Kyodo News Digest: Feb. 19, 2025
Members of the Hokkaido Bank curling team play against Fortius during the women’s final at the Japanese national championships in Yokohama on Feb. 9, 2025. (Kyodo)
The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Jan. foreign visitors to Japan surge 40% to monthly record 3.78 mil.
TOKYO – The number of foreign visitors to Japan in January surged 40.6 percent from a year earlier to a record 3.78 million, as travelers from China more than doubled in part due to the Lunar New Year holiday, government data showed Wednesday.
The sharpest rise in six months was also driven by a strong increase in travelers from Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as more visitors from Australia and the United States for snow sports, the Japan National Tourism Organization said.
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Trump floats 25% tariffs on imported cars, chips, drugs
WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he plans to impose tariffs of around 25 percent on imported automobiles, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, in yet another sign of his protectionist and transactional approach to global trade.
Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida during a press conference, which was televised live, he will probably announce a higher car tariff rate on April 2 “in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” up from the current 2.5 percent.
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Man given 10 years for pipe bomb attack on former PM Kishida
WAKAYAMA, Japan – A Japanese court sentenced a man to 10 years in prison on Wednesday for the attempted murder in 2023 of then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a pipe bomb attack at an election event.
The Wakayama District Court ruled Ryuji Kimura, 25, intended to kill Kishida and others when he hurled a homemade explosive device at the prime minister as he approached a crowd to give a stump speech in the western Japan city of Wakayama on April 15, 2023.
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Japan keeps economic recovery view, warns of Trump’s trade policies
TOKYO – The government on Wednesday maintained its view that the Japanese economy is recovering moderately in its latest monthly report, noting that consumer spending has yet to fully pick up and that a U.S. tariff plan threatens to slow export growth.
In its economic report for February, the Cabinet Office said the economy is “recovering at a moderate pace, although it remains pausing in part,” using the same expression for its overall assessment for the seventh consecutive month.
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Japan reports 2.8 tril. yen trade deficit in Jan. amid weaker yen
TOKYO – Japan logged a 2.76 trillion yen ($18.2 billion) trade deficit in January, weighed down by increased imports of electronics, while a weaker yen also pushed up prices, government data showed Wednesday.
The trade balance returned to the red for the first time in two months. The deficit was 56.2 percent bigger than a year earlier, but it was still smaller than the record 3.54 trillion yen posted by the country in January 2023, the Finance Ministry said.
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Killer of Japan boy in China’s Shenzhen did not appeal death sentence
GUANGZHOU, China – The man convicted of fatally stabbing a 10-year-old Japanese boy in Shenzhen, southern China, last September has not appealed the death sentence handed down by a court in late January, the Japanese Consulate General in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province that also includes Shenzhen, said Wednesday.
The consulate said it was notified by the city government of Shenzhen about the case. Despite the decision by Zhong Changchun, an upper court will review the case as it led to a death sentence and the punishment will be finalized with the approval of the supreme court, according to the consulate.
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Japan asks Taliban to respect human rights during talks in Tokyo
TOKYO/ISLAMABAD – Japan has urged the Taliban to respect human rights as the two sides met in Tokyo, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, during the first known visit to the country by members of the hard-line Islamist group since its takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
Toshihide Ando, head of the ministry’s Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau, held an informal “exchange of views” in the capital on Tuesday with senior Taliban members including Latif Nazari, deputy minister of economy, according to the ministry.
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Rugby: Visiting Japan to face Ireland, Wales, Georgia in November
TOKYO – Japan will face Ireland, Wales and Georgia during their European test tour in November, the Japan Rugby Football Union said Wednesday.
The Brave Blossoms, currently ranked 13th in the world, will take on second-ranked Ireland in Dublin on Nov. 8 and 12th-ranked Wales in Cardiff on Nov. 15 before traveling to face No. 11 Georgia a week later.
Video: Japanese government’s rice stockpile
