China said Friday it will restart its unilateral visa-free arrangement for short-term Japanese visitors on Nov. 30, allowing stays of up to 30 days.

The preferential treatment, which had been suspended since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is believed to be aimed at promoting tourism and trade amid a downturn in the world's second-largest economy.

The measure will be effective through the end of next year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

China has given visa exemptions to short-term visitors from about 30 other countries, including Southeast Asian, European and Oceanian ones as well as South Korea.

But it had previously called for "equal" visa treatment for Chinese nationals as a condition for a resumption of the visa-free arrangement, which Tokyo has repeatedly sought, according to sources familiar with bilateral relations.
Japan requires all Chinese visitors to obtain visas regardless of the length of stay.

Hours after China's formal announcement about the visa exemption, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters in Tokyo that his government had urged Beijing to take such a step to accelerate private exchanges between the two countries.

"We hope that bilateral exchanges will be encouraged further," Ishiba said, adding that deepening Japan-China communication is the most important foundation for the two nations' ties.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ishiba agreed during their meeting in Peru last week to foster "mutually beneficial" and "stable" relations and boost people-to-people exchanges.

Between 2003 and 2020, China allowed Japanese nationals to visit the country without visas for up to 15 days.

Before the pandemic, China also had unilateral arrangements for visa-free short-term visits by Singapore and Brunei citizens. In July last year, it revived the program for the two nations and expanded the preferential measure to other countries.
 

 

The U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington returned to the Yokosuka base near Tokyo on Friday, its second deployment to Japan, in a show of the Navy's continuing presence in the region.

The George Washington was previously based in Kanagawa Prefecture from 2008, when it became the first U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier to be forward-deployed to Japan before being relieved by the Ronald Reagan in 2015.

"A U.S. carrier represents the most advanced maritime capability we have, and it's the most advanced investment we can make in the security of Japan and of the Western Pacific," Vice Adm Fred Kacher, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet, said in a statement.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel told reporters that the presence of the George Washington and F-35 fighter jets stationed on the aircraft carrier significantly enhances U.S. deterrence in the region.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier departed the San Diego area in California in early October for a seven-week transit to Japan, following a major overhaul in Virginia.

"The George Washington returns with modernized, cutting-edge technology that represents our investment in deterrence and security in this region," Kacher said.

In November, the ship and its aviation arm, Carrier Strike Group 5, took part in a joint exercise with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the South Korean military in the East China Sea and its vicinity, amid nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

Safety and environment concerns linger among residents of Yokosuka, where the 7th Fleet, the largest forward-deployed American fleet, is also headquartered.

The Kanagawa prefectural government gives out information about port visits by U.S. nuclear-powered vessels and radiation measurement data around the port to the public on its official website.



© KYODO
 
 

An earthquake struck Aomori Prefecture on Wednesday around 3:40 p.m., measuring four on the seven-level Japanese seismic intensity scale.

No tsunami is expected to result, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 5.1, occurred at a depth of about 10 kilometers.

Tremors with an intensity of four on the Japanese scale were recorded in the towns of Hiranai and Noheji, among others in the prefecture.
 
 

Japan is within touching distance of an eighth straight World Cup appearance after a 3-1 win over China on Tuesday put the team nine points clear of second-place Australia, which drew 2-2 with Bahrain, in their Asian qualifying group.

Despite beating China 7-0 at home in September, it took Japan 39 minutes to break the deadlock in Xiamen with a Koki Ogawa header. Ko Itakura added a second before halftime.

Home fans grew hopeful when Lin Liangming scored early in the second half but Ogawa headed home his second soon after.

The Samurai Blue have 16 points from six games, with four to go in Group C. Australia is next with seven points after Kusini Yengi scored in the 96th minute to earn a dramatic draw for the Socceroos in Bahrain.

The Portsmouth forward opened the scoring in the first minute but two second-half goals from Mahdi Abduljabbar put the hosts in sight of a famous victory before Yengi’s late intervention. Bahrain is one of four teams on six points along with Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and China.

Indonesia stunned Saudi Arabia 2-0 in Jakarta. A goal in each half from Marselino Ferdinan, who plays for Oxford United in England’s second tier, nailed down a famous victory for the Southeast Asian nation which last appeared at the World Cup in 1938 as Dutch East Indies.

“Indonesia deserved to win this game,” Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard said. “We have four games left and it will be tough but it will be tough for everybody.”

It was a first ever win for Indonesia in the third round of qualification.
“I am so proud of my team and the country,” goalkeeper Maarten Paes said. “Marselino scored two great goals and we defended so well. We knew that this was an important game and, to get a win, that gives us so much confidence. It is so close in our group.”

In Group B, South Korea stays top despite being held to a 1-1 draw by the Palestinian team in Amman, Jordan. Zaid Al Qanbar opened the scoring after 12 minutes though Son Heung-min soon found the target to keep South Korea on course for an 11th straight World Cup with 14 points.

Iraq is three points behind in second after a 1-0 win in Oman and Jordan’s 1-1 draw with Kuwait takes the team onto nine.

In Group A, Iran won 3-2 in Kyrgyzstan to move onto 16 points, three clear of Uzbekistan who took a big step toward a first World Cup by edging North Korea 1-0.

United Arab Emirates routed Qatar 5-0 — Fabio Lima scored four goals — to move onto 10 points.

The top two from each of the three groups of six progress automatically to the World Cup while the six teams who finish third and fourth will advance to the next stage of qualification.
 


 

The number of foreign visitors to Japan surpassed 30 million in the period between January and October, marking the fastest pace ever, government data showed Wednesday.

The total number stood at 30,192,600 during the 10 months, crossing the 30 million threshold for the first time since 2019, before the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the Japan National Tourism Organization said.
 
 

Japan and Britain have agreed to hold regular high-level talks on economic security, Tokyo said Tuesday after the two countries' leaders met on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

The move comes ahead of the second White House stint for Donald Trump, who has promised to levy massive tariffs on China and to raise import duties for others.

The United States and its Group of Seven (G7) allies, including Japan and Britain, have warned of a "disturbing rise in incidents of economic coercion" in a veiled reference to China.

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his UK counterpart Keir Starmer held a bilateral meeting on Monday in Rio de Janeiro. Both are members of the G20 -- the world's biggest economies, including the United States, China and Russia.

Ishiba and Starmer agreed to launch the so-called "economic 2+2" talks between their foreign and economic ministers "to further advance bilateral cooperation, in the field of economy including trade and economic security."

"The two leaders shared the view that achieving strong economic growth is a common priority," said a Japanese foreign ministry statement issued after the meeting.

While the statement did not mention Trump, Japan's Nikkei business daily said the countries would use their new forum to explore strategies to dissuade Washington from tariffs.

Ishiba and Starmer also agreed to promote defense cooperation and "to continue to work closely together on various issues in the international community, such as the situation in East Asia and Ukraine."

The pair, along with Italy, are developing a new fighter jet set to be airborne by 2035.
 
 

Police from Saitama and other prefectures have arrested four Japanese men transferred from the Philippines to Japan for allegedly being involved in a fraud case.

The men, arrested Monday, are believed to be members of a group based in an apartment in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh that engaged in telephone or other scams classified as special fraud in Japan. Jun Kiyohara, 30, one of the arrested men, was likely in charge of the base of operations.
The four had been taken into custody by Philippine authorities.

According to the Saitama Prefectural Police department, the group is believed to be involved in 110 special fraud cases in 29 prefectures, which caused victims to lose a total of ¥1 billion.

Based partly on analyses of seized materials, the police believe that the total damage from the group reaches some ¥3 billion.

A joint investigation team of the Saitama and eight other prefectural police departments had already arrested 29 individuals believed to be members of the group, including 25 taken into custody by Cambodian authorities in September last year. Police are still on the hunt for three individuals.

The four men arrested Monday had fled the Phnom Penh base before it was raided by the Cambodian authorities.

In July last year, the four allegedly pretended to be nursing facility staff and phoned a woman in her 80s in Omachi, Nagano Prefecture, tricking her into sending ¥2.75 million in cash in a package as what they claimed to be fees to avoid criminal charges.

The woman also sent cash in similar ways more than once, meaning that she was likely cheated out of over ¥30 million in total, according to police.
 

 

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba missed a group photo session at the APEC summit in Peru's capital of Lima, with the top government spokesman saying Monday that he was delayed in a traffic jam on his way back from visiting a grave.

The session Saturday proceeded without Ishiba, with leaders such as U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in attendance. While Xi was positioned near the center at the front, Biden, who will step down in January, stood toward the back.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference, "As the photo session was held at the end of the meeting, the absence did not affect the relationship-building process with the other leaders."

Ishiba, who became prime minister in early October, "delivered his messages and demonstrated his presence firmly during the two-day gathering" of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Hayashi added.

He said Ishiba was caught in heavy traffic caused by an accident while returning to the summit venue after laying flowers at the graveof former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori in the suburbs of Lima.

Fujimori, the first head of state of Japanese descent in the South American country, died at the age of 86 in September.
 
