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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stressed Monday that her government will make utmost efforts to help small companies raise wages.

Prices of rice sold at about 1,000 supermarkets in Japan in the week to March 15 averaged 3,980 yen per 5 kilograms, down 33 yen from the prior week and falling below 4,000 yen for the first time since last August, the agriculture ministry said Monday.

Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's younger sister, on Monday ruled out the possibility of the country holding a summit with Japan, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Monday that she conveyed during her summit with U.S. President Donald Trump last week Tokyo's support for U.S. leadership for world peace.

Osaka High Court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that found a 30-year-old women not guilty over the death in 2018 of her then 77-year-old husband, a wealthy businessman nicknamed the "Don Juan of Kishu," in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan.

Ahead of the 10th anniversary of the April 2016 massive earthquakes in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, a special exhibition showcasing postdisaster reconstruction efforts there has opened in collaboration with the popular manga series "One Piece."

The Japanese opposition Democratic Party for the People is struggling to maintain its relevance in national politics after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party won a historic victory in last month's general election.

Japan's agriculture ministry on Monday revised up its forecast for private rice stocks at the end of June to 2.34 million tons on a brown rice basis, up by 50,000 tons from the estimate as of the end of last October.

Japanese companies have offered pay hikes of 5.26pcton a weighted average basis in this year's "shunto" spring labor-management negotiations, the first tally by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, showed Monday.

Japan's top government spokesperson on Monday denied that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had promised support from the Maritime Self-Defense Force to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. will invest 20 billion yen in artificial intelligence over the three years from fiscal 2026, aiming to lift productivity, President Yukinori Takada has said in a recent interview with Jiji Press.

Tokyo stocks dropped almost across the board on Monday, sending the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average down over 3pctfor the second straight market day, amid concerns that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East could be prolonged.

Hiroshima Castle's keep in the western Japan city of Hiroshima in the namesake prefecture has closed after 68 years as a museum due to structural aging.

The Japanese government will consider compiling a provisional budget in the event that the fiscal 2026 regular budget is not passed by the April 1 start of the year, an official said Monday.

The western Japan city of Hiroshima returned on Sunday the remains of an atomic bomb victim to bereaved family members, marking the first such handover since May 2023.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, on Sunday agreed to strengthen defense-related communication, starting in peacetime, to improve deterrence.

People in Japan plan to spend 6,383 yen on average for cherry blossom viewing this year, down 13.8pctfrom the previous year, as consumers become budget-minded amid inflation, according to an online survey.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Sunday that the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, has resumed electricity generation and power transmission to the Tokyo metropolitan area.

East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, has taken the lead in launching a training program aimed at nurturing about 100 foreign workers annually under Japan's specified skilled worker program amid severe labor shortages in railway maintenance.

Japan may send Self-Defense Forces troops for a minesweeping mission in the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route, after a ceasefire is established, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Sunday.

One of the two Japanese nationals detained in Iran was released on Wednesday, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said in a television program Sunday.

A growing number of Japanese companies are stepping up efforts to help employees diagnosed with cancer balance treatment with their work responsibilities.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was able to avoid the worst-case scenario of exposing a rift with U.S. President Donald Trump in a summit during her first visit to the United States since taking office last year.

The Japan Innovation Party, the junior coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, approved its policy agenda for 2026 at its first party convention since becoming the LDP's new coalition partner last year.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi returned home Saturday, following her first visit to the United States since taking office in October last year.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday called on Japan and other countries to help secure the safety of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively blocked by Iran amid escalating regional tensions.

Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of Japan's SoftBank Group Corp., on Friday unveiled plans to construct a large-scale artificial intelligence data center in Ohio.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visited Arlington National Cemetery near Washington on Friday morning and laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp. has unveiled to the media its second biogas plant in India, which processes cow dung to produce methane for compressed natural gas vehicles.

Japan Coast Guard investigators Friday began searching locations linked to the operator of boats involved in a fatal capsizing accident that happened off the Henoko district in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, southernmost Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday confirmed their opposition to any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force over Taiwan.

Six people were confirmed dead in an accident involving four vehicles that occurred early Friday in the Nonobori Tunnel of the Shin-Meishin Expressway in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, central Japan, police said.

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted a dinner for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the White House in Washington on Thursday, giving an unusual reception to a foreign guest for his administration.

U.S. President Donald Trump joked about Japan's 1941 Pearl Harbor attack on the United States while discussing U.S. military strikes against Iran during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Victims of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult's sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system were remembered Friday, the 31st anniversary of the incident that left 14 people dead and more than 6,000 injured.

The Japanese and U.S. governments Thursday announced an action plan for a proposed multilateral trade agreement to ensure stable supplies of critical minerals.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday urged Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to help ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed.

Leaders from Japan and five European countries on Thursday issued a joint statement criticizing Iran's de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route.

The Japanese government resumed subsidies for oil wholesalers on Thursday, aiming to lower retail gasoline prices to around 170 yen per liter amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Thursday that the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, is expected to start commercial operation in April at the earliest, later than initially planned for Wednesday.

Kyoto University professor emeritus Heisuke Hironaka, an acclaimed Japanese mathematician who won the Fields Medal in 1970, died on Wednesday. He was 94.

With only a year to go before the start of the International Horticultural Expo 2027 in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, public awareness of the event remains low, making it urgent to build momentum.

Sharp Corp. said Thursday that it will promote Senior Executive Managing Officer Tetsuji Kawamura to president and CEO on April 1.

A 30pctjump in fuel costs amid surging oil prices could force 24.6pctof transport companies in Japan to suffer operating losses, according to a survey by Teikoku Databank Ltd.

The government approved Thursday a bill aimed at creating a new scheme to provide financial support to Japanese companies' overseas projects deemed critical to Japan's economic security.

Jun Matsumoto, a former Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Japan's parliament, who served as chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, died on Thursday at the age of 75.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said Thursday that its sample cherry tree at Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo has begun blooming this season.

Four major Japanese mobile phone carriers have announced a plan to launch a new service called "Japan Roaming" that will allow users to connect to available lines of other companies if communication failures occur due to large-scale disasters and other emergencies.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said Thursday that the central bank will examine how higher crude oil prices would put downward pressure on the domestic economy.

Japanese police received 98,289 requests for consultations over domestic violence in 2025, up 3.5pctyear on year and hitting the highest level since the 2001 entry into force of the law for preventing such acts, National Police Agency data showed Thursday.

Momoka Muraoka won the silver medal in the women's alpine skiing super-G sitting event at the Milan-Cortina Paralympics on Monday, bringing Japan its first medal of the ongoing games.