run in the party's presidential race around September.

Seats in Shimane and Nagasaki prefectures, as well as one in Tokyo, were up for grabs in the first national elections since the scandal came to light late last year. The conservative LDP previously held all the vacated seats.

LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi, its No. 2 figure after Kishida, told reporters in Tokyo, "We will humbly accept the results" of Sunday's by-elections, adding that the party "needs to work as one to grapple with the challenge."

With the scandal eroding public trust in politics and dampening support for the LDP, it did not field candidates in the Tokyo No. 15 and Nagasaki No. 3 districts and focused on defending the seat in the Shimane No. 1 constituency in the western prefecture.

Former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Kishida's predecessor, was compelled to give up running for the LDP presidential race after the party lost three by-elections in April 2021, as his leadership was called into question regarding responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

LDP candidates long held power in Shimane. The prefecture is the home territory of former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, a legendary LDP kingmaker who exerted a powerful influence on Japanese politics in the post-war era.

Approval ratings for Kishida's Cabinet have plummeted to their lowest levels over the slush funds scandal since it was launched in October 2021, falling far below 30 percent, a threshold widely recognized as the "danger level" for a government.

The by-election in Shimane, which follows the death of former lower house speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda in November, became a one-on-one battle between candidates from the LDP and the CDPJ.

Hosoda, who held the seat in Shimane since the current election system was introduced in 1996, served as leader of the largest faction within the LDP at the center of the latest political funds scandal for seven years from 2014.

LDP candidate Norimasa Nishikori, a former Finance Ministry bureaucrat, was expected to fall behind Akiko Kamei, a former lower house lawmaker of the CDPJ and daughter of a former director general of the now-defunct National Land Agency.

Despite visiting Shimane twice after official campaigning for the by-elections began on April 16, Kishida was unable to maintain support in the prefecture that has historically backed the LDP, sparking fears about his role as the "face of the election."

Yuko Obuchi, the LDP's election campaign chief, said, "I feel more keenly than anyone else the weight of responsibility." Her father is former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who was one of Takeshita's closest aides and took over his faction in the 1990s.
 
Kamei said her victory in Shimane, called a "conservative kingdom," sends a "big message" to Kishida, who has also been criticized for failing to take effective measures to curb the Japanese yen's 34-year low against the U.S. dollar and achieve wage growth exceeding sharp price hikes. Her father was an LDP member.

Kyodo News exit polls of the by-election in Shimane showed that 77 percent of respondents answered that they decided which party to vote for "in consideration of" the slush funds scandal, forcing several ministers and LDP executives to resign.

The by-election in Tokyo was due to a separate scandal involving a former LDP lawmaker convicted of a campaign finance offense related to a mayoral race in April 2023. A total of nine candidates threw their hats into the ring.

Hirotada Ototake, a Japanese writer born without arms and legs, was defeated in the capital by Natsumi Sakai, a former assembly member of Tokyo's Koto Ward, despite receiving the backing of a regional party founded by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike.

The outcome indicated a decrease in Koike's political influence and popularity. Once viewed as a frontrunner to be Japan's first female prime minister, a candidate supported by her party also lost in an April mayoral election in Tokyo's Meguro Ward.

Koike, a former lower house lawmaker who was Japan's first female defense minister, is believed to be running for a third term in the gubernatorial election in July.

In the by-election in Nagasaki, triggered after an LDP lawmaker stepped down in January over the slush funds scandal, Katsuhiko Yamada, a candidate from the CDPJ, beat his rival from the Japan Innovation Party, another major opposition force.

Voter turnout was the lowest on record for all three districts in the lower house by-elections on Sunday, with Nagasaki No. 3 at 35.45 percent, Tokyo No. 15 at 40.70 percent and Shimane No. 1 at 54.62 percent, the election boards said.
 
 

 
The yen rallied sharply after dropping to a new 34-year low in the 160 level against the U.S. dollar in Asian trading on Monday amid speculation of intervention by Japan, although its top currency diplomat would not confirm whether the government had stepped in.

The dollar topped the 160 yen line for the first time since April 1990, rising from the 158 yen level in thin trading with financial markets in Tokyo closed for a national holiday.

But the U.S. currency quickly fell back, dropping to as low as the 155 yen level as some dealers suspected Japanese authorities may have stepped into the currency market to stem the yen's slide.

The yen also fell to around 171 against the euro at one stage, its lowest level since the single currency was introduced in 1999.

Masato Kanda, vice finance minister for international affairs, said the government stands ready to act whenever "appropriate" but declined to say whether it intervened on Monday.

"The moves have been excessive and led by speculators," Kanda told reporters, adding that the negative impact of such rapid fluctuations on the economy "cannot be tolerated."

The Japanese currency was under heavy selling pressure which increased after the Bank of Japan on Friday decided to leave its monetary policy unchanged at a policy board meeting.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said at a press conference after the meeting that he currently sees no major impact of the yen's recent sharp decline on prices, even as a weaker yen raises the cost of imports.

Market participants are now awaiting the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting starting on Tuesday.


© KYODO
 
 

The yen fell to a fresh 34-year low against the dollar after the Bank of Japan indicated monetary policy will stay easy, heightening speculation authorities may soon intervene in the market to stop the currency’s decline.

