Japan

[ad_1] Contributing Writer – On Jan. 29, Foreign Minister Yōko Kamikawa presided over the launching of a new task force focused on women’s issues, including on matters of peace and security.The U.N. Security Council-mandated Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program is aimed at increasing the roles, participation and protection of women in managing crisis and conflict across the globe. This marks the first time that Japan’s Foreign Ministry has taken […]

[ad_1] LONDON – As the war in Gaza enters its fourth month, many in the Middle East and across the Global South have been struck both by the ferocity of Israel’s military campaign and by Western governments’ unwavering support for it.To them, this is as much U.S. President Joe Biden’s war as it is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s, and the continuing indifference to the scale of the devastation has […]

[ad_1] Nagoya – Toyota plans to shorten the maximum operating hours for its plants in Japan by 30 minutes per day, starting in the fiscal year 2024 that begins in April, people familiar with the matter said Friday. The move is designed to ensure product quality by allowing employees to work in a more flexible schedule following a series of certification irregularities at its group companies such as Daihatsu and […]

[ad_1] Major retailer Aeon plans to introduce a system this year to compensate employees who take child care leave with 100% of their take-home pay until their child is up to 1 year old, sources said Thursday.The system aims to alleviate financial concerns and encourage male employees to take child care leave.The program, which has no age limit, will be gradually rolled out from March to some 150 companies in […]

[ad_1] Japan’s retail investors are pouring money into Indian stocks amid bets that the nation will be the next China.Total assets of India equity-focused investment trusts in Japan grew 11%, or ¥237 billion ($1.6 billion), in January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Factoring in the gains of Indian stocks on a yen basis last month, the figures suggest inflows of about ¥140 billion into India equity funds, while Japanese […]

[ad_1] DNA tests have shown that a man who died earlier this week at a hospital is likely to be the person wanted for one of a series of terrorist bombings in Japan during the 1970s, investigative sources said Friday. The man confessed last month to being the alleged bomber, Satoshi Kirishima, who was a member of an extreme left-wing group. The DNA test results conducted on the suspect's relatives […]

[ad_1] KOFU, Yamanashi Pref. – The death sentence has been finalized for a 21-year-old man convicted of murders and arson he committed as a minor in 2021 after he withdrew an appeal, a Japanese court said Friday.The defense team for Yuki Endo filed the appeal at the deadline Thursday, but the defendant withdrew it later in the day, the Kofu District Court said.The ruling handed down last month became the […]

[ad_1] Taro Aso, a former prime minister and the current vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, on Friday retracted his sexist remarks regarding the appearance of the country's top diplomat.In a speech on Sunday, Aso, a heavyweight of the LDP headed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, described Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa as an "obasan," which loosely translates as old lady and sometimes carries a negative connotation. At the […]

[ad_1] Japan Airlines expects a revenue loss of around ¥2 billion ($13.6 million) after last month’s crash at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. The incident — which occurred when a large Airbus A350 jet operated by JAL collided with a much smaller De Havilland Canada Dash 8 operated by the Japan Coast Guard, killing five of the six crew on the coast guard plane — shut a runway for several days, disrupting […]