月: 2023年6月

1. Policymakers at the Bank of Japan have wrapped up their two-day meeting. They say they are leaving the central bank’s easing program unchanged. The BOJ will keep its short-term benchmark interest rate in negative territory. And it will continue asset purchases to keep long-term rates around zero percent.
2. Ukrainian defense officials say the country’s troops are making progress in their counteroffensive against Russia despite fierce resistance. Speaking to reporters on Thursday in Kyiv, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said Ukrainian troops have advanced more than three kilometers to the east. She also said they are advancing “gradually but surely” to the south. 3. Russia’s central election commission says it will hold elections in September in the four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine that Moscow claims to have annexed, along with the rest of Russia.

1. The suspect in the shooting that left two Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members dead has told police that he targeted a 52-year-old instructor and “didn’t intend” to kill another victim. The 18-year-old male candidate allegedly opened fire at three GSDF personnel at the organization’s Hiro shooting range during live-fire training in Gifu City, central Japan, on Wednesday. 2. Tokyo’s board of education has issued a notice asking school officials to warn students against becoming dependent on generative AI when doing homework over the summer vacation. In the notice, the education board stressed the need in education to nurture students’ ability to think on their own. 3. Policymakers at the Bank of Japan have begun discussing the impact of massive monetary easing and the rising cost of living at their two-day meeting from Thursday. The central bank has been controlling short-and long-term interest rates to help achieve its goal of two-percent inflation.

1. Two Self-Defense Force members have died and another was injured in a shooting incident in Gifu city, central Japan. An SDF candidate in his teens have been arrested. The suspect reportedly started shooting with an automatic rifle shortly after training began at the Ground SDF’s Hino Basic Shooting Range around 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
2. Yakusho Koji won Best Actor Award at this year’s Canne International Film Festival for his role in the movie “Perfect Days.” Back home in Japan, he spoke to reporters about his part and said the film by German director Wim Wenders is a good example for Japanese productions to follow. “Perfect Days” is set in Shibuya, Tokyo. Yakusho plays the protagonist, a silent and meticulous cleaner of public restrooms. 3. The UN refugee agency estimates that an unprecedented number of around 110 million people have been forcibly displaced due to conflict, persecution and human rights violations as of the end of May. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees released its Global Trends in Forced Displacement 2022 report ahead of UN-designated World Refugee Day on June 20.

1. Japan’s government has approved measures to address the country’s declining birthrate by increasing financial support for people raising children. The measures include removing the limit on household income for receiving childrearing allowances from the government. 2. Ukraine’s defense ministry says its troops have liberated a total of seven villages in the eastern and southern parts of the country.
3. NHK has learned that the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is making arrangements to visit Japan early next month, before treated and diluted water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is released into the ocean.

1. NATO has begun its largest air deployment exercise since its establishment in 1949 in an apparent show of its deterrence capabilities. The military exercise began at a base in northern Germany and elsewhere on Monday, with 250 fighter and other aircraft and 10,000 personnel from 25 NATO and other countries participating. Senior officers of Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force are scheduled to take part as observers, making them the only participants from Asia.
2. The Ukrainian military has been pressing ahead with a major counteroffensive. Large-scaled military operations appeared to be under way on at least three fronts—around Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk, western Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia in the country’s south. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that a counteroffensive aimed at retaking Russian-occupied territory is in progress.
3. A new report estimates China’s nuclear arsenal has grown by 60 warheads – the largest year-on-year increase in the world. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released its findings on Monday. The report says China’s inventory reached 410 that month as part of a significant expansion.

1. A bill to revise Japan’s immigration law has been enacted after passing the Upper House of the Diet by a majority vote. The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, as well as the Nippon Ishin Japan Innovation Party and the Democratic Party for the People voted in favor of the bill on Friday.
2. A bill to promote understanding of the LGBTQ community in Japan has been finalized after a revised version of legislation from the two ruling parties gained support from two opposition parties. The Diet’s Lower House Cabinet Committee voted on the bill on Friday. Three bills had been submitted. 3. Japan’s Cabinet has adopted a plan to drastically expand the fields for qualified foreign skilled workers. The move is aimed at attracting more skilled people from abroad amid the intense global competition for such workers.

1. Torrential rain is expected to hit western Japan and Pacific coastal areas of eastern Japan on Thursday and Friday. Weather officials are calling on people to remain on the alert for landslides and other disasters. They say rain is expected to intensify again in areas that were hit by record rainfall last weekend. They warn that even small amounts of rain can heighten the risk of mudslides. 2. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau twice visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum during his stay in the city last month for the Group of Seven summit. The G7 leaders visited the museum, which details the 1945 atomic bombing of the city, on May 19, the opening day of the summit. They spent about 40 minutes there. The Canadian Embassy in Tokyo says Trudeau visited the museum again on May 21, his last day in Japan, because he wanted to see the displays more thoroughly.
3. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a comprehensive investigation into the destruction of a hydroelectric power-generating dam in southern Ukraine. Kyiv and Moscow are blaming each other for the incident.

1. Sweden’s defense minister has indicated that his country is ready to join NATO and expressed hope that its membership application will be approved prior to the organization’s summit in July. 2. Delegates to the United Nations Security Council gathered for an emergency session on Tuesday to discuss the dam breach on the Dnipro River in Ukraine. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said the situation may represent the “most significant” damage to civilian infrastructure since the war began.
3. A senior member of a group of Russian volunteer fighters has stressed that its ultimate goal is to topple President Vladimir Putin’s government. The Liberty of Russia Legion has been carrying out attacks in western Russian regions near the border with Ukraine.

1. Ukraine has accused Russia of destroying a hydroelectric power-generating dam in the country’s south. It says residents downstream have been forced to evacuate. The Ukrainian military announced on Tuesday that Russia’s forces destroyed the Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River in the southern region of Kherson.
2. Hong Kong’s top court has overturned the conviction of a journalist in a ruling related to an investigative report about an attack on pro-democracy protesters. Choy Yuk-ling, better known as Bao Choy, worked for local broadcasters RTHK. She produced the documentary, which criticized the slow police response when assailants attacked the protesters in July 2019. 3. Workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have finished sending seawater into an underwater tunnel that has been built to release treated and diluted water from the facility into the ocean. Once filled with seawater, the tunnel will guide treated water from the plant to a point about 1 kilometer offshore.

1. Temperatures topped 30 degrees Celsius in many parts of Japan on Monday. People in areas affected by heavy rain late last week battled intense heat while working to repair damage. 2. The front-runner for Thailand’s next leader joined a pride parade on Sunday in Bangkok. Pita Limjaroenrat, head of the opposition Move Forward Party, promised to pass a law allowing same-sex marriage if he becomes prime minister.
3. Officials in Saga Prefecture, western Japan, have removed the covers of what is believed to be the grave of an ancient powerful figure to study what is inside. They hope to find hints to resolve the dispute over a continuing ancient mystery in Japan. Experts say the grave at the Yoshinogari Ruins appears to date from the late Yayoi period between the first and third centuries.