Sharp Corp. said Friday that it has signed a basic agreement to grant telecommunications carrier SoftBank Corp. exclusive negotiating rights for the partial sale of its Sakai plant in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan.Door 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday that his government will continue to provide support to achieve the existing goal of fully opening the Chuo Shinkansen magnetic levitation train line as early as 2037.Door 時事通信社

Gainax Co., known for producing the popular anime series "Neon Genesis Evangelion," said Friday that it filed for bankruptcy at Tokyo District Court on May 29.Door 時事通信社

The Japan Coast Guard said Friday that it had conducted its first joint drill with its U.S. and South Korean counterparts off the Tango Peninsula in Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan.Door 時事通信社

Four Chinese coast guard ships entered Japanese territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in the city of Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, on Friday.Door 時事通信社

Japan's composite index of coincident economic indicators rose 1.0 point from the previous month to 115.2 in April, up for the second consecutive month, the Cabinet Office said in a preliminary report Friday.Door 時事通信社

The share of females among Japanese national public servants hired as of the April 1 start of fiscal 2024 hit a record high for the sixth straight year, standing at 39.2 pct, the Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs said Friday.Door 時事通信社

Daihatsu Motor Co. has reported an operating loss of 5 billion yen for fiscal 2023, its first red ink since fiscal 1992, when Japan was in an economic slowdown following the bursting of the country's asset bubble.Door 時事通信社

Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission is thinking about recommending administrative punishment against MUFG Bank and two related securities companies over their handling of customer information, informed sources said Friday.Door 時事通信社

The Japanese Foreign Ministry has protested an apparent maritime survey by South Korea in Japan's exclusive economic zone south of the Sea of Japan islets known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea.Door 時事通信社

Spending by households with two or more members in Japan in April averaged 313,300 yen, rising 0.5pctfrom a year before in inflation-adjusted real terms, internal affairs ministry data showed Friday.Door 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday instructed his government to draw up as soon as possible legislation to introduce an active cyber defense system justifying pre-emptive actions against cyberattacks.Door 時事通信社

Japan's parliament on Friday enacted a bill to revise the swords and firearms control law to ban acts of explaining online ways to manufacture guns and encouraging unlawful possession of such weapons, making such acts punishable.Door 時事通信社

A Japanese research group has said that it became the world's first to succeed in producing regulatory T cells, which suppress excessive immune responses, from human induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells.Door 時事通信社

The Imperial Household Agency released on Thursday 21 photos of Japanese Emperor Naruhito's family taken during their recent stay at a farm in Tochigi Prefecture, eastern Japan, and seven photos of cats related to the family.Door 時事通信社

Canadian police Thursday identified a man fatally stabbed in Vancouver in the early hours of Wednesday as 32-year-old Wataru Kakiuchi from Japan.Door 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is seen visiting Kazakhstan early in August to hold his country's first summit with five Central Asian nations, informed sources have said.Door 時事通信社

The Japan External Trade Organization, or JETRO, held an event in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Thursday to help Japanese and Ukrainian companies pursue business opportunities.Door 時事通信社

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. said Thursday it will set up a joint research foothold at Kyoto University in July to find solutions on social issues.Door 時事通信社

The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, or JAMSTEC, said Thursday that it observed a tsunami that occurred off Torishima, an island in the Izu chain in the Pacific, in October last year using the long-distance fiber-optic cable it placed for research purposes on the seabed off Cape Muroto in the western prefecture of Kochi.…

The Japanese government plans to take all possible measures to ensure continued wage increases that exceed inflation, according to a draft of its annual economic and fiscal policy guidelines.Door 時事通信社

An advisory panel to UNESCO has highly evaluated Japan's bid to get the Sado gold mine site in Niigata Prefecture registered as a World Cultural Heritage, Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs said Thursday.Door 時事通信社

The Japanese government plans to set an upper limit on the number of people to be covered by a proposed three-year foreign workforce development program, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday.Door 時事通信社

Japan will aim to introduce robotaxis by fiscal 2026 as part of a road map for promoting self-driving technology, digital transformation minister Taro Kono said Thursday.Door 時事通信社