 

Officers installed security cameras to get to the bottom of the thefts, and ended up uncovering a four-legged culprit

Police and staff were initially flummoxed when shoes started disappearing from a kindergarten in south-west Japan, not least because the “thefts” were of single shoes, not pairs.

Unable to get to the bottom of two incidents reported earlier this month, police installed three security cameras in the hope the thief would strike again, according to the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.

Then, when a single shoe went missing from Gosho Kodomo-en kindergarten in Koga, Fukuoka prefecture, on the night of 11 November, investigators sifted through camera footage, believing they had finally caught their footwear-filching suspect in the act.

The culprit, however, turned out to have four legs, a coat of orangey-brown fur and sharp claws.

Camera footage revealed that a weasel had appeared from behind a wall the previous evening before approaching cubbyholes storing children’s indoor shoes and making off with a single white shoe in its mouth – all in the space of about 10 seconds.

The kindergarten’s head had contacted police in early November after 15 shoes belonging to 10 children had vanished. The following day, another three had gone, while other shoes, which the children wear only inside, were found scattered on the floor.

“We were very worried, but we’re relieved now that we know it was an animal,” a member of staff told the Mainichi.

The newspaper quoted a local police officer as saying that, to his knowledge, the mystery of the missing shoes was the first of its kind.

Prof Hiroshi Sasaki at Chikushi Jogakuen University said the shoe-stealing weasel had probably just given birth and, given the animal’s sensitivity to the cold, was using the shoes to line its nest for the winter.

The shoes’ whereabouts remain unknown, however, and the childcare centre is hoping to prevent a repeat of the incidents by covering the cubbyholes with nets at night in what it described as a “crime prevention measure”.

Japanese-language references to the weasel have similarly negative connotations to those found in English. According to the late Japan-based naturalist CW Nicol, the musky scent of the Japanese weasel gave rise to the saying itachi no saigo-pei.

That literally translates as “the weasel’s final fart”, but is used to refer to the last word or act of an unpopular or dislikable person.
 
 

Japan is reportedly contemplating stronger sanctions against Russia and North Korea due to their increasing cooperation, according to sources.

Tokyo expresses concerns that this partnership could destabilize both European and Asian security, and believes it violates international law, News.Az reports, citing Japan’s TV broadcaster NHK.

Earlier this month, Russia and North Korea ratified a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty, signed by President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un during Putin's June visit to Pyongyang.

According to one of the provisions of the treaty, both sides agreed to provide each other with military assistance in the event of aggression.
 

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte reaffirmed their countries' cooperation to build and strengthen resilient supply chains for critical goods including critical minerals, in a joint statement announced after their meeting in Lima, Peru, Sunday.

Peru is rich in mineral resources such as copper and zinc. Ishiba said to Boluarte that Peru is an important partner for Japan including in terms of economic security.

The joint statement noted "opposition to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion anywhere in the world" and stressed "the need to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine as soon as possible."

The two countries also adopted a roadmap for building stronger relationships in the fields of politics, diplomacy, economy and security.

Ishiba explained to Boluarte that Japan decided to remove the suspension of visa exemption measures for Peruvian nationals.
 
 

A record 346,482 elementary and junior high school students across Japan were absent for 30 days or more in the 2023 academic year, marking the 11th consecutive year of increase, according to a recent education ministry survey.

The figure for the year ended March 2024 represents a 15.9 percent increase from the previous school year, accounting for 3.7 percent of all students, or roughly 1.5 students per 40-student class, according to the survey.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology attributes the increase to more parents choosing not to force their children to attend school, as well as a lack of adequate support for special needs students.

The number of absent students stood at 130,370 in elementary schools, 216,112 in junior high schools and 68,770 in high schools.

The top reason schools gave for students refusing to attend was "lack of motivation for school" at 32.2 percent, followed by "anxiety or depression" at 23.1 percent. Issues related to special needs, such as disabilities or Japanese language support, accounted for 13.6 percent of responses.

The survey also found cases of bullying at schools rose 7.4 percent to 732,568, with those recognized as "serious situations" involving physical and mental damage exceeding 1,000 for the first time at 1,306.

Bullying was identified in 83.6 percent, or 30,213, of all institutions, with a ministry official noting that "understanding the definition (of bullying) and being conscious of it has spread within schools."

The number of suicides among elementary, junior high and high school students totaled 397, of which 186 had unknown circumstances.
 

 

The leaders of Japan, the United States and South Korea agreed Friday to establish a joint secretariat to expand security cooperation among the three countries.

In their meeting in Lima, Peru, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol confirmed that the three countries will strengthen cooperation in addressing North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
 

 

Ishiba said in the meeting that Japan wants to work closely with the United States and South Korea in various fields as strategic cooperation among them is extremely important. Biden expressed hopes for continued trilateral cooperation.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the three leaders said they steadfastly oppose coercive activities in the South China Sea, apparently referring to China.

The leaders also said that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is "an indispensable element of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region."
 
 

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to foster "mutually beneficial" and "stable" relations in their first in-person talks.

Following the meeting in Lima, held on the sidelines of this year's summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Ishiba also said he told Xi that Japan is "extremely concerned" about China's increasingly aggressive military maneuvers.

"There are many differences of opinion between Japan and China. But despite these differences, I agreed with President Xi to continue to have more meetings," Ishiba told reporters.

Xi's last face-to-face talks with a Japanese prime minister were a year ago. Both sides agreed to realize more talks at various levels, including reciprocal visits by foreign ministers and the two countries' high-level economic dialogue, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

China continues carrying out aggressive naval and air activities near a Japan-controlled island, as well as around Taiwan and in the South China Sea, to assert its territorial claims.

A Chinese military plane intruded into Japan's airspace for the first time in August, and Japanese public sentiment toward China worsened after a Japanese schoolboy was stabbed to death the following month in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Ishiba said he urged Xi to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens and the Chinese leader promised to do so for "all foreigners."

According to China's Foreign Ministry, Xi reiterated Japan should face its history and properly deal with sensitive issues such as the future of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory.

Despite long-running tensions over wartime history, territory and many other issues, however, the Japanese and Chinese governments have recognized that reducing tensions would serve their common strategic interests.

As he did with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Laos in October, Ishiba confirmed with Xi the policy direction that has served as the foundation of the bilateral relationship since it was agreed on by Tokyo and Beijing in 2008.

Xi said China is ready to cooperate with Japan to build a "constructive and stable relationship," while noting that the two countries' relationship bears "significance beyond bilateral dimension," according to China's state-run news agency Xinhua.

 

The sit-down between Ishiba and Xi took place as the incoming U.S. administration of President-elect Donald Trump is poised to take a much harder line against China, which has a track record of seeking closer ties with other countries including Japan under such circumstances.

Trump, who decisively won the Nov. 5 presidential election, is quickly filling senior positions in his second administration with those considered to be fervent loyalists and prominent hawks on China.

Meanwhile, Ishiba's grip on power is not solid despite earlier this week being reelected by parliament as Japan's prime minister following a general election setback that saw his ruling party and junior coalition partner lose their majority in the House of Representatives.

Ishiba called the snap election after he was narrowly chosen to lead the Liberal Democratic Party and took office as prime minister on Oct. 1.
During his meeting with Xi, which lasted about 35 minutes, Ishiba also asked China to remain committed to its promise to resume seafood imports from Japan.

In September, China said it would "gradually" restart Japanese seafood imports after imposing a blanket ban about a year earlier over the release of treated radioactive water into the ocean from the disabled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Prior to the ban, China was the biggest importer of Japanese seafood.
Ishiba said Xi himself referred to China's commitment to the gradual resumption and stressed that this fact "carries a lot of weight." But he said the timing of the restart is still undecided.

He also disclosed Xi touched on Japan's request for the quick resumption of Japanese beef and rice exports to China, without elaborating. According to a senior Japanese official, Xi said the issue should continue to be discussed between their respective authorities.
 
 

Princess Yuriko, the oldest member of the Japanese imperial family and great-aunt of Emperor Naruhito, died of natural causes at a Tokyo hospital early Friday morning, the Imperial Household Agency said. She was 101.

After Princess Yuriko's death, there are 16 members left in the imperial family, which has been dwindling under the 1947 Imperial House Law that requires female members to leave upon marriage to a commoner.

The agency said the main funeral ceremony, the "Renso-no-gi" rite, will be held from 10 a.m. on Nov. 26 at the imperial family's Toshimagaoka Cemetery in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward.

"I cannot help but feel saddened to hear of the loss. I extend my heartfelt condolences along with other Japanese citizens," Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in a statement.

Princess Yuriko was hospitalized in March due to a mild stroke and aspiration pneumonitis and had been receiving treatment, but medical tests earlier this month showed a decline in her cardiac and kidney functions. She died Friday at 6:32 a.m., according to the agency.

 

A member of Japan's former nobility, she married Prince Mikasa, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, in 1941 at age 18, after graduating from the Gakushuin Women's Academy. Her husband died of heart failure in 2016 at age 100.

The couple had three sons and two daughters. Their sons -- Princes Tomohito, Katsura and Takamado -- died in 2012, 2014 and 2002, respectively.

