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Tokyo, Sept. 30 (Jiji Press)--So-called fast pass services that allow customers to receive priority entry for a fee are increasingly being adopted by restaurants, proving particularly popular among young people and tourists who want to skip waiting in line. One fast pass service for eateries is SuiSui, which has been adopted by 104 stores in 20 prefectures across Japan as of Sept. 18, and i...
Tokyo, Sept. 29 (Jiji Press)--Japanese volleyball player Rui Takahashi, who belongs to the Suntory Sunbirds Osaka team, came out as gay in a social media post on Tuesday. The 26-year-old noted that spending time with his younger brother, Japanese star Ran Takahashi, on the same team until last season was significant to him. "Conversations with Ran led me to accept myself for the first ti...
Tokyo, Sept. 29 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Imperial Household Agency has released photographs of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako taken during their visit to Ghibli Park, a theme park in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture, on Sept. 20. The photographs, released Monday, were taken by a chamberlain using the Emperor's smartphone and show the Imperial couple posing with characters from animated films pr...
India and Japan to convene Foreign, Defence Ministers dialogue by the end of the year, senior Japanese Foreign Affairs official tells The Hindu; calls for maritime law to be respected in disputed South China Sea islands
Tokyo, Sept. 28 (Jiji Press)--Precipitation was observed in Central Tokyo for 33 consecutive days from Aug. 27 through Monday, due in part to rains brought by fronts and typhoons, tying the record for the longest such spell since statistics were first compiled in 1886, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The agency's observation point for Tokyo, located in Kitanomaru Park in the J...
Hong Kong customs officers have seized 400 so-called slimming injections imported from Japan, with an estimated market value of about HK$290,000 (US$36,970), and arrested two local residents in an operation earlier this month. The case came to light on September 5, when officers intercepted a suspicious postal packet imported from Japan at the Air Mail Centre. “Upon inspection, customs officers found and seized 400 anti-obesity injection vials suspected to contain Part 1 poisons from the...
Otaki, Nagano Pref., Sept. 27 (Jiji Press)--A memorial ceremony was held Sunday in the village of Otaki, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, for the victims of the eruption of Mount Ontake that occurred 12 years ago, leaving 58 people dead and five missing. The event at Matsubara Sports Park was co-hosted by Otaki and the town of Kiso in the same prefecture. About 60 people attended, includin...
Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government is seeking clarity on Thursday's U.S.-China summit after U.S. President Donald Trump referred to China as an ally during World War II. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is considering calling Trump for a direct briefing on the summit, as the president's remark caused confusion within the Japanese government. "I won't comment on e...
Tokyo, Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)--About half of 120 civic groups working in Japan to save and rehome dogs and cats received more requests to take in such animals for protection in the past year than in the preceding year, a private-sector survey shows. According to the survey, conducted by pet care-related company Inuneko-Seikatsu Co., the 120 groups took in a total of 8,718 dogs and cats in th...
Tokyo, Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)--Japanese municipalities are turning their low name recognition into tourism promotion opportunities, using self-deprecating jokes to attract attention. The Akita prefectural government's tourism strategy division launched a campaign from May to July this year to distribute accommodation coupons under a catchy slogan, "Akita Prefecture: Still Unnoticed." The ...
Tokyo, Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will visit Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Tuesday to meet with people affected by a powerful earthquake in July, according to a plan approved by the government at a cabinet meeting Friday. In their one-day trip, the Imperial couple will visit areas in the cities of Yatsushiro and Uki and the town of Hika...
Tokyo, Sept. 24 (Jiji Press)--An expert panel under Japan's National Police Agency in a proposal compiled Thursday called for an early introduction of remote analysis of smartphones used by members of "tokuryu" loosely organized anonymous criminal groups. The panel highlighted the need for new measures to prevent damage related to crimes by tokuryu groups. The NPA plans to submit a bill to ...
Tokyo, Sept. 24 (Jiji Press)--Many restaurant chains, food makers and convenience store operators in Japan are offering new seasonal food products featuring eggs made to resemble a full moon ahead of the "tsukimi" mid-autumn moon-viewing season. This year's mid-autumn moon, which takes place on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, falls on Friday. Drawing on the traditional Japanese cust...
