The Bank of Japan decided to keep its monetary policy unchanged at a two-day Policy Board meeting that ended Thursday.時事通信社 による

Senior Japanese and South Korean diplomats agreed Friday to enhance economic ties between the two countries further despite the political turmoil in South Korea following President Yoon Suk-yeol's short-lived martial law decree.時事通信社 による

Japan and Vietnam reaffirmed Friday that Japan remains a preferred partner for the Southeast Asian country's plans to build a nuclear power plant.時事通信社 による

The Japanese government plans to reduce the official prices for nearly half of all drugs under the public health insurance program in its fiscal 2025 revision, informed sources said Friday.時事通信社 による

Yoshio Taniguchi, the noted Japanese architect who designed a new building of New York's Museum of Modern Art and Tokyo Sea Life Park, died of pneumonia Monday morning, it was learned Friday. He was 87.時事通信社 による

The Justice Ministry plans to start discussions as early as next spring to review Japan's retrial system for criminal cases in which guilty verdicts have become final, government sources said Friday.時事通信社 による

The Diet, Japan's parliament, enacted a bill Friday to oblige lawmakers to disclose the uses of allowances paid to cover the costs for documents, communications, transport and lodging, and return the amount unused.時事通信社 による

The Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce in Japan, or UCCJ, which supports economic exchanges between the two countries, held its first board meeting at the Ukrainian Embassy in Tokyo on Friday.時事通信社 による

The Diet, Japan's parliament, voted Friday to extend its current extraordinary session by three days until Tuesday to enact three political reform bills.時事通信社 による

A panel of Japan's ruling bloc decided Friday to postpone a decision on the detailed route of the planned section of the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line that would connect Tsuruga and Shin-Osaka stations.時事通信社 による

The total number of teachers and other school staff punished or reprimanded for sexual crimes and violence in Japan hit a record high of 320 in fiscal 2023, an education ministry survey showed Friday.時事通信社 による

With many of foreigners visiting Japan drawn to metropolitan areas, diverting them to regional areas holds the key to success in the government's aim of making the country a tourism-oriented nation.時事通信社 による

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration will be taking office with a better Indo-Pacific situation than when President Joe Biden was inaugurated, Deputy State Secretary Kurt Campbell said Thursday.時事通信社 による

A Japanese government survey showed Friday that 78.2pctof respondents feel anxious or worried, the highest level since the government began asking about such sentiment in the annual survey in 1981.時事通信社 による

Japan's ruling camp on Friday adopted its fiscal 2025 tax system reform package featuring a plan to raise the minimum taxable income from the current 1.03 million yen per year to 1.23 million yen, the level proposed by the coalition to the opposition Democratic Party for the People.時事通信社 による

Officials from the Japanese Defense Ministry and the Tokyo metropolitan government on Friday conducted an on-site inspection of the U.S. military's Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo over a possible leak of PFAS, potentially carcinogenic chemicals.時事通信社 による

The secretaries-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition partner, Komeito, and the opposition Democratic Party for the People agreed Friday to continue talks on raising the minimum annual taxable income from 1.03 million yen at present.時事通信社 による

Japan's Cabinet Office released Friday improved public relations measures regarding the government's emergency alert system for a megaquake that may occur in the Nankai Trough off the country's Pacific coast.時事通信社 による

Japanese police took action against 183,269 people for Penal Code violations in 2023, marking an 8.2pctrise from the previous year in the first growth in 19 years, a Justice Ministry white paper showed Friday.時事通信社 による

Japan's consumer inflation picked up for the first time in three months in November on the back of rising utility fees and rice prices, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.時事通信社 による

Japanese snack manufacturers are trying to keep things fresh for loyal fans of their long-selling products, including through related merchandise and events.時事通信社 による

Toshiba Corp. has fully put its turmoil behind it over the year since it went private through an acquisition led by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners Inc.時事通信社 による

Sony Group Corp. said Thursday it will become the top shareholder in major Japanese publisher Kadokawa Corp. under a capital and business tie-up deal.時事通信社 による

Japan's Morinari Watanabe, one of the seven candidates in the International Olympic Committee's presidential race, has pledged to stage the Summer Olympics in five cities on five continents simultaneously.時事通信社 による

