Japan

TOKYO, Nov 25 (NNN-NHK) – A junior high school boy, who fatally stabbed a fellow student in central Japan yesterday, said, he had trouble with the victim and held a grudge against him, local media reported today.

The alleged attacker, whose name has been withheld, as he is a minor, also told investigators that, he bought a 20-centimetre-long kitchen knife online in advance, which he is believed to have used to stab Yuzuki Ito in the stomach.

TOKYO (AP) — Yoshihiko Takeuchi, who ran a small restaurant on the island of Okinawa, told only a few friends he had the coronavirus. When he didn’t answer phone calls from public health workers for three days, police went to his home and found him dead in his bed.

He was among hundreds of people who have died while subject to “jitaku ryoyo,” or a policy of having some COVID-19 patients “recuperate at home.”

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s prime minister outlined Friday a record 56 trillion yen, or $490 billion stimulus package, including cash handouts and aid to ailing businesses, to help the economy out of the doldrums worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.

“The package has more than enough content and scale to deliver a sense of security and hope to the people,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s economy shrank at a 3% annual rate in the July-September quarter, as private consumption and auto production took a hit from efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

Japan’s gross domestic product, which measures the value of a nation’s products and services, declined 0.8% from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said Monday.

The annualized rate is how much the economy would have grown or contracted had the one-quarter rate continued for a year.

The world’s third largest economy grew 0.4% in April-June and shrank 1.1% in January-March.

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese princess who gave up the throne to marry her commoner college sweetheart left for New York on Sunday, as the couple pursued happiness as newlyweds and left behind a nation that has criticized their romance.

The departure of Mako Komuro, the former Princess Mako, and Kei Komuro, both 30, as they boarded their plane amid a flurry of camera flashes at Haneda airport in Tokyo was carried live by major Japanese broadcasters.

TOKYO, Nov 12 (NNN-NHK) – The Japanese government today decided to secure 1.6 million doses of COVID-19 oral medication, and increase hospitalisation capacity for COVID-19 patients by 30 percent, compared to the peak level this summer, local media reported.

“By securing a medical system based on the worst-case scenario and enhancing early treatment, we will be able to continue our economic and social activities, even if infections spread,” Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, said, at a special task force meeting this morning.

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese government’s preparations for the next virus surge include adding thousands more hospital beds to avoid a situation like last summer when COVID-19 patients were forced to stay home, even while dependent on oxygen deliveries.

TOKYO (AP) — Fumio Kishida is set to be reelected as Japan’s prime minister Wednesday after clearing the first major test of his leadership in recent elections.

Elected just over a month ago by parliament, Kishida called a quick election where he secured enough seats in 465-member lower house — the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber Diet — to maintain a free hand in pushing legislation through parliament. He sees the Oct. 31 victory as a mandate from voters for his weeks-old government to tackle the pandemic-battered economy, virus measures and other challenges.

TOKYO, Nov 1 (NNN-NHK) – An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2, today struck Japan’s Ibaraki Prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The temblor occurred at around 6:14 a.m. local time, with its epicentre at a latitude of 36.5 degrees north and a longitude of 140.6 degrees east, and at a depth of 60 km.

The quake logged four in some parts of Ibaraki and Fukushima prefectures, on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, which peaks at seven.

So far no tsunami warning has been issued.

TOKYO (AP) — A man dressed in a Joker costume and brandishing a knife stabbed at least one passenger on a Tokyo commuter train before starting a fire, injuring passengers and sending people scrambling to escape and jumping from windows, police and witnesses said.

The Tokyo Fire Department said 17 passengers were injured, including three seriously. Not all of them were stabbed and most of the other injuries were not serious, the fire department said.