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Latest News

Toyota Motor has been issued a correction order for the first time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2024
Toyota Motor receives correction order from transport ministry
The ministry found indications of additional misconduct, such as falsifying test results.
The front facade at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. The stadium, widely regarded as the spiritual home of Japanese baseball, turns 100 on Thursday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 31, 2024
Koshien at 100: 'Sacred' dirt, the Hanshin Tigers and a storied high school tourney
For baseball fans across Japan, Koshien Stadium — which celebrates its 100th anniversary on Thursday — is more than just a ballpark. It's a cathedral.
Forced sterilization plaintiff Sumiko Nishi at her home in Hino, western Tokyo, on Wednesday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 31, 2024
First settlement reached for forced sterilization plaintiff in Japan
The state has agreed to pay ¥16.5 million — the same amount awarded to plaintiffs in a related Supreme Court case.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2024
Bank of Japan delivers one-two punch few were expecting
At its two-day policy meeting, the BOJ voted to increase its short-term policy rate target to 0.25% from a range of 0% to 0.1%.
Hamas' political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, attends a swearing-in ceremony for new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the parliament in Tehran on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jul 31, 2024
Hamas says political chief Ismail Haniyeh killed in 'Zionist' strike in Tehran
The group said he was killed in a "Zionist strike on his headquarters in Tehran" after he joined the inauguration of the new Iranian president.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2024
BOJ probes website crash that blocked traders before decision
It was not immediately clear whether the website became available for everyone at the same time or if some market participants had access before others.
Senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh delivers a speech in Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip, in 2017.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 31, 2024
Tough-talking Ismail Haniyeh was seen as Hamas' more moderate face
Hamas' political leader, who was killed in Iran, was the tough-talking face of the Palestinian group's international diplomacy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend a ceremony to decorate India's leader with the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 9.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 31, 2024
India emerges as player in bid to mediate end to Ukraine war
India has become more vocal in its calls for a negotiated solution, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly considering a visit to Kyiv in August.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, speaks at a campaign rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on Saturday. Trump, in an interview broadcast Monday night, repeated his recent assertion that Christians will never have to vote again if they vote for him this November, and brushed aside multiple requests to walk back or clarify the statement.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 31, 2024
Trump again says Christians ‘won’t have to vote anymore’ if they vote for him
Such comment were especially striking given his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his shattering of other democratic norms.
Medalists in the mixed doubles Olympic table tennis competition take a selfie on the podium on Tuesday in Paris.
OLYMPICS
Jul 31, 2024
North-South Korea Olympic podium selfie goes viral
After South Korea won bronze and North Korea silver in the mixed doubles table tennis, South Korea's Lim Jong-hoon took a group photo after the medal ceremony.
Teammates swarm Daiki Hashimoto after his gold medal-clinching performance on the horizontal bar on Monday.
OLYMPICS / Gymnastics
Jul 31, 2024
How Japan's gymnasts picked each other up and toppled China
With hope of a gold medal fading, the Japanese men's gymnastics team rallied around each other and simply refused to give up.
The Shizuoka Prefectural Police headquarters (in background) in the city of Shizuoka
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 31, 2024
Grandson detained over Shizuoka triple murder case
Koichi Katayama, who allegedly killed his grandparents and aunt, has injuries to his abdomen, and police plan to formally arrest him once he recovers.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken looks on as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shakes hands with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 31, 2024
China lodges protest with Japan over 'irresponsible remarks' in talks with U.S.
China's director-general of Asian affairs at the Foreign Ministry lodged a complaint with the Japanese Embassy, in the latest row between the Asian giants.
Traditional soap cakes are manufactured in Aleppo in northern Syria in February.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 31, 2024
Japanese importer fights to preserve traditional Aleppo soap
It is said that Aleppo has upheld the tradition of soapmaking for approximately 1,000 years, using olive and laurel oil with alkali made from charcoaled desert shrubs.
A worker at a supermarket in Tokyo's Nerima Ward puts up a sign on July 25 saying rice purchases are restricted to one bag per customer.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2024
Japan's rice stocks shrink to record low amid high demand and heat woes
An 18 percentage point decline in the share of 2023's crop rated first-grade led to a decrease in rice on the market, while demand saw the first rise in a decade.
U.S. Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 31, 2024
Harris to hold Philadelphia rally with vice president pick
Kamala Harris is being forced to select her running mate on a highly compressed timeline.
Prosecutors leave Upper House lawmaker Megumi Hirose's home in Tokyo on Tuesday after searching it as part of an investigation into alleged fraud.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 31, 2024
Resignation of LDP lawmaker over pay scandal adds to party's woes
Megumi Hirose has left the party over allegations she pocketed public money to pay the salary of a secretary who didn’t actually work.
Japan's industrial production in June fell 3.6% from the previous month, reflecting plant suspensions at vehicle-makers including Toyota due to faulty vehicle certifications.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2024
Japan’s industrial output falls, clouding recovery outlook
The production of cars and auto parts drove the reading lower as an ongoing probe involving carmakers such as Toyota continues to disrupt output.
U.S. soldiers are seen during the handover ceremony for Taji military base, from U.S.-led coalition troops to Iraqi security forces, in the base north of Baghdad in 2020.
WORLD
Jul 31, 2024
U.S. conducts strike in Iraq amid deepening regional tensions
Iraqi police and medical sources said the strike inside a base south of Baghdad killed four members of a group that contains several Iran-aligned armed militias.
Diners in the Salamanca neighborhood of Madrid in 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 31, 2024
Spain ranked as the best country for remote work: report
Japan, which announced a digital nomad program on April 1, was 16th on the list.
The Taung Kalat Buddhist complex on Mount Popa in central Myanmar's Mandalay Region on July 7. A shrine perched on an extinct volcano in Myanmar once thronged with the bustle of pilgrims praying to flower-eating spirit Popa Maedaw, but civil war has cut the complex off from the faithful.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 31, 2024
War in Myanmar heartlands silences volcano shrine
The plains around the temple are now a battle zone, with the faithful blocked from access by fighting and checkpoints.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shakes hands with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol as U.S. President Joe Biden looks on alongside other members of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders week in San Francisco in November.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 31, 2024
Japan to co-lead crisis response branch of the global trade initiative IPEF
Japan will be vice chair of the Crisis Response Network, a body under the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity.
A child holds a water container in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD
Jul 31, 2024
Destruction of Gaza water wells deepens Palestinian misery
The Israeli military did not respond to the allegations that its soldiers had torched the wells.

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The students at Mitaka Municipal No. 7 Junior High School have access to various cooling devices for when they play sports.
Japan's extreme heat is causing a rethink of school sports