Tokyo, Sept. 24 (Jiji Press)--Lineups of return gifts offered for donations made under Japan's "furusato nozei" hometown tax donation program may noticeably change as the internal affairs ministry is set to tighten rules for some items in October. The ministry will introduce a stricter standard for the value locally added by manufacturing and processing goods, such as electrical appliances ...
The body of a child was found on Wednesday on the coast of an outlying island in northeastern Japan, with police investigating whether it could be a six-year-old boy who went missing in the area earlier this month. The body, which was found around 11.20am on Tobishima, Yamagata Prefecture, was dressed in what appeared to be a navy blue and red Spider Man-themed jumpsuit, similar to the clothing the boy was wearing when he disappeared, according to prefectural police. A man in his 70s alerted...
Tokyo, Sept. 23 (Jiji Press)--Japanese swimmer Shoon Mitsunaga set a national record of 50.56 seconds to win the gold medal in the men's 100-meter butterfly at the Asian Games in Japan on Wednesday. On the fifth day of the 20th edition of the quadrennial multisport event, held in venues mainly in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, fencer Yuka Ueno earned gold in the women's foil individual. ...
Tokyo, Sept. 22 (Jiji Press)--Japanese swimmer Yumeki Kojima won a gold medal in the men's 400-meter individual medley at the Asian Games on Tuesday. The 17-year-old clocked 4:07.02. In the same event, Japan's Tomoyuki Matsushita, 21, grabbed a silver medal. Among other Japanese swimmers, Kaito Tabuchi, 24, won silver in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle, and Kazushi Imafuku, 19, earned br...
More than one million people were under evacuation advisories in Japan early Tuesday and hundreds of flights have been cancelled as Typhoon Dujuan brushed past Tokyo, bringing torrential rains, flooding and landslides to the region.
A plane landing in Tokyo that one passenger called 'a miracle' ended with applause as Typhoon Dujuan battered Japan.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency has warned of an "imminent threat to life" as Typhoon Dujuan bears down on the country, with nearly two million people urged to evacuate across six prefectures, including Tokyo.
Nagoya, Sept. 19 (Jiji Press)--The opening ceremony of the 20th Asian Games was held at Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya, the capital of Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, on Saturday evening, marking the official start of the 2026 Games. The Aichi-Nagoya Games are the third Japan-hosted summer Games after the 1958 Tokyo and 1994 Hiroshima Games. More than 15,000 athletes from 45 countries ...
Fewer births and worsening labour shortages are placing mounting pressure on Japan’s social care system.
Taipei, Sept. 18 (Jiji Press)--Taiwan has donated more than 300 million New Taiwan dollars, or 1.5 billion yen, collected from the public to Japan to support areas affected by a massive earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture in July. In a ceremony at the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry in Taipei on Thursday, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung handed a list of the donations to Kazuyuki Katayama, chief rep...
Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Pref., Sept. 18 (Jiji Press)--A section on the Kyushu Shinkansen bullet train line that had been halted due to the impact of a major earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture in late July returned to service on Friday. All sections on the high-speed train line linking Hakata Station in Fukuoka Prefecture in the Kyushu southwestern Japan region and Kagoshima-Chuo Station in Kago...
Jakarta, Sept. 17 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Self-Defense Forces has started work to extinguish forest fires in western Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Ground SDF's CH-47 helicopters started spraying river water scooped into large buckets Wednesday. According to Japan's Defense Ministry, it is the SDF's first firefighting operation outside of the country. The operation was slated to begin Sunda...
London, Sept. 16 (Jiji Press)--Japan ranked 117th among 145 countries in the World Economic Forum's global gender equality rankings for 2026, the lowest among the Group of Seven major democracies, a WEF report showed Wednesday. Japan's ranking improved by one spot from 2025 with a score of 0.670, up from 0.666 in the previous year, where 1 indicates full gender parity. The WEF's gender gap ...
The fee will be imposed on those who get lost on Japan's most famous mountain during the off-peak seasons.
Tokyo, Sept. 15 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese court on Tuesday sentenced a former owner of a Tokyo massage parlor to five years in prison and fined him 1 million yen for making a then 12-year-old Thai girl provide sexual services in violation of laws including the child welfare law. Tokyo District Court found Masayuki Hosono, 52, guilty of having the girl provide sexual services to male customer...