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Shiogama, Miyagi Pref. – Driven by blue carbon hopes, work is spreading in Miyagi Prefecture to bring back seagrass beds damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. “Eelgrass is a ‘cradle’ for sea life,” said a participant in such a restoration project in the prefecture’s Matsushima Bay, known as one of the country’s three most scenic spots. “Although some blades of eelgrass may die as a result of rising sea temperatures due to global warming, I hope to do everything I can do now,” he added. Source link

Health Minister Takamaro Fukuoka and Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato agreed Wednesday to reduce the official prices for nearly half of all drugs. Based on the agreement, struck as part of fiscal 2025 budget compilation talks between the finance minister and others, national medical expenses are expected to drop by ¥246.6 billion ($1.57 billion) and government expenditures by ¥64.8 billion. The drug price cuts will lower the financial burden on patients while eroding the profitability of the pharmaceutical industry. Meanwhile, the two ministers agreed to raise in stages from August 2025 the upper limit on out-of-pocket medical expenses, which is aimed at curbing the cost to patients when their medical bills swell due to hospitalization and other reasons. For people with an annual income of ¥3.7 million to ¥5.1 million, the fixed-portion of the maximum copayment is likely to increase 10% to about ¥88,000 per month. The hike in out-of-pocket expenses is intended to reduce spending from public health insurance programs and lower premium payments mainly for the working generations. Source link

Washington – Given the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, and the direct military exchanges between Israel and Iran, it seems hard to imagine any promising prospect for the Middle East in the coming year. To many observers, Donald Trump’s return to the White House only adds to the uncertainty. But while one usually should expect the worst in the Middle East, I see possibilities for some new, positive alignments to emerge. This is not to dismiss or ignore the devastating losses Palestinians have suffered in Gaza; the destruction in parts of Lebanon, including in the southern neighborhoods of Beirut; or the resolve among Israelis — and not just those on the right — never again to be as vulnerable as they were on October 7, 2023. Those who must be engaged in peacemaking are currently lacking in trust, and understandably so. But peacemaking is probably not the right objective for the coming year. Instead, the focus should be on ending ongoing conflicts and building a basis for stability and security; if done well, that will reestablish a foundation for peacemaking. Such an outcome becomes more likely if new alignments do emerge in the region. Here, perhaps counterintuitively, I have some hope. Hamas’ terror attack in 2023 — followed the next day by a barrage of rockets fired into northern Israel by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon — unleashed an Israeli military campaign that has inflicted great damage, but which has also profoundly weakened Hamas and Hezbollah. Their respective leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah, and most of their leadership cadres, are now gone. Source link

Fueled in part by the success of TV hit “Shogun,” overseas studios are hungry for quality Japanese content and local creators are adapting to meet demand. Fans of Japanese manga and anime cartoons have often criticized foreign adaptations that are unfaithful to the original material. But “Shogun,” based on the 1975 novel by Australian British writer James Clavell, broke the mold when the period drama series — mostly in Japanese and hailed for its authenticity — won 18 Emmys in September. Other recent Japanese works have also become worldwide hits. Source link

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tuesday that he will aim for a conclusion on the issue of donations from companies and other organizations to political parties by the end of March, as agreed between the ruling and opposition parties. “We need to further deepen discussions,” Ishiba told a news conference after the 27-day extraordinary Diet session ended earlier in the day. While opposition parties are pushing for a ban on such corporate donations, Ishiba reiterated his opposition to the ban. “We are proposing disclosure (of corporate donations), rather than a ban,” he said. “The important thing is to make efforts to increase transparency.” Regarding his envisaged summit with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Ishiba said it is “extremely important” for them to align their basic views on the situation in Northeast Asia to bring the Japan-U.S. alliance to a higher level. On the possibility of visiting the United States before Trump’s inauguration in January, Ishiba said, “I’ll look for an appropriate time.” The prime minister admitted that his ruling Liberal Democratic Party had failed to deepen discussions on a possible selective dual-surname system for married couples during the extraordinary session. Such a system is advocated by not only the opposition parties, but also Komeito, the LDP’s coalition partner, and the business community. “We’ll make efforts to increase the frequency and maturity (of the discussions),” he said. Elsewhere in the news conference, Ishiba said that his Cabinet plans to approve a fiscal 2025 budget bill on Friday. Source link

