Japanese snack manufacturers are trying to keep things fresh for loyal fans of their long-selling products, including through related merchandise and events.Par 時事通信社

Toshiba Corp. has fully put its turmoil behind it over the year since it went private through an acquisition led by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners Inc.Par 時事通信社

Sony Group Corp. said Thursday it will become the top shareholder in major Japanese publisher Kadokawa Corp. under a capital and business tie-up deal.Par 時事通信社

Japan's Morinari Watanabe, one of the seven candidates in the International Olympic Committee's presidential race, has pledged to stage the Summer Olympics in five cities on five continents simultaneously.Par 時事通信社

Japan's government and ruling parties are considering convening next year's ordinary session of the Diet, the country's parliament, on Jan. 24, 2025, ruling party sources said Thursday.Par 時事通信社

U.S. investment fund KKR said Thursday that it will extend its tender offer for Japanese system developer Fuji Soft Inc. until Jan. 9, 2025.Par 時事通信社

Japan's ruling coalition Thursday agreed that their fiscal 2025 tax system reform package will stipulate an income tax threshold hike from the current 1.03 million yen per year to 1.23 million yen.Par 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is considering visiting the United States as early as mid-January to hold talks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, informed sources said Thursday.Par 時事通信社

Yomiuri Shimbun group boss Tsuneo Watanabe, who died Thursday at the age of 98, wielded a tremendous influence on the baseball world beyond his roles as owner and chairman of the Yomiuri Giants, a Japanese professional baseball team affiliated with the major newspaper publisher.Par 時事通信社

Japan will ease restrictions on ride-hailing services during the 2025 World Exposition to be held in Osaka, the transport ministry said Thursday.Par 時事通信社

Nippon Steel Corp. said Thursday that it will set up a joint venture with two companies to participate in an iron ore mine development project in Labrador, eastern Canada.Par 時事通信社

The yen plunged against the dollar and other major currencies in Tokyo trading on Thursday as the Bank of Japan signaled a dovish policy stance.Par 時事通信社

Amazon Japan G.K. said Thursday that it will enter the "furusato nozei" hometown donation intermediary business.Par 時事通信社

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his South Korean counterpart, Han Duk-soo, agreed Thursday to cooperate over North Korea affairs, in their first talks, held over the phone, since South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was impeached earlier this month.Par 時事通信社

Japan's Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. accelerated preparations for negotiations including on their possible business integration after Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. approached Nissan for a capital partnership this autumn, it has been learned.Par 時事通信社

Police arrested a 43-year-old man on Thursday over a high-profile stabbing case that left a schoolgirl dead in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan.Par 時事通信社

Tsuneo Watanabe, head of Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings and editor-in-chief of the major Japanese newspaper publisher, died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital in the small hours of Thursday. He was 98.Par 時事通信社

The yen fell past 155 per dollar for the first time in about a month on Thursday after the Bank of Japan skipped an interest rate hike at a two-day policy meeting through the day.Par 時事通信社

An advisory panel to Japanese police has called for restrictions on practices by host club employees of forcing female clients into prostitution and other sex work to pay off outrageously priced tabs.Par 時事通信社

The Bank of Japan decided to keep its monetary policy unchanged at a two-day Policy Board meeting that ended Thursday.Par 時事通信社

Subaru Corp. is considering expanding vehicle production capacity at its assembly plant in Indiana, President and CEO Atsushi Osaki said Wednesday.Par 時事通信社

Volunteers dressed as Santa Claus will deliver donated books as Christmas gifts to children including those on the Noto Peninsula in central Japan, which was devastated by a powerful earthquake on New Year's day this year.Par 時事通信社

Sapporo Holdings Ltd. said Wednesday that it will promote Hiroshi Tokimatsu, executive group managing officer, to the post of president.Par 時事通信社

Two people, believed to be in their 50s, were stabbed to death in an apparent murder in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Wednesday afternoon, prefectural police said.Par 時事通信社

Japan's upcoming fiscal 2025 tax system reform package is seen including a proposed hike in the income tax threshold from the current 1.03 million yen per year to 1.23 million yen, sources said Wednesday.Par 時事通信社

