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Japan's composite index of coincident economic indicators dropped in July at its fastest pace since January last year, driven lower by sluggish auto exports, the Cabinet Office said Friday.

Japanese electronics giant Hitachi Ltd. has announced a plan for a Swiss unit to invest over 1 billion dollars by fiscal 2027 to bolster its production capacity for power grid equipment in the United States.

An expert panel has concluded that a sinkhole that swallowed a truck in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, in January was created due to corrosion of a sewer pipe by hydrogen sulfide.

Resona Bank will expand financial assistance to startups, Shoichi Iwanaga, president of the Japanese lender, said in a recent interview.

Japan's Imperial Household Agency on Friday released photographs of Prince Hisahito taken on the campus of the University of Tsukuba ahead of the coming-of-age ceremony on Saturday, his 19th birthday.

A diffusion index that shows the outlook for rice prices in Japan logged its largest increase in August since the monthly survey began in March 2012, an industry group said Friday.

The Japanese government officially decided Friday to start a new system to provide comprehensive support for victims of serious crimes or bereaved families of such victims on Jan. 13, 2026.

Japanese Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki on Friday called on the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to hold a leadership election at an early date.

Foreign and defense ministers from Japan and Australia on Friday agreed to deepen bilateral defense cooperation, with China's increasing military presence in the Indo-Pacific region in mind.

Minimum hourly wages in Japan's 47 prefectures will average 1,121 yen in fiscal 2025, the labor ministry said Friday.