Knitting makes a comeback among Japanese youth
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Kyodo News
2 hours ago
- Kyodo News
Kyodo News Digest: July 28, 2025
TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News. ---------- SDF request led to nuclear threat scenario in Japan-U.S. exercise TOKYO - The Japanese Self-Defense Forces strongly urged the U.S. military during a joint command post exercise last year to mirror any nuclear threat made by China with one of its own, government sources said Sunday. The United States ultimately complied with the request in the simulation exercise that envisioned a potential invasion of Taiwan by Beijing, raising concerns that Japan's push to invoke nuclear deterrence could exacerbate tensions between the United States and China. ---------- U.S., EU clinch trade deal setting 15% tariff on most European goods TURNBERRY, Scotland - The United States on Sunday clinched a trade agreement with the European Union, setting a 15 percent across-the-board tariff on cars and most other goods from the 27-member bloc, President Donald Trump said, calling the deal "very satisfactory to both sides." Under the agreement, the EU will buy $750 billion worth of American energy and invest an additional $600 billion in the world's largest economy, Trump said following a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. ---------- Baseball: Ichiro reflects on legendary career in Hall of Fame speech COOPERSTOWN, New York - Ichiro Suzuki, the first Japanese member of the U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame, shared his inspiration to play in the majors while thanking his family and teammates in his induction speech Sunday. The former Seattle Mariners outfielder began his speech in Cooperstown, New York, by calling himself a third-time rookie, now as a member of the hall, after being a rookie in Japan in 1992 and a major league rookie in 2001 at age 27. ---------- Nobel panel, A-bomb survivors urge youth to carry torch of peace TOKYO - The Norwegian Nobel Committee and Nihon Hidankyo, Japan's leading group of atomic bomb survivors, jointly urged younger generations at an event Sunday in Tokyo to "carry the torch" for peace by listening to the stories of survivors and keeping up the momentum for nuclear disarmament. "The nuclear taboo is under threat, and the hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) are aging. In not too many years, we will no longer have the testimonies of those who were there, those who could tell this story," said Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes. ---------- 3 suspected drones intruded on premises of Japan nuclear complex TOKYO - Three bright objects believed to be drones intruded on the premises of the Genkai nuclear power complex in southwestern Japan, the country's nuclear watchdog said Sunday, correcting its statement the previous day that drones had been spotted. The Nuclear Regulation Authority said Saturday it was informed of the incident by Kyushu Electric Power Co., the operator of the four-reactor Genkai Nuclear Power Station. ---------- U.S. brokers cease-fire after Cambodia, Thailand border clashes WASHINGTON/BANGKOK - The leaders of Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to meet immediately and work on a cease-fire following cross-border attacks, U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday after speaking with them by phone. Clashes between Thailand and Cambodia in a disputed border area have continued since Thursday, leaving several people dead including civilians. Each side has accused the other of initiating the fighting. ---------- Video: Fireworks light up summer skies over Tokyo's Sumida River
The Mainichi
4 hours ago
- The Mainichi
More Japanese consumers in Gunma Pref. turning to foreigner-owned shops for rice
An increasing number of Japanese consumers in Gunma Prefecture, which has one of the highest ratios of foreign residents per unit of population in the country, were seen turning to foreign-owned stores to buy imported rice amid high prices and shortages of the grain in early June. In the prefecture, many shops and convenience stores operated by individuals from Asia and South America offer rice from countries such as Thailand and India. Since the outbreak of a rice crisis last summer, more Japanese customers have apparently been purchasing these products. At Alh Mini Mart and Restaurant in the city of Tatebayashi, more than 10 varieties of rice from countries such as Thailand and Pakistan are sold. According to Aung Tin, a member of the Rohingya Muslim minority from Myanmar who manages the establishment, most buyers were initially foreigners from Myanmar and other countries, but the number of Japanese customers has increased since last year. California rice is also sold at this store. Not only is Japonica rice, commonly consumed by Japanese people, selling well at the store, but so is the long-grain Indica rice. The basmati variety is often used in biryani -- a dish where rice and meat are cooked with spices. Biryani is served at the restaurant attached to the store. Aung Tin shared a cooking tip, saying, "We layer cooked rice and ingredients in a commercial rice cooker and steam them. The key is to keep the rice firm when cooking." According to the Gunma Prefectural Government, as of the