All articles tagged with #japan
Shinnosuke Abe has resigned as manager of the Yomiuri Giants after being arrested in connection with an alleged assault on his daughter, with investigations ongoing and the team facing scrutiny.
Japan unveiled a 3 trillion yen ($19B) supplementary budget to subsidize energy costs and ease living expenses, financed by deficit-financing bonds while insisting overall bond issuance will not rise thanks to stronger tax revenues and underspending; the plan comes amid concerns about rising JGB yields and the potential rise in debt-servicing costs, and a possible consumption-tax cut on food could cut tax revenue by up to 5 trillion yen.
Toshifumi Suzuki, the Japanese businessman behind Japan’s 7-Eleven convenience-store empire and former head of Seven & I Holdings, has died at age 93.
Forza Horizon 6 delivers top-tier driving physics and authentic Japanese scenery, including Tokyo landmarks, but is hampered by an overbearing Horizon Festival and intrusive in‑car dialogue; you can mute much of it, yet the strong driving experience is repeatedly interrupted by the festival chatter and character banter.
Starting August 2026, Japan's Pokémon Company plans to require government ID authentication (My Number Card) to buy select TCG products online and to enter tournaments, using a third‑party service that scans the card's chip on a smartphone—without storing the number—in a bid to curb scalpers, a move critics call dystopian and logistically problematic.
Famitsu’s May 11–17, 2026 hardware charts in Japan crown Nintendo Switch 2 with 217,922 units sold, followed by Switch Lite (8,303) and Switch OLED (7,804); PS5 Digital Edition (6,902) and PS5 Pro (1,747) also appear, with Xbox Series X/S in single digits. Note last week’s figures cover two weeks due to Japanese holidays, so week-to-week comparisons are imperfect. On the software side, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream leads with 98,092 copies, followed by Pokemon Pokopia and Mario Kart World; other top titles include Minecraft, Animal Crossing variants, Pragmata, and Kirby Air Riders.
The Pokémon Company says it is exploring a system that would scan government-issued IDs (Japan’s My Number Card) to gate purchases of priority lottery items, certain Pokémon Centre Online products, and event registrations in Japan. The ID would be scanned via smartphones using an external service, with no ID number stored, and the plan is set to roll out in August 2026. The My Number Card isn’t mandatory, and it may take 1–2 months to receive after registration.
A 59-year-old man attacked three people with a fruit knife inside a Japanese restaurant at Shanghai’s World Financial Center around noon, injuring two Japanese nationals and a Chinese woman; police detained the suspect at the scene. The injuries are not life-threatening, and authorities say the attacker has a history of mental illness. The incident prompted a Japanese Embassy alert urging vigilance and a call for China to investigate and ensure the safety of Japanese nationals.
Two American men were arrested in Ichikawa, near Tokyo, after one climbed into the enclosure of Punch, the baby macaque whose viral fame drew crowds at Ichikawa City Zoo, while the other allegedly filmed. Zoo staff quickly detained them; authorities said access to Punch’s enclosure will be tightened with intrusion nets and more patrols, and video recording may be restricted. The incident comes as Punch’s online popularity boosted zoo attendance. The suspects face charges of forcible obstruction of business, which they deny; officials noted no abnormal animal behavior following the incident.
Two American men were arrested in Chiba, Japan after allegedly entering the Punch the Monkey enclosure at Ichikawa City Zoo; one was seen in the enclosure with a stuffed toy while the other filmed, and their outfits appeared connected to a meme-coin cryptocurrency, with both denying the charges.
Two people were arrested in Japan after an intruder broke into the enclosure of Punch the macaque at Ichikawa City Zoo near Tokyo. The zoo said no animals were harmed and announced security upgrades including expanded viewing restrictions, intrusion-prevention nets, and increased patrols as the investigation continues.
Two men were arrested after entering a zoo monkey enclosure in Ichikawa, Japan, to film a stunt; they did not approach the animals and were quickly stopped by staff. The zoo is tightening viewing restrictions and halting filming requests around the macaque enclosure, noting the incident comes amid other viral‑fueled trespasses, including a recent case in Thailand involving a pygmy hippo.
Two American men were arrested in Ichikawa, Japan after one climbed into the dry moat around a monkey exhibit at Ichikawa City Zoo while the other filmed. The incident involves Punch, a baby macaque whose viral fame has boosted zoo attendance. The suspects, 24-year-old Reid Dayson and 27-year-old Neal Duan, deny the forcible obstruction of business charge, and authorities say they did not threaten the animals; they were quickly detained after being found without IDs and giving false names.
Two American men were arrested near Tokyo after one climbed into the monkey enclosure at Ichikawa City Zoo to film a stunt involving Punch, the viral baby macaque; they face charges of forcible obstruction of business, deny the charges, and the incident coincides with a surge in visitors driven by Punch's online fame.
FT Alphaville shows China’s housing bust could trigger real-economy spillovers—weaker consumption, tighter local budgets from land sales, and potential bank stress—because housing accounts for a large share of private wealth and household debt. Using Rogoff-Yang’s dataset and city-level data, the piece compares the trajectory to Japan’s 1990s bust, suggesting a Japan-like long adjustment or a US-like shorter downturn, with much still to come.