TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Official "Gundam" store opens in London, drawing long queues
LONDON - An official store selling plastic model kits from Japan's robot anime "Mobile Suit Gundam" series opened Friday in London, becoming the second "Gundam Base" outlet in Europe after Germany.
About 200 products were on display inside the shop and customers holding boxes of "Gunpla," as Gundam plastic model kits are known, formed queues to purchase them. Some waited for hours outside before the shop opened.
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Japan to link Narita, Haneda airports by new limited express train in 2030s
TOKYO - A new limited express train service directly linking Narita and Haneda airports is expected to start operating in the 2030s and should reduce the current travel time of about 90 minutes between the two, sources close to the matter said Friday.
The move aims to make it easier for inbound tourists arriving at Narita airport in Chiba Prefecture to transfer to domestic flights at Tokyo's Haneda airport and travel onward to destinations across Japan.
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Japan pledges $3 mil. to help Kazakhstan address Caspian Sea water decline
TOKYO - Japan has partnered with the U.N. Development Program to support Kazakhstan's efforts to address the decline in the Caspian Sea's water level driven by climate change, pledging a 465 million yen ($3 million) grant toward its sustainable use.
Under the initiative for the world's largest inland water body, Japan hopes to promote cooperation among littoral states on water resource management and enhance monitoring systems, the Foreign Ministry said. The decline in the Caspian Sea's water level could have an immense impact on logistics and regional ecosystems.
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Japan food delivery firms at crossroads as inflation squeezes profits
TOKYO - Japan's food delivery industry is at a crossroads as intensifying competition and rising prices squeeze profits, forcing some operators to withdraw from the market.
Driven by the convenience of being able to order meals via smartphone apps, the food delivery market expanded rapidly on the back of stay-at-home demand during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Japan weighs doubling budget for supporting anime, content industries
TOKYO - The Japanese government is considering doubling its budget for supporting content industries such as anime, games and music to around 100 billion yen ($621 million), sources close to the matter said Friday.
The government plans to secure at least 500 billion yen over the next five years to promote overseas expansion, with the funding request to be included in fiscal 2027 budget proposals to be compiled this summer.
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China warns against Japan-India economic security cooperation
BEIJING - China on Friday warned against a Japan-India agreement earlier this week to deepen cooperation on economic security, saying such collaboration "should not target any third party" or harm its interests.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a press conference that cooperation between countries should be conducive to "safeguarding peace and stability in the region," and not be used "as an excuse to (create) exclusive small groupings and stoke division and confrontation."
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2 men get 30 yrs for murder of couple whose burned bodies were dumped
TOKYO - A Japanese court on Friday sentenced two men to 30 years in prison for their role in the murder of a married couple and the damaging and abandoning of their corpses, which were found burned in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, in 2024.
The Tokyo District Court found Hikaru Sasaki, 30, and Ryoken Hirayama, 27, guilty of colluding in the murder of Ryutaro Takarajima, 55, who managed restaurants in the capital's Ueno area, and his wife Sachiko, 56. Prosecutors had sought life in prison for both men, while the defense sought 20-year prison sentences.
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Japan's defense, foreign chiefs to attend NATO summit events next week
TOKYO - Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will travel to Turkey next week to attend events held alongside the annual NATO summit.
Speaking at a news conference Friday, Koizumi said the visit reflects growing security cooperation between NATO and its Indo-Pacific partners as they face increasingly interconnected security challenges.
