January 11, Thursday, 2024

1. China says it exported a record 4.91 million vehicles last year, making it all but certain that the country has overtaken Japan as the world’s largest auto exporter. The strong growth of Chinese exports is due to a 70 percent increase in exports of electric or other types of “new energy” vehicles that are fast becoming popular worldwide.
2. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei Stock Average topped 35,000-mark on Thursday for the first time in almost 35 years. Export-related shares led the advance as the yen weakened against the dollar. The Nikkei 225 ended the day at 35,049, up 1.8 percent from Wednesday. It is the first time since February 1990 that the index has reached that level.
3. The New York times has picked Yamaguchi City in western Japan as one of the “52 Places to Go in 2024.” The city is the third choice among this year’s favored travel destinations, behind total solar eclipse viewpoints in North America and Paris, France. The newspaper says Yamaguchi is often called the “Kyoto of the West”, and describes it as a compact city that has considerably less “tourism pollution” than the ancient capital.