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Tokyo, Oct. 20 (Jiji Press)--The personnel commissions of Japan's 47 prefectures have recommended higher monthly salaries and bonuses for prefectural government employees for fiscal 2026, a survey showed Tuesday. It marked the fifth consecutive year that all prefectural commissions have made such recommendations. If the hikes are implemented as recommended, the average annual salary will...
Anna Edwards, Guy Johnson, and Paul Dobson break down today's key themes for analysts and investors on "Bloomberg: The Opening Trade." (Source: Bloomberg)
A Chinese student who draped himself in the Japanese rising sun flag in a Russian university classroom has been expelled and asked to leave the country, according to state-run newspaper Global Times. The flag was used by the Japanese military during its imperial expansion and is still used by Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force. It remains a symbol of Japanese militarism and aggression in China and other parts of Asia. Moscow State University made the decision after the student was criticised by...
Tsu, Mie Pref., Oct. 20 (Jiji Press)--Tsu District Court on Tuesday sentenced a former truck driver to seven years in prison for an expressway crash that killed six people, including three children, in Mie Prefecture, western Japan, in March. The seven-year sentence for Mitsuyo Mizutani, 55, came as requested by the prosecution. According to the ruling, Mizutani was driving a truck at ab...
Japanese investors’ purchases of domestic government bonds climbed to the highest in 17 years in the fiscal first half, a move that some analysts said reflected an attempt by pension funds to rebalance their portfolios.
The arrest of a Japanese journalist in Russia has finally woken Tokyo up to the fact that Moscow is playing hardball in their diplomatic relationship, and the country’s apparent unwillingness to push back with commensurate force could encourage the Kremlin to test its neighbour’s resolve, analysts say. Japan lodged an official protest with the Russian ambassador in Tokyo on Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced the arrest of Yuki Imai from the Hokkaido Shimbun Press on suspicion of espionage....
Tokyo, Oct. 20 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Empress Emerita Michiko turned 92 on Tuesday, enjoying a peaceful life with her husband, Emperor Emeritus Akihito, also 92. Her advanced age has caused a decline in her physical strength and made her get tired more frequently than before, which has led her to go on shorter walks. Still, there is no major change in the Empress Emerita's overall health co...
Tokyo, Oct. 19 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, plans to develop a new medium-term vision in light of an accelerating decline in the country's population and the spread of artificial intelligence, its chairman, Yoshinobu Tsutsui, said Monday. "Looking ahead to 2050, we will draw up a vision for the economy and society that we should aim for," he said at a symposium...
Tokyo, Oct. 19 (Jiji Press)--An expert panel of Japan's National Police Agency held its first meeting Monday for discussions on requiring stalkers to wear GPS devices to prevent them from getting near their targets. The panel, made up of lawyers, university professors and family members of stalking victims, will also consider requiring perpetrators to get counseling or visit medical institu...
Rio Times · Asia Intelligence Brief October 19, 2026 — China reports 4.5% Q3 growth and a US$28 billion green-tech export surge; Japan begins Keen Sword drills and PM Takaichi sends Yasukuni offering; Indonesian stocks fall over 5% as haze crisis and MSCI warning converge. The post Asia Intelligence Brief — Monday, October 19, 2026 appeared first on The Rio Times.
A deputy mayor in western Japan died after being crushed under a giant float during a local parade, officials said on Monday, a week after two others were reportedly killed at separate traditional festivals. Akihiro Nabae, deputy mayor of the city of Saijo in the Ehime region, was carrying a giant float with other participants on Saturday before becoming trapped beneath it, city and police officials said. He was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead, local media said. The exact...
Tokyo, Oct. 19 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government on Monday warned against any move to deny preferential treatment being considered for European vehicles in the European Union to Japanese vehicles. The European Union "should treat products made in Japan on an equal footing with those made in the EU," Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference. Germany and France ...
Nagoya, Oct. 18 (Jiji Press)--The opening ceremony of the first Japan-hosted Asian Para Games took place at Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya, the capital of Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, on Sunday, officially marking the start of the 2026 Games. About 3,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions are scheduled to participate. The Japanese delegation has entered about 280 athletes. At th...
Tokyo, Oct. 18 (Jiji Press)--The first de facto replacement of a cabinet minister since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office a year ago has exposed the weaknesses of her grip on power. Information crucial to Takaichi's decision on whether to replace embattled former agriculture minister Kazuo Yana did not reach her. This included an allegation that Yana's camp provided free...
China strongly condemned what it called Japan’s “negative moves” concerning the Yasukuni Shrine, saying the actions were a provocation against the postwar international order, according to a Saturday statement from the Chinese Embassy in Japan.
