JIJI English News-時事通信英語ニュース-

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is considering retaining Koichi Hagiuda as executive acting secretary-general of her ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a planned reshuffle of the LDP's executive lineup, LDP sources said Wednesday.

The Japanese government proposed Wednesday that the aviation sector be added to a new "employment for skill development" program for foreign workers that will start in April 2027 to replace the technical intern training program.

South Korea will not send officials to Saturday's memorial service at the Sado Island Gold Mines, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, it was learned Wednesday.

Japanese regional lenders are increasingly dispatching staff to India to support clients from Japan, with nine banks having already taken such steps and at least seven more planning to follow suit.

Centrist Reform Alliance leader Junya Ogawa announced on Wednesday that the Japanese opposition party will disband after completing liquidation procedures.

Japanese manga artist Tetsuya Chiba, best known for his "Ashita no Joe" series, and others have started a crowdfunding campaign to deliver temporary housing to people displaced by a massive earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, in July.

Sake from Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, won the top prize in the Japanese rice wine category at the annual International Wine Challenge, one of the world's largest wine competitions, on Tuesday.

The Tachikawa branch of Tokyo District Court on Wednesday sentenced swimmer Tomoru Honda, who won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, to one year in prison, suspended for three years, for dangerous driving resulting in injury.

The bereaved family Wednesday remembered Junko Kobayashi, a female student at Tokyo's Sophia University killed in a high-profile unresolved case 30 years ago.

Heavy rain struck areas stretching from the Tohoku northeastern region to the Chugoku and Shikoku western regions of Japan on Wednesday morning due to the impact of a weather front and a tropical cyclone near Shikoku.