Category: Japan

Japan

272 Pets Vanished After Japan’s Powerful Kumamoto Quake—Less Than Half Have Made It Home

KUMAMOTO, Japan — Weeks after a powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck southwestern Japan, hundreds of families are still waiting for the return of pets that disappeared in the chaos. Authorities in Kumamoto said 272 reports of missing dogs and cats had been filed by Aug. 25, following the July 28 earthquake. Of those cases, 129 animals had been found and returned to their owners, leaving 143 cases still unresolved at the time of the latest count. That means fewer than half of the reported mi

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Japan

Yen Suddenly Surges Toward 155 as BOJ Rate-Hike Bets Explode — But Friday’s U.S. Jobs Report Could Reverse Everything

The Japanese yen was on track Friday for its strongest week since the dramatic Japan-U.S. currency intervention in late July, as investors rapidly reassessed how aggressively the Bank of Japan may tighten monetary policy. The yen strengthened as far as 155.25 per U.S. dollar during Asian trading on September 4, coming close to the 155.20 level reached after the July intervention. It later gave back some of the move, trading around 155.71 per dollar in the morning session. That still left the J

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Japan

Japan’s Yen Suddenly Surges as Tokyo Warns Currency Traders — But the Real Trigger May Not Be Intervention

TOKYO — Japan has put global currency traders back on notice after its top foreign-exchange official issued another warning over volatile market moves, sending the dollar lower against the yen and reviving speculation that Tokyo could once again step directly into the market. But behind the dramatic move in the Japanese currency is a potentially bigger story: investors are increasingly betting that the Bank of Japan may soon raise interest rates again, giving the yen something government interv

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Japan

Japan May Open Its Military to Foreign Nationals as SDF Recruitment Crisis Deepens — But There’s a Major Catch

Japan is facing a manpower problem inside its Self-Defense Forces that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore — and an expert panel has now proposed a once-unthinkable solution: allowing some foreign nationals to serve in the SDF. The recommendation was presented to Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on September 2 by a panel associated with the Sasakawa Peace Foundation as part of broader proposals aimed at strengthening Japan’s defense capabilities. The proposal comes as the country conf

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Business

Japan’s IPO Boom Is Losing Steam as AI, War and Higher Rates Shake Tech Startups — But the Next Wave Could Be Very Different

Japan’s once-busy IPO market is showing signs of a significant slowdown, with fewer companies choosing to go public as market volatility, higher interest rates and growing fears over artificial intelligence reshape investor appetite. The Tokyo Stock Exchange recorded just 17 new listings across its Prime, Growth and Standard markets during the first half of 2026 — roughly 30% fewer than in the same period a year earlier, according to TSE data reported by Jiji Press and The Japan Times. The slo

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Japan

Japan Moves to Open Its Potato Market to the U.S. — But Hokkaido Farmers Are Sounding the Alarm

Japan is taking another major step toward allowing fresh potatoes from the United States into its general consumer market — a move that could reshape the country’s potato industry, potentially affect prices and intensify a growing confrontation with farmers. But despite headlines suggesting the ban is being lifted, Japan has not yet approved general imports of fresh U.S. potatoes. Instead, the Japanese government is advancing a lengthy plant-quarantine review that could eventually lead to an i

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Japan

Mitsui O.S.K. Says Hormuz May Stay Too Dangerous Through 2026 — But Japan’s Oil Plan B Could Change Global Shipping

TOKYO — Japan’s biggest energy vulnerability is showing no sign of disappearing. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, one of Japan’s leading shipping companies, is preparing for disruption in the Strait of Hormuz to continue beyond the end of 2026, warning that the crucial oil shipping route remains too dangerous for a normal return of tanker traffic. CEO Jotaro Tamura said the security situation has deteriorated enough that a resumption of regular operations before the end of the year now appears difficult.

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Business

Five Japanese Oil Distributors Admit Diesel Price Cartel — But Prosecutors Say the Secret Meetings May Go Back More Than a Decade

TOKYO — Five major Japanese oil distributors have admitted the charges against them in a diesel price-fixing case, but prosecutors say the conduct uncovered in court may be part of a much longer pattern of industry coordination stretching back more than a decade. At their first hearing at the Tokyo District Court on Thursday, September 3, East Japan Usami, ENEOS Wing, Enex Fleet, Kitaseki and Kyoei Sekiyu all acknowledged the charges accusing them of violating Japan’s Antimonopoly Act by coordi

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Japan

79-Year-Old Tokyo Taxi Driver Gets Suspended Sentence After Fatal Hit-and-Run — But What He Did Next Sparked Outrage

TOKYO — A 79-year-old former taxi driver has been sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years, after a 2024 hit-and-run in Tokyo that ultimately led to the death of a 49-year-old company employee. The Tokyo District Court handed down the sentence Thursday to Kiyotaka Zanami, who was 77 when the incident occurred. Prosecutors had sought a three-year-and-six-month prison term. According to the court ruling, Zanami was driving a taxi in Toshima Ward at around 2 a.m. on January 13

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Japan

Japan Makes a Surprise Budget Move After Kumamoto Quake — And the Real Test May Be Just Beginning

Japan is preparing to break with recent spending habits by forgoing a second supplementary budget for fiscal 2026, even as the government continues dealing with the aftermath of the devastating Kumamoto earthquake and heavy rains across the country. Government and ruling-party sources told Jiji Press that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does not currently intend to submit another supplementary budget when the Diet convenes for a possible extraordinary session in early October. Instead, the admini

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