JIJI English News-時事通信英語ニュース-

A total of 703 people are currently preparing to run in the next election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, a Jiji Press survey showed Saturday.

A view has emerged within Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi may dissolve the House of Representatives at the beginning of the ordinary parliamentary session to be convened on Jan. 23 for a snap election, informed sources said Saturday.

Japan's Forestry Agency will introduce a system to quantify the environmental contributions made by companies engaged in forest conservation.

Japan's average rice price hit a new record high since statistics began in March 2022, following a small decline, according to agriculture ministry data.

Tokyo police have arrested a man for allegedly murdering an audio equipment-related company president who was found dead with massive bleeding at an apartment in the Japanese capital's Ota Ward on Thursday.

With electric vehicles becoming a realistic option for Japanese consumers thanks to the releases of many new models last year, including more budget-friendly ones, battery recycling holds the key to the further spread of EVs.

The Chinese government has tightened its restrictions on rare earth exports to Japan, it was learned Friday.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi may discuss South Korea's potential entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership during their upcoming summit in Japan, South Korean national security adviser Wi Sung-lac said Friday.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will visit the United Arab Emirates for three days from Thursday as a special envoy of current Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the Japanese government said Friday.

The Japanese government said Friday that it will submit a bill to revise the personal information protection law with the aim of promoting artificial intelligence development by easing the rules on acquiring personal data.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning expressed Friday her condolences over the death of Uichiro Niwa, former president of Japanese trading house Itochu Corp. and the first individual from the private sector to be appointed as Japan's ambassador to China.

Lawmakers of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party urged the government on Friday to clarify its position on the U.S. military strikes on Venezuela earlier this month.

Japan's composite index of coincident economic indicators for November fell 0.7 point from the previous month, marking the first drop in three months, mainly due to a decrease in automobile production and shipments, the Cabinet Office said Friday.

A Japanese district court on Friday ordered the government to pay 1.1 million yen in damages to the mother of a Ground Self-Defense Force member who committed suicide in 2012.

A record 45.2pctof people in Japan find it necessary to beef up the country's Self-Defense Forces, a government survey showed Friday.

A forest fire continued to burn on Mount Ogi in Uenohara, Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, on Friday.

Around 1,250 officers and 130 vehicles from Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department marched as part of their New Year's exercise in the Japanese capital's Meiji Jingu Gaien area on Friday.

The Japanese government is keeping a vigilant eye on U.S. President Donald Trump's "Donroe Doctrine" to have the United States restore its sphere of influence in the Western Hemisphere, in fear of the U.S. presence diminishing in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Japanese astronaut Makoto Suwa will make a long-term stay at the International Space Station around 2027, marking his first space mission, science minister Yohei Matsumoto told a press conference Friday.

Fujitsu showed off a foundational technology that uses artificial intelligence to develop software for software defined vehicles, at the CES tech show in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Friday that she will visit the United States for four days from Sunday to attend a Group of Seven finance ministers' meeting on critical minerals in Washington.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will embark on a nine-day tour starting Saturday, visiting Israel, the Palestinian territories, Qatar, the Philippines and India to hold talks with his counterparts, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will visit Japan for three days starting Thursday for a summit with her Japanese counterpart, Sanae Takaichi, the Japanese government said Friday.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Friday he will visit the United States from Monday through Jan. 18, planning to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington on Thursday local time.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung will visit the western Japanese prefecture of Nara for two days from Tuesday, the two countries' governments announced Friday.

Household spending in Japan rose 2.9pctin November from a year earlier after adjustment for inflation as food spending rebounded, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.

Japan's Kimiya Yui and three other astronauts will return from the International Space Station earlier than scheduled due to a medical issue of a crew member, the U.S. space agency NASA has said.

A video showing a student assaulting another student at a high school in Tochigi Prefecture has spread on social media, prompting probes by a board of education and police in the eastern Japan prefecture.