Three of the couple's granddaughters remain in the imperial family. The two others -- Princesses Noriko and Ayako, daughters of Prince Takamado -- gave up their imperial titles after getting married to commoners in 2014 and 2018, respectively.

Princess Yuriko was an honorary vice president of the Japanese Red Cross Society and previously served as president of the Imperial Gift Foundation Boshi-Aiiku-Kai, which promotes maternal and child health, from 1948 to 2010.
 

 

The Indonesian national team's home match against Japan at the GBK Stadium, Senayan on Friday night is forecast to be under heavy rain until the end of the match. The match between the national team and Japan is held in the ongoing Asia Zone qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

According to the BMKG early weather warning for the Greater Jakarta or Jabodetabek area, there is still a possibility of moderate to heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms and strong winds in parts of Jakarta and surrounding areas from 6:05 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Initially in several areas in South Jakarta and East Jakarta, the BMKG predicted that the rain could expand to Central Jakarta and West Jakarta. Central Jakarta includes Tanah Abang, where the GBK Senayan Stadium is located.

Earlier, rain had already fallen in several areas in South Jakarta, including Mampang Prapatan, Pasar Minggu, Kebayoran Lama, Cilandak, Kebayoran Baru and Pesanggrahan. In East Jakarta, it includes Kramatjati, Makasar, Ciracas, and Cipayung.

The rain potential in South Jakarta also includes Tebet, Setiabudi, Pancoran, and Jagakarsa. In East Jakarta includes Jatinegara, Pasar Rebo, and Duren Sawit.

In the surrounding areas of Jakarta, the potential for rain is present in many areas in Bogor Regency, Tangerang Regency, Tangerang City, and Depok City until 9:00 p.m. 
 
 

Policy chiefs from Japan's ruling bloc and the opposition Democratic Party for the People agreed to continue talks on a proposed economic package as they failed to reach agreement at a meeting on Friday.

The policy chiefs from the Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition partner, Komeito, and the DPFP will meet again on Monday.

At their meeting on Friday, DPFP policy chief Makoto Hamaguchi apparently sought to clarify the government's stance on the party's demand for raising the minimum taxable income to increase take-home pay.

A draft economic package presented by the government to the ruling bloc Thursday included resuming electricity and city gas subsidies and paying benefits to low-income households, but did not mention the DPFP's income tax proposal.

LDP policy chief Itsunori Onodera played down the failure to reach agreement at Friday's meeting.
 
 

Tokyo police arrested a 65-year-old American man Wednesday on suspicion of property damage after he allegedly carved letters into the wooden pillar of a torii gate at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward.

The suspect, identified as Steve Lee Hayes, whose address and occupation are unknown, has admitted to the allegations. He reportedly admitted that he “wrote his family members’ names.”

The arrest stems from an incident that occurred around 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, when Hayes allegedly used his fingernails to etch five letters into one of the shrine’s wooden torii gates.

According to the police’s international crime division, Hayes arrived in Japan on Monday for a sightseeing trip with his family.

Security camera footage from around the Meiji Shrine area led investigators to identify him as the suspect.

He was detained at a Tokyo hotel on the afternoon of Wednesday. Authorities believe the incident was intended to be an act of mischief.

In a related development, police are also investigating other etchings resembling kanji that were carved into the pillars of another of the shrine's torii gates.
 
 

For decades, the Shibuya ward of downtown Tokyo has had an image as a party place. Things are less celebratory these days, though, as after telling people to stay away from the area on Halloween, Shibuya Ward says it’s not going to be doing anything special for New Year’s Eve either.

This wasn’t always the case. Starting in 2016, the world-famous Shibuya Scramble intersection in front of Shibuya Station would be shut down on the night of December 31 and turned into an official street party venue, with appearances by celebrities and vending booths from sponsoring companies. 

By 2018, crowds as large as 120,000 people or so would gather to ring in the new year.

That all came to an end in 2020, though, when Shibuya Ward suspended the New Year’s Eve festivities as part of public health measures during the coronavirus pandemic.

Even after such anti-infection protocols were no deemed no longer necessary, though, Shibuya didn’t bring back the New Yar’s Eve party, claiming such a large gathering was now a safety issue.

While there was talk of restarting the celebration this year, an executive committee made up of Shibuya Ward legislators and representatives of the shopping districts near the Shibuya Scramble have now said that the resumption has been postponed to 2025, meaning that there will be no official New Year’s Eve countdown party in Shibuya this year.

A spokesperson for the ward said that with the number of visitors to Shibuya, including foreign tourists, increasing, they have decided not to hold a countdown event in order to ensure public safety.

A ward representative also referenced Shibuya’s new year-round ban on public drinking, saying “As we are currently in the process of trying to reduce public consumption of alcohol, we have arrived at the judgement that this is not an appropriate time to be holding an event at which a large number of people will gather.”

With Shibuya’s year-round public drinking ban being the first of its type in Tokyo, and having just gone into effect last month, maybe there’s hope that after a year of positive results a countdown event really will be held once again in the Scramble in 2025.

It’s starting to look, though, like the Shibuya New Year’s Eve party might wind up becoming a thing of the past entirely.
 

 

Indonesia is ready to implement the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on carbon trading with Japan, Indonesian Special Envoy for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 29) Hashim S. Djojohadikusumo stated.

"The Indonesian government is ready to execute any agreement signed in the MRA," he noted at the Indonesia Pavilion at the Baku Olympic Stadium in Azerbaijan on Tuesday.

At the Indonesia Pavilion, Indonesia and Japan announced the achievement and commencement of the implementation of MRA for bilateral carbon trading cooperation between the two countries.

The MRA agreement is the world's first model of bilateral cooperation between countries within the Paris Agreement framework.

On that occasion, Japan's Vice Minister of Global Environmental Affairs, Yutaka Matsuzawa, said he was glad to be present at the Indonesia Pavilion to discuss further efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

He affirmed that the discussions could intensify collaboration between the two countries in accelerating the reduction of GHG emissions.

"Based on this MRA, we want to formulate and develop concrete projects for GHG reduction in Indonesia and with such experience, both countries can contribute to global GHG reduction," he explained.

Indonesia signed the MRA document on October 18, 2024, and Japan on October 28, 2024.

According to the agreement, the MRA would start to take effect on October 28, 2024. The MRA is built on the principle of equality between Indonesia's carbon credit system and its partner countries.

In the carbon credit system agreement, Indonesia and Japan mutually recognize mitigation methodologies, emission reduction calculations, the monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system, and the carbon credit certification.

 

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will visit South America from Thursday to attend summits of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and the Group of 20 major economies, the government said Tuesday.

Ishiba is planning to hold his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the eight-day trip.

The APEC summit will take place in Lima, Peru, over two days from Friday, and the G-20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, over two days from Monday.

Ishiba, who took office last month, is also expected to hold talks with U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during the trip.

Ishiba will "convey Japan's position on global issues, in addition to the promotion of free and open trade and investment" at the APEC meeting, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference.
 
 

The operator of Universal Studios Japan in Osaka said Tuesday it will open a new attraction area based on Nintendo Co.'s popular Donkey Kong game series on Dec. 11 after postponing it from this spring.

In a world first, the Donkey Kong Country area will replicate the jungle home of the ape-like character Donkey Kong and his friends and expand by 70 percent the park's Super Nintendo World area featuring augmented reality attractions of iconic characters such as Mario.

 

The area's Mine Cart Madness ride attraction was unveiled to the media for the first time, offering guests the opportunity to ride on carts through the jungle while protecting a coveted Golden Banana from enemies.

"We are looking forward to welcoming our guests," said Daniel Greer, the area's producer, adding that the new attraction is "a thrilling and ultra-exciting experience that is both visually and instinctively stimulating."
 


 

Imperial family members are paying visits to 101-year-old Princess Yuriko, whose health condition suddenly worsened on Friday, with the functions of her heart, kidneys and other organs deteriorating.

Although Princess Yuriko, the great-aunt of Emperor Naruhito, remains asleep for most of the time in the hospital room where she is receiving treatment, she opened her eyes when spoken to on Sunday and is conscious from time to time.

Princess Yuriko’s granddaughter, Princess Akiko, returned to Japan from Britain on Saturday morning after having been informed of her condition, and headed straight to the hospital to visit her.

Princess Hisako, Princess Yuriko’s daughter-in-law, also paid her a visit on Saturday. Princess Hisako canceled her trip to Nara and Kyoto prefectures over concerns about Princess Yuriko's condition.

 

Princess Yuriko’s other granddaughter, Princess Yoko, visited her at the hospital on Sunday at the same time as Princess Hisako and Princess Akiko, NHK reported.

Born in 1923, Princess Yuriko is the oldest member of the imperial family and is the sister-in-law of the late former Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa.

In 1941, she married Prince Mikasa, the younger brother of Emperor Showa, and had three sons and two daughters. Her husband and three sons have already died.

She has been hospitalized since March at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo's Chuo Ward due to cerebral infarction and aspiration pneumonia.
 

 

Yuichiro Tamaki, the head of the Japanese opposition party that has emerged as kingmaker as lawmakers select the next prime minister on Monday, said a tabloid report about his extramarital affair with a model was "basically true".

