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

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Japan seeks to replace up to 5 nuclear reactors by 2040s, 14 by 2050s

TOKYO - Japan's industry ministry on Friday proposed replacing two to five aging nuclear reactors by the 2040s, and a total of 11 to 14 by the 2050s, setting such a numerical target for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry presented the targets at a ministry panel meeting, aiming to encourage investment and secure personnel in the nuclear industry.

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Parties submit bill to revise referendum law, eyeing Constitution amendment

TOKYO - Japan's ruling coalition and two opposition parties on Friday submitted a bill to revise the law on referendums for amending the Constitution, ahead of a possible first national vote to alter the supreme law.

The landslide House of Representatives election win for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in February means pro-constitutional amendment forces now have a two-thirds majority in the lower house, a key threshold for any constitutional reform.

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China's Xi to visit North Korea next week for 1st time in 7 years

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea next week at the invitation of leader Kim Jong Un, the two countries' state media said Friday, in what would be his first trip to the country since June 2019.

The two-day visit from Monday comes after Xi held talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 14 and 15 and met Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 20.

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Japan foreign reserve assets fall by record-high 5.6% after intervention

TOKYO - Japan's foreign reserve assets fell $77.11 billion, or 5.6 percent, to $1.31 trillion in May from the previous month, the Finance Ministry said Friday, marking the largest monthly decline on record, apparently due to financial authorities' intervention in the currency market to stem the yen's fall.

Earlier ministry data on currency market interventions covering the period from April 28 to May 27 showed that Japan spent a record 11.73 trillion yen ($73 billion).

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Japan real wages in April up for 4th month, longest rising streak in 5 yrs

TOKYO - Japan's real wages in April rose 1.9 percent from a year earlier, increasing for the fourth straight month in the longest positive streak since 2021, as companies offered higher pay to attract and retain talent, government data showed Friday.

Whether the uptrend will continue is under scrutiny as the Middle East conflict disrupts supplies of raw materials, hurting companies and adding inflationary pressure to retail and consumer prices. Separate data showed household spending edged down for the fifth straight month in April.

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Japan fishery exports in 2025 hits record high 423.1 billion yen

TOKYO - Japanese exports of fishery products in 2025 hit a record high 423.1 billion yen ($2.6 billion), up 17.2 percent from a year earlier, reflecting the government's push to expand consumption of Japanese seafood abroad amid declining domestic demand, a government report showed Friday.

In volume terms, exports grew 42.9 percent from the previous year to 640,000 tons, according to the White Paper on Fisheries for fiscal 2025.

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Women account for record 41.9% of Japan central government employees

TOKYO - Women accounted for a record 41.9 percent of central government employees hired on April 1, up 1.5 percentage points from the previous year, the Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs said Friday.

The hiring rate, highest since figures based on the current standard were first released in 2005, surpassed 40 percent for the second straight year. Women filled 38.2 percent of career-track positions, up 1.4 points, also hitting a record high.

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Japan electronics retailers Yamada, Edion agree to business merger

TOKYO - Japan's largest consumer electronics retailer Yamada Holdings Co. and Edion Corp., another key company in the industry, said Friday they had agreed to merge under a holding company to be established in October 2027.

The announcement was made after the two firms held board meetings earlier in the day. Their combined sales would total around 2.5 trillion yen ($15.6 billion).

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37th anniversary of Tiananmen Square crackdown