U.S. mayors and others have sent a letter to President Joe Biden seeking his approval for Nippon Steel Corp.'s plan to acquire United States Steel Corp., it was learned Tuesday.Di 時事通信社

Japan's Defense Ministry on Saturday began ground improvement work on the Oura Bay side of the Henoko coastal area in Okinawa Prefecture, as part of a U.S. base relocation project in the southernmost prefecture.Di 時事通信社

Japanese lawmaker Toshiyuki Adachi of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has died during his visit to the Maldives, informed sources said Saturday.Di 時事通信社

Police have arrested a 77-year-old unemployed man in Tokyo for allegedly murdering a woman, apparently his own wife, by running her over with a car.Di 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday hinted at the possibility of holding a snap election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, on the same day as next summer's election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber.Di 時事通信社

A man who lost his wife and three children in a huge earthquake in central Japan a year ago is trying desperately to move forward.Di 時事通信社

Former Suzuki Motor Corp. Chairman Osamu Suzuki died of malignant lymphoma at a hospital in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, at 3:53 p.m. Wednesday. He was 94.Di 時事通信社

Japan and the United States have for the first time jointly drawn up guidelines for extended deterrence, the Japanese government announced Friday.Di 時事通信社

Iran, El Salvador, Botswana and South Africa have pulled out of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka, western Japan, for financial and other reasons, people familiar with the matter said Friday.Di 時事通信社

Japan's Defense Ministry said Friday that it has found over 100 new cases of the Self-Defense Forces mishandling designated security secrets, such as improper procedures for members transferring posts and illegal copying of information.Di 時事通信社

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. created 1.7 billion yen in slush funds over the six years through fiscal 2023 through fictitious transactions involving repair contracts for Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force submarines, the Defense Ministry said Friday.Di 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba suggested Friday that he may call a snap election for the House of Representatives if a no-confidence motion against his cabinet is passed in the all-important lower chamber of his country's parliament.Di 時事通信社

Japan's seasonally adjusted ratio of effective job openings to seekers in November stood at 1.25, unchanged from the previous month, the labor ministry said Friday.Di 時事通信社

Tokyo District Court on Friday sentenced Stefan Kaufmann, former president and CEO of Japanese optical equipment maker Olympus Corp., to 10 months in prison suspended for three years, for obtaining banned drugs.Di 時事通信社

The Japanese government said Friday it estimates 78,440 billion yen in general-account tax revenues for fiscal 2025 starting next April, up 12.7pctfrom the fiscal 2024 initial budget.Di 時事通信社

The Japanese government plans to issue bonds worth a total of 176,858.7 billion yen in fiscal 2025, the Ministry of Finance announced Friday.Di 時事通信社

Core consumer prices in central Tokyo rose 2.4pctfrom a year before in December, lifted by higher electricity and gas bills and rising rice prices, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.Di 時事通信社

Japan's industrial production in November fell 2.3pctfrom the previous month, the first drop in three months, the industry ministry said Friday.Di 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Thursday that he plans to visit Malaysia and Indonesia in early January.Di 時事通信社

The Japanese government has drafted its new green transformation, or GX, strategy, which includes a plan to concentrate growing industries in areas rich in carbon-free power sources, such as solar and other renewables, as well as nuclear plants.Di 時事通信社

Japan's seasonally adjusted nominal gross domestic product fell below that of California for the first time in the second quarter of this year, NLI Research Institute, a private think tank in Tokyo, said Thursday.Di 時事通信社

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday that uranium has been detected in nuclear fuel debris extracted from one of the three meltdown-hit reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.Di 時事通信社

Japan's health ministry has drawn up a report that includes a plan to require companies to take measures against customer harassment of workers, it was learned Thursday.Di 時事通信社

Japan's Financial Services Agency issued a business improvement order to Aeon Bank on Thursday accusing it of deficiencies in its fight against money laundering.Di 時事通信社

