TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan PM vows to continue seeking cut in Diet seats upon end of session
TOKYO - Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday renewed her commitment to policies that were agreed between her party and its junior ally when they formed a coalition last year, including a bill to reduce the number of House of Representatives seats that they gave up trying to pass during the just-ended Diet session.
"I will press ahead toward the realization" of the ruling coalition deal between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party, Takaichi told a press conference after the 158-day session ended Saturday.
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Physical AI research hub to be set up in Kumamoto in southwestern Japan
TOKYO - Major real estate firm Mitsui Fudosan Co. said Monday it will work with the southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto to set up a center to support research and development into physical AI, which uses artificial intelligence to autonomously operate machines.
The plan to build the physical AI center from 2027 onward in Koshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, comes amid expectations for market growth, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chipmaker, planning to mass-produce advanced semiconductors used for AI and other applications in the prefecture from 2028.
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Best-selling Japanese mystery author Keigo Higashino dies of cancer at 68
TOKYO - Keigo Higashino, a hugely popular Japanese author known for his numerous mystery novels including "The Devotion of Suspect X," died of bowel cancer on Thursday, his publishers said Monday. He was 68.
A native of Osaka in western Japan, Higashino started writing novels while working as an engineer at what is now auto parts maker Denso Corp. His fame spread to other Asian countries such as South Korea and China on par with Japanese author Haruki Murakami.
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Alaska sees oil resurgence as Japan, others look to U.S. state amid war
PRUDHOE BAY, Alaska - Alaska is seeing a resurgence in oil development as Japan and other nations heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil look to the northernmost U.S. state as part of efforts to diversify their energy sources.
Japan's need to secure alternative oil supplies has gained urgency during the U.S. war against Iran, after Tehran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a major waterway for global energy shipments.
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GSDF officer indicted over Chinese Embassy trespass, threats
TOKYO - A Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force officer was indicted Monday for unlawfully entering the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo with a kitchen knife and threatening staff in March, prosecutors said.
Kodai Murata, a 24-year-old second lieutenant assigned to the GSDF's Camp Ebino in Miyazaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan, underwent psychiatric evaluation for about three months before the indictment. The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office apparently concluded he could be held responsible for his actions.
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Lockheed scandal marks 50 years as Japan reflects on prosecutorial system
TOKYO - Fifty years have passed since the late former Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was arrested in the Lockheed bribery scandal, with the investigation gaining strong public backing as it confronted a powerful political figure in pursuit of the truth.
The case, however, despite being regarded as a success story, helped entrench an unhealthy "special prosecutors' supremacy" mindset that has contributed to creating a climate in which problems within the prosecution are overlooked.
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Foreign bank mulls loans to Japanese firms to construct gas plant in U.S.
TOKYO - A foreign bank is considering loans to Japanese companies for the construction of a natural gas plant in the United States, a project among those agreed under Tokyo's $550 billion investment commitment to Washington in exchange for tariff relief, Japanese Finance Ministry officials said Monday.
Japanese firms need to secure U.S. dollars to proceed with the project under Tokyo's deal struck with the United States last year involving the massive dollar-denominated pledges.
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Gov't, prefecture ordered to pay family of man acquitted of 1985 murder
FUKUOKA - A Japanese court on Monday ordered the central government and Kumamoto Prefecture to pay damages totaling 23 million yen ($141,000) to the surviving family of a man who was convicted of a 1985 murder in southwestern Japan before eventually being acquitted in a retrial.
The Fukuoka High Court said the interrogation conducted by the local police prior to Koki Miyata's arrest was illegal as it was based on preconceptions, aimed at eliciting a confession, and exceeded the limits of what was permissible for questioning on a voluntary basis.
