TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan refiners ask gov't to allow foreign tankers to help with oil release
TOKYO - Japan's oil refiners have asked the government to allow foreign-flagged tankers to help transport crude oil during a planned release from state-held reserves, amid the worsening situation in Iran, sources close to the matter said Tuesday.
The request comes amid concerns that Japanese-flagged vessels will not have the capacity to promptly transport all the oil from storage bases to refineries, as the volume to be released will be the largest ever, the sources said.
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Trump says his China trip needs to be delayed by 1 month due to Iran war
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he wants to delay his highly anticipated visit to Beijing for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping by "a month or so" due to the ongoing war with Iran.
"We're working on that right now," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "I'd love to (go to China), but because of the war, I want to be here. I have to be here."
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Japan land prices up for 5th straight year amid modest economic recovery
TOKYO - The average price of land in Japan climbed for the fifth consecutive year amid a modest economic recovery, government data showed Tuesday.
The nationwide average of land prices in all categories logged a 2.8 percent increase from a year earlier as of Jan. 1, the sharpest rise since the burst of Japan's asset price bubble in the early 1990s, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Average prices for both residential-use land and commercial-use land rose.
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Japan oil company Idemitsu to invest $500 mil. into British LNG firm
TOKYO - Major Japanese oil company Idemitsu Kosan Co. said Tuesday it will invest $500 million in MidOcean Energy, a liquefied natural gas firm headquartered in Britain and managed by U.S.-based investor EIG, to secure a stable energy supply.
The move, Idemitsu's first full-scale foray into LNG, comes amid growing concerns over disruptions to energy supply chains as tensions rise in the Middle East. The companies plan to finalize the contract by the end of the month.
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Nissan to cut output by 1,200 units as shipments to Middle East delayed
TOKYO - A subsidiary of Nissan Motor Co. will reduce production this month as shipments to the Middle East have been delayed due to heightened tensions in the region, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
To secure storage space for its Middle East-bound vehicles, production of automobiles for other regions will be cut by roughly 1,200 units at Nissan Motor Kyushu Co.'s plant in the southwestern prefecture of Fukuoka.
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Japan measles cases since Jan. hit 100, far above last year
TOKYO - Japan has reported 100 measles cases since January, far exceeding 22 in the same period last year, a national health research body said Tuesday, after medical institutions across the nation confirmed 17 patients between March 2 and 8.
Tokyo reported the largest number of cases since January, with 19, followed by Aichi Prefecture with 18, and Kanagawa and Niigata prefectures with 10 each, the Japan Institute for Health Security said.
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Mori, historian and A-bomb survivor who met Obama in Hiroshima, dies at 88
HIROSHIMA - Shigeaki Mori, a historian and an atomic bomb survivor who met Barack Obama in 2016 during the then U.S. president's visit to Hiroshima, died at the weekend at a hospital in the Japanese city, his family said Tuesday. He was 88.
Mori was known for his decades-long efforts in investigating and identifying 12 American prisoners-of-war who were killed in the U.S. atomic bombing that devastated Hiroshima in the closing stages of World War II. He himself had survived the blast at age 8.
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Beijing film festival to skip Japan week amid strained bilateral ties
BEIJING - The annual Beijing International Film Festival scheduled for April this year will skip a program featuring Japanese movies, organizers said Tuesday, as bilateral ties remain strained following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks on a Taiwan contingency.
The Japan week had been held as part of the Beijing event and the Shanghai International Film Festival almost every year since 2006. In Japan, the Tokyo International Film Festival has featured Chinese movies in its China week.
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