Tokyo, 19 July, /AJMEDIA/
Japanese figure skating icon Hanyu to retire
TOKYO – Two-time Winter Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu has decided to retire from competitive figure skating, sources close to the matter said Tuesday.
The 27-year-old, who will depart the sport as arguably the greatest male skater of all time, will speak about his decision at a press conference later in the day in Tokyo.
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No. of primary, middle school students in Japan down 1 mil. in decade
TOKYO – The number of students in elementary and junior high schools in Japan fell by around 1 million from a decade earlier to about 9.56 million in 2020, according to a government survey, underscoring the rapid aging of the country’s population.
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Japan, South Korea agree to seek early settlement of wartime labor row
TOKYO – The foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea agreed Monday they will seek an early settlement of a dispute over the issue of compensation demands from South Koreans about wartime labor that has frayed bilateral relations.
Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his South Korean counterpart Park Jin reached the agreement in a meeting in Tokyo, the first formal sit-down between them since South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s inauguration on May 10, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
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Pentagon awards contracts for satellites to track hypersonic missiles
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Defense Department on Monday announced two contracts worth $1.3 billion for the fielding of satellites to better detect hypersonic missile threats posed by Russia and China, with deployment to begin in April 2025.
The satellites are designed to track not only missile launches but also hypersonic maneuvering vehicles. Historically, the United States has not flown such satellites, according to Derek Tournear, director of the Space Development Agency.
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36 Kyoto Animation workers killed in 2019 arson attack remembered
KYOTO – About 120 people gathered for a commemorative service in Kyoto on Monday to remember 36 artists and others killed in an arson attack on Japanese anime studio Kyoto Animation Co. three years ago.
The attack on the company known for a long line of popular anime works, including “K-On!” and “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,” shocked many fans at home and abroad who affectionately call the studio “KyoAni.”
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Japan’s world athletics team hit with 11th coronavirus case
EUGENE, Oregon – Marathon runner Hitomi Niiya has become the 11th member of the Japanese team at the World Athletics Championships to test positive for the coronavirus, the Japan Association of Athletics Federations said Sunday.
Niiya, who had a fever before testing positive, was forced to pull out of Monday’s women’s marathon. Mao Ichiyama also tested positive earlier, leaving Mizuki Matsuda as the only Japanese running the 42.195-kilometer race on Day 4 of competition.
