Japan

TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Monday dropped its request for people to wear masks after three years, but hardly anything changed in the country that has had an extremely high regard for their effectiveness at anti-virus protection.

Most commuters exiting Tokyo’s main train station in the morning were wearing masks as they headed to work. So were people on the streets. During a televised budget committee meeting at parliament, some lawmakers still wore masks, though Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wasn’t wearing one when he arrived at his office Monday.

TOKYO, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Radioactive substances in nuclear-contaminated water should not be released into the environment and Japan's discharge plan is inappropriate, a Japanese environmental economist said.

Unlike ordinary hazardous chemicals, radioactive substances do not disappear without chemical treatment as nature's self-purification does not work on it, Kenichi Oshima, a professor at Ryukoku University, told Xinhua in an interview.

TOKYO, Mar 10 (NNN-NHK) – Japan’s parliament, today endorsed the appointment of economist and academic, Kazuo Ueda, as the new Bank of Japan (BOJ) governor.

Ueda, 71, a former BOJ policy board member, was endorsed by the lower chamber of parliament a day earlier, and will succeed Haruhiko Kuroda, whose 10-year tenure ends on Apr 8.

The government’s picks for two BOJ deputy governors, Ryozo Himino, a former commissioner of the Financial Services Agency, and Shinichi Uchida, an executive director at the central bank, were also endorsed by parliament today.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s space agency intentionally destroyed a new H3 rocket minutes after its launch Tuesday because the ignition failed for the second stage of the country’s first new rocket series in more than two decades.

Coming three weeks after an aborted launch due to a separate glitch, the H3′s failure was a setback for Japan’s space program — and possibly for its missile detection program — and a disappointment for space fans who were rooting for Tuesday’s retrial.

TOKYO (AP) — The lower house of Parliament approved Tuesday a budget for the coming fiscal year that includes a record 6.8 trillion yen ($50 billion) in defense spending, part of Japan’s effort to fortify its military as China’s influence in the region grows.

The 2023 defense budget, up 20% from a year earlier, includes 211.3 billion yen ($1.55 billion) for deployment of U.S.-made long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles that can be launched from warships and can hit targets up to 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away.

TOKYO (AP) — Nissan is speeding up its shift toward electric vehicles, especially in Europe where emissions regulations are most stringent, the company said Monday.

Nissan Motor Co. said in a statement that it will make practically all its offerings in Europe electric or series-hybrids by fiscal 2026, at 98%. That’s up from the previous target of 75%. In Japan, the company aims to make 58% of its model offerings, up from an earlier target of 55%.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other Group of Seven leaders adopted a set of additional sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine at an online G-7 summit Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the invasion.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday he plans to present to other Group of Seven countries a set of “new ideas” for sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine when he hosts an online G-7 summit later in the day to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the invasion.

Kishida, as this year’s G-7 president, told a news conference he also planned to call on other countries to stop providing military support to Russia.

SHIRAHAMA, Japan, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Eimei, a giant panda that has lived in Japan for 28 years, left west Japan's Wakayama park along with his twin daughters to fly back to China on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old male panda, along with his eight-year-old Japan-born twin daughters Ouhin and Touhin, has left their current home at Adventure World, a theme park in the town of Shirahama in Wakayama prefecture.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday announced a new $5.5 billion financial aid for Ukraine and will mark the first anniversary of the war by hosting an online Group of Seven summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Kishida, speaking at a global forum in Tokyo organized by a Japanese think tank, said Ukraine still suffers under the Russian invasion and its people need help to rebuild their daily lives and infrastructure that’s been badly damaged by Russian attacks.