JIJI English News-時事通信英語ニュース-

Typhoon Bavi is forecast to make its closest approach to the Sakishima Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, southernmost Japan, from early to late morning Saturday while maintaining its severe intensity.

Four children of Sachio Senmoto, co-founder of one of the predecessors of telecommunications carrier KDDI Corp., had failed to pay taxes on lifetime gifts from their father, it was learned Thursday.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi is making arrangements to visit Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador in early August for talks with his counterparts, informed sources said Thursday.

FamilyMart Co. will open its first flagship store in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Friday, the Japanese convenience store chain said Thursday.

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

A total of 148 people, including criminal law scholars, in Japan issued a statement Thursday opposing a bill that would criminalize the act of damaging the Japanese national flag.

The municipal assembly of Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, on Thursday unanimously approved an ordinance to impose a tax on owners of vacant housing in the city.

Japan's health ministry on Thursday proposed forgoing tightening regulations on heated tobacco products to the same extent as for cigarettes, as part of a review of measures against passive smoking.

The House of Representatives' steering committee decided at a board meeting Thursday to put the government's bill to revise the Imperial House Law to a vote by the full Lower House on Friday.

An 18-year-old man has been arrested for his suspected involvement in a cyberattack on the operator of the Kaikatsu Club internet cafe chain, according to investigative sources.