Japan’s currency weakened as much as 1.4% on the day and touched a session low of ¥157.79 per dollar in afternoon trading in New York. The decline followed a policy meeting from the BOJ, in which the central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged and Gov. Kazuo Ueda said little to support the currency during a news conference.

Losses deepened even after a gauge of underlying U.S. inflation matched expectations, tempering concerns of persistent price pressures that could delay rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

The yen has already lost more than 10% of its value versus the greenback this year, the worst performer among the Group of 10 currencies. Driving the depreciation is the yawning gap between the interest rates in the U.S. — which are at highest in decades after the Fed’s aggressive tightening cycle last year — and those in Japan, where borrowing costs remain stubbornly low near zero.

"This is incredible weakness,” said Justin Onuekwusi, chief investment officer at St James Place Management. "Surely this level of weakness will be causing concern. We think yen has gone too far and our perspective would be to lean against it.”

Policymakers have repeatedly warned that depreciation won’t be tolerated if it goes too far too fast. Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki reiterated after the BOJ meeting that the government will respond appropriately to foreign exchange moves.

The Topix share index rose 0.9% after the BOJ decision, with real estate companies extending gains. The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond slipped to 0.925% from 0.93% earlier in the day.

"And yet again, BOJ has proved that it can surprise dovish to even the most dovish expectation on The Street,” said Charu Chanana, a strategist at Saxo Capital Markets. "We are back to waiting for an intervention to stop the rout in the yen. But any intervention, if not coordinated and without the support of a hawkish policy messaging, will still be futile."

In a trilateral statement last week, the U.S., Japan and South Korea said they will continue to consult closely on foreign-exchange market developments while acknowledging serious concerns of Japan and South Korea about the recent sharp depreciation in their currencies.

Based on an analysis of comments from Masato Kanda, the top currency official at the Finance Ministry, ¥157.60 versus the dollar is one key level to watch. The ministry will release intervention figures for the March 28 to April 25 period on Tuesday, while data that includes Friday will be released on May 31.

Other potential triggers are public holidays in Japan on Monday and Friday next week, which bring the risk of volatility amid thin trading.

"Should the yen fall further from here, like after the BOJ decision in September 2022, the possibility of intervention will increase,” said Hirofumi Suzuki, chief currency strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking. "It is not the level but it’s the speed that will trigger the action.”

Japan conducted its first yen-buying intervention since 1998 in September 2022 when then-Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda made dovish comments following a policy decision and the currency sank. Japan entered into the market in three occasions through October of that year, spending over ¥9 trillion ($57 billion).
 
 

The bullet train service in Japan was forced to temporarily delay its operations even though it was only a few minutes away, while authorities would conduct an investigation into the incident.

A snake about 40 centimeters long was found inside the Shinkansen bullet train upon arrival at the final station, Tokyo Station, on April 16 afternoon.

The snake was spotted by a passenger on the Kodama Tokaido Shinkansen Line train departing from Nagoya in central Japan.

A member of the rail operator staff, Central Japan Railway Co (JR Central), caught the snake and handed it over to local authorities, according to the company, reported by Kyodo News April 25.

The snake was found in carriage No. 6 of the 16 train carriages. It is known that passengers are prohibited from bringing snakes into the train.

The type of snake is not yet known, while a review is underway to determine how the snake got onto the train, the rail company told CNN.

The operator decided not to use the train for the next trip to Osaka in western Japan, choosing another train instead which resulted in a 17-minute delay.

No passengers were injured as a result of this incident. However, more than 600 passengers were affected by the delay.

The bullet train, Shinkansen, is known for its efficiency and speed which reaches 320 kilometers per hour (200 mph). Commuters in Japan rely heavily on the accuracy of the departure time and arrival of this train service.

In 2017, a conductor at one of the services, Tsukuba Express, sparked an apology from the train network after he departed 20 seconds early.
 
 

Despite talk of a Nobel peace prize, Japan’s leader is facing a backlash among voters as key byelection approaches

In the past fortnight Fumio Kishida has been mentioned as a possible recipient of the Nobel peace prize and praised for a speech to congress in which he urged the US not to retreat into isolation.

But since his return to Tokyo after a successful summit with Joe Biden, Japan’s prime minister has been buffeted by domestic political headwinds that this weekend could spell the beginning of the end of his administration.

Kishida, who came to office in late 2021 promising a “new capitalism”, a more robust Japan on the international stage and solutions to the country’s demographic crisis, faces the toughest test of his premiership when voters go to the polls in three byelections on Sunday.

His Liberal Democratic party (LDP) was unable to find candidates for the votes in two constituencies, where the LDP incumbents were tainted by scandal - and is pinning its hopes on the Shimane 1st district.

The rural constituency on the coast of the Sea of Japan is considered a conservative stronghold, but it is a measure of the size of the problems facing Kishida that speculation is mounting that his party could be unseated.

Despite wooing his American audience – a feat that earned him a bump in his approval ratings – Kishida has little else to endear himself or his party to Japanese voters.

The yen is in freefall against the dollar, the cost-of-living crisis shows little sign of easing, and there are questions over how to fund policies to address Japan’s low birth rate and its biggest military build-up since the end of the war.