Tamaki said he would ask his party members if he should resign as leader of the Democratic Party for the People (DPP).

"I apologize for the trouble caused," he told reporters at a hastily called news conference after tabloid SmartFlash reported the affair on Monday.
"The facts reported this morning are basically true," he said.

SmartFlash reported that Tamaki, 55, and a 39-year-old model and entertainer rendezvoused in July and October. It published a photo of Tamaki in a grey hoodie as he emerged from a bar, followed 20 minutes later by the woman.

"My wife had told me, 'you can't protect the country if you can't protect the person closest to you.' I will etch those words in my mind once again, reflect on my action and do my best to work in a way that is in the best interests of the country and to realize policies," Tamaki said.

Japanese lawmakers are set to decide at a special parliamentary session on Monday whether Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba should stay as the country's premier after his scandal-tarnished coalition lost its parliamentary majority in an election last month.

Tamaki has previously said his party members would not vote for Ishiba but could offer support to the prime minister's Liberal Democratic Party on a policy-by-policy basis.
 
 

Japan’s parliament reelected Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday after his governing coalition suffered the worst election loss in more than a decade, forcing the struggling leader to form his second Cabinet in just over a month since taking office.

Ishiba’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito together lost their majority in the 465-seat Lower House, the more powerful of Japan’s two-house parliament, in the Oct. 27 election due to continued voter outrage over financial misconduct by his party and its lukewarm response.

A special parliamentary session convened Monday to pick a new leader in a vote required within 30 days of a general election. Ishiba beat top opposition leader Yoshihiko Noda 221-160 in the first runoff in 30 years.

Ishiba reappointed most of his previous Cabinet members, including Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, but had to replace three who lost seats or were affected by the election results.

Ishiba is expected to hold a news conference to explain his new Cabinet and policies.

Ishiba has refused to step down and showed willingness to cooperate with additional coalition partners to boost stability and help him pursue his party’s policies.

Ishiba will struggle in the coming months as he must gain consent from the opposition on policies including the budget and other legislation, experts say.
 
He is eyeing a rising smaller, conservative opposition, the Democratic Party for the People, whose seats quadrupled to 28 under its popular leader Yuichiro Tamaki, whose proposal for raising the basic tax-free income allowance and increasing take-home wages garnered support from low income and younger voters.

Tamaki only wants to cooperate with Ishiba’s party on policy — not as part of a coalition — since he wants to use his leverage to increase his party’s standing ahead of the next election.

However, Tamaki was recently stung by a magazine article exposing an extramarital affair, which he admitted to on Monday.

Ishiba’s government is preparing for his trip later this month to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and Group of 20 summits, as well as a possible meeting with President-elect Donald Trump on his way home.
 
 

A Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force minesweeper that caught fire in waters off the country's southwestern coast capsized and sank Monday, according to the local coast guard office.

One crewman remains unaccounted for after the Ukushima went up in flames on Sunday. The fire was extinguished after the ship toppled on its side shortly after midnight, allowing the coast guard to begin search operations.

The coast guard has launched a search and rescue operation for the missing crewman inside the sunken ship using divers, while the MSDF has launched an investigation of the incident.

The minesweeper, carrying a crew of about 40, reported a fire in the engine room to the 7th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Fukuoka Prefecture around 9:40 a.m. Sunday when it was sailing some 2.5 kilometers off Oshima Island in the prefecture.

Another MSDF minesweeper, the Toyoshima, which joined the coast guard in the fire-fighting and rescue operation, reported around 2 p.m. that the fire on the Ukushima was contained, but a flare-up was confirmed later.

The Ukushima's crew had completed evacuation to the Toyoshima by around 3:45 p.m., but an engine room crewman, later identified as 33-year-old petty officer 3rd class Tatsunori Koga, was found not to be present.

One crewman in his 20s who suffered a non-life-threatening injury was taken to hospital.

At the time of the incident, Koga and the crew member who was sent to the hospital were on duty in the engine room, where the fire is believed to have started.

The Ukushima, which left an MSDF base in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, earlier Sunday, was conducting a drill while sailing to Kagoshima Prefecture.
 
 

Ace Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki appears headed to the Majors next season.

Sasaki, the consensus top young pitcher in Japan, was made available by the Chiba Lotte Marines of the NPB, the team announced.

"Since I joined [the Marines], I have continued to listen to my future MLB challenges, and I am grateful to the team for officially allowing me to post.

My five years with the Marines did not go well," Sasaki said of his posting.

"There were a lot of things that happened, but I was able to get to this point by focusing solely on baseball, with the support of my teammates, staff, front office, and fans, so I don't have any regrets in my baseball career.”

Sasaki should inspire an all-out pursuit reminiscent of Shohei Ohtani’s initial contract with the Angels, in league-wide interest and financial scope. Ohtani agreed to a $2.315 million signing bonus with the Angels in the winter of 2017-2018.

An unfettered market would have yielded a much larger contract, but the CBA classified Ohtani as an international amateur because he was not yet 25 years old. Sasaki, 23, falls into the same category now.

The Dodgers, whose global brand never has been more powerful, are seen as a top candidate to sign Sasaki when he becomes available.
 
 

Komeito, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's coalition partner, on Saturday selected land minister Tetsuo Saito as its new leader to replace Keiichi Ishii, who lost his House of Representatives seat in October's general election for the lower chamber of parliament.

Following Komeito's setback in the Oct. 27 Lower House election, Saito, 72, is set to accelerate work to rebuild the party ahead of next summer's elections for the Tokyo metropolitan assembly and the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament. Ishii became Komeito leader only on Sept. 28.

Also at Saturday's extraordinary Komeito convention in Tokyo, approval was given for Secretary-General Makoto Nishida, 62, and policy chief Mitsunari Okamoto, 59, to retain their posts in the party.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, also LDP president, is expected to accept Komeito's request that Hiromasa Nakano, a 46-year-old Komeito lawmaker in the Lower House, be appointed land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister to succeed Saito.

Saito has been elected to the Lower House 11 times. Komeito suffered a major setback in the October general election, seeing the number of its Lower House seats drop to 24 from 32 before the election.
 
 

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday vowed to strengthen Japan's defense capabilities in the face of a severe security environment amid the growing military activity of China, Russia and North Korea.

Ishiba, who took office on Oct. 1, said a recent violation of Japanese airspace by China and Russia was "utterly unacceptable," adding the two countries along with repeated ballistic missile tests by North Korea pose complex security challenges.

Japan will "certainly implement" measures to fundamentally bolster its defense capabilities, the prime minister said in a speech at a Ground Self-Defense Force base.

Ishiba said Japan needs to beef up deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region through cooperation with allied and like-minded countries, as he and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani reviewed the GSDF at the Asaka base straddling Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Self-Defense Forces.

It was Ishiba's first attendance at an SDF anniversary ceremony since 2007, when he was defense minister.

Earlier in the week, Ishiba confirmed in phone talks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that the two countries will elevate the bilateral alliance.
With the SDF facing a personnel shortage, the prime minister is seeking to improve working conditions.

"We will take all necessary measures so (SDF members) can focus on their vital duties with pride and honor," he said.
 
 

A powerful volcanic eruption from Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki in Indonesia has prompted a tsunami alert in Japan. Learn more about the situation.

Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki, an active volcano in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province, erupted violently on November 7, 2024, sending a massive plume of ash and smoke 8,200 feet into the sky.

This is the second major Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki eruption in a week, following a deadly event that claimed nine lives and injured dozens. In response to the heightened volcanic activity, Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued a high tsunami alert.

While no significant tidal changes have been reported so far, authorities are closely monitoring the situation.

The latest Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki eruption in Indonesia has forced thousands of residents to evacuate their homes and seek shelter in temporary evacuation centres. The volcanic ash has damaged infrastructure, homes, and schools in the surrounding area.


Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki’s eruption: A history of volcanic activity

A 5,197-foot stratovolcano located in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenngara province, Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki is known for its frequent eruptions.

The most recent volcanic activity even caused Indonesia’s Volcanic Disaster Mitigation Centre to raise it to the highest level of alert, setting the exclusion zone to a 4.3-radius around the volcano.

“Permanent relocation is considered as a long-term mitigation measure to anticipate eruption in the future,” Suharyanto, head of the National Disaster Management Agency, said in a report by Newsweek.

The best course of action if you or someone you know is currently planning a trip to Japan would be to postpone the trip. Tsunamis are predicted when intense volcanic activity mixes with nearby water.

Even though Japan has not reported any changes in tidal action, it is still advisable to exercise caution and plan your trip when there are no imminent threats or alerts.
 

The Japanese government will start providing support for private companies to ramp up the development of geothermal power plants, tapping into the country's geothermal resources, the third largest in the world, sources close to the matter said Friday.

The government will aim to commercialize geothermal power plants until 2030 by setting up a public-private sector committee to pinpoint issues, such as how to utilize next-generation geothermal technology and shorten the timeframe in developing the plants, the sources said.

State subsidies for geological surveys will also be increased, as mining operations cost around 1 billion yen ($6.5 million) and have a low success rate.

Until the release of steam is confirmed after drilling, the government-backed Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security will fully fund the cost to mitigate the companies' risks.

