Japan

JAPAN: World Athletics has declared that Tokyo will host the 2025 World Athletics Championships, beating out Singapore, Nairobi, and Silesia (Jul 14). Last year’s Olympic Games will be returning to their original location for this year’s JAAF centennial celebration. The 2023 World Athletics Championships will be held in Budapest, according to World Athletics. WADA president Sebastian Coe remarked after the …

JAPAN: As the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Japan, Prime Minister Lee has written to his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida to congratulate him on the LDP’s success. Two days after the killing of a senior LDP member and former prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s conservative coalition government extended its majority in the upper house of …

CHINA: A record quarterly profit from Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing pushed the company’s share price to its highest level this year in Tokyo trade on Friday. One-day gains of 8.5% were the most since April 15, and it was expected to conclude at its best level since November 2021. China, Fast Retailing’s most important international market, had severe losses in …

JAPAN: Coronavirus cases appear to be spreading swiftly across Japan, prompting the country’s health ministry to issue a public health alert and urge residents to exercise extra caution ahead of the forthcoming long weekend and upcoming summer school breaks. Japan’s new COVID-19 cases have climbed to levels not seen since early this year, with Tokyo reporting 16,878 new cases on …

JAPAN: There are many Japanese farmers who begin to worry about Typhoon Season months in advance, haunted by recollections of the tremendous rains and landslides that devastated wasabi farms during one of these storms. “Due to global warming, typhoons are now more powerful than ever before. It’s becoming stronger,” said an elderly farmer in Okutama, a suburb west of Tokyo, …

JAPAN: He planned the murder of Shinzo Abe for months, believing the former Japanese leader was linked to a religious sect he blamed for his mother’s financial devastation, authorities said on Saturday (Jul 9). Tatsuya Yamagami, the 41-year-old man who shot and wounded Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was identified by police as the gunman. The crime was caught on tape …

JAPAN: When Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister, was assassinated while campaigning in a western city, a hearse carrying his remains arrived in Tokyo on Saturday (July 9). Even in a country like Japan, where violent crime is rare and gun rules are rigorous, the killing of a well-known politician has shocked the nation. While top members of Abe’s …

JAPAN: Desperate gamers wait outside an electronics store in Tokyo in the wee hours of the morning to get their hands on the latest PlayStation or Xbox despite Japan’s persistent shortages. Since its November 2020 debut, Sony and Microsoft consoles, as well as Nintendo’s Switch, have been difficult to obtain due to supply chain concerns compounded by lockdowns in China. …

JAPAN: Temperatures in eastern Japan have been at their hottest since records began, forcing the government to advise residents to conserve electricity as much as possible, while keeping air conditioners on in order to remain safe. There will be a scorching weekend for those who live in and around Tokyo, as temperatures rose above 35 degrees Celsius for the seventh …

YOKOHAMA: As the sweltering summer heat continues to hammer Tokyo, the Japanese government issued a warning on Sunday (June 26) that electric power supplies in the Tokyo area would be stretched on Monday. According to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry projections, excess production capacity in Tokyo and eight adjacent prefectures in eastern Japan would drop as low as 3.7 …