JIJI English News-時事通信英語ニュース-

The Japanese government has started work on drawing up a bill to revise the Imperial House Law, after the country's legislative branch compiled its consensus Wednesday on measures to secure a sufficient number of Imperial Family members.

The bill to revise Japan's retrial system is now likely to be enacted by the end of the current Diet session on July 17, after an opposition party indicated on Thursday that it will support the bill.

Japan's Emperor Naruhito said Thursday he hopes a plan regarding the number of Imperial Family members that wins public support will be created.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Thursday that her country can now maintain stable domestic oil supplies until March 2028, rather than until next spring as she had previously indicated.

Former professional boxer Guts Ishimatsu, who became the first Japanese world lightweight champion, died of pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo on June 2, it was learned Thursday. He was 76.

Japanese semiconductor company Rapidus Corp. will sign agreements with public institutions in Britain and Italy on research and development cooperation, Rapidus executives told Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday.

Convenience store operator Seven-Eleven Japan Co. said Thursday that it will establish a new company on retail media business jointly with two advertising firms.

The body of a 17-year-old high school girl has been found in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has suggested that she was unable to confirm the authenticity of a voice believed to be that of her secretary in audio from an online meeting attended by a man believed to have created videos defaming the prime minister's rivals in key elections last year.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday approved a bill to cut the number of proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament, by about 10 pct.

Japan's three megabank lenders have announced plans to jointly issue a stablecoin, a type of digital asset, linked to currencies such as the yen and the U.S. dollar, during the year ending next March.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to propose three principles on energy security at the upcoming Group of Seven summit in France, which opens Monday, informed sources said Thursday.

Major Japanese financial institutions, including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., will participate in a strategic collaboration between NEC Corp. and U.S. startup Anthropic, it was learned Thursday.

Japan's National Police Agency instructed the country's 47 prefectural police departments Thursday to set up cooperative frameworks with rental storage and parcel delivery businesses to fight lone offender terrorism.

U.S. coffee shop chain Starbucks Corp. is considering selling its Japanese business, Bloomberg has reported.

U.S. asset management company Apollo Global Management Inc. is seeking to buy a life insurer in Japan to gain market share in the country, according to the Financial Times.

Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Akio Toyoda received 2,113 million yen in executive compensation in fiscal 2025, the highest pay for a Toyota executive for the third year running, the leading Japanese automaker has said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov, have agreed that their countries will cooperate in various fields, including the energy sector.

Japan's suprapartisan National Council on Social Security agreed at a working-level meeting Wednesday to consider the tax credit part of a proposed refundable tax credit system in the future after implementing its refund part first.

Yohei Kono, former speaker of Japan's House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, who is also known to have written a landmark 1993 statement over wartime comfort women, died on Monday at the age of 89, people close to him said Wednesday.

Canada plans to take part in a joint project among Japan, Britain and Italy to develop a next-generation fighter jet as an observer, Japanese government sources said Wednesday.

Four Chinese coast guard vessels entered Japanese territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture on Wednesday, according to the Japan Coast Guard.

Japanese restaurant chain Matsuya Foods Co. launched its first permanent department-store outlet at Matsuya Co.'s store in the posh Ginza district in Tokyo on Wednesday, as the two "Matsuya" brands seek to synergies from their stepped-up collaboration.

NTT Inc. said Wednesday that it will establish an investment fund this month to globally promote the IOWN next-generation communication infrastructure using optical technology.

Japan and the United States have held working-level talks at the Japanese Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on extended deterrence, including the U.S. nuclear umbrella, reaffirming their commitment to stronger bilateral cooperation, the Japanese government said Wednesday.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda has been hospitalized for treatment of an infectious disease and is expected to miss the central bank's next policy-setting meeting set for Monday-Tuesday, the BOJ said Wednesday.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, may meet in Assam on July 1, during Takaichi's first visit to India since taking office, the chief minister of the northeastern Indian state has said.

Moves are underway in Japan to develop artificial intelligence tools designed to help reduce burdens on surgeons.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her Malaysian counterpart, Anwar Ibrahim, on Wednesday affirmed their cooperation to ensure stable supplies of liquefied natural gas from Malaysia to Japan amid tensions in the Middle East.

Japanese sporting goods maker Asics Corp. said Wednesday that it will spin off its Onitsuka Tiger sneaker brand business on Jan. 1 next year.

A team of Japanese researchers has found that Adelie penguins in Antarctica tend to reach new foraging grounds by moving in groups after unsuccessful attempts to find food.

Japan's parliament approved Wednesday legislation to allow the use of digital textbooks as official teaching materials in classes.

East Japan Railway Co. on Wednesday started operating a specially painted Shinkansen bullet train themed on the 25th anniversary of Tokyo DisneySea, a theme park near the Japanese capital.

Japan's producer prices in May increased 6.3pctfrom a year earlier, the biggest rise since March 2023, as crude oil prices remained high due to the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, Bank of Japan data showed Wednesday.

Takehiko Nakao, a former senior official at Japan's Ministry of Finance, has called on the Bank of Japan to continue raising interest rates.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday adopted a bill that criminalizes vandalism of the Japanese national flag.

East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, on Tuesday unveiled "Luna Azul" as the name of its new overnight limited express train, set to debut in fiscal 2027.

The opposition Centrist Reform Alliance on Tuesday requested revisions to the government's bill to reform the country's retrial system, including allowing the disclosure of evidence lists to the defense.

The leaders and vice leaders of both chambers of the Diet, Japan's parliament, will seek political parties' approval as early as Wednesday for a draft proposal on measures to secure a sufficient number of Imperial Family members.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is looking at a proposal to automatically reduce the number of proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives if a ruling-opposition panel fails to reach a deal within a year.

East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, said Tuesday it will discontinue magnetic short-distance tickets sold at all stations on its conventional lines and replace them with QR code tickets in spring 2027.

A bear believed to be the one repeatedly spotted across Utsunomiya, the capital of Tochigi Prefecture, since Saturday was captured on Tuesday, according to city officials.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Tuesday that its Hayabusa2 unmanned probe will observe asteroid Torifune at around at 6:30 p.m. on July 5, as the explorer makes a high-speed flyby.

Sendai High Court and Hiroshima High Court's Matsue branch both ruled Tuesday that the Feb. 8 election for Japan's House of Representatives was constitutional in terms of vote-value disparity.

The older sister of former Japanese death row inmate Iwao Hakamata on Tuesday called for prosecutors to fully disclose evidence in relation to a review of the country's retrial system.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday officially adopted its proposal on an envisaged revision of the country's three key security-related documents.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank plans to invest 360 billion yen to 380 billion yen in digital technologies over three years, President Manatomo Yoneyama said in an interview.

Masatomo Suzuki, a 40-year-old Japanese offshore sailor, is aiming to compete in the 2028 Vendee Globe, a solo, nonstop, unassisted round-the-world yacht race.

A Japanese team of researchers has found that cats prefer silver vine, known in Japan as "matatabi," over catnip, both regarded as cat attractants.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his Mexican counterpart, Roberto Velasco, on Tuesday agreed to establish a framework for economic dialogue between the two countries at an early date.

Tokyo police have arrested a 23-year-old man on suspicion of drunken driving of a vehicle modified to look like an unmarked police car.