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☆ Japanese Stocks Tumble 6% as Long-Running Surge Falters
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( River Akira Davis | More About River Akira Davis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A more-than-year-long rally in Japanese stocks, driven by the country’s depreciated currency, hit a wall at the end of the week. Japan’s Topix index, which includes companies that represent a broad swath of the Japanese economy, fell 6.1 percent, extending losses from the previous day. The Nikkei 225 index fell 5.8 percent on Friday. Analysts noted a “state of panic” in Japanese markets following the Bank of Japan’s decision on Wednesday to raise interest rates for only the second time since 2007. The move bolstered Japan’s currency, the yen, which was trading at approximately 149 to the dollar on Friday, a significant recovery from 154 at the start of the week.

Organizations: Bank of Locations: United States

☆ Japan Raises Interest Rates for Second Time Since 2007
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-31 | by ( River Akira Davis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For only the second time in nearly two decades, Japan’s central bank on Wednesday raised interest rates, a move that could help bolster the country’s ailing currency and ease the burden of consumers paying more for imported essentials like food and energy. The Japanese central bank increased its target policy rate to 0.25 percent, up from a range of zero to 0.1 percent. The rate was last bumped up in March, when the bank raised interest rates for the first time since 2007. The large gap between interest rates in Japan and the United States has caused the yen to fall in value against the dollar over the past two years, but it regained some strength recently as traders anticipated an imminent rate increase from the Bank of Japan. The Bank of Japan’s decision was being closely watched by investors and economists inside and outside of Japan.

Organizations: Bank of Japan, The Locations: Japan, United States

☆ Japanese restaurants say they’re not charging tourists more – they’re just charging locals less
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-25 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Tokyo CNN —Kudos to you if you can speak perfect Japanese and order food at a neighborhood sushi bar in Tokyo. But overtourism – fueled by a combination of pent-up post-Covid demands (aka “revenge travel”) and the weak local currency – has recently prompted restaurants in the country to consider the merits of differential pricing. This year, spurred by a weak yen that has fallen to its lowest level against the dollar in decades, the tourists are back - in big numbers. “Some people say, ‘We don’t do this in our country.’ But think about how bad Japanese people’s English skills are. As the less-expensive resident prices are often written in the local language, foreign tourists may not even know they paid more.

Persons: –, ”, Shogo Yonemitsu, ” Yonemitsu, Elisa Chan, Tamatebako, Rinka Tonsho, CNN Yonemitsu, isn’t, That’s, CNN Shuji Miyake, Phoebe Lee Organizations: Tokyo CNN, Mount Fuji, UNESCO, Chinese University of Hong, CNN Locations: Tokyo, Japan, Shibuya, Mount, Hokkaido, Himeji, In Venice, Tokyo’s Tsukiji

☆ Top Japanese Gymnast Withdraws From Paris 2024 for Smoking and Drinking Alcohol
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-23 | by ( Ali Watkins | More About Ali Watkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Japan’s Olympic gymnastics team will head into the Paris Games this week without its captain, Shoko Miyata, after she withdrew from the team following an investigation that found she had violated the squad’s code of conduct by smoking and drinking alcohol. In a news conference last week, officials with the Japan Gymnastics Association, which conducted the investigation, announced Ms. Miyata’s withdrawal from the Olympics, saying that “both parties discussed the matter” and that Ms. Miyata had decided not to compete. The Japan Gymnastics Association’s code of conduct forbids drinking or smoking while in official team programs, regardless of age. The legal age for drinking and smoking in Japan is 20; Ms. Miyata is 19. Ms. Miyata allegedly violated the code of conduct on two occasions; once in a private residence in Tokyo, and again in a classroom of the Athlete’s Village of Japan’s National Training Center, according to gymnastics officials.

Persons: Shoko Miyata, “, Miyata Organizations: Paris Games, Japan Gymnastics Association, Japan, National Training Center Locations: Japan, Tokyo, Athlete’s

☆ Shoko Miyata: Japanese gymnast withdraws from Olympic Games after smoking and drinking alcohol
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-22 | by ( Matias Grez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Shoko Miyata, the captain of Japan’s women’s gymnastics team, has withdrawn from Paris 2024 after allegedly breaking the team’s code of conduct by smoking and drinking alcohol, according to the Japanese Gymnastics Association (JGA). The legal smoking and drinking age in Japan is 20 and the JGA’s code of conduct prohibits gymnasts from doing either during team activities, regardless of age. Nishimura said that one incident of smoking took place “in a private place at a certain location in Tokyo” and a separate incident of drinking took place “in a room in the Athlete Village of the National Training Center.”“She engaged in smoking and drinking due to numerous pressures from the competitive targets that had been set,” Nishimura added. Miyata, who won bronze on the balance beam at the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, was due to captain Japan’s women’s team of debut Olympians. The country’s women’s team is trying to win its first team medal since the 1964 Tokyo Games.