But the longest shadow is cast by a funding scandal, first reported last year, that has become a focal point for public anger amid growing doubts about Kishida’s ability to lead the LDP to victory in the next lower house elections.

While that vote is not due for well over a year, the scandal, in which 85 LDP lawmakers were found to have siphoned unreported profits from the sale of tickets to party gatherings into slush funds, has denied Kishida any room for manoeuvre.

Instead, defeat in Shimane, added to certain victory for non-LDP candidates in Sunday’s other byelections, could trigger an early challenge to his leadership when the party holds presidential elections in September, with the winner automatically made prime minister.

Victory in the byelection, on the other hand, could give Kishida enough momentum to call a “put up or shut up” snap election this summer.
But days before the Shimane vote, Japanese media reported that the LDP candidate, a former finance ministry bureaucrat, was trailing his rival from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic party.

That, say analysts, reflects a wider dissatisfaction with Kishida’s administration, whose approval ratings have plunged to record lows well under 30% - the point at which Japanese governments are said to be entering choppy electoral waters.

“If the LDP loses Shimane … Kishida is likely to come under pressure from within his party in a way that he has not yet experienced since winning the party leadership race [in September 2021],” said James Brady, vice president of the Teneo advisory firm.

“The party’s response to the slush fund issue has been consistently unconvincing to the public, and there is little reason to think that the planned reforms would change that trend.”

Attempts to repair the damage inflicted by the funding scandal, and the promise of reform to political funding laws, have also failed to defuse criticism in the media, with one newspaper describing Kishida’s response as “utterly unacceptable”.

While 39 LDP lawmakers were punished, Kishida escaped sanction despite evidence that his own faction had also under-reported ticket sales – apparent double standards that risk sparking a factional power struggle that would leave him bloodied as he attempts to retain his party’s endorsement as LDP president this autumn.

Kishida may have taken comfort from the suggestion last week by the US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell that he should be the joint recipient, with South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol, of the Nobel peace prize for their attempts to address their countries’ bitter historical legacy and show a united front against nuclear-armed North Korea.

But even as he implored the US to overcome “self-doubt” over its global leadership – with a cautious eye on the possible return of Donald Trump – his focus was on the storm that awaited him in Japan.

Greeted by cheers as only the second Japanese leader to address a joint session of congress – the first was Shinzo Abe – Kishida could not resist a gentle dig at his parliamentary colleagues back home: “I never get such nice applause from the Japanese Diet [Japan’s version of congress].”
 
 

A satellite operated by Japanese company Astroscale has chased down a 15 year-old piece of space junk and taken an up-close image of it.
  The object is a discarded rocket segment that's about 11m by 4m (36ft by 15ft), with a mass of three tonnes.
 It's the first time anyone has managed to rendezvous with so big a piece of space debris.
 Astroscale is developing a business that would offer to remove others' redundant hardware from orbit.
 It won't do it on this occasion; the current mission is all about testing the sensors and software needed for safe proximity operations. But a determined effort to pull a lump of junk out of the sky should occur in the next couple of years, the firm says.
  The issue of orbital debris and the sustainable use of space is becoming a hot topic right now.
  Millions of items of techno-detritus have accumulated overhead since the start of the space age in 1957 - from flecks of paint to the abandoned upper-stages of rockets, like the one just pictured by Astroscale.
  This wandering swarm of metal and other materials runs the risk of colliding with, and destroying, the functional satellites we use to communicate and monitor the planet.
  Rocket bodies are a particular hazard because of their immense bulk.The one in the new image came from Japan's H-IIA launch vehicle, which lofted a CO2-measuring spacecraft called Gosat, in 2009.
 The upper-section of the rocket ejected Gosat at an altitude of roughly 600km.
 But whereas more modern rockets make sure all their parts come back down to Earth soon after a flight, this H-IIA stage stayed up there. And it's far from being alone.
 The European Space Agency has counted 2,220 rocket bodies still in orbit today.
  Astroscale calls its rendezvous mission Adras-J, or Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan.
  It's being performed by a smart spacecraft that was launched on 18 February. The satellite has been closing in on the H-IIA body ever since.
 Adras-J used cameras and algorithms to make the final approach. Great care is needed not to bump into the rocket segment, which is slowly turning end over end.
 Astroscale's UK employees built the "ground segment" for the mission, which is the system used to communicate with Adras-J. They've also done much of the "flight dynamics" work, which is all about precise navigation.
  Around-the-clock operations have been shared by Mission Control in Tokyo and the company's British base at Harwell in Oxfordshire.
  The plan is to spend the coming weeks taking more imagery and gathering information on the rocket segment, such as the condition of the structure, its spin rate, and spin axis.
 Adras-J will will attempt to fly around the rocket body in the process.Future Astroscale missions will move in and grab hold of their quarry with the aid of robotic arms.
  On this occasion, Adras-J will limit itself to an experiment in which it will try to slow the tumbling rate of the rocket stage.
  The activity will involve firing thrusters at the body in a direction opposite to its spin motion. The pressure of the thrusters' plume ought to decelerate the rotation rate.
 A number of companies around the world are developing technologies similar to Astroscale.
 Experts say that to prevent a cascade of collisions in orbit, it's imperative space-faring nations start removing several large pieces of junk every year.  
 