The measures will be reflected in the draft of the government's basic energy plan by the end of this year.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is keen to promote the development of geothermal power plants as he sees it benefitting local economies, given that many geothermal resources are in rural areas.

The development of such plants remains a tricky issue due to the difficulty in coordinating with operators of hot springs.

A conventional geothermal plant generates electricity by extracting the steam heated by high-temperature magma deep underground through winzes to rotate turbines.

However, the new-generation "closed-loop" technology collects heated water from a greater depth and as such does not conflict with the source of hot springs.

With the current geothermal energy output at around 600,000 kilowatts, the government aims to increase the output to 1.5 million kilowatts by fiscal 2030.  
 

The influenza season has started across Japan, the health ministry said Friday.

The number of flu patients reported from about 5,000 regularly monitored medical institutions across the country in the week through Sunday was 1.04 per facility.

The number exceeded 1.0, indicating that the flu season has begun. The start came slightly earlier than the average year.

By prefecture, Okinawa logged the highest figure with 10.64 patients, followed by Shizuoka with 2.09, Chiba with 2.00, Oita with 1.66 and Fukui with 1.62.

Major flu outbreaks did not happen during the COVID-19 pandemic. The nationwide flu outbreak at the end of 2022 was the first in three years. It continued until May this year.
 
 

The Democratic Party for the People’s demands in policy talks with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito will include quickly addressing the so-called ¥1.03 million threshold and a temporary reduction in the consumption tax rate to 5%, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

According to a draft outlining all the policies on the agenda, the opposition DPFP will seek to prioritize a review of the annual income threshold above which people must pay income tax, and to lift the freeze on the so-called trigger clause to enable a temporary gasoline tax cut.

The draft consists of four sections – this fiscal year’s supplementary budget, year-end tax system reforms, political reforms and medium-term issues.

The DPFP wants to change the income tax system so that students working part-time and others who earn more than ¥1.03 million will not create a higher tax burden for their parents who claim them as dependents.

In the supplementary budget, the DPFP will call for air conditioners to be installed at gymnasiums that become key facilities in the wake of a disaster. It will also seek to reduce electricity and gas bills.

According to the draft, the DPFP wants the changes to the ¥1.03 million ceiling on tax-free income to become permanent. Consequently, the DPFP is calling for the total income tax exemption threshold to be increased to ¥1.78 million, including a basic deduction.

The draft also specifies that the DPFP wants to temporarily lower the consumption tax rate to 5% from its current rate of 10%.

The DPFP will press for the abolition of political activity funds that parties provide to their lawmakers, and for a third-party body to be established to monitor political funds before the end of the current fiscal year, which runs until the end of March.

DPFP Policy Research Council Chairperson Makoto Hamaguchi was to meet with his LDP and Komeito counterparts Friday and present his party’s wishes regarding the supplementary budget. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who also is LDP president, is scheduled to hold talks with DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki on Monday.
 
 

Japan's Princess Akiko has departed on a trip to Britain and France. She is the daughter of the late Prince Tomohito.

The princess left for Britain from Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Thursday. She spoke with Imperial Household Agency officials before boarding a commercial flight.

The agency says her nine-day trip includes attending a conference in London where she will present her own research on Japanese art. The event is on Saturday, local time, and is organized by an institute for the study of Japanese art and culture.

Princess Akiko will then travel to France. She will attend a rugby match between Japan and France near Paris in her capacity as Honorary President of the Japan Rugby Football Union.

Afterward, she will return to Britain and visit the University of Oxford, where she studied and earned her doctorate. She is expected to deliver a lecture on cultural exchanges between Japan and Britain.

Princess Akiko will return to Japan on November 15.
 
 

 

 

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani on Thursday was welcomed aboard a South Korean naval vessel during its port call in Japan, highlighting the increasingly close security collaboration between Tokyo and Seoul amid North Korea's growing military threats.

Nakatani interacted with crew members of the South Korean navy's amphibious assault ship, the Marado, which was making a stop at a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo.

It marks the first time a Japanese defense chief has boarded a South Korean warship, Japan's Defense Ministry said.

"Japan-South Korea cooperation has become more important than ever," Nakatani told a welcome ceremony, mentioning Pyongyang's repeated missile tests.

Tokyo-Seoul ties, which had worsened over an alleged locking of a fire-control radar on a Japanese patrol plane by a South Korean warship in 2018, among other issues, have been recovering after Yoon Suk Yeol became South Korean President in May 2022.

The last visit by a South Korean navy ship to Japan was in November 2022, when the MSDF held an international naval fleet review at Sagami Bay off Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo.
 
 

There’s no Pokemon who’s better at relaxing than Snorlax, who sleeps so much that the species has hardly ever been seen with eyes open.

Unfortunately, we humans can’t catch quite as many Zs as Snorlax does, what with our schedules being filled up with several human-life responsibilities beyond being slumbering roadblocks/gameplay gates, but when you do find time to take a break and sip a soothing beverage, you can do it in Snorlax style, thanks to some very clever new drinkware.

 

These are the latest designs from glassware company Goodglas, who’ve made a name for themselves with their unique double-layered drinking glasses.

In the past, we’ve seen Goodglas pieces for fans of Shiba dogs and kitties (including ones of the “Hello” variety), and now they’ve applied the same concept to Pokemon with these Snorlax glasses.

On their exterior surfaces, these glasses are ordinary smooth-sided drinking vessels. The second, inner layer of glass, though, is shaped like Snorlax’s head, and that construction, combined with an illustration of its facial features, causes the character to form when you pour in liquid.

 

For the full effect, naturally, you’re going to want to use a blue beverage, like Japan’s Ramune soda, as shown in the photos here.

There are two designs to choose from, one with Snorlax’s mouth open, and one with it closed.

▼ Snorlax’s eyes are closed in both designs, though.

The Snorlax glasses also come in Poke Ball-motif boxes…which technically makes them Poké Cubes, we suppose.

 

Both designs are priced at 4,290 yen and available through the Goodglas online shop, as well as at the Goodglas store in Tokyo’s Laforet Harajuku shopping center.
 

The number of births in Japan in 2024 is likely to fall under 700,000 for the first time after government data showed Tuesday that the figure in the first half fell 6.3 percent from a year earlier to 329,998.

The figure for the first six months of this year, which does not include foreigners, reflects the birth rate remaining at record lows in the past years, as more people choose not to marry or delay marriage and having children until later in life.

The number of deaths in the first half increased 1.8 percent from the same period last year to 800,274, and the natural decrease, subtracted from the number of births, stood at 470,276, according to the data from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

With its population declining for the 15th consecutive year in 2023, Japan faces labor shortages that threaten the sustainability of social security systems, such as health care and pensions, while local government services could collapse.

The government seeks to raise the birth rate by expanding child care allowances and providing benefits for taking parental leave, among other measures, as it considers the period up until the early 2030s the "last chance" to reverse the birthrate crisis.

The comparable number of births in the first half of 2023 was 352,240, with a full-year total of 727,277.

Preliminary data released by the ministry in August showed that the number of babies born in Japan, including to foreigners, as well as to Japanese citizens residing overseas, fell 5.7 percent from a year earlier to 350,074 in the January to June period.
 
 

The Japanese are often said to be well-regarded for their etiquette and social graces.

But if this is especially true for those working in Japan's service industry, the same cannot always be said of their customers.

Famously once referred to as "gods" by the firms that serve them, some shoppers are seemingly taking advantage of their exalted status by making unreasonable demands that blur the line between legitimate complaints and outright abuse.

But because what constitutes customer harassment is not defined by law in Japan, some have argued that it is difficult to set boundaries between a legitimate claim that could lead to improved service and those that cross the line.

Nonetheless, there has been a spike in cases of customers using abusive language, making threats and excessive demands and unfairly blaming workers for problems they find with products or services.

Employees have even accused some customers of trolling them on social media, or in rare cases, demanding they perform dogeza -- kneeling in a prostrate position before the customer and bowing one's forehead to the floor in submission.

Uncommon today, the practice is meant to show deference or deep apology to a person of higher status, and was, for instance, regularly performed by peasants when noblemen passed them on the street in feudal times.

Although customer abuse has been tolerated because of the difficulty of determining the validity of harassment claims, there have been cases in which employees have suffered mentally or physically to the point where they have quit their jobs.

In extreme cases, they have evendeveloped mental illnesses or been driven to suicide.

There are now growing calls for companies to take a strong stance in dealing with abusive customers, and moves are underway by major retailers and food service companies to develop manuals and in-house training programs to clarify how to go about it.

In one instance, a middle-aged woman purchased several sushi packs at a Tokyo department store but complained of not getting enough of the complimentary soy sauce and wasabi Japanese horseradish plastic pouch condiments that are usually included.

Showing the receipt for her purchase to a part-time worker in her 60s, the shopper demanded a full refund.

The department store complied with the shopper's demand and had the part-time staffing agency who supplied the worker refund the woman's money, calling the claim "the responsibility of the sales floor."

Outraged, the part-time staffer said the department store "probably listened to what the customer had to say because it was no big loss for them, but the decision only helps promote customer harassment."

