Report accused Hideo Kojima of inappropriate touching and patting female workers on their heads
A Japanese mayor facing 99 allegations of sexual harassment has resigned after he denied some cases and wept at a press conference.
An official investigation accused Hideo Kojima, the mayor of a town in the central Gifu region, of several incidents of harassment, including touching a colleague’s breasts and buttocks.
Continue reading...Average number of births per woman falls to 0.72 in country that already has the world’s lowest rate, and has spent billions since 2006 to reverse the trend
South Korea’s demographic crisis has deepened with the release of data showing its birthrate – already the world’s lowest – fell to a new record low in 2023, despite billions of dollars in government schemes designed to persuade families to have more children.
Reports that South Korea’s population had shrunk for the fourth straight year came soon after neighbouring Japan reported a record decline in its population last year, along with a record fall in the number of births and the lowest number of marriages since the end of the second world war.
Continue reading...Birthrate continues to fall as young people increasingly reluctant to have children due to bleak job prospects, cost of living and work culture
The number of babies born in Japan last year fell for an eighth straight year to a new low, government data has shown, and a top official says it is critical for the country to reverse the trend in the coming half-dozen years.
The 758,631 babies born in Japan in 2023 were a 5.1% decline from the previous year, according to the Health and Welfare Ministry on Tuesday. It was the lowest number of births since Japan started compiling the statistics in 1899.
Continue reading...Unmanned Slim spacecraft responds to signal from Earth after touching down at awkward angle in January
Japan’s moon lander has responded to a signal from Earth, suggesting it survived the two-week lunar night, the country’s space agency has said.
The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) touched down last month at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way. But as the sun’s angle shifted, it powered up for two days and carried out scientific observations of a crater with a hi-spec camera.
Continue reading...The earthquake hit parts of the Ishikawa region on New Year’s Day killing 241 people and sparking a major fire, water remains cut off to some areas
Japan will spend an additional $660m rebuilding areas ravaged by a devastating New Year’s Day earthquake, prime minister Fumio Kishida said, taking the total amount of relief to $1.7bn.
The new financial aid was announced by the prime minister on Saturday as he visited the quake-hit areas.
Continue reading...Row over £1.05m amenities block comes amid growing concern over the cost of the event, which is taking place in Osaka in 2025
Visitors to next year’s world exposition in Japan could find themselves spending a penny in toilets that cost more than £1m to build, with recent construction estimates for restrooms sparking a row over the event’s spiralling costs.
Japanese media reported this week that some of the 40-plus bathrooms being built at the site in Osaka, a port city in the west of the country, will cost as much as ¥200m (£1.05m).
Continue reading...Takeshi Ebisawa is being charged over a conspiracy to traffic uranium and plutonium from Myanmar, believing Iran would use it to make weapons
The head of a Japanese crime syndicate conspired to traffic uranium and plutonium in the belief that Iran would use it to make nuclear weapons, US prosecutors have alleged.
Federal officials said Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, and others showed samples of nuclear materials that had been transported from Myanmar to Thailand to an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] agent.
Continue reading...Rail company inundated with requests after putting up for sale 50 of the disused trolleys from the Tokyo-Osaka shinkansen route
They are simple, practical items that have rolled seamlessly along bullet train aisles for decades, carrying snacks to millions of hungry travellers as they are whisked along at speeds of around 300km/h (186mph).
But now the humble food and beverage trolleys of one of Japan’s shinkansen routes have become an unlikely must-have item in canteens and household kitchens across the country.
Continue reading...The environmentally friendly LignoSat probe – set to orbit this summer – has been created to combat harmful aluminium particles
Japanese scientists have created one of the world’s most unusual spacecraft – a tiny satellite that is made of timber.
The LignoSat probe has been built of magnolia wood, which, in experiments carried out on the International Space Station (ISS), was found to be particularly stable and resistant to cracking. Now plans are being finalised for it to be launched on a US rocket this summer.
Continue reading...Space agency announces ‘successful liftoff’ and says rocket has already released one micro-satellite
Japan’s space agency has successfully launched a second test model of its new flagship rocket H3, in a welcome boost to its space program after last year’s inaugural flight failed.
The launch further burnishes the country’s space credentials after the historic “pinpoint” moon landing of Japan’s Slim spacecraft last month.
Continue reading...Fall in rank below Germany has been attributed to a weak yen and country’s ageing, shrinking population
Japan has been eclipsed by Germany as the world’s third-biggest economy and has slipped into recession, according to data released Thursday, as the country battles a weak yen and an ageing, shrinking population.
Japan’s economy, now the world’s fourth-biggest, grew 1.9% in 2023 in nominal terms – meaning it is not adjusted for inflation – but in dollar terms its gross domestic product (GDP) stood at $4.2tn compared with $4.5tn for Germany.