Kurayoshi, Tottori Pref., Oct. 17 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Princess Aiko attended a national conference on disaster management in Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, western Japan, on Saturday. The princess, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, listened intently to presentations by five speakers, including a local female firefighter and a female university student who uses picture...
Japan has long established itself as a pioneer of mediation in Southeast Asia. In 1990, for example, its officials helped broker talks between Cambodia’s warring factions, supplementing international efforts to end conflict in the country. Now, Tokyo is seeking to upgrade its diplomatic toolkit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ International Peace Mediation Unit was set up in March, followed by the launch of the Parliamentary Association for Peace Mediation in May. Around the same time, the...
Airline employees in Japan are experiencing a surge in abuse incidents from customers linked to delays or cancellations of flights or from being refused boarding due to late check-in, according to a survey. Some 30 per cent of ground staff or cabin crew reported bearing the brunt of passengers’ anger over such matters in the past year, according to the survey by the Japan Federation of Aviation Industry Unions released last month, rising from 7 per cent in its previous survey in 2023. In...
Tokyo, Oct. 17 (Jiji Press)--Speculation is growing that Russia will seek a prisoner exchange following the recent detention of a Japanese journalist for alleged spying in Sakhalin in the Russian Far East. Some believe that the detention of the Hokkaido Shimbun reporter is linked to the handover to Germany this month of a Russian hacker detained in Japan in May. Germany had asked Japan t...
Japan is increasingly turning to foreign companies to accelerate its military modernisation, drawing on overseas technology, expertise and production capacity to plug defence gaps that could prove critical in a potential regional conflict involving China. The push has gathered momentum over the past week, with Tokyo confirming a contract for Ukrainian interceptor drones and a multinational fighter consortium preparing to expand its design operations in Japan. French defence giant Thales is also...
Tokyo, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)--More Japanese companies on Friday made announcements regarding customer data breaches due to cyberattacks. Yamato Transport Co. said that 5.31 million sets of personal information belonging to some users of its deferred payment service were compromised in a breach that the logistics firm had first announced on Sept. 29. The affected personal information, incl...
Rio Times · Asia Intelligence Brief October 16, 2026 — Indonesia's Jakarta Composite fell more than 10% after MSCI warned its emerging-market status was no longer appropriate; South Korea's Kospi rose 2.1% and Japan's Nikkei rose 1.4% in partial recovery; China's Wang Yi told Israel to stop West Bank settlement expansion. The post Asia Intelligence Brief — Friday, October 16, 2026 appeared first on The Rio Times.
Tokyo, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)--The average price of rice sold from collectors to wholesalers in Japan plunged 42 pct from a year earlier to 21,293 yen per 60 kilograms of brown rice in September, the agriculture ministry said Friday. The September figure, which reflects transactions for the 2026 crop for the first time, is still the third highest on record, after those in 2024 and 2025. Du...
Tokyo, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi apologized on Friday over the resignation of scandal-hit former agriculture minister Kazuo Yana and vowed to restore public trust in her government. "I feel remorseful, and I take my responsibility seriously for appointing" Yana, who resigned earlier this week, the prime minister said at a meeting of the Budget Committee of...
Tokyo, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government on Friday adopted a bill to allow police to analyze remotely communication devices linked to crimes, a fresh measure to prevent damage caused by "tokuryu" loosely organized anonymous criminal groups. The bill would allow police to find out fraud and robbery plans involving tokuryu groups and prevent damage by collecting information throug...
Kyoto, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)--Kyoto District Court on Friday found a 59-year-old gang member not guilty of the 2013 murder of the president of "gyoza" dumpling restaurant chain Ohsho Food Service Corp. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for the defendant, Yukio Tanaka, a high-ranking member of an affiliate of Kudokai, a legally designated dangerous yakuza group. According to the indic...
Japan’s Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Co. is maintaining an elevated cash position as a buffer against volatile global markets and concerns about rising government spending in the country.
Japan’s hopes for a visit by Donald Trump during his trip to Asia next month may be hanging in the balance as relations between China and the United States steadily improve. The US president spent three days in Japan ahead of last year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, and his meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was hailed as a sign of a “new golden age” in the countries’ relationship. But since then Trump’s growing rapport with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping has caused...
Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--Russian Ambassador to Japan Nikolay Nozdrev has rejected Japan's requests regarding the detention of a Japanese journalist by Russian authorities, the Russian Embassy in Tokyo said Thursday. On Wednesday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry summoned Nozdrev and requested information on the matter and humanitarian consideration for the detained journalist, while protes...
Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday appointed Arata Takebe of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as the new agriculture minister following the resignation of his embattled predecessor, Kazuo Yana. Takebe, 56, a former state minister of agriculture, officially took office after an attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace in the afternoon. Ta...