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In a signal to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, North Korea has used a key party meeting overseen by leader Kim Jong Un to announce its “toughest” ever strategy to counter the United States, Pyongyang’s state-run media said Sunday. The reclusive nuclear-armed country held the five-day meeting of party and government officials last week to set the course for the coming year, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said in a report covering the meeting, which ended Friday. “The U.S. is the most reactionary state that regards anti-communism as its invariable state policy,” the report said, criticizing growing ties between the U.S., South Korea and Japan and claiming the partnership had “expanded into a nuclear military bloc for aggression.” Source link

Under the bright lights of Real Madrid’s iconic Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in September, 20-year-old Anrie Chase raced on to the pitch to take his position in Stuttgart’s defense as a second-half substitute. As the Japan under-23 international made his UEFA Champions League debut — against the competition’s 15-time champions, no less — it marked another milestone in Chase’s barely believable soccer journey in 2024. Just three years ago, Chase was still playing for Shoshi High School in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture; now he has played in the Bundesliga, German Cup and UEFA Champions League for Stuttgart. His career is accelerating so fast that some things simply pass Chase by. Source link

Meiji Seika Pharma, has filed a lawsuit against Kazuhiro Haraguchi, a House of Representatives member from the Constitutional Democratic Party, saying his comments on the firm’s new COVID-19 vaccine have greatly damaged its reputation. The pharmaceutical company, which manufactures a next-generation COVID-19 vaccine known as the replicon vaccine, is seeking ¥10 million in damages, according to media reports. Haraguchi’s comments that the vaccine is “akin to a biological weapon” are unfounded and cannot be tolerated, the firm said in a news conference Wednesday. “As (he is a) member of parliament, with immunity from arrest and various other privileges, I believe this situation cannot be left unaddressed any longer,” Daikichiro Kobayashi, president of Meiji Seika Pharma said. Source link

The Japanese and U.S. governments are considering locating a U.S. military unit in charge of coordination with the nation’s Self-Defense Forces in central Tokyo, it was learned Sunday. Such a location near the Defense Ministry is expected to allow both sides to smoothly draw up joint operational plans, informed sources said. The possible location for the coordination unit is the U.S. military’s Akasaka Press Center in Tokyo’s Roppongi district. The 27,000-square-meter site, which was acquired by the U.S. military shortly after World War II, includes a heliport, a housing facility for officers and a base for the Stars and Stripes military newspaper. Source link

This year might best be remembered for the conflict in the Middle East or the return of Donald Trump in the U.S., but in climate circles, in Japan and elsewhere, 2024 will go down as the latest “hottest year on record.” According to the Meteorological Agency, which released Japan’s climate summary for 2024 on Wednesday, average temperatures across the nation and surrounding seas exceeded last year’s record-breaking levels “by a significant margin.” This year’s record temperatures — and extreme weather linked to warming — hit people’s wallets and well-being hard. They highlight the growing impact of climate change in the here and now, adding urgency to addressing its primary cause — the burning of fossil fuels. The government is currently working to set new greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and the basic energy policy that will underpin them. On Tuesday, officials in a joint panel from the environment and trade ministries proposed a plan to cut emissions by 60% by 2035 and 73% by 2040, compared with 2013 levels, as part of its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. But the plan was sharply criticized by climate-conscious businesses, think tanks and environmental activists, who fear the nation’s 2035 and 2040 goals are not aligned with international ambitions to curb global warming. The plan will go through a public comment process before getting formally adopted by the Cabinet early next year. The impact of the record temperatures was most severely felt over the summer, which tied with last summer for Japan’s hottest on record, with the three months from June being 1.76 degrees Celsius hotter than the 30-year average through 2020. The scorching heat impacted every aspect of people’s lives, as documented in depth by The Japan Times’ Boiling Point series. More schools installed AC units and mist showers to offer respite from the heat, while some businesses worried about declining customer traffic offered “extreme heat” discounts to draw people back. A farmer, covers his cabbage seeds during a hot summer day in Meiwa, Gunma Prefecture, in August. A poor harvest due to extreme heat led to a spike in cabbage prices this autumn. | Reuters Unsurprisingly, the extreme temperatures took a toll on people – both mentally and physically. According to an online survey of 600 people in their 20s to 70s by Omron Healthcare conducted in August, more than 70% said extreme heat affected their health and lifestyles, such as by causing them to go out less, cut their amount of exercise or by reducing their opportunities to meet people. Some 40% of the respondents said they felt more stressed because of the heat. But summer was not the only time the nation experienced unusual temperatures, with various records being broken throughout the year. Unwelcome records In February, western Japan witnessed the hottest temperatures for the month since such records began in 1946 — 2.4 C higher than average — while eastern Japan matched its hottest February on record with temperatures 2.1 C higher than normal. On April 15, temperatures in Sapporo topped 25 C, passing the threshold at the earliest point of any year on record. In fact, Japan’s average temperature for April was the highest on record, which experts attribute to the lingering effects of the El Nino climate phenomenon and global warming. The month’s temperature was 2.76 C higher than the average year. Of course, the story doesn’t end there. A pedestrian walks under cooling mist sprays in the Ginza district of Tokyo in July. This year, the Environment Ministry issued 1,722 heatstroke alerts across Japan, a record high since the ministry started issuing them in 2020. | Bloomberg Temperatures shot up in early July, even before the official end of the rainy season. On July 8, an observation point in the city of Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, logged 39.6 C, the highest-ever temperature recorded in the city, while Fuchu, western Tokyo, saw the mercury rise to 39.2 C, also an all-time high. The extreme temperatures in Shingu and Fuchu were made at least five times more likely because of climate change, according to U.S. nonprofit research group Climate Central. On a whole, the record heat seen across the nation that month was “almost impossible” without climate change, a joint analysis by the Meteorological Agency and the education ministry found. In fact, all heat waves are now made more likely and more intense because of climate change, scientists say. The JMA report released Wednesday said Japan’s annual average temperature for 2024 is expected to be 1.64 C higher than the average, significantly surpassing 2023 and marking the highest value since record-keeping began in 1898. In fact, the past six years through 2024 are all expected to rank within the top six hottest years on record, it says. “Japan’s annual average temperature has been rising long term at a pace of 1.40 C per 100 years, with a notable increase in the frequency of high-temperature years since the 1990s,” the report says. “The progression of global warming has made such record heat more likely to occur.” Record heat is having severe health consequences for the aging country. This year, the Environment Ministry issued 1,722 heatstroke alerts across Japan, a record high since the ministry started issuing them in 2020 and a stark increase from last year’s 1,232. Such alerts are issued when the wet-bulb global temperature — a measure of heat’s impact on people based on a mix of air temperature, humidity and solar radiation — reaches 33 C or higher. The elderly are particularly susceptible to heatstroke, creating issues for the nation’s health care system. A view of Mount Fuji from a shopping street in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture. The first snowcap of 2024 on Mount Fuji was delayed about a month amid record-setting temperatures in Japan throughout much of the year. | Bloomberg Japan went on to have the warmest fall on record, delaying the peak of the autumn foliage season by more than 10 days in many regions and the first snowcap of Mount

