月: 2024年1月

1. The Japanese government says two parliamentary vice ministers have decided to step down over a political fundraising scandal involving factions of the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Informed sources say investigations have revealed undeclared revenues in the political fund reports of Komori Takuo and Kato Ryusho’s offices from their faction’s fundraising events.
2. NHK has learned more than 30 people died from exposure to the cold in Ishikawa Prefecture after the powerful New Year’s Day earthquake. Many of them are believed to have been waiting for rescue.
3. Japanese sumo wrestler Kotonowaka has been promoted to the second highest rank of Ozeki.

1. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he sees “some real hope” in negotiations for a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas, and the release of hostages held by the Islamic group.
2. Japan’s transport ministry has started an onsite inspection of a Toyota Motor subsidiary for what has been termed “irregularities” in engine certification tests.
3. People in areas affected by the powerful earthquake in central Japan on New Year’s Day are being advised to be on the lookout for avalanches and landslides, due to hugely fluctuating temperatures.

1. Japanese investigative sources say a suspected fugitive believed to have been involved in one of several bombing attacks in the Japanese capital in the 1970s died at a hospital near Tokyo on Monday morning. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department received information on Thursday last week that a man, who claimed to be the fugitive Kirishima Satoshi, was hospitalized in Kanagawa Prefecture earlier this month for stomach cancer.
2. The governor of Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture says power supplies are expected to be resumed as early as Wednesday in most of the areas that have been without electricity since the powerful earthquake four weeks ago. Governor Hase Hiroshi told reporters on Monday that blackouts are expected to end by Wednesday, apart from some areas.
3. Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has reiterated his apology in the Diet for the money scandal embroiling factions of his main ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Kishida said the issue seriously undermined the public trust in politics. He pledged to make persistent efforts to reform politics and restore trust.

1. Japan’s Diet convened an ordinary session on Friday. The primary focus of debate is on political reform including legal revision, with the main governing Liberal Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Kishida Fumio mired in a political funding scandal.
2. Japan’s National Police Agency says it will increase the number of security cameras in the quake-hit areas in central Japan to prevent burglaries and other crimes. The agency said it had received 32 reports of crimes, such as break-ins at damaged houses and thefts at evacuation shelters, as of Wednesday.
3. Tokyo’s consume prices rose in January but at a slower pace than in the previous month.

1. A Japanese court has sentenced a man to death for the arson attack that killed 36 employees at a famous animation studio in Kyoto. The number of deaths is the largest on record in a criminal trial in the country in more than three decades. Prosecutors charged Aoba Shinji with murder and arson after he doused Kyoto Animation’s studio with gasoline and started a fire in July 2019. The attack left 32 others injured. The company is known for “Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,” “Violet Evergarden” and other anime hits.
2. Japan’s main ruling Liberal Democratic Party has approved an interim report on political reform. It calls for revamping intraparty factions into true policy groups that will be prohibited from holding fundraising parties and will not exert influence on personnel matters.
3. Japanese government officials have agreed on a support plan to help residents and businesses in central Japan recover from heavy damage caused by the massive earthquake that hit the region on New Year’s Day.

1. Multiple news outlets project that former US President Donald Trump will win the New Hampshire primary. It’s the Republican Party’s second nomination contest in the race to choose a presidential candidate. Trump used his victory speech Tuesday night to take aim at his rival former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley. Trump said, “She’s doing a speech like she won. She didn’t win. She lost.”
2. Turkey’s parliament has approved Sweden’s bid to join NATO. The move enables Stockholm to take a major step forward in its quest to become a member of the Western military alliance. A majority of the Turkish lawmakers voted to approve the Nordic country’s entry into NATO on Tuesday. A ruling party member said Sweden’s membership matches Turkey’s interests.
3. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says the world is as close as it has ever been to self-annihilation. It has left its Doomsday Clock set at 90 seconds to midnight. The clock was created 77 years ago by Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, among others, to warn people about the threats from nuclear weapons.

1. The two-person race for the US Republican presidential nomination is intensifying. Both candidates are competing in New Hampshire, which is set to vote Tuesday in the latest state-by-state primary election. Former President Donald Trump faces ex-United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in a poll that is open both to members of the Republican Party and undecided voters.
2. Policymakers at the Bank of Japan have wrapped up their two-day meeting on Tuesday. The say they are leaving the central bank’s easing program unchanged. They decided to stick with the current policy to achieve sustainable and stable price gains led by stronger wage growth. The central bank will keep its short-term benchmark interest rate in negative territory, and will continue asset purchases to keep long-term rates “around zero percent.”
3. Shinkansen bullet train services on the Tohoku Hokuriku and Joetsu lines have been partially suspended, due to a power outage that occurred on Tuesday morning. JR East says the power outage occurred at around 10 a.m. It says workers found an overhead power cable dangling in an area between the stations of Ueno and Omiya.

1. Officials at the weather observatory at Abashiri City in Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido say ice floes have reached the coast for the first time this season. They confirmed at 9:45 a.m. on Monday that the ice floes arrived, blocking navigation of ordinary vessels in the sea.
2. Voters in the US state of New Hampshire will have a choice between former President Donald Trump and former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley in Tuesday’s Republican primary. The contest became a one-on-one race after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Sunday that he was suspending his campaign. DeSantis said it is clear to him that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Trump another chance. He also noted that Trump is “superior” to President Joe Biden and he has his support.
3. More than 15, 000 people are still staying at shelters in Ishikawa Prefecture three weeks after a powerful earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula on New Year’s Day. Officials in the prefecture have confirmed 232 people dead and 22 others still unaccounted for.

1. Tokyo prosecutors have indicted several people over a political funds scandal involving factions of the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party. A former chief treasurer of the faction that was led until recently by Prime Minister Kishida Fumio received a summary indictment.
2. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again indicated negative views on establishing a Palestinian state.
3. Consumer prices in Japan rose at their fastest pace in over four decades last year. Food saw especially sharp price rises.

1. Japan Airlines has appointed a former flight attendant as president. She will be the first woman to lead a major airline in the country. Tottori Mitsuko is currently a senior managing executive officer. She will assume the new post on April 1.
2. The Japanese Communist Party has picked a woman as its leader for the first time in its 102-year history. The party’s current policy chief, Tamura Tomoko, was appointed as the new chairperson at its congress on Thursday. She succeeds Shii Kazuo, who had been the chairperson since 2000.
3. Russian forces are continuing their attacks on Ukraine using Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, as Russia and Iran step up military cooperation. Ukraine’s Air Force said on Thursday that Russia fired 33 Iranian strike UAVs and Ukrainian forces destroyed 22 of them. The Air Force also said Russia conducted a missile attack in the eastern region of Kharkiv.