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Student volunteers from Fukushima University have launched an internet community radio program featuring Iitate, a village in Fukushima Prefecture striving to restore itself after the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as a result of the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. The program, titled Mura Radio Iitate Mura (mura means “village” in Japanese), features events held in the village and talks about residents’ everyday life and feelings. By spreading word about the realities faced by Iitate’s aging population and allowing more people to get acquainted with the village, the student volunteers hope to support its revitalization. Source link

At a time of population decline and swelling social security expenditure, it’s high time for the public to gain a deeper understanding of the country’s pension system and how it could be overhauled. This was the message former digital minister Taro Kono, 62, delivered as he welcomed members of the press and some of his fellow Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers last Thursday in the first session of a new study group scheduled to gather three more times over the next month. Attended by over a dozen reporters and approximately 15 lawmakers, the study group offered Kono an opportunity to tentatively step back into the limelight after an unusually quiet period. Source link

A research team from Kyoto University, the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and others have discovered an intestinal bacteria that helps convert excess sugar in the body to a more beneficial form and improves the intestinal environment to help prevent obesity. Researchers hope the findings, recently published in the British scientific journal Nature Communications, will contribute to developing a new treatment method for obesity and diabetes, as well as helping with prevention. Excess sugar intake — especially of sucrose, or table sugar — can lead to ailments such as obesity and diabetes. Source link

Japan’s three biggest non-life insurers sold a combined ¥1.64 trillion ($11 billion) of cross-held shares in the April-December period last year, following a push by policymakers to reduce such holdings. That total already represented almost 90% of their initially planned equity sales worth ¥1.84 trillion in the fiscal year ending March 2025. Tokio Marine Holdings unloaded ¥781 billion of those shares during the nine-month period, while MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings sold ¥536.8 billion of stocks, and Sompo Holdings cut ¥328.5 billion of shares. The insurers are facing pressure to improve their governance after they were fined by regulators in October last year for coordinating adjustments in insurance fees in advance for companies. Reducing overly cozy ties with other companies by selling off shares that they own in each other is one target, and the insurers have said they will cut those holdings over the next six to seven years. “The sale of cross-shareholdings is progressing more quickly than planned, which is positive,” said Mitsushige Akino, president of Ichiyoshi Asset Management. What’s key now is whether the insurers will be able to put their funds in businesses that will help them increase profits, he said. The companies have said they will use the proceeds from the stock sales to return profits to shareholders, as well as for mergers and acquisitions and investment in human resources. Revenue from the share sales helped all three firms boost their net income in the nine months to December. Source link

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said Ukraine and Europe will be part of any “real negotiations” to end Moscow’s war, signaling that U.S. talks with Russia this week were a chance to see how serious Russian President Vladimir Putin is about peace. America’s top diplomat played down European concerns of being cut out of the initial talks between Russia and the United States set to take place in Saudi Arabia in the coming days. In an interview with CBS, Rubio said a negotiation process had not yet begun in earnest, and if talks advanced, the Ukrainians and other Europeans would be brought into the fold. Earlier on Sunday, U.S. officials reportedly handed European officials a questionnaire asking, among other things, how many troops they could contribute to enforcing a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. Source link

Taipei – Taiwan on Sunday praised the “positive and friendly” wording about the island on the U.S. State Department’s updated website, which has removed the phrase that Washington does “not support Taiwan independence.” The United States has long been Taiwan’s most important backer, despite dropping diplomatic recognition of the self-ruled island in 1979 to establish formal relations with an ascendant China. Official language used to describe U.S.-Taiwan relations is highly sensitive and previous changes to the State Department’s fact sheet on the island have provoked an angry response from China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory. Source link

Moscow – At least 1,500 Russians came to the grave of Alexei Navalny in Moscow on Sunday, risking reprisals and braving freezing temperatures to pay their respects to the opposition leader on the first anniversary of his death in prison. Navalny — Vladimir Putin’s main opponent declared “extremist” by Russia — died on Feb. 16, 2024, in Penal Colony Number Three in Kharp, above the Arctic Circle. Hundreds were seen coming to Navalny’s grave at Borisovsky Cemetery, leaving flowers and forming a large queue by mid-afternoon. Source link

San Francisco – NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he was happy with the state of the league despite complaints about too many 3-pointers, but said Saturday that the NBA continues to study the issue. Speaking during the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities, Silver also said Dallas Mavericks fans angry over Luka Doncic being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers should have faith in club management, and that he isn’t worried about the NBA’s union deal creating more rough splits like Jimmy Butler’s move from the Miami Heat to the Golden State Warriors. The style of play in the league, however, was the main topic after four-time NBA champion Draymond Green of the Warriors called the NBA “boring” earlier on Saturday. Source link

Munich – Europe won’t have a seat at the table for Ukraine peace talks, Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy said Saturday, after Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv. Trump shocked European allies last week by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin without consulting them or Kyiv beforehand and declaring an immediate start to peace talks. Trump administration officials have also made clear in recent days that they expect European allies in NATO to take primary responsibility for the region as the U.S. now has other priorities, such as border security and countering China. Source link

Settsu, Osaka Pref. – The city of Settsu, in Osaka Prefecture, marked the 50th anniversary this fiscal year since starting to give out original-design randoseru traditional school backpacks for free to all children being enrolled in elementary schools in the city, an initiative aimed at helping ease financial burdens on households. To commemorate the milestone, the city redesigned the backpack for the first time, increasing its capacity, in the fiscal year that started in April 2024. According to the country’s association of randoseru makers, which is part of the Japan Luggage Association, prices of randoseru purchased for children who entered elementary schools in the nation in spring last year averaged ¥59,138. Source link