Taiki Mitsumata won a David-vs-Goliath battle with Japan’s Tokyo Olympic ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, singling in the go-ahead run in the Chunichi Dragons’ 4-1 interleague win over the Orix Buffaloes on Saturday. The 30-year-old Mitsumata, who has spent the…
CORRECTED: Asia short film festival bringing new faces, tech to big screen
When this year’s Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia opens in June, audiences will have access to a wide range of films including the first Japanese movie written by an artificial intelligence bot to selected works of 13 up-and-coming Japanese director…
CORRECTION (:Film Festival: moved May 27)
In the story headlined “Asia short film festival bringing new faces, tech to big screen,” please note the following CORRECTION. Please replace 15th graf with following one due to erroneous information. Another work in the festival is a story about a su…
Basketball: Big 4th quarter carries Brex to B-League finals lead
Makoto Hiejima poured in 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter Saturday to propel Utsunomiya Brex to an 80-61 win over the Ryukyu Golden Kings in Game 1 of the B-League finals. The scoring outburst from the Japanese Olympic team guard was part of a…
Tokyo Olympics legacy venue proving a chronic headache
Although billed as an important material legacy of the Tokyo Olympics, Japan’s National Stadium has become a taxpayer burden with its future in limbo. Originally supposed to be privatized after the Olympics to reduce the cost to taxpayers, that project…
Japan mulls easing weapons export rules to prop up defense industry
Japan is considering relaxing rules for exporting defense equipment in an effort to prop up the domestic defense industry, government sources said Friday. Details of the planned revision will be included in a basic policy for economic and fiscal manage…
BOJ’s gov’t bond holdings in FY 2021 fall for 1st time under Kuroda
The Bank of Japan’s holdings of government bonds dropped in fiscal 2021 for the first time since Governor Haruhiko Kuroda took the helm as more short-term issues intended to finance the government’s pandemic responses reached maturity, though total ass…
Main events scheduled for May 30-June 5
Main events scheduled in Japan for May 30-June 5: May 30 (Mon) — Nagasaki District Court to hand down ruling over 2007 alleged sexual assault against female reporter by now-deceased Nagasaki city official. May 31 (Tues) — Unemployment rates for April…
Japan’s net external assets top 400 tril. yen in 2021 amid weaker yen
Japan’s net balance of external assets surpassed 400 trillion yen ($3.2 trillion) for the first time in 2021 as the weakness of the yen against major currencies inflated their value, making the country the world’s biggest creditor for the 31st consecut…
Toshiba nominates activist shareholders to board to mend relations
Toshiba Corp. said Thursday it has nominated two executives from overseas investment funds, its large shareholders considered activist investors, as the company aims to improve relations with such investors in pursuit of a reform plan, including a poss…