月: 2025年12月

1. People across Japan are slurping up soba buckwheat noodles on Wednesday, New Year’s Eve. Eating the noodles while wishing for longevity and happiness is a Japanese tradition on the final day of the year. Diners occupied all the tables immediately after the restaurant opened for the day. Most customers ordered soba in hot soup after arriving amid the winter cold with snow falling outside. Many bought noodles to take away and eat later at home.
2. The Tokyo Stock Exchange marked its last trading day of the year on Tuesday with a ceremony. This year saw the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average top the 50,000 mark for the first time, and participants prayed that stock prices will continue to rise next year. The Nikkei average ended the last session of 2025 at 50,339.
3. One of Japan’s largest events for lovers of manga and anime opened in Tokyo’s Koto Ward on Tuesday. The Comic Market, also known as Comiket, is marking its 50th anniversary after being launched in Tokyo’s Toranokomon in 1975. Visitors formed a long line at its venue Tokyo Big Sight before it opened at 10:30 a.m.

1. US President Donald Trump has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone following his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump and Zelenskyy met in the southern US state of Florida on Sunday to discuss the 20-point proposal for ending the Russian invasion. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov says that Trump provided Putin with a detailed briefing on what was discussed in his meeting with Zelenskyy.
2. US President Donald Trump says he wants to implement the next phase of a peace plan in the Gaza Strip. He says Hamas should disarm quickly or “there’ll be hell to pay.” Trump spoke to reporters after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in Florida. The US president said that Hamas is “going to be given a very short period of time to disarm.”
3. US President Donald Trump says there was a major explosion at a dock area in Venezuela, which he claims is used to load boats with drugs. Trump said, “They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats and now we hit the area.” Trump did not say when or where the attack took place.

1. US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have discussed a proposal for ending Russia’s invasion. They reportedly made some headway on security guarantees for Kyiv, but had little success with questions over territory. President Trump said, “We have made a lot of progress on ending the war, which is really the most deadly war since World War II.” President Zelenskyy said, “We have great achievements, 20 points peace plan, 90 percent agreed.” He also suggested Ukrainian troops are prepared to withdraw from some areas.
2. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly overseen a drill involving long-range strategic cruise missiles. South Korean and US forces are on alert, and monitoring the situation. Troops reportedly practiced launching missiles and making reliability assessments.
3. A Japanese woman kidnapped by North Korea and repatriated years later has called on Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae to realize a summit with North Korea as soon as possible. North Korean agents took Soga Hitomi and her mother Miyoshi from Sado Island in the Sea of Japan in 1978. Hitomi was returned with four other abductees in 2002. But Miyoshi is still unaccounted for.

1. Japan’s Cabinet has approved a draft budget for the next fiscal year starting April. It marks a record high of 122.3 trillion yen, or about 780 billion dollars.
2. A survey of survivors of the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake in central Japan shows that two-thirds feel there has been little or no progress in recovery and reconstruction, a result similar to a survey conducted a year ago.
3. Pope Leo XIV has used his first Christmas message as the head of the Roman Catholic Church to call on “the parties involved” to advance dialogue on the situation in Ukraine.

1. Santa Claus has set off from Finland to deliver Christmas gifts to children across the globe. His journey started in his home village, which is located on the Arctic Circle in Finland. A video clip shows Santa Claus preparing to deliver gifts by reading letters he has received from children around the world.
2. Thailand and Cambodia have resumed ceasefire talks following a renewed outbreak of military clashes between the two countries this month. Clashes have continued along the border.
3. A Japanese government investigation team has published an interim report on a deadly collision between two aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in 2024. The January 2, 2024 incident involved a Japan Coast Guard aircraft on a runway that was hit by a Japan Airlines passenger plane that had just landed.