Japan's government and ruling parties are considering convening next year's ordinary session of the Diet, the country's parliament, on Jan. 24, 2025, ruling party sources said Thursday.時事通信社 による

U.S. investment fund KKR said Thursday that it will extend its tender offer for Japanese system developer Fuji Soft Inc. until Jan. 9, 2025.時事通信社 による

Japan's ruling coalition Thursday agreed that their fiscal 2025 tax system reform package will stipulate an income tax threshold hike from the current 1.03 million yen per year to 1.23 million yen.時事通信社 による

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is considering visiting the United States as early as mid-January to hold talks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, informed sources said Thursday.時事通信社 による

Yomiuri Shimbun group boss Tsuneo Watanabe, who died Thursday at the age of 98, wielded a tremendous influence on the baseball world beyond his roles as owner and chairman of the Yomiuri Giants, a Japanese professional baseball team affiliated with the major newspaper publisher.時事通信社 による

Japan will ease restrictions on ride-hailing services during the 2025 World Exposition to be held in Osaka, the transport ministry said Thursday.時事通信社 による

Nippon Steel Corp. said Thursday that it will set up a joint venture with two companies to participate in an iron ore mine development project in Labrador, eastern Canada.時事通信社 による

The yen plunged against the dollar and other major currencies in Tokyo trading on Thursday as the Bank of Japan signaled a dovish policy stance.時事通信社 による

Amazon Japan G.K. said Thursday that it will enter the "furusato nozei" hometown donation intermediary business.時事通信社 による

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his South Korean counterpart, Han Duk-soo, agreed Thursday to cooperate over North Korea affairs, in their first talks, held over the phone, since South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was impeached earlier this month.時事通信社 による

Japan's Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. accelerated preparations for negotiations including on their possible business integration after Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. approached Nissan for a capital partnership this autumn, it has been learned.時事通信社 による

Police arrested a 43-year-old man on Thursday over a high-profile stabbing case that left a schoolgirl dead in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan.時事通信社 による

Tsuneo Watanabe, head of Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings and editor-in-chief of the major Japanese newspaper publisher, died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital in the small hours of Thursday. He was 98.時事通信社 による

The yen fell past 155 per dollar for the first time in about a month on Thursday after the Bank of Japan skipped an interest rate hike at a two-day policy meeting through the day.時事通信社 による

An advisory panel to Japanese police has called for restrictions on practices by host club employees of forcing female clients into prostitution and other sex work to pay off outrageously priced tabs.時事通信社 による

Subaru Corp. is considering expanding vehicle production capacity at its assembly plant in Indiana, President and CEO Atsushi Osaki said Wednesday.時事通信社 による

Volunteers dressed as Santa Claus will deliver donated books as Christmas gifts to children including those on the Noto Peninsula in central Japan, which was devastated by a powerful earthquake on New Year's day this year.時事通信社 による

Sapporo Holdings Ltd. said Wednesday that it will promote Hiroshi Tokimatsu, executive group managing officer, to the post of president.時事通信社 による

Two people, believed to be in their 50s, were stabbed to death in an apparent murder in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Wednesday afternoon, prefectural police said.時事通信社 による

Japan's upcoming fiscal 2025 tax system reform package is seen including a proposed hike in the income tax threshold from the current 1.03 million yen per year to 1.23 million yen, sources said Wednesday.時事通信社 による

Nippon Life Insurance Co. said Wednesday that Executive Vice President Satoshi Asahi, 61, will become president April 1, 2025, announcing its first change of president in seven years.時事通信社 による

Koichi Hagiuda, former policy leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Wednesday that his office was instructed in 2004 by his party faction to keep unreported funds at the heart of a high-profile slush funds scandal.時事通信社 による

Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Wednesday that it will promote Executive Vice President Eisaku Ito, 61, to president April 1, 2025.時事通信社 による

West Japan Railway Co., or JR West, said Wednesday that it will introduce an automated operation system for its Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line.時事通信社 による

Komeito head Tetsuo Saito called Wednesday for talks within the ruling coalition toward introducing a selective surname system for married couples in Japan.時事通信社 による

Tokyo District Court on Wednesday ordered major Japanese event company Cerespo Co. to pay a fine of 280 million yen for violating the antimonopoly law by rigging bids linked to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021.時事通信社 による