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Nippon Steel remained mum on Monday after a weekend of firm indications that its proposed acquisition of United States Steel is not going to happen. The company declined to comment even after U.S. President Donald Trump hinted on Friday and then clarified on Sunday that the Japanese company would not be taking control of the U.S. steelmaker, and even after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba noted on Sunday during a television program that U.S. Steel would remain American. The last comment from Nippon Steel came on Thursday when its vice chairman, Takahiro Mori, expressed confidence in the takeover proposal. Source link

The transport ministry will support installing portable containers with restrooms and showers to michi no eki roadside rest stations across the country, starting in fiscal 2025, which begins in April, to enhance their functions for post-disaster relief. The ministry will provide municipalities and companies with interest-free loans to cover part of the costs of installation to help more michi no eki stations use such containers, which trucks can carry. A container with two restroom stalls costs about ¥30 million. Municipalities can receive state loans to cover half the cost of purchase and installation. Companies can receive loans for 25% of costs each from the central government and municipalities. There is no upper limit for such loans. The Cabinet Office will establish a system in fiscal 2025 to register portable containers as disaster response vehicles to keep track of their stock levels across the country. Municipalities and companies that receive the loans will be asked to register their containers. Portable containers installed at evacuation centers after the powerful earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula in January 2024 were used for multiple purposes, including for restrooms, baths, laundry and temporary medical offices. The ministry hopes that michi no eki containers will be used as hubs for mobile medical services or retail space in ordinary times so that they will help resolve regional problems. Source link

Ishiba won praise for his deft handling of Trump, squelching critics’ predictions that the president would walk all over the bookish Japanese leader. Source link

The outstanding balance of Japanese government debt hit a record high of ¥1.32 quadrillion ($8.67 trillion) at the end of 2024, the Finance Ministry said Monday. The combined balance of Japanese government bonds (JGBs), borrowings and financing bills swelled by ¥7.2 trillion from the end of September last year. The increase mainly reflected a massive supplementary budget compiled by the government to finance its comprehensive economic policy package late last year. Nearly half of necessary funds were covered by additional JGB issuance. Of the latest total, ordinary JGBs increased by ¥5.69 trillion to ¥1.07 quadrillion and borrowings expanded by ¥2.32 trillion to ¥46.88 trillion, while financing bills decreased by ¥2.7 trillion to ¥97.2 trillion. In its budget bill for the fiscal year from April, the government plans to issue ¥28.65 trillion of new JGBs, the lowest figure in 17 years. Still, debt servicing costs are estimated to hit a record high, reflecting the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hikes. With Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba leading a minority government, his administration may face growing pressure from both the ruling and opposition camps to spend more. Source link

Saitama – It could take at least two to three years to repair a sewer rupture found after a road collapsed in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, according to the head of a prefectural panel studying the repairs. The panel chief, Hiroaki Morita, said that such a period would be necessary if the entire sewer needs to be replaced, citing the possibility that the sewer is severely corroded inside. The road collapse, which occurred late last month, created a sinkhole into which a truck fell. Search efforts are underway for the 74-year-old driver. As possible causes of the road collapse, Morita cited corrosion in the sewer caused by sulfuric acid from sewage-derived hydrogen sulfide, and a gap in the sewer’s joints caused by the weight of vehicles on the road or an earthquake. Hydrogen sulfide could easily be generated in the sewer as its uneven internal structure causes sewage to be churned, said Morita, a professor at Nihon University who specializes in sewer engineering. The sewer has been in use since 1983. An inspection by the prefectural government in fiscal 2021 found that it did not need immediate repair. Noting that it usually takes a long time for a sewer to develop a hole, Morita said he does not believe that a huge hole appeared in the years after the inspection. “When we consider how to repair it, we need to find out why it was broken,” he said. Source link

Beijing – China’s foreign ministry said on Monday it had complained to Japan over “negative” references to China in a statement issued after a meeting between the leaders of Japan and the United States. The “stern representations” and “strong dissatisfaction” was conveyed by the Department of Asian Affairs Director-General Liu Jinsong to the Japanese Embassy in Beijing’s charge d’affaires, who explained to Liu Japan’s position and reiterated the country’s stance on its various concerns. The embassy’s statement did not elaborate on the discussions. Source link

