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Professional sumo’s long awaited return to the global stage took another step forward last month. On the heels of a previously announced five-day event at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall, Europe got further good news on Jan. 19 when the Japan Sumo Association revealed it was heading to Paris for the first time in over three decades. Although France isn’t one of the two dozen or so countries that has to date produced a professional sumo wrestler, the western European nation has long-standing connections with Japan’s national sport, and has played host to some of its most memorable international tour moments. Source link

Toyota has raised its annual operating profit outlook even though its income in the three months to December fell short of estimates due to a downturn in global sales and production, indicating that it sees activity picking up at a faster pace later. The world’s biggest carmaker now expects a profit of ¥4.7 trillion ($31 billion) for the fiscal year ending March, up from its previous forecast of ¥4.3 trillion, according to a statement Wednesday. Analysts are projecting, on average, ¥4.8 trillion as robust demand for gas-electric hybrids in the United States makes up for weaker sales in Japan and China. Toyota sold 10.8 million cars in 2024, a slight drop from the 11.2 million it delivered in the previous year but enough to protect its position as the world’s top carmaker, ahead of Volkswagen, for a fifth straight year. Although Tesla, China’s BYD and others are taking the lead in selling battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs), Toyota has taken a different approach by maintaining its focus on churning out gasoline and hybrid vehicles. Source link

The fires ravaging Los Angeles in recent weeks evoke images of hell. Having claimed at least 29 lives, forced close to 200,000 residents to evacuate, incinerated more than 15,000 structures and led to economic losses potentially as high as $250 billion, the wildfires rank among the most catastrophic in the United States’ history. Climate change exacerbated the disaster’s underlying causes, with recent research pointing to the climate “whiplash” effect, where hot and dry conditions follow intermittent wet periods. Southern California received unusually high rain last winter, leading to extensive vegetation growth. With 2024 being the hottest year on record and LA experiencing its second-driest period ever since May, that vegetation turned into kindling. Add to this the strong Santa Ana winds that hit during the winter instead of the fall — a factor that hasn’t been linked to climate change — and conditions were ripe for the catastrophe. Despite an increasing number of fire insurance policies not having been renewed in recent years, insured losses caused by the fires have been valued at over $30 billion. Japanese insurers alone face claims of more than ¥90 billion ($575 million), according to an industry news website. Source link

Japan remains noncommittal — at least for now — over the United States’ renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” avoiding taking sides in what has become a politically sensitive issue. Responding to questions during a Wednesday news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the government will continue to monitor related developments, but avoided confirming which name it will actually follow. “In terms of the general rule (on how to deal with disputed foreign geographic names), it could potentially affect interactions between third countries. Therefore, the government would like to refrain from commenting,” he said. Source link

Heavy snow is forecast to affect Hokkaido and the regions along the Sea of Japan coast through Sunday, the Meteorological Agency said Wednesday, due to what the agency called “the strongest cold air in several years.” The weather agency warned of blizzards, high waves and hazardous road conditions through the weekend, urging residents — particularly in areas from Hokkaido to western Japan — to avoid nonessential travel. In the 24 hours leading up to Wednesday morning, snowfall reached 99 centimeters in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture; 97 cm in the town of Honbetsu, Hokkaido; and 85 cm in the village of Shirakawa, Gifu Prefecture, according to the agency. The agency also warned of significant snowfall over the next few days. In the 24 hours through 6 a.m. Thursday, up to 100 cm of snowfall is forecast for the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions; 70 cm in Gifu and the Kinki region; 50 cm in Hokkaido, Chugoku, and northern Kyushu; 40 cm in Shikoku; and 15 cm in southern Kyushu. In the 24 hours through 6 a.m. Friday, the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions are expected to experience 70 cm of snowfall; 50 cm in Hokkaido, Gifu, and the Kinki region; 40 cm in Chugoku; and 20 cm in Shikoku and northern Kyushu, according to the agency. The extreme weather has caused major disruptions to transportation. Snow-related road closures were announced on the Kyushu Expressway, areas in Hokuriku, and the Matsuyama Expressway in Shikoku, among others. Nippon Expressway (NEXCO) advises using snow tires and having tire chains in your vehicle for safety. As of 11 a.m., All Nippon Airways canceled 27 domestic flights, affecting around 2,000 passengers to and from prefectures such as Niigata, Toyama, Tottori, and Fukuoka. Japan Airlines has canceled 13 domestic flights, affecting 513 passengers in total, such as flights to and from Niigata, Kagoshima, and the Amami archipelago. Source link

