Kyodo News Digest: May 9, 2025

Hideki Matsui, former slugger who played for the New York Yankees and Japan’s Yomiuri Giants, poses for a photo at the Giants’ minor league ballpark in Inagi, western Tokyo, on May 7, 2025, in front of worn tatami mats he used to practice swinging on at the club’s dormitory as a young player. (Kyodo) 

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

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Japan sticks to full removal of Trump tariffs after U.S.-Britain deal

TOKYO – Japan will continue to demand the full removal of new tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, the top government negotiator said Friday, after a U.S.-Britain trade agreement left some levies in place.

Tokyo has set the full removal of “reciprocal” tariffs, an additional 25 percent levy for cars and a 25 percent duty for steel and aluminum as the condition for reaching an agreement with Washington. The government plans to hold a third round of talks in mid-May or later.

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Japan gov’t rules out consumption tax cut as inflation, tariff relief

TOKYO – Japan’s government on Friday dismissed the idea of reducing the consumption tax rate to help soften the blow from inflation and U.S. tariffs, brushing aside growing calls from the opposition and even some ruling party lawmakers for tax relief measures.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi reiterated that cutting the consumption tax, a key revenue source for debt-ridden Japan, would not be “appropriate.” His comment came as senior government officials said the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are moving to rule out a tax cut as an option.

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Gov’t urges caution over Japan pleasure flights near Senkaku Islands

TOKYO – The government on Friday urged caution after a small Japanese civilian plane was spotted near uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, around the same time a Chinese helicopter violated Japanese airspace in the vicinity last week.

While Japanese aircraft operating in the country’s airspace pose no legal issue, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said contingencies stemming from such flights should be avoided amid tensions with China over the Senkaku Islands.

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Nissan abandons plan to build EV battery plant in southwestern Japan

FUKUOKA – Nissan Motor Co. said Friday it has abandoned a plan to build an electric vehicle battery plant in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Fukuoka.

Given rising prices, “we cannot help but forgo this investment to stabilize our management,” said Teiji Hirata, Nissan executive officer, after meeting with Fukuoka Gov. Seitaro Hattori at the prefectural office.

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Panasonic to lay off 10,000 employees globally amid structural reform

OSAKA – Panasonic Holdings Corp. said Friday it will lay off 10,000 domestic and overseas employees as part of its structural reform.

The electronics maker, which has a workforce of nearly 230,000, said the job cuts will target 5,000 workers in Japan and 5,000 overseas, with some employees to be offered early retirement.

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Baseball: Ohtani could have landed 15-year deal with Dodgers: report

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani could have pursued a 15-year contract through age 44, The Associated Press reported, quoting agent Nez Balelo.

“Shohei wanted to always kind of keep the integrity of where he’s at as a player,” Balelo was quoted by the AP as saying Thursday at a conference in a suburb of Los Angeles.

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Nippon Steel expects FY 2025 net profit to sink 43% on tariff woes

TOKYO – Nippon Steel Corp. said Friday it expects its net profit for fiscal 2025 to sink 42.9 percent to 200 billion yen ($1.38 billion) as uncertainty grows over tariffs imposed by the United States.

The Japanese steelmaker, which has been facing hurdles in its plan to acquire U.S. Steel Corp., said its net profit for fiscal 2024, which ended this March, fell 36.2 percent to 350.23 billion yen as inflation dampened demand for its products and the Chinese economy slowed down.

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Japan lawmaker “corrects” controversial war memorial remarks

TOKYO – A hawkish lawmaker of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Friday he will “correct and delete” his controversial remarks that exhibits at a war memorial in Okinawa rewrote the history of one of the fiercest ground battles of World War II.

Shoji Nishida, a member of the House of Councillors, apologized to the people of Okinawa, saying his comments at a recent symposium were “extremely inappropriate.”

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