TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Hiroshima urges leaders to abolish nuclear weapons on 81st A-bomb anniv.
HIROSHIMA - Hiroshima on Thursday urged world leaders to abolish nuclear weapons amid rising global tensions, as the city marked the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing, lamenting that they continue to be used by major powers as "tools of intimidation" in military conflicts.
"Downplaying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and accepting the use of force to pursue one's own prosperity risk cycles of violent retaliation that could ultimately result in another Hiroshima or Nagasaki," Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said in the Peace Declaration read during the annual memorial ceremony.
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Claims of manmade quake spread online after southwestern Japan disaster
TOKYO - Claims that the recent magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck southwestern Japan was manmade have been spreading online, with experts dismissing the theory as unrealistic in technological, financial and practical terms.
On July 28, the day the deadly earthquake hit Kumamoto Prefecture, a user on X who has previously shared false claims about earthquakes wrote that the "seismic wave is of an explosion, not a quake" in a post that has had around 3 million views as of Wednesday.
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Video of Japan PM's quake-hit area visit set to music draws criticism
TOKYO - Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has come under online criticism after a music-backed video of her visit to an area of southwestern Japan hit by a deadly earthquake was labeled a "PR piece" by some social media users.
The video, set to piano music and recapping Takaichi's Monday visit to Kumamoto Prefecture, where a magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck on July 28, shows her flying over disaster-hit areas in a helicopter, meeting residents and inspecting an evacuation center.
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NHK says employee sexually assaulted by program cast member
TOKYO - Japan's public broadcaster NHK said Wednesday that one of its employees was sexually assaulted by a cast member on one of its programs.
The broadcaster said the employee, whose health deteriorated following the incident, took a leave of absence and requested a transfer to a different workplace. The transfer request was denied and was not approved until about three years later.
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Honda's net profit for April-June up twofold to record high on weak yen
TOKYO - Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday its net profit for the April-June quarter more than doubled from a year earlier to a record 450.92 billion yen ($2.86 billion), supported by robust demand in North America and a weaker yen.
The Japanese automaker did not include losses related to its review of its electric vehicle business, under which it halted development of EV models and scrapped plans to build an EV factory overseas in response to weakening demand.
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Rakuten to develop AI store managers for online shopping platform
TOKYO - Rakuten Group Inc. said Tuesday it will develop "artificial intelligence store managers" for its e-commerce platform that will explain products and help shoppers around the clock.
The avatar store managers will use AI that learns from data held by individual merchants on the Rakuten Ichiba platform to answer inquiries from shoppers, Rakuten said, aiming to roll out a prototype by the end of this year.
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Unauthorized access may have leaked 6,000 contacts at Kyodo News
TOKYO - Kyodo News said Wednesday that contact information for about 6,000 employees, member media organizations and business partners may have been leaked following unauthorized access.
The Japanese news agency said it has found no impact on its own systems or operations, or on those of its member organizations.
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Football: New J.League era looms as Hiroshima chase Kashima, Kobe
TOKYO - The J.League will kick off a new era Friday with its first August start to the season, bringing Japanese football into line with the top European leagues.
Among the 20 top-tier J1 sides, Sanfrecce Hiroshima enjoyed a productive summer of transfers to put pressure on Kashima Antlers and Vissel Kobe, the finalists for the one-off 100 Year Vision League, staged in the first half of 2026 to fill the calendar ahead of the transition.
