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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...
Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--A majority in Japan support legislation to cut the consumption tax on food and introduce an income-linked benefit program, a Jiji Press opinion poll showed. The poll found that 55.3 pct of respondents supported the legislation while 37.3 pct opposed it. The legislation is designed to cut the 8 pct consumption tax on food to 1 pct for two years from next April...
Washington, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday attributed the selection of a U.S. semiconductor plant construction project for the third batch of Japanese investments in the United States to his "historic" trade deals. The investment deal "is a result of my historic trade deals," Trump said in a social media post after U.S. semiconductor contract manufacturer Glo...
Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama warned speculators that she was prepared to take action in the currency market again if needed, after the yen touched its weakest level against the dollar this month following a heating up of US inflation figures.
Four Russian-held islands keep Japan and Russia from a formal peace treaty, and the frozen conflict now tests the US-Japan alliance in the North Pacific. The post Japan’s Northern Territories Dispute Explained for 2026 appeared first on The Rio Times.
Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Imperial Household Agency on Thursday released the list of approximately 1,700 invitees for an autumn garden party to be hosted by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at the Akasaka Imperial Gardens in Tokyo on Oct. 29. The event will bring together distinguished individuals from various fields and local government officials, and their spouses. Among ...
A Japanese journalist has been detained in Russia on suspicion of spying for Japanese intelligence.
Partnership with 150-year-old Japanese institution to strengthen collaboration in biotechnology, food and agricultural sciences
Rio Times · Asia Intelligence Brief October 14, 2026 — China's September exports rose 36.3% and the trade surplus hit US$133.53 billion, drawing IMF calls for domestic consumption; Japan protested a Chinese delegation's visit to Russian-held Iturup; Taiwan's Hai Kun submarine completed its 24th sea trial. The post Asia Intelligence Brief — Wednesday, October 14, 2026 appeared first on The Rio Times.
Japanese Agriculture Minister Kazuo Yana said he had tendered his resignation following allegations of possible vote-buying, lining him up to become the first senior minister in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government to quit over a scandal. The prime minister had resisted calls to have Yana step down after local media reports said he claimed to have cut roadworks funding to municipalities that did not support him in February’s general election. The tide turned after allegations surfaced that...
Tokyo, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--Senji Kuroi, a prominent writer of the "introverted generation" in Japan, died of pneumonia on Monday. He was 94. Kuroi, whose real name was Shunjiro Osabe, published "Aoi Kojo" in 1958 while working for Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., now Subaru Corp., after graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1955. In 1970, Kuroi won the Art Encouragement Prize for New A...
Kobe, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--An after-school program in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, is helping children with developmental problems build confidence and independence through theater activities, a relatively unusual approach in the country. The provider of the after-school program, Hokagorubi, offers creative activities through improvisational plays. It was established by Masatoshi...
Tokyo, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--About 30 pct of Japan's working population, or some 20 million people, may be eligible for a financial aid program that the government aims to introduce alongside a planned consumption tax cut for food, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday. The figure was calculated based on similar systems in other countries, Takaichi told a meeting of the Budget Commit...
Tokyo, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged agriculture minister Kazuo Yana on Wednesday to give full explanations on his alleged public offices election law violation. At a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the Japanese parliament, Takaichi said she received a report by phone from Yana on Tuesday ni...
A business delegation from northeastern China has visited a Russian-controlled, Japanese-claimed island off Hokkaido to explore joint economic projects, a move that has prompted protests from Tokyo. Officials and business leaders from Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia’s far east, travelled to Etorofu – known to Russians as Iturup – to survey potential investment opportunities, according to the Sakhalin Oblast government, which oversees the island. Etorofu is the largest island in a...
Japan’s prime minister said on Wednesday she probably spent “three or four more hours” than her male predecessors tackling household duties on top of her already packed daily schedule. “In the morning, I bathe, fix breakfast and then wash dishes, not to mention apply make-up,” Sanae Takaichi, elected last year as Japan’s first woman prime minister, told parliament. “I feel like I’m spending three or four more hours than male prime ministers doing these things.” A self-described workaholic,...
Tokyo, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government is apparently struggling to persuade Washington to change its stance after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions against the International Criminal Court. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has expressed her country's continued support for the ICC. But the situation may have consequences for the rule of l...
Tokyo, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government has proposed a draft bill to introduce criminal penalties for unauthorized transactions of land around important facilities, including Self-Defense Forces bases, and on uninhabited border islands. The bill to revise the law to regulate such land use and conduct related land surveys was presented to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on T...
A growing number of Japanese regard the United States as the greatest threat to world peace ahead of traditional rival China, according to a new survey. The annual poll, released by the Japan Press Research Institute on Saturday, found 26.8 per cent of respondents named the US as the biggest threat to global peace. That was up 9.3 percentage points on last year and far above the 6.6 per cent recorded in 2024. Russia came top of the list in 2025 but slipped to third place this year, with 18.3 per...
Tokyo, Oct. 13 (Jiji Press)--Sushi and other food delivery service operator Ride On Express Holdings Co. said Tuesday that the personal information of up to about 6.5 million registered customers may have been compromised through unauthorized server access. According to the company, the affected data includes the names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth and encry...
Tokyo, Oct. 13 (Jiji Press)--A delegation from China has visited Etorofu, one of the four Russian-controlled northwestern Pacific islands claimed by Japan, the government of the Sakhalin region in the Russian Far East said Tuesday. The visit by the mission, comprising local government officials and business representatives from the northeastern China province of Heilongjiang, which borders ...