Shares of Panasonic Holdings soared 15% on its plans to overhaul personnel and trim underperforming businesses, part of a shift into high-margin areas like powering AI data centers. The Osaka-based company, whose sprawling operations include hairdryers, PCs and lithium-ion batteries used by the likes of Tesla, will restructure low-growth businesses and make changes to its employment structure, according to a statement released Tuesday. After Panasonic’s chief executive officer said that the company’s long-standing TV operations were under review, its stock climbed on Wednesday in their biggest intraday surge since February 2014. Source link

The operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant said Wednesday that it will start dismantling treated water tanks next week to clear space needed to store nuclear fuel debris to be extracted from the reactors. The step is a milestone of a sort as Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) moves ahead with a decades-long project to dismantle the entire plant, which went into meltdown after it was hit by a catastrophic tsunami in 2011. “The company will start dismantling welded water tanks on February 13, if the weather allows,” a Tepco spokesman said. Since the accident, Tepco has stored around 1.3 million tons of water — a combination of groundwater, seawater and rainwater — at the site along with water used for cooling the reactors. The water is filtered to remove various radioactive materials, but has remained inside more than 1,000 tanks that occupy much of the plant’s ground. Tepco has taken down other kinds of water tanks before, but scrapping welded tanks has been seen as a key to advancing the overall work on the plant as a whole. After removing the tanks, the utility plans to build facilities to store highly dangerous molten fuel debris to be extracted from inside the reactors. Scrapping the water tanks became possible after Tepco began releasing the stored water from the plant into the Pacific Ocean in August 2023. Japan has insisted that the water does not harm the environment, a position backed by U.N. atomic watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency. But the move has met angry reactions from China, which banned imports of Japanese seafood. Source link

Yangon, Myanmar – Myanmar’s junta failed in an attempt to auction Aung San Suu Kyi’s lakeside mansion on Wednesday, with no bids submitted for the former democracy leader’s home — the third time the sale has flopped. The two-story Yangon house, on about 0.8 hectares of land, was put up for sale with a minimum price of $140 million following a lengthy legal wrangle over the property between the Nobel laureate and her brother. Suu Kyi, who spent years under house arrest at the mansion under a former junta, has been detained since the military seized power once again in February 2021. Source link

Real wages in Japan declined for a third consecutive year in 2024 as inflation continued to outpace pay increases, which have been generous on a nominal basis in recent years. “Inflation turned out to be higher than projected mainly due to rising rice prices and stronger downward pressure on the yen,” said Saisuke Sakai, chief economist at Mizuho Research & Technologies. Inflation-adjusted pay including bonuses fell 0.2% in 2024. The nominal increase was 2.9%, while consumer-price inflation for the year came in at 3.2%. Real wages fell 2.5% in 2023 and 1.0% in 2022. In 2021, they rose 0.6%. Source link

Japanese cellist Eru Matsumoto won the award for best new age, ambient or chant album at the Grammy Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles. Alongside South African flutist Wouter Kellerman and Indian American vocalist Chandrika Tandon, Matsumoto took home the accolade for the trio’s album “Triveni.” Ryuichi Sakamoto’s “Opus” was also nominated in the same category. The album was recorded as part of a film project to capture Sakamoto’s final solo piano performance before the 2023 passing of one of Japan’s most internationally recognized musicians. This year’s win marks Matsumoto’s second Grammy. She previously won in 2022 as part of a group that received the best classical solo vocal album award for composer Danae Xanthe Vlasse’s “Mythologies.” Cellist Eru Matsumoto poses at the red carpet during the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. | Reuters Source link