 
Travelers flocked to airports and train stations for visits to resorts and trips home on Saturday, as Japan kicked off its Golden Week holidays, which run through May 6.

Departure lobbies at Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture were crowded with travelers, with families hauling large suitcases forming long lines at airline counters in the international terminal from the morning, local media reported.

An estimated 835,200 people were due to travel through the airport during the 11-day Golden Week period — about 77% of the number during the same period in 2019, before the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, but more than 1.3 times as many as last year, the Narita Airport Corp. said in a news release.

Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam — perennially popular with Japanese tourists — were among the destinations for some travelers. Nearby South Korea and Taiwan were also among key locales for those concerned about the weak yen, NHK reported.

Reservations for bullet train and other rail services were also up for the period, with a total of 2.96 million seats booked for Friday through May 6, up 16% from last year, the nation’s six Japan Railway operators said in a release on April 11. The number was also a 7% increase compared with 2018, before the pandemic began — yet another sign of Japan’s tourism recovery.

This year's Golden Week holidays are the first since the government downgraded the classification of COVID-19 to the same level as the seasonal flu in May last year, completely lifting all remaining virus-linked travel restrictions.

Meanwhile, the earthquake-hit Noto Peninsula area of Ishikawa Prefecture was expected to welcome a large number of volunteers to help in the ongoing clean up and reconstruction effort during the holiday period, NHK reported.

The prefecture has called for volunteers to comeduring the holiday period, when it is easier for them to adjust their schedules and because many residents of the area are due to return home.

Some 23.3 million people in Japan — roughly 90% of pre-pandemic levels — are expected to travel during the holidays, according to a survey by travel agency JTB released earlier this month.
 
 

Japan’s major beer brewers are opening facilities featuring eye-catching interactive experiences in a bid to crack open the interest of young people who have been shying away from the beverage.

Among the brewers aiming to attract new customers through this approach is Asahi Breweries Ltd., which opened a concept store showcasing its mainstay Super Dry beer in Tokyo’s posh Ginza district on Thursday.

The store features the “Super Dry Go Ride,” in which images are projected on a huge 4K screen along with sounds, shaking and wind, making visitors feel as though they are riding on a beer can going through the production process.

Visitors also can use a machine to draw characters and pictures in beer foam and even pour their own draft beer at the store, which will be open until the end of September.

“The rebound back toward beer has picked up pace since liquor taxes were revised [last year],” an Asahi Breweries official said at a preview tour of the store on Wednesday. “We hope all kinds of people, not just beer fans, will enjoy visiting this store.”

As for other beer makers, Kirin Brewery Co. will open its renovated Spring Valley Brewery Tokyo, a craft beer facility in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, on May 30. The facility has an onsite brewery, and Kirin plans to hold events featuring music and art to create a space where visitors can comfortably enjoy drinking beer.

On April 3, Sapporo Breweries Ltd. opened a facility at the Yebisu Garden Place commercial complex in Shibuya Ward. More than 35,000 people have already visited the facility, which features displays of vintage Sapporo posters and bottles, and an exhibition that looks back on the brand’s history.

Suntory Holdings Ltd. has since April let visitors pour their own freshly brewed Premium Malts beer at its brewery in Fuchu, Tokyo.

“Alcohol is gradually becoming a thing that young people don’t feel a close affinity for,” said Naoko Kuga, a senior researcher at NLI Research Institute. “It’s vital that beer manufacturers make people interested in their products through social media and experiences such as test tastings and hands-on attractions.”
 
 

The Bank of Japan kept its ultra-low interest rates unchanged Friday but analysts say the tumbling yen is putting pressure on officials to act.

With the currency at three-decade lows against the dollar, speculation has grown that authorities could intervene in forex markets to provide support for the first time since 2022.

A weaker yen pushes up the price of imported goods, so the BOJ could lift its inflation forecasts and potentially move away from its ultra-loose policies more quickly, according to analysts.

On Friday morning, the dollar bought 156.10-11 yen, having touched 155.75 the previous day -- its highest since 1990.

If the falling yen creates "an impact too big to be ignored, it means that in some cases a change in monetary policy will become possible", BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said last week.

Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki warned Friday the government was "concerned" about the negative aspects of the weak yen, repeating that authorities will take "all possible measures" if necessary, Japanese media said.

The central bank ditched its negative interest rate policy in March as it announced its first hike in 17 years, giving a brief lift to the yen.
But officials also suggested there were no more increases on the immediate horizon, tempering the yen's gains.

The currency is among other global units that have fallen against the dollar as a series of above-forecast U.S. inflation data dim hopes for Federal Reserve rate cuts.

This leaves a big differential between the policies of the central banks as the Fed holds rates at two-decade highs while the BoJ continues with its extreme easing.

So even if the BOJ holds steady, any tweaks to its easing program and the tone of comments from Ueda will be scrutinised for hints on future moves.

Ueda might want to take a long-term view, but "he may not be able to avoid the forex factor", said Hideo Kumano, chief economist of Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

"Amidst the ongoing yen depreciation against the U.S. dollar, the pressure intensifies on Japanese policymakers to translate their verbal assurances into concrete measures," said Luca Santos, currency analyst ACY Securities.

