Japan is seeing growth in its factory activity. The Economy Ministry says industrial production was up 3.7 percent in January from the previous month. It is the first increase in 3 months after a decline of 1.7 percent in December. Ministry officials said on Monday that output rose in 12 of the 15 reporting sectors. […]
Emperor Akihito, 82, has been diagnosed with influenza after suffering a fever over the weekend, the Imperial Household Agency said in Tokyo on Monday, without giving further details. Akihito will rest at his residence in the Imperial Palace. Born in 1933, Akihito was heir to Emperor Hirohito, in whose name Japan fought World War II. […]
Japan and the Philippines are to sign an agreement as early as next week to promote technological cooperation and the transfer of defense equipment.The two governments have been holding working-level talks on the matter since a broad agreement was reached at summit talks in November of last year.The new agreement is expected to include measures […]
Kansai Electric Power Company says it will restart on Friday another reactor at the Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan.The plant in February last year cleared strict government regulations adopted after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident. Its No. 3 reactor was restarted late last month.Final preparations are underway at the No. 4 […]
Police say the driver of a car who ran into pedestrians in Osaka had possibly suffered an acute illness and lost consciousness.Police say the car on Thursday afternoon first hit people crossing a pedestrian scramble, then plowed into others on a sidewalk. The incident occurred at a busy intersection in front of Hankyu Railway’s Umeda […]
Police in Itabashi, Tokyo, have sent papers to the prosecutors on a 54-year-old man who was caught throwing away his pets in a public space in a bid to get rid of them. The man is accused of disposing of a hedgehog and 11 turtles—all still alive—in a vacant lot in Itabashi Ward on Jan […]
A weather observatory in Japan’s northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido says ice floes have reached the coast for the first time this winter.The officials say this is the latest time of the year for the ice to be spotted on shore since observations began in 1959. The observatory in Abashiri City on the Okhotsk coast reported […]
The average monthly pay for full-time employees in Japan in 2015 climbed 1.5 pct from the previous year to 304,000 yen, the highest level since 2001, a survey by the labor ministry showed Thursday. The average wage, which excludes bonuses and overtime pay, rose for the second straight year thanks to larger pay-scale hikes than […]
Police believe 2 pet dogs mauled the face of Yoshi Tsuchida after he took a lethal dose of sleeping pills. Tokyo Metropolitan Police have concluded that the face of a 38-year-old transgender man was eaten by his pet dogs after he committed suicide at his residence in Fussa City last year, reports Nippon News Network (Feb. 19). […]
The health and labor ministry plans to allow foreign caregivers working in Japan under bilateral economic partnership agreements to provide home care services after they become certified care workers, officials have said. The ministry presented the plan at a meeting of experts on Friday and broadly won approval from participants, according to the officials. Since […]