Seoul – A Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea’s Muan International Airport crashed on arrival Sunday, veering off the runway, smashing into a barrier and bursting into flames, leaving all but two feared dead. Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from Bangkok, was attempting to land shortly after 9 a.m. at the airport in the south of the country, South Korea’s transport ministry said. Fire officials said the death toll as of around 7:30 p.m. Sunday was at least 177, while two remained missing. The Yonhap news agency earlier cited an official as saying most of the 175 passengers and six crew were presumed dead. It is the deadliest air accident involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades, according to ministry data. The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 can be seen in a video from local media skidding down the runway with no apparent landing gear before slamming into a wall in an explosion of flame and debris. Other photos showed smoke and fire engulfing parts of the plane. Two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a briefing. The fire was extinguished as of 1 p.m. local time, Lee said. “Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of (the plane) looks almost impossible to recognize,” he said. Authorities have switched from rescue to recovery operations and because of the force of the impact, are searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee added. The two crew members were being treated at the hospital with medium to severe injuries, said the head of the local public health center. Hours after the crash, mortuary vehicles were lined up to take bodies away, and authorities said a temporary morgue had been established. A life jacket hangs on fencing next to the wreckage of an aircraft that crashed after it went off the runway at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, on Sunday. | REUTERS The crash site smelled of aviation fuel and blood, according to witnesses, and workers in protective suits and masks combed the area while soldiers searched through bushes. Authorities had worked to rescue people in the tail section, an airport official said shortly after the crash. The crash is the worst by any South Korean airline since a Korean Air plane crash in Guam in 1997 that killed more than 200 people, according to transportation ministry data. Investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said. Yonhap cited airport authorities as saying a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction. The control tower issued a bird strike warning and shortly afterward the pilots declared mayday, a transport ministry official said, without specifying whether the flight said it struck any birds. About one minute after the mayday call, the aircraft made its ill-fated attempt to land, the official said. A passenger texted a relative to say a bird was stuck in the wing, the News1 agency reported. The person’s final message was, “Should I say my last words?” The passengers included two Thai nationals and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, according to the transportation ministry. The Boeing 737-800 jet, operated by Jeju Air, was manufactured in 2009, the transport ministry said. Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae apologized for the accident, bowing deeply during a televised briefing. He said the cause of the crash was still unknown, that the aircraft had no record of accidents and there were no early signs of malfunction. The airline will cooperate with investigators and make supporting the bereaved its top priority, Kim said. Firefighters try to extinguish a fire after an aircraft crashed on the runaway at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, on Sunday. | Yonhap / via REUTERS No abnormal conditions were reported when the aircraft left Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, said Kerati Kijmanawat, president of Airports of Thailand. Founded in 2005, Jeju Air is a low-cost airline that operates international routes to Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines, in addition to numerous domestic flights. Boeing said in an emailed statement, “We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and stand ready to support them. We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew.” The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment. All domestic and international flights at Muan airport had been canceled, Yonhap reported. South Korean acting President Choi Sang-mok, named interim leader of the country on Friday in an ongoing political crisis, arrived at the scene of the accident and said the government was putting all its resources into dealing with the crash. Two Thai women were on the plane, age 22 and 45, Thai government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said, adding that details were still being verified. Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra sent condolences to the families of the dead and injured in a post on X, saying she had instructed the foreign ministry to provide assistance. The ministry said in a statement it was in touch with the South Korean authorities. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed his condolences over the tragedy suffered by Japan’s neighbor. “I am deeply saddened by the painful loss of so many precious lives due to the tragic airliner accident,” he said in a statement. “On behalf of the Japanese government and people, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the victims and their bereaved families, and I pray for the speedy recovery of those who were injured.” Source link