The BOJ has spent vast amounts on bonds and other assets to pump liquidity into the Japanese economy, targeting inflation of two percent that policymakers hoped would fuel growth.

In March, inflation stood at 2.6 percent.
Jiji Press cited sources Friday as saying BOJ policymakers would discuss ways to reduce the bank's purchases of Japanese government bonds.

The institution currently holds 592 trillion yen in JGBs, an amount equivalent to the size of the country's gross domestic product in 2023.



© 2024 AFP
 
 

Three 18-year-old men were killed and a fourth man the same age injured after the light car they were traveling in crashed through a guardrail and fell into a rice field in Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture, on Thursday night.

Police received a call at around 10:30 p.m. from a local resident who said that a car was lying in a rice field, Kyodo News reported.

Police said the car crashed through the guardrail on the sidewalk and fell 1.5 meters into the rice field, lying on its driver's side, eight meters away from the sidewalk.

The four men in the car were rushed to the hospital, but three sustained serious head injuries and were pronounced dead upon arrival. The fourth man had minor injuries, police said.

The scene is a straight road with one lane in each direction with good visibility. Police said they will wait until the fourth man recovers to question him about the circumstances leading up to the accident.



© Japan Today
 
 

A huge black barrier to block Mount Fuji from view will be installed in a popular photo spot by Japanese authorities exasperated by crowds of badly behaved foreign tourists.

Construction of the mesh net – 2.5m high and the length of a cricket pitch at 20m – will begin as early as next week, an official from Fujikawaguchiko town said Friday (Apr 26).

"It's regrettable we have to do this, because of some tourists who can't respect rules", leaving litter behind and ignoring traffic regulations, he told AFP.

It is the latest direct action in Japan against over-tourism after residents of Kyoto's geisha district banned visitors from small private alleys this year.

Record numbers of overseas tourists are travelling to the country, where monthly visitors exceeded 3 million in March for the first time.

Mount Fuji, Japan's highest mountain, can be photographed from many spots in the resort town of Fujikawaguchiko.

But this viewpoint is particularly popular because the majestic volcano appears behind a Lawson convenience store, which is ubiquitous in Japan.

Due to this visual juxtaposition, "a reputation has spread on social media that this spot is very Japanese, making it a popular photo location", said the town official who declined to be named.

The mostly non-Japanese tourists are overcrowding a stretch of pavement next to the Lawson shop, he said.

After traffic signs and repeated warnings from security guards fell on deaf ears, the town in Yamanashi region decided on the huge screen as a last resort.

The measure is also meant to protect a nearby dental clinic against the onslaught of tourists.

They sometimes park there without permission and have even been seen climbing on the roof of the clinic to get the perfect shot, the official said.

The town wishes it had not come down to this, he said, adding that the current plan is for the screen to be maintained until the situation improves.
Tourism to Japan has been booming since pandemic-era border restrictions were lifted, and the government has been working hard to boost visitor numbers.

But this has not been universally welcomed – including in Kyoto where locals have complained of snap-happy tourists harassing the city's immaculately dressed geisha.

And this summer, hikers using the most popular route to climb Mount Fuji will be charged US$13 each, with numbers capped to ease congestion.

Other top destinations worldwide are also struggling with visitor numbers, and on Thursday Venice began charging day-trippers for entry to tackle mass tourism.
 
 

Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Thursday there is no change "at all" in the Japanese government's stance that it will act appropriately to address the weakening of the yen after it slipped past 155 to the U.S. dollar

Speaking in parliament, Suzuki said the government is carefully monitoring currency market developments but declined to comment further, amid market vigilance over a possible yen-buying dollar-selling operation to slow the Japanese currency's fall.

"We are closely watching market developments. There is no change at all in our resolve to respond appropriately based on this," Suzuki said.

The finance chief has repeatedly issued verbal warnings about the yen's volatility, threatening to take appropriate action without ruling out any options.

Still, his latest comments did not suggest a change in tone, days after he said conditions were being set for "appropriate" action, without giving further details. Japan previously stepped into the currency market to arrest the yen's sharp drop in late 2022.

Japan's top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi reiterated that currency moves should be stable, reflecting economic fundamentals.

"We are of the view that excessive fluctuations are not desirable. The government will be closely watching market developments and take all necessary steps," said Hayashi, the chief Cabinet secretary.

The yen's depreciation reflects a wide interest rate gap between Japan and the United States.

The Bank of Japan, which holds a two-day policy meeting from Thursday, raised interest rates for the first time in 17 years last month but the central bank is not expected to rapidly push rates higher and it has underscored the need to continue accommodative financial conditions.

The U.S. Federal Reserve, meanwhile, is now expected to cut interest rates later than initially thought, boosting the dollar further.

A weak yen inflates import costs, which contributes to higher inflation in Japan.
 
 

Nissan Motor Co on Thursday unveiled four new energy vehicle (NEV) concepts and showcased a strong lineup of electrified models at Auto China 2024 under the theme of “A new Nissan for a new era in China,” underscoring its latest achievements and future direction in electrification.

Nissan also announced that it will launch one more NEV in the market than previously disclosed, bringing the total of the planned vehicle launches to five by fiscal year 2026.

