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Tokyo District Court has decided to approve the tentative seizure of land used for the headquarters of the controversial religious group Unification Church in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, it was learned Wednesday.

The proportion of foreign residents in Japan could surpass 10pctof the population as early as 2040, Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Wednesday.

A group of Japanese prefectural governors called on the central government on Wednesday to work toward a multicultural society in which foreign and Japanese nationals live together.

Eight major Japanese automakers' combined global sales grew 1.3pctfrom a year before to 12.19 million units in January-June, data from the companies showed Wednesday.

Tokyo police renewed their efforts Wednesday to obtain information about the killing of three supermarket employees in Hachioji, a western suburb of the capital, 30 years ago.

Swedish investment fund EQT AB said Wednesday that it will acquire major Japanese elevator maker Fujitec Co.

Japan's Defense Ministry said Wednesday that it has punished 93 members of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, including its chief of staff, Adm. Akira Saito, for improperly receiving goods from four domestic shipbuilding companies.

The temperature soared to 41.2 degrees Celsius in the western Japan city of Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, around 2:39 p.m. on Wednesday, setting a new national record high, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Struggling Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. on Wednesday reported a consolidated net loss of 115.7 billion yen in April-June, its first red ink for the period in five years.

Tokyo District Court ordered Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. on Wednesday to pay about 100 million yen in damages over the 2011 accident at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The proportion of male employees in Japan who took parental leave in fiscal 2024 rose 10.4 percentage points from the previous year to a record high of 40.5 pct, a labor ministry survey showed Wednesday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Wednesday reaffirmed the two countries' commitment to promote stable relations between them.

A 1.3-meter-high tsunami was observed Wednesday at a port in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, after a massive earthquake occurred near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula the same day, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Japan's ruling and opposition parties agreed Wednesday to abolish the provisional add-on gasoline tax rate as early as possible this year.

Global automobile sales at the Toyota Motor Corp. group in January-June went up 7.4pctfrom a year earlier to about 5.54 million units, hitting an all-time high for the first half of a year, Toyota said Wednesday.

The diversification of rice sales channels may have contributed to the surge in prices of the staple since last summer, according to a survey released by Japan's agriculture ministry Wednesday.

Japan saw 10,804 heatstroke sufferers taken to hospital by ambulance in the week through Sunday, a new weekly record this year, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday approved a safety screening report that the No. 3 reactor at the Tomari nuclear power plant in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido meets the country's safety standards.

Japan's electronic device maker Nidec Corp. will invest 120 million dollars to set up a new factory in India to meet quickly growing refrigeration demand in the huge South Asian market.

Japan's Emperor Naruhito has met with Micronesian President Wesley Simina at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

The Bank of Japan is expected to raise interest rates gradually until the end of 2026 amid rising inflation in the country, International Monetary Fund chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said Tuesday.

The Japan Meteorological Agency on Wednesday issued a tsunami advisory to many areas facing the Pacific, including the eastern part of Hokkaido, the country's northernmost prefecture.

Japanese auto parts maker Marelli Holdings Co. has announced a plan to achieve its rehabilitation under the initiative of a group of partner lenders including Deutsche Bank.

Toyota Motor Corp. and other major Japanese companies are resuming advertising on Fuji Television Network Inc., which saw many companies pull their commercials earlier this year over its handling of a sexual assault scandal involving former TV star Masahiro Nakai.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission on Tuesday released guidelines for information technology giants, such as Google LLC and Apple Inc., regarding smartphone apps, ahead of the full implementation in December of a new law to promote competition in the app market.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday revised up its global economic growth projection for 2025 to 3.0 pct, up 0.2 percentage point from its previous forecast in April.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his new South Korean counterpart, Cho Hyun, met for the first time on Tuesday and agreed to communicate closely to steadily develop bilateral relations, which have been improving in recent years.

The latest film in the "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" anime franchise topped 10 billion yen in box-office revenue in the first eight days of its release, its distributor has said.

Full-scale removal of nuclear fuel debris from the No. 3 reactor of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan will not start before fiscal 2037, it was learned Tuesday.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. said Tuesday that it will acquire Upsider Holdings Inc., a Tokyo-based financial venture that uses artificial intelligence to provide credit cards and accounting efficiency services for corporate clients.

The ratio of car accidents in Japan resulting in death or serious injury that were caused by foreign drivers hit a record high of 2.1pctin January-June, National Police Agency data showed Tuesday.

Matsuya Foods Holdings Co., a "gyudon" beef-on-rice restaurant operator, has announced a plan to open its first ramen specialty chain store, Matsutaro, in Tokyo's busy Shinjuku district.

Social security benefits in Japan in fiscal 2023 fell for the second straight year, a welfare ministry think tank said Tuesday.

Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced a senior member of the "JP Dragon" crime ring based in the Philippines to three years and six months in prison for fraud.

U.S. citizens are split over the August 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the closing days of World War II, an opinion poll conducted by the Pew Research Center of the United States showed Monday.

The Japanese government on Tuesday approved expanded disaster relief to better support the elderly and people with disabilities during emergencies, including armed attacks.

A Japanese startup has said it conducted a clinical trial to transplant a treatment sheet containing cardiac muscle cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells into a patient with a heart muscle disease.

The number of local governments that are able to operate their finances without tax allocations from the state thanks to their abundant tax revenues increased for the fourth consecutive year, Japan's internal affairs ministry said Tuesday.

Japan's National Police Agency on Tuesday published an annual white paper highlighting trends of crimes involving social media and investigation methods for such offenses.

Eight Japanese opposition parties on Tuesday agreed to push for scrapping the provisional add-on gasoline tax rate on Nov. 1.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party decided Tuesday to hold a joint plenary meeting of its lawmakers of both chambers of parliament soon, after its rout in the July 20 national election.

Japan's Ministry of Finance on Tuesday upgraded its economic view on the southernmost region of Okinawa, reflecting robust vehicle sales and an increase in Japanese and foreign tourists.

About 80pctof high school students in Japan are interested in wages and labor systems, according to the results of a questionnaire survey released by the labor ministry on Tuesday.

Japan's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it will implement a large-scale organizational reform Friday, including the establishment of an economic security division under the Economic Affairs Bureau.

Japan had 17,013 children waiting to be accepted into "gakudo hoiku" after-school care facilities for elementary school students as of May 1, the Children and Families Agency said in a preliminary report on Tuesday.

The Japanese government in an annual white paper on Tuesday underlined the need to take all possible measures to realize wage increases that outpace inflation.

Japan's Imperial Household Agency on Tuesday announced the details of the coming-of-age ceremony for Prince Hisahito, son of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, on Sept. 6, the 19th birthday of the young prince.

Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Frydnes has emphasized that the testimonies of hibakusha, or people who survived the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will bring changes to the world.

Japanese police arrested a 48-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder after six passersby were injured in a stabbing and beating spree in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, on Monday.

A Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma Inc. of Japan, who has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison for espionage in China, did not appeal the ruling by a deadline of Monday, officials at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing said.

The average price of rice sold at some 1,000 supermarkets across Japan in the week through July 20 dropped by 4 yen from the previous week to 3,585 yen per 5 kilograms, the agriculture ministry said Monday.