Latest Tokyo News

Novelist Murakami hosts Japanese ghost story reading ahead of Nobel Prize announcements

Sep. 29, 2023 05:49 AM EDT

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami hosted a ghost story reading event in Tokyo amid growing attention before the announcement of this year's Nobel Prize in literature, an award he is a perennial favorite to win. Murakami said at Thursday's reading that he enjoys scary...

Stock market today: Asian shares mixed, with most regional markets closed after Wall St ticks higher

Sep. 29, 2023 01:00 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian markets were mixed on Friday, with only a few open due to public holidays across the region. U.S. futures and oil prices edged higher. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index was down 0.3% at 31,764.01. In Bangkok, the SET declined 0.5%. Australia's...

As China censors homegrown feminism, a feminist scholar from Japan is on its bestseller lists

Sep. 29, 2023 00:15 AM EDT

HONG KONG (AP) — In the last few years, China’s government has promoted increasingly conservative social values, encouraging women to focus on raising children. It has cracked down on civil society movements and made laws to drive out foreign influence. So a 75-year-old Japanese...

Chinese gymnast Zhang Boheng wins men's all-around at the Asian Games. The Paris Olympics are next

Sep. 26, 2023 08:54 AM EDT

HANGZHOU, China (AP) — Chinese gymnast Zhang Boheng won the men's all-around title Tuesday at the Asian Games, putting himself up as a name to watch at next year's Paris Olympics. Zhang missed out on competing at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but won the all-around title later in the...

Stock market today: Asian shares dip with eyes on China economy, US shutdown

Sep. 25, 2023 22:17 PM EDT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly sank Tuesday over worries about a possible U.S. government shutdown and the troubled Chinese economy. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.6% in morning trading to 32,469.85. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.5% to 7,042.50. South Korea's...

Japan's Kishida unveils the gist of a new economic package as support for his government dwindles

Sep. 25, 2023 12:11 PM EDT

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday unveiled the gist of his new economic package that focuses on wage increases and measures to soften the impact of rising prices. Support for his Cabinet has dwindled despite the latest reshuffle less than two weeks ago. ...

Opponents of a controversial Tokyo park redevelopment file a petition urging government to step in

Sep. 25, 2023 09:06 AM EDT

TOKYO (AP) — A growing movement opposing a highly controversial redevelopment of a historic Tokyo park submitted a fresh petition Monday, stepping up their campaign to get the national government to intervene and revise the plan to save more trees and avoid overdevelopment of the metropolitan...

US ambassador to Japan calls Chinese ban on Japanese seafood 'economic coercion'

Sep. 22, 2023 10:44 AM EDT

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel accused China on Friday of using “economic coercion” against Japan by banning imports of Japanese seafood in response to the release of treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean, while Chinese boats continue...

Stock market today: Asian shares mixed after interest rates-driven sell-off on Wall Street

Sep. 21, 2023 23:44 PM EDT

Asian shares were mixed on Friday after another slump on Wall Street driven by expectations that U.S. interest rates will stay high well into next year. Hong Kong and Shanghai advanced while Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney declined. U.S. futures edged higher and oil prices rose. ...

Japan TV network will acquire Totoro creator Studio Ghibli as animation studio prepares for future

Sep. 21, 2023 04:42 AM EDT

TOKYO (AP) — Studio Ghibli, the famed Japanese animation studio of Hayao Miyazaki, will become a subsidiary of Nippon Television Network Corp., both sides said Thursday. Succession worries had been a priority at Ghibli, as Miyazaki has turned 82, and producer Toshio Suzuki is 75,...