end of December 2024, there were 81,396 foreign residents in Gunma, accounting for 4.3% of the prefecture's population. This ratio is among the highest in Japan, alongside Tokyo and Aichi Prefecture. The increase in stores and restaurants run by Vietnamese and Nepalese people has made foreign rice more accessible. At the south exit of JR Maebashi Station, where Japanese language schools operate and students take buses to part-time jobs, the convenience store Chyandora sells jasmine rice produced in Thailand and Vietnam. While 70% of the customers are foreigners, roughly 30% are Japanese. Neupane Bhesham Raj, a Nepalese representative director, noted, "With the rise in rice prices in Japan, purchases by Japanese customers significantly increased." The Vietnamese Japonica rice is particularly popular among Japanese customers. "The taste is quite similar to Japanese rice," he said. Private imports also spiked. Beliatta Lanka Co., a wholesaler and retailer in Bando, Ibaraki Prefecture, imports rice for Chyandora. Beliatta Lanka pays a tariff of 341 yen (some $2.30) per kilogram for private imports. The company's Sri Lankan representative director stated, "The demand for foreign rice is increasing, and retail prices are also rising." (Japanese original by Tetsuya Shoji, Maebashi Bureau)
Asahi Shimbun
4 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
The ups and downs of luring rich tourists to less-known areas
Operators of overseas travel agencies catering to wealthy clients observe a craftsman working at a Kaga Yuzen workshop in Kanazawa in February. (Yoko Masuda) Japanese areas that may not be household names among international tourists are increasingly appearing on the bucket lists of rich travelers. The efforts of government and tourism agencies to bring affluent visitors to Japan's lesser-known regions appear to be paying off. Luxury tour packages are consistently filled, and the visitors have no qualms about opening up their wallets to pour money into local economies. But questions about such tourism packages are being raised by local residents, many of whom say they are not feeling the benefits of hosting wealthy foreigners. Critics say efforts to cater to rich tourists have fueled increases in land prices that have driven out residents and created imbalances in local labor markets. INTO CULTURE The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) is pitching lesser-known regions to travel agencies that curate trips to Japan for deep-pocketed clients. One such destination is Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture. At a workshop nestled in residential district of Kanazawa, six foreigners watched kimono fabric being dyed in the traditional Kaga Yuzen technique passed down for centuries in the city. The visitors were all travel agency executives who flew to Japan in February at the JNTO's invitation. Gideon Nurick, a visitor who runs a travel agency in Vancouver, said Japan's attention to hygiene has heightened its popularity among travelers in the post-pandemic era. He said he will recommend Kanazawa to his customers. The JNTO started offering such inspection tours for foreign travel agencies in 2017. Although a tour to a dyeing workshop in Kanagawa costs 50,000 yen ($345) per visitor on average, hordes of international tourists have signed up, according to the Kanazawa City Tourism Association. 'Eighty percent of visitors to our workshop are from overseas, and the rest are Japanese officials in the kimono industry,' said Hitoshi Maida, a Kaga Yuzen craftsman who guided the inspection tour. Many of the tourists, he added, snap up pricy products sold at the workshop, such as glass panels sandwiching a piece of silk kimono cloth dyed in Kaga Yuzen style for display. A large one costs up to 2 million yen. GROWTH IN RICH TOURISTS Japan saw a record 36.87 million international arrivals in 2024, who spent a record high 8.14 trillion yen during their stay. The average per person was 227,000 yen. But some forked out several times more, and these are the tourists that the JNTO's program is targeting. An affluent visitor is defined as someone who spends at least 1 million yen during the stay in Japan. According to a JNTO study in 2023, affluent visitors accounted for only 2.4 percent of all foreign tourists, but their consumption represented 19.1 percent of the total. McKinsey & Company Inc., a management consulting firm, expects tourism catering to the privileged to grow faster than other industries, citing a rise in the global population of people with $1 million in net assets. The Japanese government is focusing on bringing well-heeled tourists to local destinations to achieve its target of 15 trillion yen in tourism revenue by 2030. INFRASTRUCTURE DEMAND Big spending travelers feel discouraged from visiting areas with no five-star hotels or five-star services, according to the Japan Tourism Agency. Takehiro Okamoto, co-CEO of Tokyo-based travel agency Wondertrunk & Co., said high-quality infrastructure and services are a must for regional areas aiming to become destinations for prosperous travelers. 