Japan

[ad_1] Japan's new finance minister hinted Monday that the new administration might be less hawkish on rates than originally expected.“I will put every effort into getting Japan out of deflation,” said Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato, who is also the minister charged with battling deflation.Beating deflation requires loose monetary policy, according to Abenomics, of which Kato is a known supporter. The economic philosophy, introduced by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo […]

[ad_1] Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba found himself increasingly between a rock and a hard place over whether to endorse Liberal Democratic Party members implicated in a recent slush funds scandal in the Oct. 27 general election as he faced off against opposition leaders in parliament Monday.Questions from Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda on where Ishiba and the ruling party would draw the line with scandal-tainted members intending […]

[ad_1] A pair of U.S. scientists involved in the study of gene activity were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine on Monday for their discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.Victor Ambros, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Gary Ruvkun, a professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, discovered microRNA, a new class of tiny RNA molecules […]

[ad_1] New internal affairs minister Seiichiro Murakami has stressed his eagerness to improve regional revitalization measures amid the ongoing concentration of the population and industry in Tokyo."I'd like to work on enhancing and strengthening measures so that regions can develop according to their characteristics," Murakami said in a recent interview.He unveiled plans to strengthen public relations and other support for local governments so that the number of regional development cooperation […]

[ad_1] Ruling and opposition party lawmakers agreed on Monday to hold a planned debate of party leaders in parliament for 80 minutes, against the standard length of 45 minutes. The debate will pit Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, also president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, against heads of opposition parties, including Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. The leaders debate will be the last opportunity for […]

[ad_1] A group photograph of Cabinet ministers taken last week underwent minor digital edits before being posted online by the government, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi admitted Monday following media reports of the picture's alteration. The digital manipulation came to light after multiple media agencies reported that the pictures taken by their photographers appeared slightly different from what was posted on the website of the Prime Minister’s Office. While photos […]

[ad_1] For most of sports history, there was no recourse when a referee made a bad call. Fans could boo and players could complain, but the game went on. Instant replay changed that a few decades ago, allowing coaches to challenge a call and ask the referees to review it. That made games fairer, but it also made them slower.Now, many professional sports are on the verge of a new […]

[ad_1] Nintendo’s shares rose as much as 3.9% after a senior executive with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund told local media it’s considering increasing its stakes in Japanese game companies.The stock climbed its most in more than a week, outpacing the market, after Kyodo News reported the Arab Gulf country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) was weighing deploying more capital to Nintendo and its sector peers. Prince Faisal bin Bandar, vice […]

[ad_1] The Metropolitan Police Department has referred Shinji Saito, a member of popular comedy trio Jungle Pocket, to prosecutors over allegations of sexually assaulting a woman and performing nonconsensual sexual intercourse on her in a bus at a filming location, investigative sources revealed on Monday. Saito, 41, has admitted to the charges, saying that “it was a reckless act that caused trouble for the other party and my own family,” […]