Seoul – A South Korean temple that claimed the ownership of a Buddha statue stolen from a Japanese temple will return the statue to the original owner next spring, it has been learned. Buseoksa Temple in the central South Korea city of Seosan plans to give the statue back to Kannonji Temple on Tsushima, an island in Nagasaki Prefecture, after holding a 100-day memorial service between March and May, a person related to the South Korean temple said. The Kanzeon Bodhisattva statue, a Nagasaki-designated cultural property, was taken away from Kannonji to South Korea by a South Korean thief ring. In October 2023, the South Korean Supreme Court affirmed the Japanese temple’s ownership, rejecting Buseoksa’s claim that it was robbed of the statue by Wako Japanese pirates in the 14th century. Since the ruling, the Japanese and South Korean governments have been taking steps to realize its return. Noting that Kannonji has already given the nod to the memorial service to pray for the repose of the statue, the informed source said Buseoksa initially examined the idea of holding the event in winter in consideration of Kannonji’s hope for an early return but has found it impossible to do so because it snows heavily around the Seosan temple. From now on, Kannonji will submit necessary documents to South Korea’s prosecutor’s office that is taking custody of the statue so Buseoksa can hold the memorial service, the source added. Source link

A collision between a Japan Coast Guard (JCG) aircraft and a Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger plane at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at the start of 2024 was caused by a series of human errors, a transport safety body said in an interim report. One key factor was that both the pilot and copilot of the JCG plane mistakenly believed they had clearance to enter the runway, it said. In the 158-page interim report compiled by the Japan Transport Safety Board and released on Wednesday, the agency also noted that the airport’s air traffic controllers failed to notice the presence of the JCG plane on the runway while the JAL plane making its descent did not spot the aircraft on the ground until just moments before the collision. Source link

Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda avoided giving any clear signal that he might raise interest rates next month by sticking to his view that the bank needs to keep monitoring risks for the economy in comments that nudged the yen down a tad. “The timing and pace of adjusting the degree of monetary accommodation will depend on developments in economic activity and prices as well as financial conditions going forward,” Ueda said in a speech at a business conference in Tokyo on Wednesday. “The bank needs to pay due attention to various risk factors at home and abroad, and to examine how these factors will affect the outlook and risks for Japan’s economic activity and prices and the likelihood of realizing the outlook,” he said. Source link

Kyiv – Russian missiles killed at least one person and damaged energy infrastructure across Ukraine, according to officials who reported a massive Christmas attack. Air raid sirens rang out over Ukraine on Wednesday morning, while the air force reported Russian Kalibr cruise missiles had been launched from the Black Sea. Ukraine faces its toughest winter of the almost three-year war as Moscow steps up its aerial bombardment and its troops advance on the front lines in the east. Source link

The average retail price of regular gasoline in Japan has exceeded ¥180 per liter for the first time in 15 months as the government started reducing subsidies, the industry ministry said Wednesday. The national average at the pump as of Monday climbed ¥4.8 from a week before to ¥180.6, posting an increase for the seventh straight week. The government on Thursday started lowering the subsidies that have been provided to oil wholesalers to curb a surge in gasoline prices. The average gasoline price rose in all 47 prefectures, with Nagano marking the highest price, at ¥190.8, the only prefecture to surpass ¥190, followed by Kochi’s ¥188.9. Iwate marked the lowest price, at ¥173.9, while Miyagi showed the steepest rise of ¥7.6. The lower subsidies also affected prices of other oil products. The average retail price of gas oil went up ¥4.9 from a week before to ¥160.3, while that of kerosene gained ¥4.5 to ¥122.3. Retail gasoline prices are expected to change in a narrow range through early January, the Institute of Energy Economics’ Oil Information Center said. But the average gasoline price is likely to start climbing again, toward ¥185, after the government cuts the subsidies further on Jan. 16. Source link