25 September 2024

Kyodo News Digest: Sept. 25, 2024

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (L) shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of their talks in New York on Sept. 23, 2024. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.

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Spent nuclear fuel shipped to Japan’s 1st interim storage facility

TOKYO – The operator of a nuclear power plant in central Japan on Tuesday shipped spent fuel to the country’s first interim storage facility.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. sent 69 spent fuel assemblies from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture by ship. The fuel will be delivered to the interim storage facility in Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, on Thursday at the earliest.

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Japan says strongly alarmed by airspace breaches by Russia, China

TOKYO – Japan is strongly alarmed by recent airspace breaches by China and Russia and other military activities by them around the country, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said Tuesday.

Kihara’s remarks came a day after a Russian military patrol plane flew over waters in the Sea of Japan north of Hokkaido three times, prompting an Air Self-Defense Force fighter jet to fire a signal flare for the first time ever, according to the Defense Ministry.

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Japan’s 1st forced sterilization plaintiff gets 15 mil. yen settlement

SENDAI – A woman who led off a series of lawsuits demanding compensation against the state for forced sterilization surgeries under a now-defunct eugenics protection law reached a settlement Tuesday at a high court and will receive 15 million yen ($104,000) in compensation.

The decision at Sendai High Court comes more than six years after she initially filed her suit and follows a landmark Supreme Court ruling on July 3 this year proclaiming the woman, who is in her 60s, and other plaintiffs were due compensation.

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Chipmaker Kioxia drops Oct. listing plan, biggest Tokyo IPO in 2024

TOKYO – Japanese chipmaker Kioxia Holdings Corp. no longer plans to list its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October, which could have been the largest initial public offering in the Tokyo market this year, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

The chipmaker, originally created from Toshiba Corp.’s memory chip business, expects demand for its shares not to be strong enough to achieve its market capitalization goal of 1.5 trillion yen ($10.4 billion), given uncertainty over the outlook for the memory chip market.

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Japan’s child abuse cases revised down by 4,000 for FY 2022

TOKYO – The number of child abuse cases handled by child consultation centers in Japan in fiscal 2022 has been revised down to 214,843, about 4,000 fewer than initially reported, the government said Tuesday.

The figure was recounted as some local governments corrected data after including cases that were later determined as not involving abuse. Nevertheless, the overall number continues to rise despite the downward revision.

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Nippon Steel reapplies for U.S. Steel review amid Biden opposition

TOKYO – Nippon Steel Corp. has reapplied to the U.S. committee on foreign investment for a review of its planned acquisition of United States Steel Corp., sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday, with U.S. President Joe Biden reportedly preparing to block the deal.

The reapplication will prolong the committee’s review period by 90 days, possibly pushing back its decision on the deal until after the U.S. presidential election in November and complicating any move to thwart the deal for the time being.

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IOC presidential candidate Watanabe seeks to make Olympics “loved”

TOKYO – Japan’s Morinari Watanabe said Tuesday he wants to make the International Olympic Committee and Olympic Games “loved by people” as he bids to become the organization’s next president.

The 65-year-old, one of seven candidates seeking to succeed Thomas Bach, would be the first Asian IOC president if elected at its 143rd session in March in Greece.

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Sumo: Bulgarian-born wrestler Aoiyama retires, to continue as elder

TOKYO – Bulgarian-born wrestler Aoiyama, who reached a career-high ranking of sekiwake, sumo’s third-highest rank, will retire from competition, the Japan Sumo Association announced Tuesday.

A Japanese citizen since 2022, the 38-year-old will remain in the sumo world under the elder name Iwatamo and coach wrestlers at his Kasugano stable.

Video: Ex-Japan lawmaker who refused to sign off on executions as justice minister

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