Nearly 30 percent of municipalities in Japan have no physical bookstores due to the impact of population shrinkage and the prevalence of online stores, according to a survey by a publishing industry association. Of the country's 1,741 municipalities, 482 cities, towns and villages, or 27.7 percent of the total, had no bookstores as of March, with the rate increasing from 26.2 percent in the previous survey in September 2022, according to data released by the Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture. In the prefectures of Okinawa, Nagano and Nara, more than half of their cities, towns a...
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Ukyo Shuto doubled and scored the winning run on Hikaru Kawase's one-out 10th-inning single as the Pacific League-leading SoftBank Hawks came from behind Saturday to beat the Seibu Lions 2-1. The Hawks tied it at Mizuho PayPay Dome on Akira Nakamura's seventh-inning RBI pinch-hit single. In the 10th, Nakamura encouraged Kawase, who had entered as a pinch-runner and had yet to bat. "He told me, 'Just give it your best shot and it will be fine,'" Kawase said. "The veterans on this team are so cool." With Shuto on third after a sacrifice, the Lions walked slugger Yuki Yanagita intentionally to fa...
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Captain Ko Matsubara scored the opener and Ryo Germain netted his 10th goal in as many games with a penalty as Jubilo Iwata handed Machida Zelvia a 2-0 defeat that dislodged the visitors from the top of the J-League first-division standings. Cerezo Osaka moved back to the top on 19 points, ahead of Machida on goal difference, after Leo Ceara hit a brace in their 2-2 home draw against a Yokohama F Marinos showing signs of fatigue following their Asian Champions League semifinal victory midweek. Marinos are on 15 points, while Iwata have 13. A physical and well-disciplined Machida dominated the ...
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Shohei Ohtani homered in his first at-bat Friday to spark the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 12-2 win against the Toronto Blue Jays. The two-way star, who rejected the Blue Jays and a shortlist of other clubs in the offseason to sign his record 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers, was met by a chorus of boos from the home crowd at Rogers Centre. He wasted no time putting the visitors on the board in the series opener, smashing his third pitch from Toronto starter Chris Bassitt (2-4) deep over the right field wall for a solo home run. The home run was Ohtani's first in three games and his sev...
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Japan's Golden Week holidays started Saturday, with train stations and airports across the country crowded with people heading to resorts or returning to hometowns. It is almost a year since the country downgraded the threat level of COVID-19 to the same category as seasonal influenza and significantly relaxed health measures that had discouraged people from going out. Over 2.6 million people were booked for domestic flights between Saturday and May 6, almost the same level as the holiday period last year, and 490,000 for international flights, up about 20 percent, airlines said April 19. As f...
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The Japanese unit of Germany's BMW AG and Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. have launched a joint program in April aimed at training auto mechanics in Japan as part of efforts to address a "severe" labor shortage in the industry. The program, led by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan, seeks to provide a platform to train a new generation of mechanics in three years, shorter than the five years usually needed to acquire necessary skills. Under the program, which is based on Germany's dual vocational training system, trainees will sign a contract with the automakers to spend ...
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Japan Airlines Co. said Friday it recently canceled a flight from Dallas to Tokyo after the 49-year-old captain engaged in disruptive behavior while drunk at his hotel in the U.S. city and received a warning from local police. The airline said it decided to cancel Flight 11 to Tokyo's Haneda airport on Wednesday as it needed to check his physical and mental status, but could not find an alternate pilot for the 11:05 a.m. departure. JAL helped 157 passengers transfer to other flights. After arriving in Dallas from Haneda on Monday, the captain had dined with other crew members at a restaurant s...
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The yen weakened to the 157 range against the U.S. dollar in New York on Friday, falling to a fresh 34-year low, after the Bank of Japan kept intact its current monetary easing policy. The Japanese currency was hovering in the upper 155 range before the BOJ announced its policy decision.
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An International Atomic Energy Agency task force confirmed that the discharge of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant is "progressing as planned," as it wrapped up Friday its latest review on the process. It was the second visit to Japan by an IAEA task force, comprised of IAEA officials and international experts, after the country began releasing the wastewater into the Pacific Ocean last August despite opposition from neighboring countries such as China. The discharge of water from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, crippled in the wake of a massive earthquake and tsu...
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Rookie Ryuki Watarai capped his three-hit night with a grand slam in the eighth inning as the DeNA BayStars rallied to beat the Yomiuri Giants 7-2 Friday in the Central League. Watarai's blast to right field capped a six-run eighth at Yokohama Stadium after back-to-back RBI doubles by Keita Sano and Shugo Maki turned the game around for the BayStars. The 21-year-old rookie was down to eighth in the batting order for the first time after starting the season in the leadoff spot. Yomiuri's Shosei Togo and DeNA's Katsuki Azuma each threw seven solid innings, allowing one run and two runs, respecti...
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