1. NHK has learned that the Japanese government is in the final stage of compiling a draft budget worth about 122.3 trillion yen, or about 784 billion dollars, for the next fiscal year starting in April. The size is the largest ever in yen terms. That marks a rise from the initial budget for this fiscal year at about 115.2 trillion yen, which was a record high at the time.
2. NHK has learned that the Mie Prefectural government is considering halting the employment of foreign nationals as early as in fiscal 2026, which begins next April.
Sources say the prefecture in central Japan plans to conduct a survey of about 10,000 residents from January to gauge their opinions before making a formal decision.
3. NHK has found that the foreign population has risen in most municipalities across Japan over the past decade. The Immigration Services Agency says a record high of more than 3.95 million foreign nationals were living in the country as of the end of June.

1. Japanese nuclear regulation officials say water containing radioactive tritium has leaked during dismantling work at the Fugen advanced thermal reactor in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan. Officials say workers did not suffer internal radiation exposure caused by, for example, accidentally swallowing radioactive water. But detailed examinations are underway to check for possible external exposure caused by radioactive water splashing on the skin or through other ways.
2. Japan has decided to review its support for large-scale solar-power generation facilities, amid growing concerns about their impact on the environment. The government approved a package of measures to regulate solar-power plants at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The package includes reviewing the scope of environmental assessments and expanding the area of the Kushiro wetland, a national park in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido.
3. Researchers in Japan will conduct a test to mine mud from the seabed that is known to contain rare earth elements, in waters near the Japanese island of Minamitorishima. Under a project led by Japan’s Cabinet Office, researchers will carry out the test for about a month starting in January, using the exploration vessel “Chikyu” operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.

1. The Japan aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, says the eighth launch of the H3 rocket has ended in failure due to a problem with the second stage engine. JAXA said the rocket’s second stage engine stopped burning earlier than planned and that the satellite could not be put into its planned orbit. It is investigating the cause of the problem.
2. Prices of used condominiums in central Tokyo continue to surge, with the average staying above 100 million yen for a seventh straight month. Real estate research firm Tokyo Kantei says the average price of a 70-square-meter unit in Tokyo’s 23 wards stood at nearly 115 million yen, or about 730,000 dollars, last month. That marks a 34.6 percent increase from the same month a year earlier.
3. Japan’s education ministry says 7,087 public school teachers took sick leave for depression and other mental health issues in the last academic year through March 2025. The number was down 32 from the previous year’s record high, but exceeded 7,000 for the second year in a row. Of teachers who took mental sick leave, 3,458 were working at elementary schools, 1,639 at junior high schools and 1,006 at senior high schools. As of April 2025, 1,458 of them, or 20 percent, had quit their teaching job.

1. The Bank of Japan says it will raise its benchmark interest rate to around 0.75 percent. That’s the highest level in 30 years.
2. The European Central Bank has left its key interest rate unchanged amid signs consumer price increases are likely to hold near its target. The ECB’s Governing Council on Thursday said it will keep its benchmark deposit facility rate at 2 percent.
3. A Shinto shrine in central Japan has put up a huge “hagoita” wooden paddle bearing a picture of a horse. The horse is next year’s zodiac sign.

1. The Bank of Japan kicked off its two-day policy meeting on Thursday. Policymakers are considering raising interest rates to a level not seen in 30 years. Analysts expect the central bank to raise the policy rate to around 0.75 percent. This would mark the highest level since September 1995.
2. Finland’s prime minister has apologized to countries in East Asia over online posts by the winner of the country’s beauty pageant and some members of parliament that drew accusations of racism. The development comes after this year’s Miss Finland posted a photo on a social media app of her pulling the corners of her eyes with a caption that translates as “eating with a Chinese person.” She was stripped of her crown last week following criticism that she was being discriminatory against Asians.
3. A procession of about 1,000 people dressed in traditional Japanese attire took place Wednesday in the ancient capital of Nara, western Japan. The parade is the highlight of the annual Kasuga Wakamiya Onmatsuri, a tradition that dates back to 12th century.