Persons: Shoko Miyata, Japan’s, Miyata, ”, Kenji Nishimura, Nishimura, ” Nishimura, Japan’s women’s, Tadashi Fujita, It’s Organizations: CNN, Japanese Gymnastics Association, National Training Center, Gymnastics Association Locations: Japan, Tokyo

☆ Bukchon Hanok Village: South Korea to set visitor curfew for historic district to crackdown on tourists
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-11 | by ( Heather Chen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Known for its picturesque and well-preserved traditional Korean houses called “hanok,” Bukchon Hanok Village is one of Seoul’s most popular tourist hot spots – attracting thousands of visitors every day. But tourists greatly outnumber residents and complaints about noise, littering and privacy issues in the vicinity have escalated over the years. Located in the Jongno district in downtown Seoul, Bukchon sits near other cultural landmarks like the Jongmyo royal ancestral shrine and the grand Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung palaces. In a bid to ease tensions and control crowds, district officials will start to restrict tourist access to the popular village from as early as October this year. Out-of-control tourists have been especially problematic in Kyoto, one of Japan’s most popular tourist cities, famed for its iconic Gion geisha district.

Persons: Rhee Soo, Lee Youn, ” Lee, Overtourism, Sindere, “, ”, Emma Hägg Organizations: South Korea CNN, CNN, Tourists Locations: Seoul, South Korea, throngs, Jongno, Bukchon, South Korea’s, Korea, Barcelona, Italy’s, Venice, Japan, Mount Fuji, Kyoto, Sweden, Swedish

☆ Japan: US sending dozens of F-15EX, F35 fighter jets in $10 billion modernization
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-05 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Japan said basing the new fighter aircraft in the country would enhance US capabilities there. But from 2022, as the twin-engine fighters neared the end of their service life, the US Air Force began pulling them from Kadena. The F-15EX is the Air Force’s newest fighter jet, with the first operational plane delivered to the Oregon Air National Guard in early June. The F-35As that will be stationed at Misawa Air Base are the Air Force’s newest stealth fighters. F-35s deliver “an enhanced capability to survive in the advanced threat environment in which it was designed to operate,” an Air Force fact sheet says.

Persons: Yoshimasa Hayashi, Carlos Barria, 15EX, Peter Layton, ” Layton, Layton, ”, CNN’s Hanako Montgomery Organizations: CNN, Defense Department, Pentagon, Japan Alliance, Misawa Air Base, Kadena Air Base, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, U.S . Air Force, Chinese Communist Party, US Air Force, Boeing, Military, Air Force’s, Oregon Air National Guard, USAF, Air Force, Griffith Asia Institute, Royal Australian Air Force, Japan Locations: Japan, Okinawa, Hiroshima, Honshu, United States, U.S, China, Russia, North Korea, Tokyo, East, North, Pyongyang, Britain, Australia, Nevada, Taiwan, Kadena, Washington

☆ Chinese government bonds are on fire. That’s ringing alarms bells in Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-03 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“What worries policymakers is the interest rate risk, which will rise once the dominant narrative shifts from deflation to reflation,” Hu from Macquarie said. If that happens, bond yields will rise as investors switch back into riskier stocks. The country’s “4,000 or so small and medium-sized banks” will be particularly vulnerable to the interest rate risk, he added. “The bubble formed by the rush of funds into the bond market is accumulating interest rate risks,” the Securities Times said in an editorial. Economic risksThe rapid decline in Chinese bond yields also poses significant risks to the economy.

