Kyodo News

Baseball: Yamasaki shutout sends Giants skipper Hara out a winner

Iori Yamasaki gifted his outgoing manager one last win with a two-hit shutout as the Yomiuri Giants defeated the DeNA BayStars 1-0 Wednesday. The win at Tokyo Dome, Hara's 1,291st, the most of any manager in franchise history, consigned the playoff-bound BayStars to start their postseason on the road as the Central League's third-place team. Yamasaki (10-5) struck out six batters without issuing a walk, while the CL wins leader Katsuki Azuma (16-3) took the tough loss, allowing a run on eight hits in the complete-game defeat while also striking out six and walking none. Elsewhere, the Yakult S...

Japan assures Malaysians of safety of seafood amid Fukushima concerns

Japan on Wednesday sought to reassure people in Malaysia about the safety of Japanese seafood despite concerns about the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. Ichiro Miyashita, the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, served scallops at an event in Kuala Lumpur, as part of efforts to further expand Japan's seafood export market to Southeast Asia amid China's blanket ban on Japanese seafood imports. "Please taste it," Miyashita said to local people at a shopping mall at the heart of the Malaysian capital, as he served scal...

Japan, U.S. business leaders urge gov'ts to ensure stable chip supply

Japanese and U.S. business leaders on Wednesday urged their governments to deepen collaboration to ensure a stable supply of semiconductors as they become increasingly important in the digitalization of everything from cars to infrastructure. In a joint statement released at the end of their two-day meeting of the annual Japan-U.S. Business Conference, top corporate executives from the two countries also emphasized heightened economic security risks surrounding semiconductors in the face of rising geopolitical tensions. "It is our policy to strengthen interaction between allies," Jun Sawada, h...

Amazon Japan delivery driver found eligible for workers' compensation

A self-employed delivery driver for the Japanese unit of Amazon.com Inc. has been deemed eligible for workers' compensation after he was injured on the job, a labor union said Wednesday. While self-employed individuals are generally not eligible for workers' compensation, given he received direct instructions from the online shopping giant, the man in his 60s was recognized by the Yokosuka labor standards inspection office as effectively being "an employee," according to Tokyo Union. The lack of protection for workers under labor standards laws who are classified as freelancers, but who in pra...

Baseball: Former star shortstop Ibata named to manage Samurai Japan

Hirokazu Ibata, who was five times named his league's best overall shortstop, has been hired to manage Japan's senior men's national baseball team, Samurai Japan, through the 2024 Premier 12 tournament, NPB Enterprises Inc. announced Wednesday. Ibata was an offensive and defensive cornerstone for the Chunichi Dragons with whom he won seven Central League Golden Gloves, before spending his final two seasons with the Yomiuri Giants, for whom he later coached. The 48-year-old also coached for Japan's Tokyo Olympic gold medal-winning team, but his sole managing experience has been guiding the nati...

SoftBank CEO Son urges Japan firms to embrace AI to stay competitive

SoftBank Group Corp.'s CEO Masayoshi Son on Wednesday urged Japanese companies to take more advantage of artificial intelligence, warning there will be "a critical difference" in firms' competitiveness depending on how willing they are to embrace the technology. Speaking at a company event, Son voiced concern about many Japanese companies banning use of ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by U.S. tech firm OpenAI, for fear of data leaks and other potential risks. "I think this is the biggest problem for Japanese companies," Son said of the trend. "It's either utilizing AI or being left behind." His r...

Tokyo stocks down for 5th day on wariness over U.S. economy

Tokyo stocks dropped Wednesday for the fifth straight day, with investors wary over the prospects of the U.S. economy after stronger-than-expected job openings data fueled fears of further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. On the currency market, the U.S. dollar was off from a one-year high above the 150 yen line overnight, after it plunged to as low as 147.30 yen in a suspected yen-buying intervention by Japanese authorities. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 711.06 points, or 2.28 percent, from Tuesday at 30,526.88. The broader Topix index finished 56.58 points, or 2.49...

Baseball: Yomiuri manager Hara set to step down after 2 difficult yrs

Yomiuri Giants manager Tatsunori Hara has offered his resignation to the club after it finished fourth and out of the playoff spot for the second straight year in the six-team Central League, a source familiar with the matter said Wednesday. Having previously won nine league titles and three Japan series managing his old club, the 65-year-old former Giant struggled during his third stint and is set to step down with a year still left on his three-year contract. Shinnosuke Abe, the 44-year-old former Giant currently a coach at the club, is likely to be promoted to the managerial post once Hara'...

Tokyo stocks plunge in morning as U.S. jobs data spur rate hike fears

Tokyo stocks plunged Wednesday morning, with the Nikkei index briefly losing over 2 percent, after stronger-than-expected U.S. job openings data fueled concern over further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. On the currency market, the U.S. dollar was off from a one-year high above the 150 yen line overnight, after it plunged to as low as 147.30 yen in a suspected yen-buying intervention by Japanese authorities. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 603.05 points, or 1.93 percent, from Tuesday to 30,634.89. The broader Topix index was down 45.71 points, or 2.01 percent, at 2,229.76....

URGENT: Tokyo stocks extend losses in morning, Nikkei down over 2%

Tokyo stocks fell sharply Wednesday morning, with the benchmark Nikkei index losing more than 2 percent, after strong U.S. job openings data released overnight fueled expectations of further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The Nikkei fell below the 31,000 mark for the first time in four months, with bank and transportation equipment issues leading the decline.