The central government is discussing strengthening measures to require employers to protect employees from abusive customers.

Last month, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly approved a customer harassment ordinance to prevent customers from abusing workers in a first for Japan.

Coming into effect in April 2025, the ordinance outlines the responsibilities of shoppers when visiting stores, but there are no penalties if it is violated.

The ordinance also opposes unfairly infringing on customer rights since legitimate feedback can help improve business operations. The Tokyo government plans to create guidelines that specify behavior that constitutes customer abuse.

While the ordinance is an important step, the attitude of companies is also being called into question.

"I think companies that retain a corporate culture of the 'customers are gods' will find it very difficult (to take a firm stance against customers)," the part-time staffer added.

But there are companies that have begun seriously tackling the problem.
Supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co created a manual for dealing with difficult customers earlier this year while holding in-house seminars for employees to share countermeasures such as "reporting violent or abusive behavior to the police" and "responding to customers in places where they can be viewed on security cameras to record evidence."

"Many of our employees work for us because they enjoy customer service. We must avoid causing them emotional distress and preventing them from doing the work they love," said an Ito-Yokado official.

The reality is stark. According to a survey by Rengo, Japan's largest national trade union center, nearly 40 percent of workers who have experienced customer harassment said they felt depressed about going to work while a little over 10 percent reported quitting or changing jobs because of it.

In July, Takashimaya became the first Japanese department store to announce its basic policy on its website, listing specific instances that fall into the category of customer harassment. It also said there are cases in which customers who violate the rules may be asked to leave the store.

Satoshi Yamauchi, manager of the Takashimaya Nihonbashi store in Tokyo, welcomed the announcement, saying, "It is difficult to draw a line for harassment because of the customer justifications that may be pointed out, but these guidelines will serve as a yardstick."

He patrols the sales floor and is in charge of handling disputes between employees and customers. According to Yamauchi, inexperienced store clerks are more likely to become flustered because they cannot draw the line on their own.

He says not only are the employees and the company hurt by such abusive behavior, but it also negatively impacts other customers who witness the incidents when visiting the store.

In September, Seven-Eleven Japan Co, the largest convenience store chain in Japan, decided to release to the public its internal customer harassment guidelines adopted in 2022. The company gave examples of abusive conduct, stating it would take "firm action" against it.

And FamilyMart Co, another major convenience store chain, began displaying anti-customer abuse posters at its stores in October.

Kaname Murasaki, head of the Japan Harassment Association, says many companies have created a climate in which they are unable to refuse unreasonable demands because they have assumed an excessively subservient attitude toward customers until now.

"Moving forward, companies will be socially unacceptable if they have a don't-rock-the-boat attitude and show preference to customers with unreasonable demands over their own employees," he said.

In the midst of Japan's labor shortage, Murasaki stressed the importance of dealing with customer abuse -- a serious cause of employee turnover -- to make companies more attractive to workers.

Customer harassment is defined as any demand that goes beyond the scope of appropriate service, says Kyoko Shimada, representative of the Customer Harassment Association, Prevention and Support.

"Employees and consumers must first recognize (harassment) and have a shared understanding of what it is," she said.

Some 80 companies that provide services in the "ground handling" industry at airports have joined hands to hammer out countermeasures against customer harassment, Shimada says.

She points out that if the industry as a whole embarks on these measures, it will be more effective in getting consumers to understand what constitutes appropriate customer behavior.

On the other hand, some companies in the food service industry are hesitant to take action due to concerns over problematic waitstaff and the difficulty of gathering customer feedback. Others are taking a wait-and-see approach to how the legislation plays out.
 
 

Japan's parliament will start a special session on Monday following last month's general election, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told lawmakers on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is expected to be re-elected on the first day of the parliamentary session.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party hopes to limit the session to four days given Ishiba's foreign trip scheduled for mid-November.

But parliamentary affairs chiefs from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and three other opposition parties Tuesday agreed to demand that the session include meetings of budget committees and political ethics panels to ensure that substantive discussions are held.
 


 

When police searched a group of abandoned motels in a city some 50 kilometers northeast of Tokyo earlier this year, they found more than 20 Vietnamese men and women living together in a community that included a restaurant and a karaoke bar.

"There is a possibility that these were people who had nowhere else to go," an investigative source said.

The Vietnamese, who have since been deported, were living in about 10 motels that were no longer in use in Bando, Ibaraki Prefecture, according to the police. It is believed some of them had fled from Japanese firms where they were working as technical intern trainees.

The motels were owned by a 40-year-old Vietnamese company executive, who was indicted in late October on the charge of abetting their illegal stay by providing them with housing.

The executive has told the police she provided housing after being "requested by a group involved with illegal overstayers," according to an investigative source said.

Two to four people were living in each motel, paying 40,000 yen ($262) a month in rent, said the source.

Located along the Tone River, Bando has a population of about 50,000, with vegetable cultivation its prime industry.

After entering a gravel path from a highway and proceeding about 100 meters, a Kyodo News reporter who visited the area late last month saw a group of old one-story motels lined up in a U-shape. One of the buildings still had a sign that read "Vietnamese restaurant."

According to investigative sources, most of the Vietnamese people who lived there had come to Japan as technical intern trainees, believing the claim that they "can earn money" in the country.

But they left their jobs due to low wages or after being assaulted by their bosses, the sources said, adding it is believed that they moved to the motels after living together in neighboring Chiba Prefecture and exchanging information through social media.

In Japan, a number of foreign technical intern trainees have disappeared from their workplace due to a poor work environment. A record 9,753 such trainees went missing in 2023, Justice Ministry sources said citing preliminary data.

By country, Vietnam topped the list with 5,481, followed by Myanmar at 1,765 and China at 816. Nearly half of all those that disappeared were engaged in construction-related jobs, said the sources.

A woman who lives near the motels recollects, "I couldn't sleep because of the sounds of karaoke and voices echoing all night long."
 
 

China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, and Takeo Akiba, Japan's chief national security adviser, held marathon talks in Beijing on Monday and agreed to maintain dialogue at various levels, including between their leaders and foreign ministers, Akiba told reporters.

Their meeting was intended to lay the groundwork for the first summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who took office on Oct. 1, and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an international gathering to be held in South America later this month, according to Japanese government sources.

After the talks, which lasted for four and a half hours, Akiba said the two sides shared the view that they will promote "strategic and mutually beneficial ties" and a "constructive and stable relationship."

Ishiba is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit from Nov. 15 to 16 in Peru and the Group of 20 leaders meeting from Nov. 18 to 19 in Brazil.

Wang urged Japan to take concrete actions to implement an important consensus that the two Asian neighbors are "cooperative partners" and "do not pose a threat" to each other so as to promote the steady and long-term development of bilateral relations, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

Akiba, head of Japan's National Security Secretariat, said he clearly conveyed to Wang Japan's positions over a host of issues that have strained bilateral ties, including the resumption of Japanese marine product shipments to China and measures to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals living in China.

The two countries agreed in September that China will gradually lift its ban on seafood imports from Japan, which was imposed after the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the sea began in August 2023.

The Chinese ministry said the two sides agreed to accelerate the implementation of the bilateral political consensus reached in September.

Tokyo has strongly urged Beijing to take steps to ensure the safety of expatriates following stabbing incidents in Suzhou and Shenzhen earlier this year, during which a Japanese mother and a child were injured, and a Japanese schoolboy was killed, respectively.

The top Japanese national security official also said he discussed with Wang situations surrounding the Korean Peninsula and expressed Tokyo's "serious concern" over deepening cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow. North Korean troops have been dispatched to Russia to aid its war against Ukraine.

On the economic front, the two sides shared the view that the development of China and Japan is "closely linked and highly complementary," and their economies should not be "decoupled," the Chinese ministry said.

Amid concern in Japan over China's growing military activities, including its first breach of Japanese airspace in August, Wang emphasized that Beijing has been "unswervingly following the path of peaceful development," while maintaining a defense-oriented policy.

Akiba and Wang held phone talks on Oct. 21. The Japanese official also visited the Chinese capital in November last year to meet Wang and finalize arrangements for a meeting between then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Ishiba's predecessor, and Xi in San Francisco later that month.
 

 

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, on Monday successfully launched the fourth of its H3 rocket carrying an X-band defense communication satellite.

The Kirameki-3 geostationary satellite was put into orbit after the rocket lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, at 3:48 p.m. local time.

The satellite orbits at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers. It was the first time to launch a geostationary satellite with the H3 rocket.

The X band is hardly affected by weather conditions and is excellent in high-speed and large-capacity communication. Images and videos can be transmitted smoothly, and it is expected to help ships and troop units share information quickly in times of conflict and disaster.

The Kirameki-1 and Kirameki-2 are already on orbit, and the addition of the Kirameki-3 will help to cover a wide area of the activities of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean.
 

 

As it bids to become the world's most competitive and popular volleyball league by 2030, Japan's rebranded SV.League is gradually lifting foreign player quotas originally intended to nurture local talent, but which its leadership now considers counterproductive in the long term.

It has raised the number of non-Asian foreign players allowed on the court at a time to two, in addition to one non-Japanese Asian player, and plans to increase it further to three plus one from the 2027-2028 season.