Persons: “, ”, Pan Gongsheng, SVB, Larry Hu, ” Hu, Macquarie, Hu, Zhang Jiqiang, Ken Cheung Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Silicon Valley Bank, People’s Bank of China, prudential, “, Federal Reserve, Macquarie Group, Zheshang Securities, Securities Times, Japan’s Norinchukin Bank, Huatai Securities, Mizuho Securities Locations: Hong Kong, Silicon, United States, Shanghai, China, Beijing, SVB, outflows

☆ Japanese mother and child stabbed in China in front of school bus
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-25 | by ( Nectar Gan | Himari Semans | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Tokyo/Hong Kong CNN —A Japanese woman and her child were among three people stabbed by a man on Monday in front of a school bus at a bus stop in eastern China, according to Japanese authorities. In Suzhou, the attack took place Monday afternoon as the mother waited to pick up her child at a bus stop near a Japanese school, according to the Japanese official. The school bus is from the Suzhou Japanese School, located less than a mile from the bus stop in an area where many Japanese nationals live, NHK said. Opened in 2005, the Suzhou Japanese School offers six-year elementary school and three-year junior high school curriculums, according to its website. Its rules state that students must be picked up by a parent or guardian from the school bus.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, “, ”, Zhou, Mao Ning, rampages, –, Xi Jinping Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Japanese Nationals Overseas Safety Division, Japan’s Foreign Ministry, CNN, Embassy, NHK, Suzhou Japanese, Japan’s Embassy, Foreign, Suzhou Japanese School Locations: Tokyo, Hong Kong, China, Suzhou, Jiangsu province, Shanghai, Jilin ., Jilin, Beijing, Japan

More than a year later, she is still in debt and resorting to sex work to pay her bills. But now she would have to repay him – with sex work the only way to raise the cash. Yu is one of hundreds of women coerced to sell their bodies after frequenting Japan’s so-called “host clubs,” experts told CNN. Of those detained, 40% told police they were soliciting to repay debts run up at host clubs, NHK reported. “It’s a romance scam, basically,” said Ayaka Shiomura, a member of Japan’s upper house of parliament, who has unsuccessfully pushed for better safeguards against exploitative host clubs.

Persons: Tokyo CNN — Yu, she’d, Yu, ’ ”, “, ” Yu, Daniel Campisi, Behrouz Meheri, ”, Ayaka Shiomura, Mikami Rui, ” Mikami Rui, Hidemori, Gen, Shiomura, “ let’s, ” –, ‘, ’ ” Yu, –, Rui, “ I’m Organizations: Tokyo CNN, CNN, Getty, Tokyo, NHK, Asahi Shimbun, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Befrienders Locations: Japan’s, Kabukicho, Tokyo, AFP, Japan, Okinawa, Macao, Hong Kong

☆ Japanese store near Mount Fuji issues apology in response to overtourism
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Lawson’s, one of Japan’s largest convenience store chains, has an outpost in the small town of Fujikawaguchiko. Tourists have flooded into Fujikawaguchiko to take one specific picture – a shot of Mount Fuji behind a Lawson’s store, where the mountain’s classic elegance contrasts with the store’s modern neon signage. Although Lawson’s has not encouraged visitors to take pictures of their store, the company nevertheless issued a statement addressing the issue on May 5. Many of them headed to the same destinations, crowding Kyoto’s narrow streets and the walking trails of Mount Fuji. And Lawson’s is not the only Japanese tourist destination that has resorted to putting up signs warning visitors of bad behaviors.

Persons: Fuji –, Lawson’s, Lawson, –, overtourism, Fujikawaguchiko, Semans Organizations: CNN, Fuji, Mount Fuji, ”, Mount, UNESCO Locations: Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi prefecture, –, Japan, Mount, Yamanashi

☆ Super-aged Japan now has 9 million vacant homes. And that’s a problem
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Chris Lau | Mayumi Maruyama | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“This is a symptom of Japan’s population decline,” said Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba. “It’s not really a problem of building too many houses” but “a problem of not having enough people,” he said. According to figures compiled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 14% of all residential properties in Japan are vacant. “When an earthquake or a tsunami occurs, there is a possibility that vacant houses will block evacuation routes as they break down and get destroyed,” he said. In other rural areas with a high concentration of vacant houses, akiya have stalled development, the professor said.