Nissan President and Chief Executive Officer Makoto Uchida said: “To achieve sustainable growth in the rapidly changing Chinese market, Nissan is committed to a China-tailored strategy as we announced in our new business plan, ‘The Arc’.

Starting with new energy vehicles to be based on the concepts unveiled today, Nissan will build a balanced product portfolio of diverse and competitive new models. Our aim will be to provide a more exciting mobility experience to all customers in China.”

The four NEV concept models unveiled, two EVs and two plug-in hybrids, are a joint effort with local partner Dong Feng and aimed to better address the future mobility needs of customers in China.

The Nissan Epoch Concept is an EV sedan for urban and suburban go-getters who wish to enhance their lifestyles with design and technologies.

The concept has an AI-expanded Internet of Things, and its virtual personal assistant makes life easier and more comfortable through communication that recognizes emotions.
 

• The Nissan Epic Concept is an EV SUV perfectly suited for adventurous city couples who explore on weekends, with autonomous driving for both the city and on highways. The vehicle can function as a mobile power source, with electricity to power equipment, campsites or parties. Meanwhile, its on-board technologies support and create a relaxing atmosphere.
• The Nissan Era Concept is a plug-in hybrid SUV that supports urban lifestyles and is well suited to young businesspeople who treat their car as a second home. With an interconnected entertainment system and zero-gravity seats, its advanced e-4ORCE all-wheel control and active air suspension provide both a comfortable and confident drive.
• The Nissan Evo Concept plug-in hybrid sedan is perfect for weekend getaways and creating special moments for the whole family. In addition to its advanced driver support and safety functions, its AI-enhanced virtual personal assistant helps properly deliver the intended drive and journey.

 
 

A zoo in Japan has confirmed that a hippopotamus thought for seven years to be a he is, in fact, a she.
  A DNA test was carried out after zookeepers noticed that 12-year-old Gen-chan did not display typical male hippo behaviour.
 Gen-chan arrived in Osaka from Mexico in 2017, and customs documents at the time said she was male.
 "We will keep doing our best to provide comfortable environment to Gen-chan," the zoo said.
 The Osaka Tennoji Zoo confirmed the news about Gen-chan's actual sex in a post published on their website last week.
 The post said Gen-chan first arrived at their zoo from the Africam Safari animal park in Mexico when she was five years old, and was declared as a male.
 The statement said that because Gen-chan was still a calf at the time, they did not question the documents.   But zookeepers got suspicious as Gen-chan got older and they could not visually identify male reproductive organs.
 A spokeswoman for the Osaka Tennoji Zoo told AFP on Tuesday that typical male hippo behaviour that Gen-chan was not displaying included making courtship calls to female hippos, or scattering faeces around while defecating with a propeller-like tail motion in order to mark territory.
 According to the Mainichi newspaper, the zoo's vice director Kiyoshi Yasufuku said: "We recognise the importance of confirming the sex, and we want to ensure that such mistakes will not happen again."
 The zoo confirmed that Gen-chan will not be getting a name change.  
 

The National Police Agency disclosed a plan Thursday to increase the minimum amount of state benefits paid to bereaved families of crime victims.

Under the plan to revise the benefit system, the minimum amount will be raised from ¥3.2 million to ¥10.6 million in principle. The NPA aims to carry out the revision in June after seeking public comments.

In June last year, the government decided to consider raising benefits for bereaved families substantially as many such people have not received enough compensation from perpetrators.

This year, an expert panel of the NPA recommended on April 16 that the state benefits be increased.

Benefits for bereaved families are calculated based mainly on the income of victims before the incident and their age.

If the victim is a young child, however, the minimum amount the bereaved family will receive is ¥3.2 million. The expert panel said that the amount is not enough.

The panel also said that factors other than the victim's income should also be taken into account in deciding the amounts of benefits as bereaved families tend to become unable to work due to a psychological shock and thus suffer financial damage.

According to the NPA, the amounts of benefits for bereaved families determined in fiscal 2022 averaged ¥7,438,000, far below the average of ¥25.14 million for fiscal 2021 paid for fatal accidents by compulsory automobile liability insurance.

The panel requested that the amounts of benefits for crime victims' families be raised to levels matching those of other public benefits.
 
 

The Nagoya District Court on Monday imposed a nine-year prison term and an ¥8 million ($51,700) fine on a 25-year-old woman — who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri” — for swindling three men out of ¥156 million through a romance scam and for selling a manual on how to commit similar acts of fraud.

The defendant, whose real name is Mai Watanabe, spent the money she obtained from the three men on a host whom she fell in love with, with the aim of making him No. 1 in terms of sales at the club where he works in Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district, the court found.

Presiding Judge Yoichi Omura condemned the defendant, saying that “her motive to contribute to the sales of a host is truly selfish, and there is no room for leniency.”

"She took advantage of (the victims') feelings for her," Omura said.
Watanabe pleaded guilty during the trial in December.

“I thought it was fair game to commit fraud for the sake of the host,” Watanabe said when questioned during the trial. But she also showed remorse, saying that she “did something really bad.”

Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Itadakijoshi Riri-chan,” which roughly translates as Sugar Baby Riri, dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.

