An estimated 15,000 people die annually in Japan from stroke, lung cancer or other diseases caused by passive smoking, according to a study by a health ministry research team. Deaths due to stroke account for more than half of the total, the ministry said Monday. The findings show that 8,010 people will die from stroke, […]
A Japanese government survey shows workers took home higher real wages in April. It’s the 3rd straight month of increase.Labor ministry officials say the average income was nearly 275,000 yen, or about 2,500 dollars. That’s up 0.6 percent from a year earlier, when adjusted for inflation.The officials say the rise was due to a base […]
A Japanese bank has reported another series of cash withdrawals involving the use of allegedly forged credit cards. Police are investigating a possible link to a similar case last month.Officials from Seven Bank told police that about 100 million yen, or around 919,000 dollars, was withdrawn from its automated teller machines using apparently forged credit […]
A boy who had been missing since Saturday was found Friday morning in a town in Hokkaido, northern Japan.Yamato Tanooka was found at a Self-Defense Force exercise range in Shikabe Town, about 4 kilometers from the spot where he went missing 6 days ago.When an SDF member found the boy inside a rest facility on […]
Japan’s wholesale banana prices are soaring as drought and disease slash yields in the Philippines, forcing importers to compete with buyers elsewhere for access to less-familiar sources. The fruit is now selling for 2,850 yen ($26) per 13kg carton on the wholesale produce market in Tokyo’s Ota Ward. Japan in April imported 69,725 tons of bananas from […]
The Philippines will not distance itself from its long-time security ally, the United States, but neither will it be a lackey to any foreign power, incoming Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay said on Wednesday. In his first interview with the foreign media since being appointed by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, the lawyer by training sought to underline […]
The nation’s labor market remained tight in April as job availability rose to the highest level in over 24 years and the unemployment rate remained flat at 3.2 percent, government data showed Tuesday. The ratio of job offers to applicants rose to 1.34 in April, the highest since November 1991, the Ministry of Health, Labor […]
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced he will postpone the consumption tax increase that had been scheduled for April next year to October 2019.Abe said at a news conference on Wednesday that the global economy is changing at a speed beyond imagination and uncertainty over it is growing. He said the situation is similar to […]
Primroses are in full bloom on the shores of Lake Chuzenji in central Japan.The pink, red-violet and white perennials attract many people this time of year to the highland lake resort in Oku-Nikko, north of Tokyo. The blossoms are surrounded by nets to discourage the deer from eating them. The primroses are blooming earlier than […]
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to announce on Wednesday his plan to postpone the consumption tax hike scheduled for next April. Wednesday is the final day of the current Diet session.On Tuesday, the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito approved Abe’s plan to delay the tax increase from 8 percent to […]