'No matter how charming local regions are, we cannot recommend visits to sites if the equivalent of five-star hotels and comfortable transportation are not available,' said Okamoto, whose agency arranges tailor-made tours for the super-rich via travel agents in the United States and Europe. He said its typical clients stay in exclusive hotels and travel in chauffeur-driven vehicles with a personal tour guide. They each spend about 3 million yen during their stay in Japan. Okamoto said his company's sales almost doubled in 2024 from a year earlier because of a surge in foreign tourists. The Japan Tourism Agency in 2023 and 2024 designated 14 locations as 'model' regional sites to attract affluent tourists. 'The economic benefit will be exceedingly high and contribute to the revitalization of the regional economy,' the agency said on its website. One of the model sites is the Setouchi region, which consists of seven prefectures, including Hyogo, Hiroshima and Kagawa, around the Seto Inland Sea. After the selection in 2023, Setouchi tourism officials attended the Monaco Yacht Show last year to better understand the type of tourism big spenders prefer. The officials' catchphrase now is that the rich can make a journey in the Seto Inland Sea on their large yacht. A trip on a luxury cruise ship has been popular in the region. The two-night, three-day cruise on the Guntu ship costs between 600,000 yen and 1 million yen per passenger. The cruises have been booked to capacity, according to the operator. One magnet in the region is Naoshima, a small island filled with museums and famed installations in Kagawa Prefecture. It has been called a 'modern art haven.' The number of tourists taking helicopter rides to Naoshima from Kyoto or Osaka is rising, according to local officials. At least eight upscale hotels, many of them using foreign capital, are expected to open in the region by the end of 2029, according to the Inland Sea, Setouchi Tourism Authority, a consortium of tourism companies from the seven prefectures. Among them is Mandarin Oriental in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, which is scheduled to open in 2027 with a spa and swimming pool. The room charge will start at around 80,000 yen. Another hotel with a quaint atmosphere is expected to open on Naoshima around the same time. Tourists to the Setouchi region provided 183.5 billion yen in revenue in 2024, up 45 percent from a year earlier, according to an estimate by the Inland Sea, Setouchi Tourism Authority. The figure is the highest since the organization began collecting such data in 2017. The average monthly wage in the lodging industry in the region was 250,000 yen in 2024, 23,000 yen higher than in 2018, the year before the coronavirus pandemic struck. The 2024 figure is lower than the national average of 269,000 yen for services industries. But the wage growth in the region's tourism-related sector is steeper than in other regions. A majority of locals are skeptical about whether promoting tourism will truly benefit their communities. In a 2024 questionnaire of residents in Setouchi, 44.2 percent said they felt the economic benefits of tourism, down about 4 percentage points year on year. The ratio of respondents who felt little or no economic upside from tourism stood at 55.7 percent. 'An increasing number of residents have begun to view foreign tourists, including higher spending travelers, in a negative light as they become more aware of the unfavorable aspects of overtourism that have cropped up in many parts of Japan,' said Hiroshi Sakamoto, senior managing director of the Inland Sea, Setouchi Tourism Authority. LABOR PITFALLS Yoshihiro Sataki, a professor of tourism policy at Josai International University in Chiba Prefecture, said hosting luxury accommodations in regional areas can put a strain on other sectors because job hunters will likely flock to the better-paying positions at upscale hotels. At Niseko, an internationally renowned ski resort in Hokkaido, a housekeeper at a luxury hotel could earn more than 2,000 yen an hour during high season, double the minimum wage for Hokkaido, in 2024. The trend of locals seeking jobs at high-end facilities makes it even more difficult for operators of nursing care centers and restaurants that are already suffering from chronic labor shortages. In Kyoto, construction of luxury hotels has led to soaring land prices and higher housing costs for residents. The trend has had disastrous consequences for the ancient capital. More Japanese residents moved out of Kyoto than from any other Japanese city for three straight years from 2020. The exodus included many families raising young children. Toshiya Miyazaki, chief researcher with Mitsubishi Research Institute who is well-versed in tourism policy, said focusing on big spenders can help the local economy, given their strong interest in the traditions and cultural heritage of their destinations. 'If they purchase expensive classical handicrafts of local regions that average Japanese cannot afford, it will contribute to the preservation of the traditional craft industry,' he said. But he warned against overreliance on tourism. He said while Nara Prefecture is widely seen as a heavily tourism-oriented prefecture, its tourism industry makes up less than 10 percent of the overall amount of local banks' outstanding loans. 'Relying on tourism as the largest single source of revenue is a wrong approach,' he said. 'A rise in higher-spending visitors alone will not be enough to bolster the regional economy.'