A man found dead bleeding massively at an apartment in Tokyo's Ota Ward on Thursday has what appeared to be defensive wounds on the fingers of both hands, it was learned Friday.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s bZ4X SUV was the top-selling electric vehicle in Japan in October-December 2025, the automaker has announced.

Japanese convenience store chain Ministop Co. has said it now expects to log a consolidated net loss of 6 billion yen in the business year through February, against its previous forecast of a 70-million-yen profit.

"Girl with a Pearl Earring," a painting by 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, will be loaned to Japan for display this summer, the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague said Thursday.

Advocating a "centrist" stance, Komeito is struggling to define its strategy over how far to keep its distance from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration and how to engage with other opposition parties.

Japan's petrochemical industry is moving ahead with realignment, pressured by the country's declining population and China's overproduction.

Uichiro Niwa, former president of Japanese trading house Itochu Corp. and the first individual from the private sector to be appointed Japanese ambassador to China, died of natural causes on Dec. 24, 2025. He was 86.

A man was found dead with massive bleeding at an apartment in Tokyo's Ota Ward on Thursday morning.

Japanese retail giants Seven & i Holdings Co. and Aeon Co. enjoyed consolidated operating profit growth for March-November 2025, according to their earnings reports released on Thursday.

Fast Retailing Co. on Thursday reported record earnings for the three months through November, thanks to robust sales of autumn and winter items at its Uniqlo casual clothing store chain in Japan and abroad.

A Chinese government spokesperson suggested Thursday that goods intended for civilian use are not subject to China's export ban on dual-use goods to Japan.

The Bank of Japan in a quarterly report released Thursday kept its economic views unchanged from October for all nine regions in the country.

Lawyers for a 98-year-old woman who served a prison term for the 1979 murder of a man in the town of Osaki in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, filed the fifth request for her retrial on Thursday.

Local residents in the western Japan prefectures of Shiga and Osaka on Thursday filed an appeal against a district court's rejection of their plea to shut down nuclear reactors at three Kansai Electric Power Co. plants in the nearby prefecture of Fukui.

Japanese industries are on high alert over China's ban on exports of dual-use goods to Japan, amid Chinese media reports that rare earths crucial for the high technology sector could be among items subject to the measure.

Tokyo police have arrested four suspects, including a Chinese national, for allegedly exchanging counterfeit commemorative 10,000-yen silver coins at financial institutions in at least seven of Japan's 47 prefectures.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara on Thursday emphasized the importance of the United States' role in the international community, after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the country's withdrawal from 66 international organizations including the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hopes to enhance ties with partner countries amid China's coercive behavior, as she is set to receive South Korean and Italian leaders next week.

New gas field development activity by China has been confirmed near the median line between Japan and China in the East China Sea, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference Thursday.

Major Japanese supermarket operator Aeon Co. is set to make drugstore chain Tsuruha Holdings Inc. a subsidiary next week following a tender offer that ended Tuesday.

Japanese police plan to strengthen penalties for illegal transfers of bank accounts and regulate so-called remittance side jobs as part of their efforts to beef up crackdowns on money laundering involving scam proceeds.

Koichi Hagiuda, executive acting secretary-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has said that his party should prioritize expanding its coalition framework over dissolving the House of Representatives for a snap election.

Japan's inflation-adjusted real wage index fell 2.8pctyear on year in November 2025, marking the 11th straight month of decline as wage growth failed to outpace rising prices, government data showed Thursday.

A horse park in the western Japan prefecture of Osaka is protecting and raising "Dosanko" Japanese horses, with only some 1,000 of the breed to be found in Japan.

Asian black bear sightings in Japan from April to November 2025 totaled 47,038, marking the highest figure since comparable data became available in fiscal 2009, according to the Environment Ministry.

The Japanese government will set up a Japanese version of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, to conduct a cross-ministerial review of foreign investments in Japanese companies.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Wednesday met with Nago Mayor Taketoyo Toguchi to seek local understanding for relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air base to the southern Japan city.