JIJI English News-時事通信英語ニュース-

The death toll from heavy snow across Japan since Jan. 21 has reached 46, with local authorities urging caution against accidents during snow removal work.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday that it will begin sales of its first locally produced electric vehicle in the United States.

The dollar briefly dived below 153 yen in Asian trading on Wednesday amid wariness over possible yen-buying intervention by Japanese authorities.

Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor Corp., has been named a 2026 inductee to the U.S. Automotive Hall of Fame.

Junya Ogawa and Takeshi Shina, former members of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, expressed their intentions on Wednesday to run in a leadership election of the Centrist Reform Alliance, which was formed by the CDP and Komeito last month.

Sara Takanashi held back her tears. But when she saw her teammates' smiles, she couldn't contain her emotions.

Japan won the bronze medal in the ski jumping mixed team event at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Tuesday, earning its first Olympic medal in the event.

The Japanese ruling bloc's landslide victory in Sunday's general election, which cemented Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's grip on power, may impact the Bank of Japan's monetary policy steering.

After leading her ruling Liberal Democratic Party's historic victory in Sunday's House of Representatives election, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi began full-scale preparations Tuesday for realizing signature policies.

Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday that its group net profit in April-December last year fell 42.2pctfrom a year before to 465,437 million yen.

Japanese households' spending increased at a slower pace than income over the past five years, a report by the Cabinet Office showed Tuesday, indicating that people saved more amid inflation.

Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi will visit Germany from Friday to attend the Munich Security Conference.

Four Chinese coast guard ships entered Japan's territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa on Tuesday.

Japan's transport ministry has completed notifications suspending a total of 3,333 delivery minivehicles at 1,862 post offices operated by Japan Post Co. over improper driver roll calls, including alcohol and health checks, transport minister Yasushi Kaneko said Tuesday.

Japanese industry minister Ryosei Akazawa said Tuesday that he will visit the United States for four days from Wednesday to discuss Japanese investments in and loans to the United States as part of the two countries' tariff deal.

Bereaved relatives, students, teachers and others gathered Tuesday to mark 25 years since an incident in which a Japanese fisheries high school training vessel was struck by a U.S. nuclear submarine off Hawaii in 2001, leaving nine people dead.

The Diet, Japan's parliament, will hold a special session from Feb. 18 through July 17, Hiroshi Kajiyama, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Diet affairs chief, said Tuesday.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average rewrote its all-time closing high for the second straight day on Tuesday, as buying momentum continued after Sunday's general election.

Japan's Justice Ministry has decided that there is no need to further toughen punishment for the crime of insults or to newly impose penalties for libel conducted via direct messages on social media.

Prudential Life Insurance Co. said Tuesday that it has set up a third-party committee to investigate widespread fraud by its employees targeting customers.

Japanese Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said Tuesday that his ministry will set up a panel of experts to consider introducing punishments on paying for sex.

The number of social media posts referring to national security and constitution revisions rocketed toward the end of the official campaign period for Sunday's election for the House of Representatives, Jiji Press analysis has shown.

Japanese snowboarder Kokomo Murase won the gold medal in the women's big air event at the Milan-Cortina Olympics on Monday, becoming the first Japanese to earn women's snowboarding gold.

Despite the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's overwhelming victory in Sunday's House of Representatives election, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration is expected to face challenges in managing economic and fiscal policies.

A group of lawyers filed a lawsuit Monday to nullify the results of Sunday's House of Representatives election for all of the 289 single-seat constituencies, claiming that the election was unconstitutional in terms of vote-value disparities.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party won every single-seat constituency in 31 of Japan's 47 prefectures in Sunday's House of Representatives election.

Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp. said Monday that it will stop shipping all Blu-ray Disc recorders starting in February, as the market for such products is shrinking amid the popularity of online video distribution services.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Monday that she aims to build a consensus among political parties on a consumption tax cut by this summer.

The average age of people who won seats in Sunday's election for Japan's House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of parliament, was 54.7 years old, a bit younger than 55.6 in the previous Lower House election in 2024.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Monday it restarted the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture the same day after a series of control rod-related problems, aiming to bring it back into commercial operation on March 18.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average soared to another all-time closing high on Monday, following the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's sweeping victory in Sunday's House of Representatives election.

The two co-leaders of the Centrist Reform Alliance announced their resignations on Monday, following the major opposition party's crushing defeat in Japan's general election on Sunday.

Sixty-eight women were elected to Japan's House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, in Sunday's vote, the second highest figure.

Japan's inflation-adjusted real wages in 2025 fell 1.3pctfrom the previous year, down for the fourth consecutive year, due to price increases for food and other items outpacing wage hikes, the labor ministry said in a preliminary report Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on her ruling Liberal Democratic Party's landslide victory in Sunday's House of Representatives election.

Japan's current account surplus in 2025 rose 11.1pctfrom the previous year to a record 31,879.9 billion yen, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report Monday.

Japan won the silver medal in the figure skating team event at the Milan-Cortina Olympics on Sunday, as it did at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Japan's business community welcomes the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's landslide victory in Sunday's House of Representatives election to regain a single-party majority in the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament.

Members of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party expressed relief that voters entrusted Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration with a mandate, as the party won more than 300 seats in Sunday's election for the 465-seat House of Representatives.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has said she will ask the United States to participate in the deep-sea mining of rare earths near Minamitorishima, a remote island in the Pacific, during a Japan-U.S. summit slated for next month.