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.Di 時事通信社

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

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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

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

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.Di 時事通信社

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

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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.Di 時事通信社

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

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

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

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.Di 時事通信社

The cumulative number of foreign visitors to Japan in January-November is estimated to have totaled 33,379,900, already exceeding the previous annual record high of 31.88 million in 2019, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

Members of Nihon Hidankyo, a group of hibakusha atomic bomb survivors, made a visit Wednesday to a cenotaph for deceased victims in Hiroshima to mark its receipt of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.Di 時事通信社

Japan's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by former House of Representatives lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto, 53, against his guilty sentence in a high-profile corruption case linked to a casino-featuring integrated resort, or IR, project.Di 時事通信社

Osaka High Court ruled Wednesday that the Japanese government is not liable to pay compensation for evacuations following the March 2011 accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s tsunami-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.Di 時事通信社

Financial assets held by households in Japan stood at 2,179 trillion yen as of the end of September, falling from a record high marked three months before in their first decline in eight quarters, the Bank of Japan said Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

Japan logged a customs-cleared trade deficit of 117.6 billion yen in November, down sharply from the year-before deficit of 813.9 billion yen, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday adopted by consensus a resolution condemning North Korea's human rights abuses and demanding the immediate return of Japanese and other abductees in the reclusive country.Di 時事通信社

Japanese startup Space One Co. failed in the second launch of its satellite-carrying Kairos small rocket on Wednesday, following the failed first launch in March this year.Di 時事通信社

Shares of Japanese chipmaker Kioxia Holdings Corp. fetched an initial price of 1,440 yen at their stock market debut on Wednesday, lower than the initial public offering price of 1,455 yen.Di 時事通信社

Another Japanese national has been detained in Belarus, officials at the Japanese Embassy in Belarus said Tuesday.Di 時事通信社

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. are considering setting up a holding company to merge their operations, people familiar with their talks said Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

Japan's Honda Motor Co. released the next-generation version of its hybrid vehicle drive system e:HEV on Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

Danish authorities Tuesday decided not to extradite Paul Watson, 74, founder of antiwhaling group Sea Shepherd, despite an extradition request from Japan.Di 時事通信社

Japan is accelerating arrangements for an early visit by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the United States after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has shown eagerness to meet with him.Di 時事通信社

Ukraine's presidential adviser for sanctions policy, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, expressed concerns Tuesday over the use of Japan-made parts in weapons made in Russia.Di 時事通信社

Japan's opposition Democratic Party for the People broke off talks Tuesday with the ruling coalition over raising the nontaxable income ceiling from the current 1.03 million yen, called the "annual income barrier."Di 時事通信社

Nippon Life Insurance Co. plans to appoint Executive Vice President Satoshi Asahi, 61, as its new president April 1, 2025, it was learned Tuesday.Di 時事通信社

The commander of the French navy in the Pacific region expressed willingness Tuesday to boost cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region with partner nations such as Japan.Di 時事通信社