Kyodo News Digest: April 11, 2025

Carp streamers flutter in the wind over Jozankei hot spring resort in Sapporo in Hokkaido, northern Japan, on April 10, 2025, ahead of Children’s Day on May 5. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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

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Japan, U.S. ministers eye talks over Trump’s tariffs next week

TOKYO – Japan and the United States are arranging to hold ministerial-level talks next Thursday over tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, a source close to the matter said.

Ryosei Akazawa, economic revitalization minister and a close aide to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, is expected to visit the United States to discuss the issue with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who will serve as the point man for the talks with the Asian country, the source said Friday

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Japan PM to meet stateless Japanese descendants in Philippine visit

TOKYO – Japan is arranging a meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and descendants of Japanese nationals left behind in the Philippines after World War II during a planned visit to the Southeast Asian country, government sources said Friday, in a show of support for such stateless people.

Ishiba is expected to meet several of the Japanese descendants in Manila to advance support for those seeking Japanese nationality during the 80th anniversary year of the war’s end.

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Japan coalition partner hints at sales tax cut amid U.S. tariff hikes

TOKYO – The head of Japan’s junior coalition partner said Friday he does not rule out anything to support the economy, hit by rising prices and higher U.S. tariffs, with a cut in the country’s consumption tax an option.

Tetsuo Saito, chief of the Komeito party who has supported cash handouts as a “stopgap” measure to ease the pain being felt by households, also said the issuance of deficit-covering government bonds could be considered to secure such emergency funding.

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Japan to send 2nd medical team to quake-hit Myanmar on April 12

TOKYO – Japan will send its second medical team to Myanmar on Saturday to meet increasing health care needs in the Southeast Asian country after a powerful earthquake last month, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said.

Iwaya said at a press conference on Friday that in addition to the 37-member team, the government will also deliver additional humanitarian supplies such as feed water tanks and tents to schools in Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay, located near the epicenter of the March 28 magnitude 7.7 quake.

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96% of people say prices up from year ago, record high in BOJ survey

TOKYO – A record high 96.1 percent of respondents in a Bank of Japan survey released Friday answered that current prices have risen compared with a year ago, as inflation has prompted households to tighten their purse strings.

The highest figure since comparable data became available in September 2006 comes as inflation has been accelerating for years due largely to a spike in energy and raw material costs with the yen’s depreciation driving up import prices.

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Japan’s emperor, empress arrive in Osaka Pref. for World Expo opening

OSAKA – Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako arrived Friday in Osaka Prefecture ahead of this weekend’s opening of the 2025 World Exposition, in which they are scheduled to attend an opening ceremony for the six-month-long event.

The first day of the imperial couple’s two-day stay in Osaka will see them visit Yumeshima, an artificial island that serves as the venue for the expo opening Sunday, to see the Grand Ring — a vast wooden roof encircling the pavilions — as well as the Japan Pavilion and the Osaka Healthcare Pavilion.

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China to raise retaliatory tariffs on U.S. to 125% on April 12

BEIJING – China said Friday it will raise retaliatory tariffs on all U.S. goods to 125 percent starting the following day, up from the 84 percent imposed earlier this week, but added it will not respond to any further U.S. tariff hikes.

The announcement comes after U.S. President Donald Trump brought total U.S. duties on all Chinese items to 145 percent, further escalating the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

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Baseball: Torpedo bats cleared for use in games in Japan

TOKYO – Nippon Professional Baseball on Friday notified its 12 clubs that players can use so-called torpedo bats in regular-season games.

NPB’s rules committee made the decision, effective the same day, after confirming that the torpedo-shaped bats, which have taken Major League Baseball by storm this season, do not violate any rules.

Video: Carp streamers on display at hot spring resort in Sapporo