Itadakijoshi, which literally means girls who receive, refers to young women who date or have sex with older men in exchange for financial benefits. With many such women swindling large amounts of money from men in recent years, itadakijoshi was nominated as one of the top 30 buzzwords of 2023.

Watanabe was charged with defrauding three men in their 50s out of a total of ¥155.8 million in cash between 2021 and 2023, and with helping a 21-year-old woman in Nagoya defraud two men of a total of about ¥10 million in 2022 by selling her a manual titled "A Reference Book for Sugar Babies.”

She was also accused of failing to declare around ¥40 million worth of income over a two-year period through 2022 and of income tax evasion.
Prosecutors had sought 13 years of imprisonment and a ¥13 million fine for Watanabe.

In October, the Aichi Prefectural Police arrested two hosts for knowingly receiving money obtained through fraud from Watanabe.
 
 

About 70 pct of companies in Japan will implement pay scale increases in fiscal 2024, a survey by the Finance Ministry showed Monday.

According to the survey, the proportion of companies planning to raise their pay scales stood at 70.7 pct, up by 6.3 percentage points from the previous year.

The proportion of such companies rose 8.8 points to 63.1 pct among small and medium-sized firms, outpacing a 3.2-point increase among large companies.

Companies planning to implement pay scale increases of 3 pct or more accounted for 59.8 pct, up 23.4 points. Companies at which pay scale hikes and regular pay increases will total 5 pct or more came to 36.5 pct, nearly doubling from the previous year.

“Raising employees’ motivation to work, improving working conditions and preventing employees from quitting” was the most common reason for pay hikes, followed by “responding to rising prices” and “securing new employees.”

Meanwhile, 50.2 pct of small and medium-sized firms said that they had been unable to pass on rising labor costs in their product and service prices, partly due to a lack of understanding from their clients.

The survey also showed that about 40 pct of firms were struggling with labor shortages even after raising wages.

In the survey, an official in the hotel industry said that continued population falls and low wages are behind labor shortages.

An official at an industrial machinery maker said that some flexibility is needed in working hour regulations.

The survey was conducted from March to this month, receiving answers from around 1,100 companies throughout Japan.
 
 

Japanese auto giant Honda will open an electric vehicle plant in eastern Canada, a Canadian government source familiar with the multibillion-dollar project told AFP on Monday.

The federal government as well as the province of Ontario, where the plant will be built, will both provide some financial incentives for the deal, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official announcement is due Thursday, though Ontario premier Doug Ford hinted at the deal on Monday.

"This week, we've landed a new deal. It will be the largest deal in Canadian history. It'll be double the size of Volkswagen," he said, referring to a battery plant announced last year, for which the German automaker pledged Can$7 billion (U.S.$5 billion) in investment.

Canada in recent years has been positioning itself as an attractive destination for electric vehicle investment, touting tax incentives, renewable energy access and its rare mineral deposits.

The Honda plant, to be built an hour outside Toronto, in Alliston, will also produce electric-vehicle batteries, joining existing Volkswagen and Stellantis battery plants.

In January, when news of the deal first bubbled up in the Japanese press, the Nikkei newspaper estimated it would be worth Can$14 billion -- numbers backed up by Canadian officials recently.

In the federal budget announced last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government introduced a new business tax credit, granting companies a 10 percent rebate on construction costs for new buildings used in key segments of the electric vehicle supply chain.

Canada's strategy follows that of the neighboring United States, whose Inflation Reduction Act has provided a host of incentives for green industry.

Honda hopes to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2040, with a goal of going carbon-neutral in its own operations by 2050.


© 2024 AFP
 
 

The Japanese navy is continuing its search for seven crew in the Pacific Ocean after the apparent crash of two helicopters on Saturday night, which killed at least one crewman. Rescuers have so far recovered the body of one man, as well as black boxes and debris, but are yet to find the others.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida mourned the tragedy in parliament on Monday."It is of utmost regret that we lost our personnel as they engaged in very tough, late-night training," he said.It's still unclear what exactly caused the crash, which took place near the Izu Islands, which lie not far from the mainland, about 600km (372 miles) south of Tokyo.   Flight recorders retrieved from both aircraft had not revealed technical problems, Japan's Defence Minister Minoru Kihara said.
 "Firstly we do our best to save lives," Mr Kihara said on Sunday, adding the helicopters had been "doing drills to counter submarines at night".The two helicopters were both carrying four crew during the drills on Saturday night.
 Communication with one helicopter was lost at 22:38 local time (14:38 BST) off the island of Torishima, broadcaster NHK reported,One minute later, an emergency signal was received from this aircraft.   After 25 minutes, the military realised communication with the other aircraft was also lost in the same area.
 Authorities launched a major search operation using 10 ships and five aircraft to scour the waters.
 "We have a 24-hour operation for the search, which took place all day and all night," a navy officer told AFP news agency.
 Along with the recovery of one man's body, crews found the flight recorders near each other as well as debris including parts of rotor blades.The Mitsubishi SH-60K helicopters - based on the Sikorsky Seahawk - mainly operate from naval destroyers.   As there were no other aircraft nor vessels in nearby waters, the navy said involvement of another country in the incident was unlikely.
 Japan has boosted defence spending and deepened cooperation with the US, South Korea and other countries in Asia in response to China's growing assertiveness in the region.
 In April 2023 a Japanese army helicopter with 10 people on board crashed off Miyako island in southern Okinawa prefecture.
 The UH60 helicopter, known as a Black Hawk, had been surveying the local area at the time it disappeared.
 A senior Ground Self Defence Force commander, Lt Gen Yuichi Sakamoto, was among those on the flight. There were no survivors.   The US military also maintains a base on Okinawa, a grouping of islands in the East China Sea about halfway between Taiwan and Japan's mainland.  
 

