The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan ruling party lawmaker urges China to lift seafood import ban
BEIJING - A senior Japanese ruling party lawmaker urged China on Tuesday to lift its blanket ban on Japanese seafood imports, as the countries' ruling parties held a dialogue session for the first time since October 2018.
Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, called for "concrete results" in moving forward the bilateral relationship, strained by various issues including the ban imposed following the start of discharges into the sea of treated radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
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Japan bankruptcies top 10,000 in 2024 on labor shortage, weak yen
TOKYO - The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan exceeded 10,000 for the first time in 11 years in 2024 as businesses faced a worsening labor shortage and higher prices of imported supplies due to the yen's depreciation, a survey by a credit research company showed Tuesday.
Small and medium-sized enterprises were hit hard, with the end of special tax deferral measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic causing an additional financial burden, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
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North Korea fires short-range missiles toward Sea of Japan: South Korea
SEOUL - North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, the South Korean military said, in the second round of launches this year.
The missiles were launched at around 9:30 a.m. from the Ganggye area in the northern province of Jagang and flew around 250 kilometers before falling into the sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
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Nippon Steel rebuts Cleveland-Cliffs' U.S. Steel takeover interest
TOKYO - Nippon Steel Corp. said Tuesday it "remains the only partner" for United States Steel Corp., vowing to continue pursuing its purchase despite White House opposition and the emergence of a rival offer from U.S. steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves on Monday expressed the company's interest in acquiring U.S. Steel at a press conference in Pennsylvania. He also attacked Japan as "evil," claiming that it taught China how to dump, build overcapacity and overproduce.
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BOJ to make decision on next rate hike this month, deputy chief says
TOKYO - Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino said Tuesday that board members will discuss whether to hike interest rates at a meeting later this month, in unusually detailed remarks suggesting a policy shift may be imminent.
The decision at the two-day meeting slated to start on Jan. 23 will be based on the outlook compiled in the central bank's report on prices and the economy, Himino, a former commissioner of the Financial Services Agency, said in a speech.
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Kyoto to hike lodging tax, set maximum rate at 10,000 yen per night
KYOTO - The city government of Kyoto said Tuesday it will raise its lodging tax for people staying at hotels and other accommodations from March 2026, setting the maximum rate at a sharply higher 10,000 yen ($64) per person per night.
The new rates will range from 200 yen to 10,000 yen, compared with the current ones of between 200 yen and 1,000 yen, it said. The top rate will be the highest for fixed amounts imposed by municipalities, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
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Japan's 150-day regular Diet session to begin on Jan. 24
TOKYO - A 150-day regular session of Japan's parliament will begin on Jan. 24, the top government spokesman said Tuesday, with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba set to seek opposition support in Diet deliberations ahead of a key upper house election.
If there is no extension, the session will end on June 22, setting the stage for the House of Councillors election scheduled for around July 20.
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Novelist Lee, 2nd-generation Korean resident of Japan, dies at 89
TOKYO - Novelist Lee Hoe Sung, a second-generation Korean resident of Japan who became the first foreign recipient of the country's prestigious Akutagawa literary award, died on Jan. 5 from aspiration pneumonia, his family said. He was 89.
He was born on Karafuto, now Russia's Sakhalin Island, which was under Japanese rule from 1905 until the end of World War II. In 1947, Lee settled in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido.
Video: Coming-of-age Day in Japan