Continue reading...MPs find Treasury-affiliated bodies have engaged Horizon firm since damning 2019 high court judgment
The Japanese technology company Fujitsu, whose flawed technology for the Post Office led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of subpostmasters, is confirmed to have held contracts worth more than £3.4bn linked to the Treasury since 2019.
Figures published by the Commons’ treasury committee show £1.4bn of contracts were awarded to Treasury-affiliated organisations after a high court ruling in December 2019 over the company’s software. The judgment found that “bugs, errors and defects” in Fujitsu’s Horizon system could cause shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts.
Continue reading...Hong Kong fans need answers over missed fixture, government says, amid online furore over Inter Miami tour
Chinese state media, Hong Kong politicians and fans have cried foul after Lionel Messi played in a match in Japan, just days after he stayed on the bench for a highly-anticipated match in Hong Kong.
Many in Hong Kong were dismayed on Sunday when the 36-year-old Argentinian player did not come on to the field during a much-hyped Inter Miami fixture to a sell-out crowd with fans demanding answers and a refund. Miami’s head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino said Messi was deemed unfit to play in Sunday’s match in the Hong Kong friendly.
Continue reading...Ruling comes months after supreme court ruled that requiring sterilisation before a change of gender in official records was unconstitutional
A court in western Japan has approved a transgender man’s request to have his gender changed in official records without undergoing sterilisation surgery, the first known ruling of its kind since the country’s top court struck down a surgery requirement for such record changes.
Tacaquito Usui, 50, could get the gender listed for him in his family registry updated to male, the Okayama family court’s Tsuyama branch ruled on Wednesday. Usui’s original application for the revision was rejected five years ago.
Continue reading...Pod of orcas in north Japan freed themselves as gaps between the ice grew, officials say
A pod of killer whales trapped by drift ice off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island, have apparently safely escaped, officials have said.
The orcas were initially spotted by a fisher who reported them to officials in the town of Rausu, on the north-east coast of Hokkaido, on Tuesday morning.
Continue reading...Karolina Shiino had already caused controversy when she became first European-born woman to win title
A Ukraine-born woman who was criticised for not being “Japanese enough” after winning the Miss Japan contest last month has relinquished the title after a weekly magazine revealed she had been having an affair with a married man.
Karolina Shiino drew praise and criticism after she won the Miss Japan title last month, becoming the first woman of European descent to receive the accolade. The 26-year-old was born in Ukraine to Ukrainian parents, who moved to Japan when she was five.
Continue reading...Japanese media report that pod of orcas became trapped in ice close to Rausu on Shiretoko peninsula
Concern is growing for the welfare of a pod of killer whales that appear to have become trapped in drift ice off the coast of Hokkaido in northern Japan.
Footage aired by the public broadcaster NHK on Tuesday showed at least 10 orcas poking out of a small gap in the surface of the water about 1 km off the coast of Rausu on the Shiretoko peninsula – a Unesco world heritage site famed for its abundant wildlife.
Continue reading...Singer should be able to see boyfriend Travis Kelce in person despite 17-hour time change and 12-hour flight, embassy says
Japan’s embassy in Washington has assured an angsty public that Taylor Swift should make it to the Super Bowl in time to see her boyfriend Travis Kelce play in the big game – as long as her post-concert flight from Tokyo leaves on time.
The embassy’s Friday statement answered a question weighing on the minds of the pop star’s multitude of fans, who wondered if it was even logistically possible for her to be in position to cheer on Kelce in person as he seeks a third NFL championship with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Continue reading...Now deceased man said he was Satoshi Kirishima who was allegedly member of radical group in 1970s that bombed Japanese firms
A dying man in a Japanese hospital told police that he was one of the country’s most wanted fugitives and had been on the run for nearly 50 years for being part of a radical group that carried out bombings in the 1970s, police have said.
After receiving a tip, police went to the hospital near Tokyo last week to question the 70-year-old man. He told them he had terminal cancer and wanted to die under his real name, Satoshi Kirishima, instead of his alias, and disclosed previously unknown details about the bombings, police said.
Continue reading...Taro Aso, vice-president of ruling LDP, said Yoko Kamikawa ‘not that good looking’, got her name wrong, used ageist jibe and mixed up her place in history
A Japanese former prime minister and vice-president of the ruling Liberal Democratic party has been accused of sexism after making insulting comments about the foreign minister’s appearance and age.
“She’s not that good looking,” Taro Aso, who has a long history of inappropriate remarks, said of Yoko Kamikawa during a recent speech, before awkwardly praising her abilities as a politician. “But she speaks with dignity, speaks properly in English and makes appointments with people she needs to see on her own, without help from diplomats.”
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