Asia Japan High winds cut power lines in Okinawa Prefecture, leaving over 200.000 households without electricity, Naha airport closed and hundreds of thousands of people were advised to evacuate as Typhoon Khanun neared, threatening torrential rains
Asia Japan Japanese consumers will experience price increases on 30.000 food and beverage products by October as retailers pass on higher costs to protect their profits, according to a credit research firm
Asia Japan E-prescriptions have not caught on in Japan: due to cost and time-consuming procedures, only 2% of Japanese medical institutions and pharmacies have introduced prescription sharing with online pharmacies
Asia Japan A new partnership has been created between Hiroshima atomic bomb memorial and that of the attack on US base Pearl Harbor, an agreement that survivors of the bomb-ravaged city have strongly criticised, pointing out that "they are not comparable events"
Asia Japan After April registered a record presence of tourists coming to see the famous cherry blossoms free from COVID-19 restrictions, May saw a slight drop in the number visitors but the country remains a top tourist destination for 2023
Asia Japan The law on funding sources for increased defence spending has been approved; military spending will increase to $318 billion over the next five years
Asia Japan A Japanese court has declared the ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, a decision that activists welcomed as a step towards marriage equality in the only nation in the Group of Seven that provides no legal protection for same-sex unions
Asia Japan Japan's Narita airport operator plans to raise fares for international passengers starting in September, reflecting recent price and labor cost increases
Asia Japan Lawmakers are introducing Japan's first laws against the sexual exploitation of photos; the bill against 'photo-voyeurism' will prohibit acts such as upskirting and secret filming of sexual acts
Asia Japan The premier affirmed Japan's willingness to deepen ties with Arab countries, referring to the signing of the Arab-Japanese agreement, which aims at achieving economic, cultural and political cooperation
Asia Japan After days of speculation, Japanese company Sega seems set to finalise the acquisition of Finnish company Rovio Entertainment, known for the Angry Birds brand, setting the deal at 706 million euros
Asia Japan Over one million people in the country are self-enclosed, a phenomenon so acute that it has its own word: hikikomori, or 'shut-in'; professor Seiko Goto developed a method and community center to help them