Nippon Life Insurance Co. said Wednesday that Executive Vice President Satoshi Asahi, 61, will become president April 1, 2025, announcing its first change of president in seven years.Par 時事通信社

Koichi Hagiuda, former policy leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Wednesday that his office was instructed in 2004 by his party faction to keep unreported funds at the heart of a high-profile slush funds scandal.Par 時事通信社

Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Wednesday that it will promote Executive Vice President Eisaku Ito, 61, to president April 1, 2025.Par 時事通信社

West Japan Railway Co., or JR West, said Wednesday that it will introduce an automated operation system for its Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line.Par 時事通信社

Komeito head Tetsuo Saito called Wednesday for talks within the ruling coalition toward introducing a selective surname system for married couples in Japan.Par 時事通信社

Tokyo District Court on Wednesday ordered major Japanese event company Cerespo Co. to pay a fine of 280 million yen for violating the antimonopoly law by rigging bids linked to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021.Par 時事通信社

The cumulative number of foreign visitors to Japan in January-November is estimated to have totaled 33,379,900, already exceeding the previous annual record high of 31.88 million in 2019, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday.Par 時事通信社

Members of Nihon Hidankyo, a group of hibakusha atomic bomb survivors, made a visit Wednesday to a cenotaph for deceased victims in Hiroshima to mark its receipt of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.Par 時事通信社

Japan's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by former House of Representatives lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto, 53, against his guilty sentence in a high-profile corruption case linked to a casino-featuring integrated resort, or IR, project.Par 時事通信社

Osaka High Court ruled Wednesday that the Japanese government is not liable to pay compensation for evacuations following the March 2011 accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s tsunami-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.Par 時事通信社

Financial assets held by households in Japan stood at 2,179 trillion yen as of the end of September, falling from a record high marked three months before in their first decline in eight quarters, the Bank of Japan said Wednesday.Par 時事通信社

Japan logged a customs-cleared trade deficit of 117.6 billion yen in November, down sharply from the year-before deficit of 813.9 billion yen, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report Wednesday.Par 時事通信社

The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday adopted by consensus a resolution condemning North Korea's human rights abuses and demanding the immediate return of Japanese and other abductees in the reclusive country.Par 時事通信社

Japanese startup Space One Co. failed in the second launch of its satellite-carrying Kairos small rocket on Wednesday, following the failed first launch in March this year.Par 時事通信社

Shares of Japanese chipmaker Kioxia Holdings Corp. fetched an initial price of 1,440 yen at their stock market debut on Wednesday, lower than the initial public offering price of 1,455 yen.Par 時事通信社

Another Japanese national has been detained in Belarus, officials at the Japanese Embassy in Belarus said Tuesday.Par 時事通信社

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. are considering setting up a holding company to merge their operations, people familiar with their talks said Wednesday.Par 時事通信社

Japan's Honda Motor Co. released the next-generation version of its hybrid vehicle drive system e:HEV on Wednesday.Par 時事通信社

Danish authorities Tuesday decided not to extradite Paul Watson, 74, founder of antiwhaling group Sea Shepherd, despite an extradition request from Japan.Par 時事通信社

Japan is accelerating arrangements for an early visit by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the United States after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has shown eagerness to meet with him.Par 時事通信社

Ukraine's presidential adviser for sanctions policy, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, expressed concerns Tuesday over the use of Japan-made parts in weapons made in Russia.Par 時事通信社

Japan's opposition Democratic Party for the People broke off talks Tuesday with the ruling coalition over raising the nontaxable income ceiling from the current 1.03 million yen, called the "annual income barrier."Par 時事通信社

Nippon Life Insurance Co. plans to appoint Executive Vice President Satoshi Asahi, 61, as its new president April 1, 2025, it was learned Tuesday.Par 時事通信社

The commander of the French navy in the Pacific region expressed willingness Tuesday to boost cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region with partner nations such as Japan.Par 時事通信社

China is expanding its influence over Global South developing and emerging countries using its economic clout, based on rising discontent with the international order led by the West, a Japanese government think tank said Tuesday.Par 時事通信社