An exhibition of various kinds of miniatures is being held at a cultural property site on the premises of Hotel Gajoen Tokyo, featuring crafts from 17 artists and collectors. “The appeal of miniatures, including the fun of seeing familiar things on a smaller scale as well as the world of elaborate technology and playful spirit, transcends time and borders with the power to captivate people,” Hotel Gajoen said. The event will run through March 9 at the historic Hyakudan Kaidan wooden building, a Tokyo Metropolitan Government-designated tangible cultural property. Hotel Gajoen, a wedding hall-hotel complex in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward, has been holding annual exhibitions of traditional hina dolls at the Hyakudan Kaidan building to celebrate Hina Matsuri (Girls’ Day) on March 3. This year’s event focuses on miniature crafts, which are showcased in the seven traditional Japanese-style rooms, alongside the antique miniature hina doll collection of Yumiko Kawauchi, a researcher of hina furnishings. “The Japanese word ‘hina’ means ‘small,’ and this year’s exhibition is themed on miniatures and a wide range of small artworks,” said Kei Yunoki, director of sales planning at Hotel Gajoen. “People imagine different things from miniatures, such as dollhouses and tiny food samples. Visitors can see a variety of artists’ imaginations,” Yunoki added. Antique miniature hina dolls and furnishings collected by Kawauchi, including a set of dolls from the late Edo Period (1603-1868), are on display in the Seisui room. “The most interesting thing is to compare the miniature hina furnishings with their real-life counterparts,” Kawauchi said. “Most of the hina furnishings are a small version of popular furnishings in the houses of daimyo feudal lords,” she added. “However, if you look closely, you will notice that there are some items that only exist in miniature,” she said. “I’m often amazed at the creativity of past artists and the efforts of people to preserve such fragile crafts for centuries, so I hope to pass on them to the next generation.” A diorama of a landscape from the animated movie “Spirited Away” | Jiji In the Sokyu room, various dioramas of cities in Japan and fictional landscapes are showcased, including a diorama of a landscape from famous animated movie “Spirited Away,” created by Japanese anime powerhouse Studio Ghibli. “One of the fun things in creating dioramas is to capture different timelines in a single work,” said Masahiro Akiyoshi, a teacher at Chiba Keizai University’s model club, which made the work. “After making the base with miniature art kits, we added a railroad and other items that appear in the movie, and this idea enabled us to portray different scenes in one work,” Akiyoshi said. “We expect visitors to take a look at the detailed reproduction of the world of the movie.” Some artworks are designed to depict the world of miniatures from different perspectives, including a work by creator Mizuki Takamatsu. “Tiny Worlds” by creator Mizuki Takamatsu | Jiji “In this work, many episodes from some 90 years of the Hyakudan Kaidan’s history are captured in a single, dense painting, including scenes of movie star Charlie Chaplin enjoying tempura, writer Osamu Dazai being inspired to write a new novel, and wedding ceremonies and class reunions of nameless people,” she said. “Visitors can see these episodes by watching people in the work, just as same as watching miniatures,” Takamatsu said. One of the highlights of the exhibition is the Summit room, which is decorated with giant flowers made of urethane or thick paper, allowing visitors to become a part of a miniature world as they enter. “I decorated the room as the start of fairy tale ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in a Japanese style,” giant-flower art designer MEGU said. In a scene from the story, Alice becomes very small on her journey to Wonderland. Decorating a historic building for the first time, she focused on creating an immersive experience for visitors by not only depicting the characters in the story through giant flowers, but also using fragrance and music, as they have entered a fairyland. A room decorated by giant-flower artist MEGU | Jiji Source link

The way Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Japan — initially beginning as a day for women to offer boxes of chocolates to men they have feelings for — is evolving with the rising prices of cocoa and changes in customs. For one, fewer people are handing out chocolates to others at work, which had been a widespread practice over the past few decades. Known as giri choko, which roughly translates as “courtesy chocolate” to differentiate it from chocolate given to someone special, female workers would gift their male co-workers and bosses with sweets as a way to express their daily gratitude in accordance with the celebration. However, fewer are feeling inclined to partake in the custom. According to a recent survey in January from major insurance company Nippon Life Insurance, only 12.5% of respondents said they plan to give anything to coworkers on Valentine’s Day. In the prepandemic era in 2020, for example, it was at 23.7%. Source link

MANILA – When masked vigilantes killed her husband at the height of the Philippines’ “war on drugs” in 2016, Liza Igcasinza admitted to the police that she was using banned substances and was forced to spend a year in rehab. “I was very frightened. The police took our mug shots as if we were criminals,” Igcasinza, now 50, told Context. She was one of thousands of Filipinos who submitted to a harsh regime of rehabilitation treatment rather than take the chance of a worse fate at a time when armed gangs were carrying out summary killings of drug users and dealers. Source link

U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive-order Sharpies have done more work lately, but his most infamous Sharpie is still the one that drew a curve at the end of a hurricane forecast cone in September of 2019. The ensuing controversy, known as Sharpiegate, was a harbinger of the fact-optional, seat-of-his-pants approach to disaster management Trump would later apply to the COVID-19 pandemic, with catastrophic results. That he has now tapped a key player in the Sharpiegate drama to run the nation’s weather service suggests Trump has learned nothing from these debacles. Trump last week nominated the scientist Neil Jacobs to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a vast organization within the Commerce Department that includes the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center. It also conducts climate research, compiling troves of data used by scientists worldwide. Source link