The government said Monday it was closely monitoring reports that a Chinese professor at a Japanese university has been missing since he took a trip home over a year ago.

Fan Yuntao, 61, "has been engaged in teaching at a university in Japan for a long time, and the matter could concern the professor's human rights," top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

"We are closely monitoring" the issue, he said when asked about reports in Japanese media — citing unnamed diplomatic sources — that Fan had been unreachable since visiting China in February 2023.

The sources said Fan was contacted by Chinese authorities before he disappeared, Kyodo News reported. The Yomiuri daily said they may have questioned him.

Fan's employer, Asia University, said he was "on leave" but declined to comment further, citing privacy issues.

Educated at Kyoto University, Fan is a professor of international law and politics, the university's website says.

The reports come just a month after Japan's Kobe Gakuin University said the whereabouts in China of Hu Shiyun, a literature and linguistics professor, were also unknown.

Beijing has sharpened its focus on its nationals abroad in recent years.
In 2019, Yuan Keqin, a professor at Japan's Hokkaido University of Education, vanished after traveling to China for a family funeral. China's foreign ministry later said he had confessed to spying and was in custody.

And in 2013, Zhu Jianrong, a professor at Tokyo's Toyo Gakuen University, was detained by Chinese authorities on suspicion of illegal intelligence-gathering, also after vanishing on a trip home.
 
 

North Korea on Monday fired at least one ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan, but no damage was reported as it fell into waters outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, the Japanese government said.

The missile, launched in a northeasterly direction at around 3 p.m., is estimated to have flown more than 250 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 50 km before falling near the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, according to Japan's Defense Ministry.

The South Korean military said it detected the firing of multiple projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area toward the Sea of Japan at around 3:01 p.m.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed related ministries and agencies to gather information and ensure the safety of aircraft and ships, according to his office.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference that Tokyo strongly condemns the missile test as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and has lodged a protest with Pyongyang through diplomatic channels.

"North Korea's series of actions, including its repeated missile launches, poses a threat to the peace and stability of Japan, the region and the international community," the top government spokesman added.

The latest North Korean missile launch comes as Japan, South Korea and the United States have been stepping up their security collaboration to address North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs.

Washington and its East Asian allies have been keeping a close eye on the possible launch of a spy satellite by North Korea, with a U.S. think tank estimating that it could take place by the end of this month at the latest.

Pyongyang has said it plans to launch three spy satellites this year following what is believed to have been its first successful launch in November.

North Korea also on Friday conducted "a power test of a super-large warhead" for the Hwasal-1 Ra-3 strategic cruise missile and test-fired the Pyoljji-1-2 new-type anti-aircraft missile in the Yellow Sea, the country's official Korean Central News Agency has reported.

North Korea's last ballistic missile launch was on April 2, when its leader Kim Jong Un attended a test launch of the solid fuel-powered, intermediate-range Hwasong-16 missile carrying a hypersonic warhead in a Pyongyang suburb, according to the state-run media.
 
 

 
Takashimaya, a Japanese operator of upscale department stores, plans to open a shopping centre in Hanoi in 2026 that will be the company's first new location abroad in eight years, Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported.
 
Takashimaya, a Japanese operator of upscale department stores, plans to open a shopping centre in Hanoi in 2026 that will be the company's first new location abroad in eight years, Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported.

Takashimaya President Yoshio Murata told Nikkei in a recent interview that the company’s subsidiary Toshin Development has started work on a mixed-use complex in Hanoi. Along with a department store, the site will include space for housing, offices and commercial tenants.

Takashimaya is expected to invest an estimated 2 billion JYP (12.9 million USD) in opening the department store.

The Hanoi complex will be the company's first overseas location since its Bangkok store opened in 2018, and its fifth department store in Southeast Asia and China combined. 

With growth getting harder to come by in Japan, Takashimaya is looking to Southeast Asia in particular to expand its profit base, Nikkei noted.

Vietnam is being positioned as Takashimaya's biggest growth market due to the country's expanding middle and upper classes. However, in Vietnam, it faces heavy competition not only with local players but also with Lotte Group from the Republic of Korea and Aeon Mall from Japan.

Murata said Takashimaya will create stores that will compete with other stores, and that demand for Japanese product quality will rise as the standard of living improves.

The new complex will feature a department store with about 10,000 sq.m of sales space, along with specialty stores. Takashimaya is considering bringing in Japanese tenants to sell such items as food, cosmetics and children's clothing.

In Vietnam, Takashimaya opened its first retail centre in Ho Chi Minh City in 2016, which posted a 2% increase in revenues in the fiscal year ending February to 3 billion JPY./.