Persons: ”, Jeffrey Hall, “ It’s, don’t, Akio Kon, it’s, “ They’re, Buddhika Weerasinghe, Yuki Akiyama, Akiyama, ” Akiyama Organizations: CNN, Kanda University of International Studies, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Kanda University, “, Bloomberg, Getty, Ministry, Internal Affairs, Communications, Tokyo City University, Homes Locations: Japan, New York City, Tokyo, Kyoto, Chiba, Kanda, Yato, Yokosuka City, Kanagawa prefecture, Tambasasayama, Noto, Ishikawa, Europe, West, “

☆ Mount Fuji: Japanese town putting up eight-foot barrier to block tourist photos
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A picturesque Japanese town is putting up a giant mesh barrier to block a popular selfie spot near Mount Fuji. Fujikawaguchiko, at the foot of the Yoshida Trail to Mount Fuji, has become overrun with foreign tourists trying to get the perfect photo of Japan’s most famous mountain. And now the town has had enough and is putting up the mesh barrier to block the view, a local official told CNN. The town of Fujikawaguchiko is in Yamanashi prefecture, to the north of Fuji and about 62 miles (100 kilometers) west of Tokyo. Many of them head straight to Mount Fuji, an icon of Japan and a UNESCO World Heritage site, leaving garbage and causing erosion along the way.

Persons: Philip Fong, “ Overtourism, Masatake Izumi, – Organizations: CNN, Mount, Getty, UNESCO, CNN Travel, Disney Locations: Mount Fuji, Fujikawaguchiko, AFP, Yamanashi prefecture, Fuji, Tokyo, Japan, Yamanashi, Austrian, Halstatt

☆ ‘Shogun’s’ Hiroyuki Sanada on bringing the acclaimed FX miniseries to life
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Christy Choi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Editor’s Note: This interview was aired on CNN’s “First Move With Julia Chatterley.”CNN —With “Shogun,” Hiroyuki Sanada wanted to get things right. “So, I wanted to…introduce the world correctly.”He plays Lord Yoshii Toranaga on the acclaimed FX miniseries, an adaptation of James Clavell’s best-selling 1975 novel of the same name. Not a stereotypical samurai.”Video Ad Feedback Watch: Hiroyuki Sanada speaks to CNN's Julia Chatterly on how "Shogun" has become a global hit. 02:16 - Source: CNNWhile Sanada, 63, has been acting for close to six decades, this is the first time he’s taken on a producer role. What we tried to do with that gaze was find a way to transcend culture.”The miniseries has proved popular.

Persons: Julia Chatterley, ”, ” Hiroyuki Sanada, Yoshii Toranaga, James Clavell’s, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hiroyuki Sanada, CNN's Julia Chatterly, Sanada, John Blackthorne, Cosmo Jarvis, “, Anna Sawai, Lady Mariko, Michael De Luca, Justin Marks, Rachel, Kondo, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Beef, Ali Wong, Steven Yeun Organizations: ” CNN, CNN, FX, Disney Locations: Japan, Hollywood, Clavell’s

☆ Private rooms coming to some of Japan’s bullet trains
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Japan’s beloved Shinkansen trains are getting another upgrade. This photo illustration shows what the private rooms will look like. Japan RailwaysThey will be located in the green cars, which are the first-class, more expensive cars on Shinkansen trains. Travelers who have purchased a JR Rail pass will still need to pay extra to use the private rooms. The Tokaido line was Japan’s first-ever high speed rail line, making its debut in 1964.

Persons: CNN —, CNN’s Junko Ogura Organizations: CNN, Japan Rail, Japan Railways, Travelers Locations: Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka

☆ Japan Airlines first female CEO hopes more women make it to the top
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Hanako Montgomery | Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Tokyo/Hong Kong CNN —Mitsuko Tottori admits Japan has much more to do to get people like her into the chief executive seat. Tottori was named as the first female president and chief executive of Japan Airlines (JAL) in January, crowning a career that began nearly 40 years ago when she joined the airline as a flight attendant. Tottori, pictured in 1985 using an in-flight phone, began her career as a cabin attendant at Japan Airlines. Japan Airlines' A350 airplane is on fire at Haneda international airport in Tokyo, Japan January 2, 2024. They really followed the instructions of the flight crew calmly, which I think was a big factor.