Chisako Kakehi, a 78-year-old death-row inmate known as a "black widow" who was convicted in serial murders using hydrocyanic acid in western Japan, died at the Osaka Detention House on Thursday, the Justice Ministry said.Di 時事通信社

Japan's 10 major electricity suppliers said Thursday that February bills for standard households will be cut by up to some 650 yen, thanks to the resumption of government subsidies.Di 時事通信社

The competition rate of employment examinations for public school teachers in Japan hit a record low in fiscal 2024, the education ministry said Thursday.Di 時事通信社

Prosecutors failed to properly investigate Iwao Hakamata, 88, who was acquitted this year in his retrial for the murder of four people in 1966, Japan's Supreme Public Prosecutors Office said in a report Thursday.Di 時事通信社

Japan's 195 major food and beverage makers plan price hikes for a record 1,380 products in January amid rising logistics and labor costs, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Thursday.Di 時事通信社

Then Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa expressed his skepticism about China's democratization in a summit with then U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1993, Japanese diplomatic documents showed Thursday.Di 時事通信社

Of foreign workers with work-related issues in Japan, one in five cited expensive fees they paid to employment agencies, a labor ministry survey showed Thursday.Di 時事通信社

Japan Airlines said Thursday that a cyberattack has hit its network equipment, causing a system failure and affecting some domestic and international passenger flights.Di 時事通信社

A Japanese panel of experts Thursday called for creating a law allowing the government to gain cooperation from artificial intelligence developers in the event of a serious problem related to AI technologies.Di 時事通信社

The Japanese government said Thursday it expects wage growth in Japan to outpace the country's consumer inflation in fiscal 2025, as in fiscal 2024.Di 時事通信社

A powerful earthquake that hit central Japan nearly a year ago has led to moves to help spread disaster-related information to foreign nationals.Di 時事通信社

Hong Kong-based activist investor Oasis Management Co. has increased its equity stake in Japan's Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., rocked by a high-profile health hazard scandal over its supplements containing "beni koji" red fermented rice, according to a share transaction report.Di 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pledged his country's continued support to Ukraine in its war with Russia during a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

Japanese public prosecutors on Wednesday indicted 32-year-old former judge Soichiro Sato without arrest for alleged insider trading.Di 時事通信社

The Japanese government said Wednesday that the country's economy is expected to grow 1.2pctin fiscal 2025, which starts next April, in price-adjusted real terms, unchanged from its previous November forecast.Di 時事通信社

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, agreed at a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday to strengthen communication between the two sides.Di 時事通信社

Tokyo District Court on Wednesday sentenced a Chinese man to eight months in jail for vandalizing Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni Shrine.Di 時事通信社

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda warned Wednesday that if the BOJ keeps its policy interest rate at the current low level for a prolonged period, the move could make the central bank's monetary easing "excessive."Di 時事通信社

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Wednesday, in his first visit to China since taking office in October.Di 時事通信社

The Japanese government said Wednesday that it will include 100 billion yen in its upcoming fiscal 2025 draft budget to invest in Rapidus Corp., which aims for domestic production of next-generation semiconductors.Di 時事通信社

Japan's Financial Services Agency will issue a business improvement order to Aeon Bank over deficiencies in its measures against money laundering, informed sources said Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

Japanese education minister Toshiko Abe on Wednesday asked a government panel to consider ways to give schools more discretion to determine class hours and content as part of a planned overall revision of the country's school curriculum guidelines.Di 時事通信社

The average temperature in Japan so far this year has already exceeded its annual record high scored last year, preliminary data by the Japan Meteorological Agency showed Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

The Japanese government is expected to adopt a draft state budget for fiscal 2025 with record general-account spending of around 115.5 trillion yen, sources said Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

The captain and the copilot of a crashed Japan Coast Guard aircraft both misunderstood the air traffic controller's instruction in its fatal collision with a Japan Airlines plane in Tokyo in January, a government report said Wednesday.Di 時事通信社

Japan will remain the third-largest contributor to the United Nations' regular budget for 2025-2027, according to a resolution adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.Di 時事通信社