Japan

Japan passes bill to legalize medical use of cannabis

TOKYO, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Japan's parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to legalize cannabis-derived medical products while criminalizing the use of the chemical other than for medicinal purposes.

The upper house of the National Diet of Japan passed the revised cannabis and narcotics control laws during the day, which will enter into force within a year from promulgation.

Divers have found wreckage, 5 remains from Osprey aircraft that crashed off Japan, US Air Force says

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. and Japanese divers have discovered wreckage and the remains of five crew members from a U.S. Air Force Osprey aircraft that crashed last week off southwestern Japan, the Air Force announced Monday.

The CV-22 Osprey carrying eight American personnel crashed last Wednesday off Yakushima island during a training mission. The body of one victim was recovered and identified earlier.

US military Osprey aircraft with 8 aboard crashes off southern Japan, at least 1 dead

TOKYO (AP) — A crew member who was recovered from the ocean after a U.S. military Osprey aircraft carrying eight people crashed Wednesday off southern Japan has been pronounced dead, coast guard officials said.

The cause of the crash and the status of the seven others on board were not immediately known, coast guard spokesperson Kazuo Ogawa said.

3rd release of treated water from Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear plant ends safely, operator says

TOKYO (AP) — The release of a third batch of treated radioactive wastewater from Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean ended safely as planned, its operator said Monday, as the country’s seafood producers continue to suffer from a Chinese import ban imposed after the discharges began.

Japan's Daisaku Ikeda, longtime Soka Gakkai lay Buddhist leader, dies at 95

TOKYO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Daisaku Ikeda, who helped spread Buddhist thought around the world through Soka Gakkai - Japan's largest religious organisation and an ally of the government - has died, the organisation said on Saturday.

Ikeda died on Wednesday evening from natural causes at age 95, Soka Gakkai said in a statement on its website.

He was the longtime spiritual leader of the lay Buddhist organisation known abroad for its association with celebrities and at home for its influence on politics.

33-Year-Old Ex-Lawmaker Secretary Becomes Youngest Female Mayor In Japan

TOKYO, Nov 13 (NNN-NHK) – A 33-year-old former secretary of a ruling party, has become Japan’s youngest-ever female mayor, after winning election in Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture, local media reported, today.

Shoko Kawata, an independent, backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), junior coalition partner, Komeito, and the main opposition party Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, beat two other contenders in the mayoral election, held yesterday, following the resignation of the former mayor, Kyodo News reported.

Japan: G7 nations urge ‘urgent action’ to help civilians trapped in Gaza, including pauses in the fighting

TOKYO (AP) — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies called Wednesday for “urgent action” to help civilians trapped in an increasingly dire situation in Gaza, including pauses in the fighting to allow aid in and people out, in announcing a unified stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

G7 foreign ministers kick off two days of meetings in Japan

TOKYO, Nov. 7. /TASS/: Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven countries kicked off two days of meetings in Tokyo on Tuesday, with the focus expected to be on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the situation in Ukraine.

"Amid an increasingly complex international environment, close dialogue among G7 members is more important than ever," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said at the opening of the meeting.

The meeting of G7 foreign ministers opened with a working dinner, while the main events of the agenda are set to take place on November 8.

Japan Detects Above-Limit Radioactive Cesium In Locally Grown Mushroom

TOKYO, Nov 7 (NNN-NHK) – Excessive levels of radioactive cesium were detected in locally grown mushroom, in Japan’s Yamanashi prefecture, government report showed today.

The sample of Cortinarius caperatus, a type of edible mushroom, in the prefecture’s Narusawa village, reported a cesium level of 150 becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg), said the report, published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, on its official website.

The allowed cesium level on general food products stands at 100 Bq/kg in the country.

Japanese consumers are eating more local fish in spite of China’s ban due to Fukushima wastewater

IWAKI, Japan (AP) — Local fishing communities feared the worst when the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant began discharging treated radioactive wastewater into the sea.

Instead of a business calamity, however, consumers from across the nation have supported the region by eating more fish. Besides boosting a fragile industry, the demand has helped mitigate the impact of China’s ban on Japanese seafood, though there are worries about the future of the water release.

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