Persons: Mitsuko Tottori, ”, “, Tottori, Issei Kato, Shukor Yusof, Seijiro Takeshita, ’, ” Takeshita, — CNN’s Junko Ogura, Mayumi Maruyama, Juliana Liu Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Japan Airlines, JAL, “, CNN, University of Tokyo, Women’s Junior College, Boeing, Airbus, Haneda, Endau, ”, Japan Inc, University of Shizuoka, ANA, All Nippon Airways Locations: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Japan, Tottori, “ Japan, Nagasaki, Haneda, Osaka, Asia, Myanmar, Fiji

Taro Akebono, a Hawaii-born sumo wrestler who became the sport’s first foreign grand champion and helped to fuel a resurgence in the sport’s popularity in the 1990s, has died in Tokyo. When he became Japan’s 64th yokozuna, or grand champion sumo wrestler, in 1993, he was the first foreign-born wrestler to achieve the sport’s highest title in its 300-year modern history. He went on to win a total of 11 grand championships, and his success set the stage for an era during which foreign-born wrestlers dominated the top levels of Japan’s national sport. Akebono, who was 6-foot-8 and 466 pounds when he was first named yokozuna at 23, towered over his Japanese opponents. Painfully shy outside the dohyo, as the sumo ring is known, he was known for using his height and reach to keep opponents at a distance.

Persons: Taro Akebono Organizations: United States Locations: Hawaii, Tokyo, Japan

☆ Taiwan quake led to traffic jam of Japanese F-15J air power
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

At one Japanese air base, they take to the streets. A base spokesperson told CNN putting warplanes on a roadway rather than a runway is something that’s practiced so it can be done quickly. “It took 15 to 20 minutes to move 12 fighter jets thanks to normal-time evacuation drills,” the spokesperson said. Aircraft tugs pulled the fighter jets on to a road at Naha Air Base on Okinawa to be sure they were not damaged in a possible tsunami. Naha Air BaseThe F-15J, a variant of the US-designed F-15, is the “mainstay” of Japan’s air force, according to the country’s Defense Ministry.

Persons: Nature, that’s, CNN’s Wayne Chang Organizations: CNN — Fighter, Japan, Self, Defense, Air Base, CNN, Aircraft, Naha Air Base, country’s Defense Ministry, Taiwan’s Defense Locations: Taiwan, Okinawa, Naha Airport, Naha

☆ Japanese people could all be called Sato by 2531, study warns. But they’d need to get married first
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Chris Lau | Mai Nishiyama | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Tokyo CNN —Everyone in Japan could one day have the same surname unless its restrictive marriage laws change, according to a new study. But the country’s dwindling marriage rate could buck that trend and a rapidly declining population might render it moot entirely. If the rules carry on, all Japanese people could have the surname Sato by 2531, according to Hiroshi Yoshida, an economist from Tohoku University in Sendai, who led the study. According to Myoji Yurai, a company that tracks Japan’s more than 300,000 surnames, Sato is currently the most common, followed by Suzuki. About 1.8 million people out of Japan’s 125 million population have the surname Sato, Myoji Yurai says on its website.

Persons: Sato, Hiroshi Yoshida, Myoji, Suzuki, Takahashi, Myoji Yurai, Yoshida –, Yoshida, ” Yoshida, ”, Fumio Kishida, Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu, Chen, Galton, Watson Organizations: Tokyo CNN, Tohoku University, CNN Locations: Japan, Sendai, East Asia, China

☆ ‘Oppenheimer’ Hits Nuclear-Scarred Japan, 8 Months After U.S. Premiere
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Motoko Rich | Kiuko Notoya | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Watching “Oppenheimer,” the Oscar-winning biopic about the father of the atomic bomb that opened in Japan on Friday, Kako Okuno was stunned by a scene in which scientists celebrated the explosion over Hiroshima with thunderous foot stomping and the waving of American flags. Seeing the jubilant faces “really shocked me,” said Ms. Okuno, 22, a nursery school teacher who grew up in Hiroshima and has worked as a peace and environmental activist. Eight months after Christopher Nolan’s film became a box office hit in the United States, “Oppenheimer” is now confronting Japanese audiences with the flip-side American perspective on the most scarring events of Japan’s history. The movie follows the breakthrough discoveries of J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team before the United States struck Japan with the first salvo of the nuclear age. It won seven Academy Awards last month, including for best picture.

Persons: “ Oppenheimer, ”, Kako Okuno, “, Okuno, Christopher Nolan’s, “ Oppenheimer ”, Robert Oppenheimer Locations: Japan, Hiroshima, United States

☆ Ilia Malinin: Record-breaking American teen lands quadruple axel as he wins first ever World Figure Skating title
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —For every other figure-skater, landing a quadruple axel lies outside the realms of possibilities, attempted but never accomplished by an endless parade of skating greats. For American teenage prodigy Ilia Malinin though, they are simply part of his routine. And landing one on Saturday propelled him to his first ever world title after a record-breaking performance in the free skate at the World Figure Skating Championship. I am so glad to be here on top right now.”Ilia Malinin won his first world title. His gold medal was the US’s second at this World Championships after Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the ice dance earlier on Saturday.

