Tokyo, 18 December, /AJMEDIA/
Japan gov’t to revise accord with BOJ to make price target flexible
TOKYO – The Japanese government is set to revise a decade-old accord with the Bank of Japan that states the central bank will aim to achieve its 2 percent inflation target “at the earliest possible time,” government sources said Saturday.
In the first review since the joint agreement was made in 2013, the government will consider making the price goal more flexible, the sources said. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to work out details with the next BOJ governor, who will succeed Haruhiko Kuroda in April.
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Japan New Year domestic trips forecast at 72% of pre-pandemic levels
TOKYO – The number of holidaymakers in Japan making domestic trips during the New Year vacation period is expected to rise by 3 million from a year earlier but remain at 71.8 percent of pre-pandemic levels, or 21 million people, according to travel agency projections released this month.
Major Japanese travel agency JTB Corp. partially attributed the expected increase from the 2021/2022 holiday period to people having a lower psychological barrier to travel during the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. hails Japan’s new security strategy as “bold and historic”
WASHINGTON – The U.S. government on Friday hailed Japan’s new security strategy as a “bold and historic” step to help maintain peace in the Indo-Pacific, with the key Asian ally forging ahead with its biggest defense buildup plans since World War II amid China’s rise and North Korean threats.
In a major shift in its security policy under its pacifist Constitution, the Japanese government decided to acquire strike capabilities that could potentially reach an adversary’s territory and set a target of doubling its annual defense budget to about 2 percent of its gross domestic product over the next five years.
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Mourners mark 1st anniversary of deadly fire at Osaka clinic
OSAKA – Mourners laid flowers Saturday on the first anniversary of a deadly fire at an Osaka mental health clinic that claimed the lives of 26 people and the suspected arsonist.
The victims of the fire on the morning of Dec. 17, 2021, in Osaka’s Kita Ward included regular visitors to the facility and its director, Kotaro Nishizawa, 49. The fire occurred on a Friday, when the clinic would hold a scheduled group therapy session for people on absence from work.
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Guam serves as Pacific “springboard” for U.S. forces: commander
DEDEDO, Guam/MANILA – A 16-year-old plan to transfer a significant number of U.S. Marines from the Japanese island prefecture of Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam continues to make sense strategically and politically, a U.S. military commander said.
Joint Region Marianas Commander Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, in a recent interview with Kyodo News and other media, said Guam plays an important role as “springboard” for U.S. forces to rapidly respond, by air or sea, to any military crisis in the region amid looming threats from China and North Korea.
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Baseball: New Okinawa league giving aspiring ballplayers a boost
GINOWAN, Japan – Amateur baseball players from Japan and overseas are playing real games in the warm weather of Okinawa Prefecture in December, a time when pros spend the offseason with their families and amateurs practice in the cold.
The Japan Winter League opened its inaugural one-month season on Nov. 26 at Atom Home Stadium in Ginowan, offering players from high school to corporate level, including those from Uganda and Curacao in the Dutch Caribbean, the chance to catch the eyes of professional scouts.
