Tokyo, 5 June, /AJMEDIA/
Campaigning for Japan upper house poll to begin June 22: LDP exec
TOKYO – The official campaign period for Japan’s House of Councillors election will start on June 22, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi said Saturday.
“There is no doubt the campaign period will start on June 22,” Motegi said at a meeting held in Yamanashi Prefecture, adding to growing expectations the upper house election will be held July 10 if the current parliamentary session ends on June 15 as scheduled.
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Kishida eyes attending NATO summit in late June, 1st time for Japan
TOKYO – Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is planning to attend a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization slated for late June in Spain, which would make him the first Japanese leader to take part in a gathering of the Western alliance, government sources said Saturday.
Kishida’s attendance at the June 29 to 30 event in Madrid is dependent on the domestic political situation leading up to a House of Councillors election likely to be held July 10, the sources said.
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740,000 Moderna doses scrapped due to expiration in 27 Japan cities
TOKYO – About 740,000 COVID-19 booster vaccine doses made by Moderna Inc. have been discarded or are expected to be discarded in 27 major cities in Japan due to expiration, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday, as the country has struggled to offer more third shots to people.
The survey, conducted from May 17 to Thursday, asked 52 major cities in Japan whether they have scrapped or plan to scrap government-provided Moderna booster doses, many of which have an expiration date between April and June.
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Tennis: Kunieda lifts 8th French Open wheelchair singles title
PARIS – Japan’s Shingo Kunieda won his eighth French Open men’s wheelchair singles final, and his first in four years, on Saturday.
The 38-year-old second seed defeated third-seeded Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina, his men’s doubles partner, 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 to add to his long list of career accomplishments including three Paralympic gold medals.
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Hong Kong marks Tiananmen anniv. as China tightens grip
HONG KONG – Hong Kong marked on Saturday the 33rd anniversary of the military crackdown on a pro-democracy movement in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square quietly amid heightened security, as China further tightens its grip on the city under its national security law.
This year’s commemoration of the 1989 bloody event comes after the disbandment last year of a prominent pro-democracy group in Hong Kong that had been organizing a yearly vigil on the crackdown.
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Baseball: Murakami blasts CL-leading Swallows past Lions
TOKYO – Munetaka Murakami scored two runs and brought the Central League-leading Yakult Swallows from behind with a two-run home run in a 3-2 interleague win over the Seibu Lions on Saturday.
Before a crowd of 29,538 at historic Jingu Stadium, Murakami capped Yakult’s comeback with his 16th home run, off reliever Keisuke Honda (1-1), as the Swallows overcame a two-run deficit. The win kept the Swallows three games ahead of the Yomiuri Giants, 2-1 winners over the Lotte Marines.
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1 dead, 8 injured after bullet train derails in China: Xinhua
BEIJING – A train driver died and eight other people were injured after a bullet train derailed on Saturday morning in China’s southwest province of Guizhou, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The bullet train was hit by mud and debris from a landslide as it was about to arrive at a station in Guizhou, Xinhua reported, citing China State Railway Group Co.
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Japan’s Horie, 83, becomes oldest to sail nonstop solo across Pacific
KOBE – Japanese ocean adventurer Kenichi Horie on Saturday became the world’s oldest person to make a solo, nonstop 8,500-kilometer voyage across the Pacific on a yacht.
Horie, 83, reached the Kii Channel, which separates Wakayama and Tokushima prefectures in western Japan, on the Suntory Mermaid III, his 6-meter-long, one-ton boat, at 2:39 a.m., after setting sail from San Francisco, California, on March 27.