Persons: axel, Ilia Malinin, –, ” Malinin, “, ” Ilia Malinin, Mert Alper, France’s Adam Siao Him, ’, Malinin, Madison Chock, Evan Bates Organizations: CNN, International Skating Union, Anadolu Agency, Madison Locations: “, Japan’s Kagiyama Yuma

☆ FBI returns looted artifacts found in Massachusetts attic to Japan
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Amy Woodyatt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The FBI has returned a trove of looted Japanese art to its country of origin after a family found a stash of artifacts in their late father’s Massachusetts attic. They looked old and valuable,” Special Agent Geoffrey J. Kelly, art crime coordinator for FBI Boston and a member of the FBI Art Crime Team, said in a statement. A typewritten letter found alongside the artifacts in Massachusetts helped confirm they were looted during the last days of World War II, the FBI added. “When taken together, they really represent a substantial piece of Okinawan history,” Kelly said of the artifacts. The artifacts were returned to Okinawa last week, the FBI said, but noted that several Okinawan objects are still missing and are listed in the National Stolen Art File.

Persons: Geoffrey J, Kelly, ” Kelly, ”, you’re Organizations: CNN, FBI, FBI Boston, Okinawa FBI, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Asian, Washington , D.C Locations: Massachusetts, Japan, Okinawa, Washington ,

☆ Japan Raises Interest Rates for First Time in 17 Years
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Joe Rennison | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Japan’s central bank raised interest rates for the first time since 2007 on Tuesday, pushing them above zero to close a chapter in its aggressive effort to stimulate an economy that has long struggled to grow. Negative interest rates — which central banks in some European economies have also applied — mean depositors pay to leave their money with a bank, an incentive for them to spend it instead. But Japan’s economy has recently begun to show signs of stronger growth: Inflation, after being low for years, has sped up, cemented by larger-than-usual increases in wages. Even after Tuesday’s move, interest rates in Japan are far from those in the world’s other major developed economies. The Bank of Japan’s target policy rate was raised to 0.1 percent from minus 0.1 percent.

Organizations: Bank of Japan Locations: Japan

☆ Japan economy: Avoids recession after quarterly growth data is revised up
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-10 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Tokyo Reuters —Japan’s economy expanded at an annualized clip of 0.4% in October to December from the previous quarter, better than the initial estimate for a 0.4% contraction, government data showed on Monday. The revised figure for gross domestic product (GDP) released by the Cabinet Office compared with economists’ median forecast for a 1.1% uptick in a Reuters poll. The fresh data meant Japan’s economy, now the world’s fourth-largest behind Germany, avoided a technical recession thanks to companies’ stronger-than-expected spending on plants and equipments. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP grew 0.1%, compared with the initial 0.1.% drop reading and a median forecast for a 0.3% rise. Meanwhile, private consumption, which makes up about 60% of Japan’s economy, fell 0.3% in October to December, slightly worse than the 0.2% drop in the initial estimate.

Organizations: Tokyo Reuters, Bank of Japan Locations: Tokyo, Germany, Japan

Tokyo CNN —Akira Toriyama, the Japanese manga artist who created the enormously popular and influential Dragon Ball series, died of a brain condition last week at the age of 68, his production studio said Friday. He made his debut as a cartoonist in 1978 by submitting a short story to manga fans’ magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. A Dragon Ball Z graphic seen at the NiceOne Barcelona Gaming & Digital Experiences Festival in 2019. Paco Freire/Sipa/APHis “Dragon Ball” series went on to be featured in the same magazine in 1984 and was front and center of a creative career that spanned more than four decades. “Dragon Ball was my textbook for life.

Persons: Tokyo CNN — Akira Toriyama, Toriyama, Son Goku, Dragon, “, Paco Freire, Goku, Shen Long, Yuji Horii, he’s, ”, Eiichiro Oda, Toriyama “, ” Oda, Ball Organizations: Tokyo CNN, Bird Studio, Capsule Corporation, Barcelona, Hollywood Locations: Kiyosu City, Aichi

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