Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba plans to say in his upcoming policy speech before parliament that the government will raise the minimum annual taxable income, it was learned Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

Japan will consider an additional tax break for small and midsize companies with plans to increase their sales by at least 10pcton average over a decade, informed sources said Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

Yu Sato, a 23-year-old Tokyo student hosting online events for listening to the experiences of "hibakusha" atomic bomb survivors, thinks a momentum toward achieving a world without nuclear weapons should be maintained even after hibakusha group Nihon Hidankyo's winning of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.Di 時事通信社

The Bank of Japan said Wednesday that unrealized losses on its holdings of Japanese government bonds widened to a record 13,660.4 billion yen at the end of September from 10.5 trillion yen a year earlier.Di 時事通信社

Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako visited the Toshimagaoka cemetery in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward on Wednesday to pay their respects at the grave of the late Princess Yuriko, the Emperor's great-aunt.Di 時事通信社

A Japanese high court upheld on Wednesday a lower court ruling rejecting a request to halt the No. 2 reactor at Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan.Di 時事通信社

A Japanese communications ministry panel Wednesday stopped short of making a definite decision on whether to scrap a law imposing various restrictions on Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.Di 時事通信社

Japanese police on Wednesday searched four sites allegedly used as bases for goods shoplifted by a group of Vietnamese thieves.Di 時事通信社

Sumitomo Corp. is considering investing in an intermediate holding company that controls supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co., people familiar with the matter said Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

Japanese police on Wednesday served a fresh arrest warrant to a 45-year-old suspect in the 2006 case of attempted murder of a girl in Tatsuno, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, for allegedly stabbing another girl to death in Kakogawa in the same prefecture in 2007.Di 時事通信社

The head of a public prosecutors' office in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, on Wednesday apologized directly to Iwao Hakamata, who was recently acquitted in a retrial decades after he was convicted over the 1966 murder of four people.Di 時事通信社

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's plan to raise tariffs on products from Mexico, China and other countries is feared to affect Japanese firms with plants in those countries.Di 時事通信社

More than two years have passed since Japan previously conducted an execution, as calls for the abolition of capital punishment in the country grow again, following the acquittal of former death row inmate Iwao Hakamata in a retrial.Di 時事通信社

The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven major democracies Tuesday criticized Russia and North Korea for expanding their military cooperation, including Pyongyang's dispatch of its troops to Russia over its war against Ukraine.Di 時事通信社

A major earthquake rocked the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, on Tuesday night.Di 時事通信社

Many House of Councillors lawmakers embroiled in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's slush funds scandal have shown their intent to face a parliamentary ethics panel, it was learned Tuesday.Di 時事通信社

Japan's Defense Ministry presented a plan Tuesday to abolish the current system of Self-Defense Forces personnel candidates and create a new recruitment system with a higher salary level, in order to secure enough fixed-term SDF personnel.Di 時事通信社

Kyushu Railway Co., or JR Kyushu, said Tuesday that it will cut President Yoji Furumiya's pay by 30pctfor two months over a scandal in which a subsidiary covered up a water leak incident on a high-speed ferry.Di 時事通信社

Japanese ruling and opposition parties broadly agreed on a plan Tuesday to abolish so-called policy activity funds provided by political parties to member lawmakers, amid criticisms over the lack of transparency regarding their use.Di 時事通信社

Many Japanese municipalities that could be heavily damaged by a possible Nankai Trough megaquake lack enough knowledge of the government's advisory system to warn that such a disaster may strike soon, a government survey showed Tuesday.Di 時事通信社

Japan has launched a government-led panel to commercialize carbon capture and storage, or CCS, projects by 2030, including by creating a common standard for ships carrying liquefied carbon dioxide and developing tanks to store liquefied CO2.Di 時事通信社

Japan's top government spokesperson, at a press conference on Tuesday, called it "extremely regrettable" that Kyodo News erroneously reported that Akiko Ikuina, parliamentary vice foreign minister, had visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine.Di 時事通信社

Japanese trading house Itochu Corp. said Tuesday it has started selling Google LLC-certified used Pixel smartphones in Japan through a subsidiary.Di 時事通信社

A Japanese government task force on Tuesday compiled a report seeking the strengthening of support for disaster-affected people, including through the introduction of cardboard beds and cooking facilities at evacuation shelters.Di 時事通信社

Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, clarified Tuesday his stance against tax increases to boost Japan's defense spending.Di 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tuesday that his government will draw up measures by next spring to help raise the country's minimum wages.Di 時事通信社

Nissan Motor Co. plans to reduce its vehicle production in the United States by 17pctuntil the end of March 2025, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.Di 時事通信社

A fire broke out during a ground combustion test for the second-stage engine of a Japanese Epsilon S solid-fuel rocket at Tanegashima Space Center in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima on Tuesday morning.Di 時事通信社

The main funeral ceremony for Japanese Princess Yuriko, great-aunt of Emperor Naruhito, was held at the Toshimagaoka cemetery in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward on Tuesday after she died of natural causes on Nov. 15 at the age of 101.Di 時事通信社

Japan and Italy signed an agreement on Monday to allow the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and Italian forces to provide each other with fuel and ammunition.Di 時事通信社

Japan's industry ministry is considering promoting the use of perovskite solar cells to cover 20 gigawatts of electricity, the equivalent of 20 nuclear reactors, in 2040, officials said.Di 時事通信社

Japan's labor ministry will enhance measures against companies that make workers use their own money and buy products they sell to reach their sales quotas, it was learned Monday.Di 時事通信社

Japanese ruling and opposition parties will consider utilizing and restricting the use of social media in elections after witnessing its significant impact on voters' behavior in recent races.Di 時事通信社

Japan aims to prepare legislation that would enable it to tax domestic corporations with overseas operations until their effective corporate tax rates reach the internationally agreed minimum rate of 15 pct, sources said Monday.Di 時事通信社

The Japanese government is considering setting a target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions in fiscal 2035 by 60pctfrom the 2013 level, officials said Monday.Di 時事通信社

Japanese travel agency H.I.S. Co. said Monday that subsidiary Number One Travel Shibuya Co. is likely to have fraudulently received government subsidies to help companies maintain employment during the COVID-19 pandemic.Di 時事通信社

Japanese prefectural governors asked the central government Monday to have consideration for regional finances in discussions between ruling and opposition parties over raising the minimum annual taxable income and lowering the gasoline tax.Di 時事通信社

Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito on Monday denied paying a company to run his social media campaign in the Nov. 17 gubernatorial election in the western Japan prefecture.Di 時事通信社

Japan's four major life insurers have posted higher core business profits in April-September, thanks chiefly to higher investment gains reflecting the weak yen.Di 時事通信社

Japan's welfare ministry on Monday presented a proposal to boost future basic public pensions by around 30 pct.Di 時事通信社

The average daily vegetable intake of adults in Japan stood at 256 grams in 2023, hitting the lowest level on record that can date back to 2001, a health ministry survey showed Monday.Di 時事通信社

Japan's Crown Prince Akishino said Monday that he hopes his son, Prince Hisahito, will have the opportunity to study abroad in the future.Di 時事通信社

The prefectural government of Yamanashi, west of Tokyo, plans to raise the entry fee for Mount Fuji climbers from the current 2,000 yen to between 3,000 yen and 5,000 yen, informed sources said Monday.Di 時事通信社

A Japanese high court Monday upheld a lower court ruling sentencing doctor Yoshikazu Okubo to 18 years in prison for murdering an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patient at the request of the victim in 2019.Di 時事通信社

The 93-year-old inmate over a car crash in which a mother and her young daughter were killed in Tokyo's busy Ikebukuro district in April 2019 has died of old age, it was learned Monday.Di 時事通信社

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi on Monday denied that Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Akiko Ikuina visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine after becoming a lawmaker.Di 時事通信社

Former Japanese lawmaker Masatoshi Akimoto on Monday pleaded not guilty to charges of taking bribes from an offshore wind power company over a project in the northeastern prefecture of Aomori.Di 時事通信社

The South Korean government held on Monday morning its own ceremony to remember workers at the now-defunct gold mines on Sado Island in the central Japan prefecture of Niigata, which have been put on the UNESCO World Heritage list.Di 時事通信社

Governments across the world began talks in Busan, South Korea, on Monday on a proposed treaty to regulate pollution from plastic products.Di 時事通信社

Japanese supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co. on Sunday closed its store in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, that is known as the model for the "Sato-Kokonokado" store that appears in the popular anime series "Crayon Shin-chan."Di 時事通信社