Suzuki Motor Corp.'s Spacia minivehicle became Japan's bestselling car for the first time in May, the Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association said Thursday.Door 時事通信社

Bank of Japan policymaker Toyoaki Nakamura said Thursday that it would be too early for the BOJ to decide on an interest rate hike at its next policy-setting meeting on June 13-14.Door 時事通信社

Japan's industry ministry released an annual report Thursday criticizing China's ban on imports of fishery products from Japan, which it introduced after Japan began releasing treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the sea last August.Door 時事通信社

Major Ukrainian information technology company Eleks plans to strengthen its operations in Japan, company officials have revealed.Door 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday that he will attend a summit of the Group of Seven major democracies in Italy next week.Door 時事通信社

Tokyo police have arrested a 21-year-old university freshman for allegedly engaging in lewd acts with an 11-year-old girl who had run away from home.Door 時事通信社

Japan's House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill submitted by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to revise the political funds control law.Door 時事通信社

U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante will visit Japan this week to attend the first meeting of the Japan-U.S. Defense Industrial Cooperation Acquisition and Sustainment Forum, or DICAS, a spokesperson for the Defense Department said Wednesday.Door 時事通信社

A Japanese study has found that the lower the income, the more likely people have high blood pressure in Japan.Door 時事通信社

Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Japan for stalled talks between the two nations to resolve their dispute over four Russian-held islands that Japan claims as its Northern Territories and to conclude a peace treaty to formally end their World War II hostilities.Door 時事通信社

Japan's transport ministry on Thursday conducted an on-site inspection of Suzuki Motor Corp.'s headquarters after irregularities were found in the company's vehicle testing to obtain type approval.Door 時事通信社

Nikka Whisky Distilling Co. has said it will launch The Nikka Nine Decades premium whisky, whose reference retail price is set at 330,000 yen per bottle, to mark the firm's 90th anniversary.Door 時事通信社

Tokyo DisneySea on Thursday opened its new Fantasy Springs area featuring popular Disney movies within the theme park in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.Door 時事通信社

Osaka Gas Co. has shown the press its test equipment to synthesize methane from water and carbon dioxide in a research institute in the western Japan city of Osaka.Door 時事通信社

UA Zensen, a federation of labor unions in the Japanese retail and service industries, Wednesday urged employers to create a manual of instructions to address the harassment of workers by customers.Door 時事通信社

Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corp. launched a debate Wednesday to update Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s medium-term business plan, which includes how to secure compensation costs following its nuclear accident in Fukushima Prefecture in 2011.Door 時事通信社

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it plans for now to suspend production of three vehicle models involved in certification irregularities from Thursday to June 28.Door 時事通信社

Lifetime disposable income for households with wives who continue working post-childbirth is 167 million yen higher than that for those who quit their jobs and remain unemployed, a Japanese government estimate showed Wednesday.Door 時事通信社

Japan's parliament enacted on Wednesday an amended law stipulating government assistance for young people who provide daily care for family members.Door 時事通信社

Japanese chipmaker Rapidus Corp. said Wednesday that it will set up a facility at Hokkaido University to assess and analyze next-generation semiconductors.Door 時事通信社

The Japanese government decided Wednesday to draw up a new strategy by the end of this year to increase the country's infrastructure exports.Door 時事通信社

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin Co. said Wednesday that it will raise 55 billion yen to address an unauthorized outflow of about 48.2 billion yen's worth of bitcoin.Door 時事通信社

The growth rate of monthly wages of full-time employees at small companies in Japan stood at 3.62 pct, or 9,662 yen in value terms, on weighted average in fiscal 2024, a survey by the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry found Wednesday.Door 時事通信社

A special committee of Japan's House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill submitted by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to revise the political funds control law in the wake of the LDP's high-profile "slush fund" scandal.Door 時事通信社

Japan's total fertility rate fell to a record low of 1.20 in 2023 from 1.26 in 2022, down for the eighth straight year, the health ministry said Wednesday.Door 時事通信社

A Japanese court Wednesday turned down a request for a retrial for the 1992 murder of two girls in the southwestern prefecture of Fukuoka, for which a death row convict had been executed.Door 時事通信社