In its previous iteration as the V.League, it allowed only one player at a time from powerhouses such as Brazil, Italy, Poland and the United States.

"The NBA and MLB have no quota for foreign players, and that is our ultimate goal," SV.League Chairman Masaaki Okawa said in a recent interview with Kyodo News. "Teams will never get stronger if you try to secure opportunities for Japanese. That's for sure."

"We all know Japan wants to get a medal on the international stage, and ideally gold, right? To do so, Japanese players have to earn themselves regular positions, no matter how many great players come from other countries."

The SV.League aims to attract more of the world's best players than the Italian men's and women's leagues, currently considered the best in the world, or Turkey, which shares the No. 1 mantle for women.

"The top of the world means that we'll have more than any other league in every category, from the number of international stars to revenue, attendance and information," Okawa said. "If so, world-famous head coaches and agents might come over as well."

"I have an idea of how much we need to improve key performance indicators to catch up with the Italian Serie A. Many of the greatest players in men's volleyball are already in Japan -- in their prime, not past their peak, so the world is paying attention to our league."

The SV.League launched its inaugural season on Oct. 11 with the men's opener between Osaka Bluteon and Suntory Sunbirds Osaka featuring Yuji Nishida and Ran Takahashi, two of the biggest stars on Japan's national team.

Japanese ace Yuki Ishikawa is playing for Italy's Perugia.

In a post-match interview after his Bluteon's straight-sets victory, Nishida thanked a crowd of 6,513 at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium and urged the media to cover not only the familiar faces but all teams of the league.

 

The league's reform-minded chairman, who has served as a senior official of both football's J-League and basketball's B-League, echoed the sentiment.
"It's good to have some big clubs, but we also need ambitious teams looking to step into title contention, such as Tokyo Great Bears," Okawa said.

"Volleyball has a strong fan base in Japan. I hope to see more teams in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures such as Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama will rise to the occasion for the growth of the league."

The popularity of SV.League players, especially Takahashi and Nishida, has spread to Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand and the Philippines, with the help of Japanese volleyball manga Haikyu!!

The league has a Thai-language Instagram account that already has a similar number of followers as the Japanese account despite the relative infancy of the league, Okawa said.

The SV.League has started out with 10 teams for men and 14 teams for women.

Asked if he considers an expansion in the future, Okawa said he believes 10 to 12 teams are appropriate in each of the men's and women's competitions if it wants to maintain premium status.

The 66-year-old former banker added that there should still be the promotion-relegation playoffs between the SV.League and the now second-tier V.League to keep the entire structure healthy.

"We have a chance to be the world's No. 1 volleyball league at a time when Japan is losing ground in a wide range of areas, such as gross domestic product. That's why we want to give it a shot," he said.

 

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*
International players to watch in SV.League (teams in alphabetical order)

Jtekt Stings Aichi: Ricardo Lucarelli (Brazil), Torey Defalco (United States)

Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers: Luciano Palonsky (Argentina)

Osaka Bluteon: Thomas Jaeschke (United States)

Suntory Sunbirds Osaka: Aleksander Sliwka (Poland)

Tokyo Great Bears: Maciej Muzaj (Poland)

Toray Arrows Shizuoka: Alan Souza (Brazil), Francesco Recine (Italy)

Wolfdogs Nagoya: Nimir Abdel-Aziz (Netherlands), Tine Urnaut (Slovenia)
 
 

A 42-year-old man believed to be a student from Taiwan has been arrested in Tokyo for allegedly assaulting Japanese celebrity Haruna Kojima, the Metropolitan Police Department said Tuesday.

The man is suspected of hugging and pushing Kojima, a former member of pop group AKB48, onto the street at around 9 p.m. Monday, after she came out of the day's event held at a facility in Shibuya Ward to mark the release of her photo book.

Kojima, 36, was uninjured.

In police questioning, the man admitted to hugging her while saying that he had no intention of harming her.

Members of Kojima's staff apprehended the man and called the police, and officers from the MPD's Shibuya Police Station took him into custody.
The man did not attend the event, according to the police.

The police station is investigating the incident, including the suspect's motive.

Investigative sources said Kojima's staff informed the MPD in early August about a fan engaging in problematic behavior at events featuring her.

The staff described the fan as a student from Taiwan who did not speak Japanese, and police believe that fan is also the suspect in the latest incident.

The man visited every event Kojima attended, and the MPD had kept in touch with Kojima's staff regarding him.
 
 

The number of people who were sent to a hospital over heatstroke in Japan from May to September came in at 97,578, the highest level for the five-month period since 2008 when the statistics began, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday.

The figure jumped by 6,111 from the same period last year as severe heat continued for a long time.

The number of heatstroke patients in June and July marked the second-highest for those months. The figure in September topped 10,000 for the first time for the month.

People aged 65 and over accounted for 57.4 pct of the total number of heatstroke patients in the five months, at 55,966.

By place of heatstroke incident, residence accounted for 37,116, the highest figure, followed by road, at 18,576. Those who were confirmed dead immediately after being taken to a hospital made up 120.
 
 

 

***

Despite a desperate need for data centers — buildings that store, process and distribute electronic data — providers are finding it difficult to operate such facilities.

Electricity, which is utilized to cool servers and other computing equipment, currently accounts for around 15% of operating costs.

“The present business environment is dire,” said a director of a data center operator in the Tokyo metropolitan area. “It’s becoming harder and harder to build new facilities.” The company has raised its lease rates by between 20% and 30% this year.

According to major real estate service provider CBRE K.K., data centers in the Tokyo metropolitan area had an average occupancy rate of 88% last year. In today’s tight market, data center lease rates are about 30% higher than they were in 2020.

“Against the backdrop of strong demand, lease rates are set to continue rising to a certain degree as electricity costs are passed on to the rates,” CBRE spokesperson said.

This trend could hamper the government’s digitalization policy.
The cost hikes are related to the weak yen and rising prices for crude oil and natural gas, both of which are used in thermal power generation.

Since the summer of 2022, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s electricity rate for households with average power usage have exceeded ¥9,000 a month.

The retail electricity sector was fully liberalized in 2016 in hopes of lowering electricity bills through competition, but bills have instead risen significantly from the pre-liberalization level of around ¥6,500.

The government has been subsidizing electricity and gas bills since January — electricity is now subsidized by ¥7 per kilowatt-hour. Even so, TEPCO’s rate in November was still high at ¥7,459.

The subsidy, which was initially supposed to stop on Sept. 30, was prolonged until the end of December and is set to extended again until next April under the economic stimulus package approved by the Cabinet in November.

The government has already allocated about ¥3.1 trillion in the supplementary budget for fiscal 2022. Large sums of cash continue to be spent on this quick fix — which is hardly a radical measure to lower electricity bills — and there seems to be no clear end in sight.

Demand for electricity is expected to grow stronger in the future due to the spread of electric vehicles, among other factors. Japan relies on thermal power for about 70% of its total electricity generation and renewable power is heavily constrained by transmission lines.

“Current electricity rates are determined by fuel costs,” said International University of Japan President Takeo Kikkawa, an expert on the energy industry. “We’ve no choice but to rely on existing nuclear power plants for the time being.”

Nuclear power plant operation is expected to reduce fuel costs by several tens of billions of yen per year per unit. Seven power companies, including TEPCO, raised their electricity bills for households in June. However, Kansai Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co. — which have operational nuclear plants — did not.

TEPCO, which was effectively nationalized after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, has been unable to restart reactors Nos. 1 to 7 at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture since the disaster.

In 2021, the Nuclear Regulation Authority requested that TEPCO implement corrective measures relating to 27 issues after discovering misconduct at the plant, including an employee illegally entering the central control room with someone else’s ID card.

To restart the plant, it is necessary to gain the understanding of the local community, but there seems little prospect of this.

“In terms of the Japanese economy, it’s unthinkable not to use reactors Nos. 6 and 7, both of which are state-of-the-art,” Kikkawa said. “The government should consider restructuring the industry, including establishing a new nuclear power plant operator to replace TEPCO, which has lost credibility.”
 
 

The Japanese government expressed concerns over Israel's attack on military facilities in Iran on Saturday and called for all parties concerned to exercise "maximum restraint" amid fears of an all-out regional war.

Touching on Israel's strikes on military targets in Iran as a retaliatory act, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said, "Japan is deeply concerned about the exchanges of attacks, including this attack, and strongly condemns any action that escalates the situation.

"Japan strongly urges all parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint and to calm the situation," he said in a statement issued Saturday, citing that "peace and stability in the Middle East region are extremely important" to the Asian country.

Following the surprise attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas about a year ago that triggered the conflict in the Gaza Strip, clashes have intensified between Israel and its regional foe Iran and allied groups across the Middle East.

Israel's military said Saturday that it had conducted "targeted and precise strikes on military targets in Iran" in response to "months of continuous attacks."

On Oct 1, Iran launched at least 180 ballistic missiles toward Israel in retaliation for the killings of the leaders of its allies Hamas and Lebanon-based Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed retaliation for the attack.

In the wake of the latest attack, Iran's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it "considers itself entitled and obligated to defend against foreign acts of aggression." The air strikes reportedly killed four of its soldiers and hit radar systems.
 
