U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration will be taking office with a better Indo-Pacific situation than when President Joe Biden was inaugurated, Deputy State Secretary Kurt Campbell said Thursday.Af 時事通信社

Japan Post Co. on Monday began a lawsuit against Yamato Transport Co. for damages of 12 billion yen over a review of a collaborative project.Af 時事通信社

Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission on Monday filed a criminal complaint with public prosecutors against a judge seconded to the Financial Services Agency for alleged insider trading.Af 時事通信社

Hiroshi Suda, the first president of Central Japan Railway Co., or JR Tokai, died of old age on Dec. 13. He was 93.Af 時事通信社

Japan and South Korea agreed Monday to make preparations to mark the 60 years since the normalization of their diplomatic relations next year, including by arranging exchange programs.Af 時事通信社

Public prosecutors on Monday sought a 10-month prison term for Stefan Kaufmann, former president and CEO of major Japanese optical equipment maker Olympus Corp., on suspicion of obtaining banned drugs.Af 時事通信社

The Osaka Regional Taxation Bureau has concluded that Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.'s expenses to entertain Self-Defense Force members were not tax-deductible, informed sources said Monday.Af 時事通信社

Nagano District Court on Monday sentenced a former member of the Nagano prefectural assembly to 19 years in prison for choking his wife to death.Af 時事通信社

Japan's infrastructure ministry plans to promote regional development centering around the country's "michi no eki" roadside rest stations by creating a framework to support such efforts through cooperation among various government ministries and agencies.Af 時事通信社

Nippon Life Insurance Co. President Hiroshi Shimizu emphasized in a recent interview that the key to growth in the Japanese market amid a falling population is to expand interactions with customers through the use of digital technologies and local contribution activities.Af 時事通信社

Japanese Princess Aiko has been diagnosed with influenza, the Imperial Household Agency said Monday.Af 時事通信社

A memorial ceremony was held Monday for the five Japan Coast Guard members killed in the collision between a JCG plane and a Japan Airlines passenger aircraft that occurred at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Jan. 2 this year.Af 時事通信社

Vietnam's first subway service has begun operating in Ho Chi Minh City, southern Vietnam, as part of an urban railway line built with yen loans under Japan's official development assistance program.Af 時事通信社

Japanese Emperor Emeritus Akihito, the father of Emperor Naruhito, turned 91 on Monday.Af 時事通信社

Japan's Fair Trade Commission plans to issue a cease-and-desist order against Google for violating the antimonopoly law, people familiar with the matter said Sunday.Af 時事通信社

Over 2,500 people staged a rally in the city of Okinawa on Sunday to protest sexual assaults on local girls by U.S. servicemen stationed in the southern Japan prefecture of Okinawa.Af 時事通信社

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. are expected to announce as early as Monday the start of their talks on a possible merger, people familiar with the matter said.Af 時事通信社

In Minamisoma, a city in Fukushima Prefecture that was hit hard by tsunami in 2011, a local space startup is aiming to launch a rocket from a flying balloon in fiscal 2025, which starts next April.Af 時事通信社

The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force will resume flights of its Osprey transport aircraft after taking necessary safety action, the Defense Ministry said Saturday.Af 時事通信社

Senior Japanese and South Korean diplomats agreed Friday to enhance economic ties between the two countries further despite the political turmoil in South Korea following President Yoon Suk-yeol's short-lived martial law decree.Af 時事通信社

Japan and Vietnam reaffirmed Friday that Japan remains a preferred partner for the Southeast Asian country's plans to build a nuclear power plant.Af 時事通信社

The Japanese government plans to reduce the official prices for nearly half of all drugs under the public health insurance program in its fiscal 2025 revision, informed sources said Friday.Af 時事通信社

Yoshio Taniguchi, the noted Japanese architect who designed a new building of New York's Museum of Modern Art and Tokyo Sea Life Park, died of pneumonia Monday morning, it was learned Friday. He was 87.Af 時事通信社

The Justice Ministry plans to start discussions as early as next spring to review Japan's retrial system for criminal cases in which guilty verdicts have become final, government sources said Friday.Af 時事通信社

The Diet, Japan's parliament, enacted a bill Friday to oblige lawmakers to disclose the uses of allowances paid to cover the costs for documents, communications, transport and lodging, and return the amount unused.Af 時事通信社

The Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce in Japan, or UCCJ, which supports economic exchanges between the two countries, held its first board meeting at the Ukrainian Embassy in Tokyo on Friday.Af 時事通信社

The Diet, Japan's parliament, voted Friday to extend its current extraordinary session by three days until Tuesday to enact three political reform bills.Af 時事通信社

A panel of Japan's ruling bloc decided Friday to postpone a decision on the detailed route of the planned section of the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line that would connect Tsuruga and Shin-Osaka stations.Af 時事通信社

The total number of teachers and other school staff punished or reprimanded for sexual crimes and violence in Japan hit a record high of 320 in fiscal 2023, an education ministry survey showed Friday.Af 時事通信社

With many of foreigners visiting Japan drawn to metropolitan areas, diverting them to regional areas holds the key to success in the government's aim of making the country a tourism-oriented nation.Af 時事通信社

A Japanese government survey showed Friday that 78.2pctof respondents feel anxious or worried, the highest level since the government began asking about such sentiment in the annual survey in 1981.Af 時事通信社

Japan's ruling camp on Friday adopted its fiscal 2025 tax system reform package featuring a plan to raise the minimum taxable income from the current 1.03 million yen per year to 1.23 million yen, the level proposed by the coalition to the opposition Democratic Party for the People.Af 時事通信社

Officials from the Japanese Defense Ministry and the Tokyo metropolitan government on Friday conducted an on-site inspection of the U.S. military's Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo over a possible leak of PFAS, potentially carcinogenic chemicals.Af 時事通信社

The secretaries-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition partner, Komeito, and the opposition Democratic Party for the People agreed Friday to continue talks on raising the minimum annual taxable income from 1.03 million yen at present.Af 時事通信社

Japan's Cabinet Office released Friday improved public relations measures regarding the government's emergency alert system for a megaquake that may occur in the Nankai Trough off the country's Pacific coast.Af 時事通信社

Japanese police took action against 183,269 people for Penal Code violations in 2023, marking an 8.2pctrise from the previous year in the first growth in 19 years, a Justice Ministry white paper showed Friday.Af 時事通信社

Japan's consumer inflation picked up for the first time in three months in November on the back of rising utility fees and rice prices, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.Af 時事通信社

Japanese snack manufacturers are trying to keep things fresh for loyal fans of their long-selling products, including through related merchandise and events.Af 時事通信社

Toshiba Corp. has fully put its turmoil behind it over the year since it went private through an acquisition led by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners Inc.Af 時事通信社

Sony Group Corp. said Thursday it will become the top shareholder in major Japanese publisher Kadokawa Corp. under a capital and business tie-up deal.Af 時事通信社

Japan's Morinari Watanabe, one of the seven candidates in the International Olympic Committee's presidential race, has pledged to stage the Summer Olympics in five cities on five continents simultaneously.Af 時事通信社

Japan's government and ruling parties are considering convening next year's ordinary session of the Diet, the country's parliament, on Jan. 24, 2025, ruling party sources said Thursday.Af 時事通信社

U.S. investment fund KKR said Thursday that it will extend its tender offer for Japanese system developer Fuji Soft Inc. until Jan. 9, 2025.Af 時事通信社

Japan's ruling coalition Thursday agreed that their fiscal 2025 tax system reform package will stipulate an income tax threshold hike from the current 1.03 million yen per year to 1.23 million yen.Af 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is considering visiting the United States as early as mid-January to hold talks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, informed sources said Thursday.Af 時事通信社

Japan will ease restrictions on ride-hailing services during the 2025 World Exposition to be held in Osaka, the transport ministry said Thursday.Af 時事通信社

Yomiuri Shimbun group boss Tsuneo Watanabe, who died Thursday at the age of 98, wielded a tremendous influence on the baseball world beyond his roles as owner and chairman of the Yomiuri Giants, a Japanese professional baseball team affiliated with the major newspaper publisher.Af 時事通信社

Nippon Steel Corp. said Thursday that it will set up a joint venture with two companies to participate in an iron ore mine development project in Labrador, eastern Canada.Af 時事通信社

The yen plunged against the dollar and other major currencies in Tokyo trading on Thursday as the Bank of Japan signaled a dovish policy stance.Af 時事通信社

Amazon Japan G.K. said Thursday that it will enter the "furusato nozei" hometown donation intermediary business.Af 時事通信社