Tokyo, 8 February, /AJMEDIA/
U.S. says agreed with Japan to resolve Trump-era steel tariffs issue
WASHINGTON – The United States said Monday it has agreed with Japan to resolve a trade irritant over steel tariffs imposed during the previous administration under Donald Trump, granting relief from the extra duties to a certain amount of imports.
Although Japan was seeking the removal of the tariffs, which have been in place since 2018, the administration of President Joe Biden has only agreed to an introduction of a tariff-rate quota in an apparent effort to protect the American steel industry.
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Japan’s household spending in December down 0.2% on year
TOKYO – Japan’s household spending in December fell a real 0.2 percent from a year earlier, declining for the fifth consecutive month, the government said Tuesday.
Average spending by households of two or more people stood at 317,206 yen ($2,700), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.
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Olympics: Japan 4th as disqualifications mar ski jumping mixed event
ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Japan missed a medal as a spate of disqualifications spoiled the ski jumping mixed team event on its Olympic debut at the Beijing Games on Monday.
Slovenia won gold and was joined by silver medalists the Russian Olympic Committee and bronze-winning Canada on the podium. Japan finished fourth at Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Centre.
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Shionogi may apply for oral COVID pill approval next week in Japan
TOKYO – Japanese pharmaceutical firm Shionogi & Co. said Monday it is looking to apply for approval of its oral COVID-19 drug as early as next week after mid-phase clinical trials showed it was effective in reducing the coronavirus in the body.
The results of “Phase 2a” clinical trials of the drug known as S-217622 are “extremely good,” Shionogi President Isao Teshirogi said during a press conference. If approved, it would be the first such pill developed by a Japanese drugmaker.
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Olympics: Miho Takagi takes silver as Wust defends 1,500 title
BEIJING – Japan team captain Miho Takagi took silver in the women’s 1,500 meters speed skating Monday at the Beijing Winter Games, finishing behind back-to-back champion and new Olympic record holder Ireen Wust of the Netherlands.
Skating in the third-last pair, Wust laid down a marker for race favorite Takagi by crossing in 1 minute, 53.28 seconds, shaving 0.23 seconds off the old Olympic mark set by her countrywoman Jorien ter Mors in 2014.
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Japan looks to boost daily booster shots to 1 mil. doses within Feb.
TOKYO – Japan aims to speed up its inoculation drive to administer 1 million booster shots per day in the latter half of February, in order to stem a new wave of infections spurred by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday.
New cases exceeded 100,000 a day nationwide for the first time last week, but only 5.9 percent of Japan’s population of 125 million or about 7.47 million people have received a third shot since the beginning of December as of Monday, according to the government.
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China criticized by U.S. media for politically using Beijing Olympics
BEIJING – China has been lambasted by U.S. media for politically using the Beijing Winter Olympics, as the Communist-led government tapped an Uyghur cross-country skier from the far-western Xinjiang region as one of the final torchbearers at Friday’s opening ceremony.
On the occasion of the Beijing Games, President Xi Jinping has also held talks with around 20 political leaders from other nations in an apparent attempt to minimize the negative impact of a “diplomatic boycott” and bolster his clout at home.
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Tennis pro Peng spotted in figure skating crowd at Beijing Olympics
BEIJING – Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai was spotted in the crowd at the Beijing Olympics figure skating venue on Monday following her recent weeks-long disappearance from public view after she made sexual assault allegations against a powerful government official.
A Kyodo News photographer captured images of Peng walking in the grandstands at the Capital Indoor Stadium, where the team figure skating event was being contested.