 

 

Japan's main opposition party said strong results in the general election Sunday have made a change of government an achievable target, as smaller parties surged and the ruling coalition failed to maintain its majority in the House of Representatives.

Yoshihiko Noda, the head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told a press conference the loss of the lower house majority for the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito was a "huge achievement."

Reflecting on the significance of the result for politics in a country where the ruling party has rarely been out of power since its founding in 1955, Noda said it showed that "we now truly are on the eve of a change of government."
he LDP has seen its public support erode since the money scandal emerged in late 2023, in which some ruling party members had underreported income from fundraising events.

Noda, a former prime minister who served in the position for around a year until 2012 under the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan, took the reins of the CDPJ in September.

His strategy saw the CDPJ target moderate voters with a platform urging political reform, bringing his party on course to secure at least 130 seats, up from 98 and the best lower house tally in its seven-year history. Noda told a television program that voters were "looking to see who would be best at delivering political reform."

On potential cooperation with other opposition parties, he indicated to reporters that he is interested in speaking with the smaller opposition Democratic Party for the People, saying he "would like to engage in talks in which we seek common ground."

The DPP was set to receive a significant boost in the election, with projections suggesting it could raise its seats by four times its total of seven in the previous parliament.

The party, which campaigned primarily on economic policies to raise incomes for workers, has also been widely seen as a potential third partner in the LDP-Komeito coalition.

Its leader Yuichiro Tamaki, however, ruled out allying with an LDP and Komeito coalition, telling a television program he would be willing to engage in "policy-by-policy" cooperation.

"On manifesto pledges, we're willing to work with any party, be they government or opposition," he said.

Nobuyuki Baba, head of the Japan Innovation Party, was also quick to rule out entering into a coalition with the LDP and Komeito, telling a press conference he is "absolutely not considering it" while expressing skepticism on allying with the CDPJ due to policy differences.

The night was a bruising one for his party, which is likely to lose seats.
But Baba professed to being unconcerned about the result, saying he is "proud we were able to do our part to break the coalition majority."
 
 

Japanese elections are normally steady and boring affairs - but this snap election was neither.

The dramatic vote follows a political funding corruption scandal that was revealed last year, which implicated senior lawmakers and cabinet members from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), tarnishing its image and angering the public.

It was the perfect storm - a scandal that saw dozens of LDP lawmakers investigated over pocketing millions of dollars in proceeds from political fundraisers, while households struggled with inflation, high prices, stagnant wages and a sluggish economy.

In the end, a furious and tired electorate sent a strong message in Sunday's vote, punishing the LDP at the ballot box. And it was a stunning blow: a party which had ruled Japan almost continuously since 1955 lost its single-party majority in the powerful lower house.

But there was no clear winner either. A fractured opposition failed to emerge as a viable alternative when the public was looking for one.

Although severely bruised, the LDP still won more seats - 191 - than the biggest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), whose final tally stands at 148 seats.

“This election appears to be about voters who are fed up with a party and politicians they see as corrupt and dirty. But it’s not one where they want to bring about a new leader,” said Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies.

And yet the old leadership's fate is unclear. The LDP's governing coalition has fallen short of the halfway mark - 233 seats in the 465-member Diet - after its ally Komeito lost several seats, including that of its chief.

Even with Komeito's 24 seats, the LDP will be unable to muster a majority.
It's a "severe judgment", said Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who was sworn in as prime minister only early this month after winning a tight party leadership race.

Voters had "expressed their strong desire for the LDP to reflect and become a party that will act in line with the people's will", he said on Sunday, as results emerged.

The hope was that Ishiba as leader could save the LDP at the ballot - rising discontent and plummetting ratings had forced out the last PM, Fumio Kishida.

Still, Ishiba took a gamble when he announced a snap election less than a month ago - and it has backfired.

Both he and his party underestimated the extent of public anger and, crucially, their willingness to act on it.

To stay in power, the LDP will now need to form a coalition with other parties it fought in the election. And it will do so from a position of significant weakness because it must negotiate and make concessions to survive.

It is hard to overstate how rare this is - the LDP has always enjoyed a safe and steady place in Japanese politics.

And it has a strong track record of governance – when the opposition did take over in 1993 and 2009, it ended badly.

Since the LDP came back to power in 2012, it has managed to win every election, almost uncontested. There has long been resignation about the status quo, and the opposition remains unconvincing to the Japanese people.

“I think we [the Japanese] are very conservative,” Miyuki Fujisaki, a 66-year-old voter, told the BBC a few days before the election.

“It’s very hard for us to challenge and make a change. And when the ruling party changed once [and the opposition took over], nothing actually changed in the end, that’s why we tend to stay conservative."

Ms Fujisaki said that she had inititially been unsure who to vote for, especially with the fundraising scandal hanging over the LDP. But given that she had always voted for them, she said she was probably going to do the same this time too.

Although the main opposition party - the CDP - made significant gains, observers say these results are less about voters endorsing the opposition than about their ire with the LDP.

Despite voters wanting to hold their politicians accountable, “in [their] minds... there really is no-one else" they trust to lead the country, Mr Hall said.

What that leaves Japan with is a weakened LDP and a splintered opposition.
The country has long been seen as a beacon of political stability, a haven for investors and a reliable US ally in an increasingly tense Asia Pacific.

So the uncertainty is concerning not just for its own people, but also its neighbours and allies.

At home, a shaky coalition will not help with turning the economy around, raising wages and improving welfare for a rapidly ageing population.
And harder still will be the task of regaining the trust and respect of a public weary of politics.
 
 

Japan's voters could end more than a decade of Liberal Democratic Party dominance on Sunday, forcing the ruling party into power-sharing deals that could undermine the country's leadership.

The general election, nine days before the U.S chooses a new president, adds uncertainty to an already turbulent geopolitical landscape as the Tokyo government faces growing tensions with neighbouring China and inflation squeezes Japanese households.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's conservative LDP, in government for almost all of the postwar era, has had a majority in the lower house of parliament since 2012, ruling in coalition with Komeito, on which it depends to control the less-powerful upper house.

But discontent over an LDP political funding scandal and a rising cost of living in the world's fourth-biggest economy threatens the ruling party.

"Public anger has not subsided. The election is going to be very close for the LDP," said Tomoaki Iwai, professor emeritus at Nihon University and an expert on money in politics.

An opinion survey in the Asahi newspaper on Monday suggested the party could lose as many as 50 of its 247 seats in the lower chamber and Komeito could slip to fewer than 30, putting the coalition below the 233 needed for a majority.

The LDP will remain easily the biggest force in parliament, but many votes could go to the number two party, the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which toppled the LDP in 2009. The CDPJ could win 140 seats, the Asahi estimated.

If the LDP needs to rely on Komeito to form a government, that would give the junior partner more influence.

Komeito, affiliated with Japan's biggest lay Buddhist organisation, has been reluctant to back decisions it sees as stepping away from Japan's postwar pacifism, such as acquiring the longer-range weapons the LDP argues are needed to deter China from starting a war in East Asia.


POSSIBLE COALITION SCRAMBLE

If the coalition loses its majority, the LDP would need the backing of at least one other party, further hemming Ishiba in on policy and possibly complicating the Bank of Japan's efforts to unwind decades of monetary stimulus.

Potential partners include the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), which had seven lower house lawmakers going into the election and advocates for lower taxes, and the conservative Japan Innovation Party, which is defending 44 seats with a pledge of tougher donation rules to clean up politics.

"A coalition with the DPP could happen, but the challenge would be to reconcile their push for tax cuts," said Masafumi Fujiwara, an associate professor at the University of Yamanashi.

The DPP wants to halve Japan's 10% national sales tax and cut income tax, policies not supported by the LDP.

DPP party chief Yuichiro Tamaki has so far rejected the idea of working with an LDP-led coalition. Innovation Party head Nobuyuki Baba has not ruled out a partnership.

One option for Ishiba could be to reinstate lawmakers ousted from the LDP over the scandal who run as independents in constituencies where the party is not fielding candidates.

"Several of those questionable candidates are expected to win, and by officially endorsing them, the LDP might narrowly secure a single-party majority," said Tadashi Mori, a political science professor at Aichi Gakuin University.

But this would be risky for Ishiba. The scandal over undeclared donations at fundraisers is a factor most voters are weighing, according to the Asahi survey.

Fumio Kishida stepped down as prime minister last month over the scandal, though he was not implicated. Ishiba, hoping to seize on the change and solidify the LDP's hold on power, immediately called a snap election, but his popularity and the LDP's prospects have slid since he took office on Oct. 1.
Support for his cabinet fell to 41% from 44% over a week, according to a poll published by public broadcaster NHK on Monday.

If the LDP cannot form a governing coalition, the centre-left CDPJ could try to cobble together an administration from a patchwork of opposition parties. The party, led by former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, has ruled out forming a coalition with the LDP.

"It would be very challenging to see the CDPJ forming a government with the other opposition parties, just given how different their policy views are," said Rintaro Nishimura, an associate at the Asia Group Japan consulting firm. "Political instability actually comes in regardless of who wins."