JIJI English News-時事通信英語ニュース-

Six of seven major Japanese automakers reported improved consolidated earnings for April-June, recovering from lower profits or net losses recorded a year earlier due to the impact of the U.S. high tariff policy, according to their latest earnings reports released by Wednesday.

Over 7,100 people remained at evacuation centers in Kumamoto Prefecture as of Wednesday, eight days after a massive earthquake struck the southwestern Japan prefecture.

A memorial ceremony was held in Hiroshima on Wednesday for South Korean victims of the U.S. atomic bombing of the western Japan city in the closing days of World War II, hosted by a group of South Koreans living in Japan.

U.S.-based plant factory operator Oishii Farm Corp. opened a research and development facility for plant factories in Hamura, western Tokyo, on Wednesday.

The Bank of Japan's Policy Board was divided at its June 15-16 meeting over whether to stop reducing its government bond purchases, minutes of the meeting showed Wednesday.

Japan has lodged a protest after Russia notified Tokyo that it would conduct military exercises near the disputed northwestern Pacific islands from Wednesday.

The Osaka prefectural police have arrested eight Vietnamese men on suspicion of possessing stimulant drugs at a commercial building in the western Japan prefecture, it was learned Wednesday.

Nippon Paper Industries Co. President Akira Sebe on Wednesday lamented the deaths of nine people in an accident in which a chimney at a plant collapsed following last week's major earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture.

A shelter accepting evacuees and their pets together was set up at a veterinarian school in the city of Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, immediately after last week's massive earthquake.

Nippon Steel Corp. said Tuesday that it swung to profit in its fiscal first quarter ended in June thanks to improved profitability at United States Steel Corp.