In 2024, Shohei Ohtani did more than just live up to the hype in his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers in producing a historic individual campaign that was capped off with team success as the Dodgers won the World Series over the New York Yankees. In Paris, Japanese athletes triumphed at the Summer Olympics, backing up a record medal haul at the Tokyo Games in 2021 with its best-ever performance on foreign soil. Outside of Ohtani and the Olympics, Naoya Inoue, Onosato and Yuka Saso were among the stars to shine for Japan in a banner tear for the nation’s athletes. Shohei Ohtani and his Dodgers teammates celebrate after beating the Yankees to clinch the World Series on Oct. 30. The triumph in the first year of Ohtani’s 10-year, $700-million deal with the club capped a remarkable campaign for the Japanese star. | Imagn Images / via Reuters Brazil’s Gabriel Medina points skyward after catching a large wave during the Olympic surfing competition on July 29 in Teahupo’o on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti. Medina went on to finish third in the competition, which was best remembered for this viral image. | AFP-JIJI Americans Simone Biles (left) and Jordan Chiles (right), who would later lose her bronze medal after an appeal, bow toward Olympic floor exercise gold medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil on Aug. 5. The Games marked a triumphant return to form for Biles, but it was Andrade who got the better of her in a close battle on the floor. | USA TODAY / via Reuters Coco Yoshizawa, then 14, celebrates after her final run of the women’s street skateboarding final at the Paris Olympics on July 28. Following the team’s dominant performance at the Tokyo Games, Yoshizawa helped lead Japanese skaters to the top of the medal table in Paris. | USA Today / via Reuters Uta Abe is consoled by her coach after a shock loss against Diyora Keldiyorova in her women’s judo 52-kg bout at the the Paris Olympics on July 28. Abe, the defending Olympic champion, was heavily favored in the event. The news wasn’t all bad for the Abe family, however, as Uta’s brother Hifumi defended his title in the men’s 66 kg. | USA today / via Reuters Naoya Inoue battles Luis Nery at Tokyo Dome on May 6, the first boxing match at the Big Egg since 1990. After becoming the undisputed super bantamweight champion late last year, “The Monster” defended his titles twice in 2024 with a victory over Nery and another over TJ Doheny in September. | Jiji Kirishima (left) is shoved out of the ring by Onosato during their bout at the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament on May 16. Onosato, the sport’s breakout star of 2024, went on to win the tournament to claim his first Emperor’s Cup and put the sumo world on notice. | Jiji BayStars manager Daisuke Miura is thrown into the air by his players after the club upset the Hawks in the Japan Series to cap a Cinderella run for the third-seeded Central League squad and clinch Yokohama’s first title since 1998. | JIji Yuka Saso lines up a putt on the 10th green during the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on June 2. Saso earned her second major with the win and her first while representing Japan. Saso also won the U.S. Women’s Open in 2021 while representing the Philippines. | USA Today / via Reuters Source link

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JIJI – The number of elderly people certified as needing nursing care or assistance has increased significantly in municipalities affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake in central Japan on Jan. 1, 2024. The increase is believed to be due to a decrease in opportunities for daily exercise amid prolonged living in temporary housing because of disaster-related evacuations. Among the affected municipalities, the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, has seen the largest increase in the number of such elderly people, up 13.5% from before the massive earthquake. Source link

China Coast Guard vessels have been spotted near the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands for a record 353 days this year, the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) said Sunday, as Beijing continues to ramp up its activities near the tiny islets that it also claims. As of midnight Monday, four China Coast Guard vessels had been confirmed inside the so-called contiguous zone just outside Japan’s territorial waters around the Senkakus, the JCG said. “The circumstances in the waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands remain severe and unpredictable,” Seishiro Sakamoto, director-general of the JCG’s 11th regional headquarters, said a statement. Source link