JIJI English News-時事通信英語ニュース-

All four giant pandas at a zoo in the Adventure World amusement park in the town of Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, left for China on Saturday morning.

The European Union on Friday proposed making all eel species, including the Japanese eel, subject to regulation under an international treaty to protect endangered species, while Japan opposes the move.

Japanese chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday, agreeing to continue negotiations to reach a deal that serves the national interests of both sides.

The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's P-1 aircraft, the first domestic patrol aircraft, is underused mainly due to engine corrosion and problems with electronic devices, the government's Board of Audit has said.

Japanese beverage company Suntory Holdings Ltd. will resume running commercials through Fuji Television Network Inc. in July after pulling them from the broadcaster in January, it was learned Friday.

The Japanese government said Friday that the construction of an evacuation shelter on the westernmost island of Yonaguni will start next fiscal year, with the completion expected for around spring 2028.

Combined global vehicle sales by eight major Japanese automakers in May rose 0.5pctfrom a year before to 2.02 million units, data from the companies showed Friday.

Japan's agriculture ministry on Friday held the first round of annual auctions earlier than usual for rice imported tariff-free under a minimum market access agreement, as part of efforts to stabilize rice prices.

Marine active faults off Japan's Kinki western region and Hokuriku central region are projected to trigger an earthquake with a magnitude of 7 or larger at a probability of 16pctto 18pctwithin the next 30 years, a government panel said Friday.

The Japanese government plans to provide eight countries with free defense equipment in fiscal 2025 under its official security assistance program, Foreign Ministry sources said Friday.

Japan's 10 major electricity suppliers said Friday that power bills for standard households for July will fall by between 520 yen and 691 yen from the previous month.

Tokyo Disctrict Court sentenced Friday a South Korean woman to three years in prison with a four-year suspension for attacking Hosei University students with a hammer.

Fans bid farewell to four giant pandas at a zoo in the Adventure World amusement park in the town of Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, on Friday, the final viewing day for the animals ahead of their "return" to China.

An Italian court on Thursday found three Japanese nationals, including a former executive of a former subsidiary of Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp., guilty over polluting water in the northern Italian region of Veneto with PFAS, which are potentially carcinogenic chemicals.

Japanese ruling and opposition parties on Friday asked digital platformers to take measures against disinformation, misinformation and defamation on social media ahead of the July 20 House of Councillors election.

Financial assets held by households in Japan as of the March 31 end of fiscal 2024 increased 0.3pctfrom a year before to 2,195 trillion yen, Bank of Japan data showed Friday.

The estimated amount of food either lost or wasted in Japan in fiscal 2023 fell 1.7pctfrom the previous year to a record low of 4.64 million tons, government data showed Friday.

Japan's Supreme Court ruled Friday that the government's cuts to welfare benefits in 2013-2015 were unlawful, marking a significant victory for welfare recipients about a decade after lawsuits were filed over the matter.

Japan on Friday executed a 34-year-old man convicted for murdering nine people in his apartment in the city of Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, in 2017, the Justice Ministry said.

U.S. President Donald Trump's high tariff policy and resulting developments worldwide have shaken the international economic order and added to uncertainties in the global economy, the Japanese government said in its annual trade report Friday.

SoftBank Corp. has announced a plan to launch high-altitude platform station-based pre-commercial telecommunications services in Japan in 2026.

Core inflation in central Tokyo cooled to 3.1pctin June from 3.6pctin May, the first slowdown in four months, as price pressures on energy eased thanks to lower commodity costs, the Japanese internal affairs ministry said Friday.

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani earned most votes in the National League in Phase 1 of All-Star voting, Major League Baseball said Thursday.

Japan's seasonally adjusted job availability ratio dipped 0.02 point to 1.24 in May from the previous month, the first decline in three months, the labor ministry said Friday.

Japan called for an immediate return home of all Japanese citizens abducted to North Korea at an online U.N. symposium on Thursday.

A Japanese woman was rescued alive on Huascaran on Thursday after she and another were stranded on the highest peak of Peru, according to a Japanese task force.

A regional trading house in the ancient western Japan city of Kyoto has been working to preserve local traditional crafts, including "raku" pottery ware and Nishijin-ori fabric, by incorporating them into building materials and interior goods.

Lawmaker and former Olympian Seiko Hashimoto was elected on Thursday to the Japanese Olympic Committee's presidency, set to become the first female leader of the organization.

Top Japanese shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding Co. said Thursday that it will acquire second-biggest Japan Marine United Corp. by raising its equity stake to 60 pct.

Komeito on Thursday vowed to take measures tackling high prices that combine tax cuts and benefits to support people's daily life, as part of its campaign pledges for the upcoming House of Councillors election.

An increasing sense of being burdened in daily life appears to be a factor behind demonstrations in Japan demanding that the Ministry of Finance be scrapped, a top government spokesman said Thursday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is expected to give his first election speech for the July 20 election for the House of Councillors in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, on July 3, a government official said Thursday.

Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki voiced regret Thursday over U.S. President Donald Trump's linking of U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities to the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

South Korean game developer Krafton Inc. has announced a decision to acquire major Japanese advertising company ADK Holdings Inc.

Fuji Media Holdings Inc. said Thursday that its President Kenji Shimizu was approved as a board director with support from 82.35pctof its shareholders at a general shareholders meeting held on Wednesday.

Japan's Children and Families Agency on Thursday held the first meeting of a preparatory committee for introducing a system to check whether people holding or seeking jobs that involve contact with children have sex crime records.

A Japanese climber has died on Huascaran, the highest peak of Peru, a group to which she belongs said Thursday Japan time.

The pavilion of Angola reopened Thursday at the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka, western Japan, following its closure from the day after the Expo's opening.

NATO and its four Indo-Pacific partners said Wednesday that they will enhance defense industry cooperation amid a more dangerous and unpredictable global security environment.

English remarks made recently by Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, a Japanese opposition party, about female voters, are creating a stir.

The number of mental illness cases recognized as work-related in Japan rose by 172 from the previous year to 1,055 in fiscal 2024, exceeding 1,000 for the first time, the labor ministry said Wednesday.

A Japanese team has concluded that it was possible to travel from Taiwan to Japan's westernmost island of Yonaguni in a dugout canoe 30,000 years ago.

Fuji Media Holdings Inc.'s shareholders meeting, in which a proxy battle was waged over director candidates, ended in a triumph for the management Wednesday.

Japan's electricity demand is projected to grow by up to 40pctfrom the 2019 level in 2050, if the wider use of generative artificial intelligence spurs the construction of more data centers, an industry organization said Wednesday.

The recent U.S. attacks on nuclear facilities in Iran put Japan in a dilemma over how to balance its principle of upholding the rule of law and its alliance with the United States amid the Iran-Israel conflict.

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven major countries Wednesday welcomed a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran, vowing to work together to sustain the halt in hostilities.

Japan's Princess Kako said that she hopes Japan-Brazil ties will deepen further, following her official visit to the South American country, in a document released on Wednesday through the Imperial Household Agency.

Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, on Wednesday denied the possibility of forming a grand coalition with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Japanese male pop group Tokio broke up Wednesday, after member Taichi Kokubun indefinitely halted his entertainment activities Friday over compliance violations.

NATO is not currently discussing a plan to open a liaison office in Tokyo, an organization official has told reporters at the venue of the ongoing NATO summit in The Hague, the Netherlands.

The Japanese agriculture ministry on Monday announced the abolition of the rice crop yield index starting with this year's harvest.