News On Japan

Japan's cash in circulation hits record for 11th straight month

Feb 09, 2022 (channelnewsasia.com) - The total amount of money circulating in Japan hit a fresh record for the 11th straight month in January, data showed on Wednesday (Feb 9), as huge monetary stimulus and government spending to combat the COVID-19 pandemic work their way through the economy.

But the annual pace of increase slowed to the lowest since April 2020 due to the base effect of a sharp jump in deposits last year, when households and firms hoarded cash to cope with curbs on economic activity to combat the pandemic.

Japan's M3 money supply, a broad measurement of the amount of money available in the economy, rose 3.3 per cent in January from a year earlier, Bank of Japan (BOJ) data showed, slowing from a 3.4 per cent gain in December.

The total balance extended a record high at Y1,534.5 trillion (US$13.29 trillion), which is roughly triple the size of Japan's economy, the data showed.

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A tropical depression near the Truk Islands, far southeast of Japan, was moving north-northwest at about 15 kilometers per hour as of 3 a.m. on September 15 and is expected to develop into a typhoon within 24 hours, potentially affecting a wide area from Okinawa through western Japan to the Pacific coast of eastern Japan as it strengthens and moves north.

Kajima Corp. has unveiled the construction site of KAJIMA TREE, a roughly 60-meter wooden tower being built for the International Horticultural Expo that will open in March 2027.

Climbers who get into trouble on Mount Fuji during the official closed season could be charged for rescue by disaster-prevention helicopters under new safety measures being considered by Yamanashi Prefecture.

Genta Koja, a former deputy mayor of Naha who accepts the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko in Nago, won the Okinawa gubernatorial election on September 13, defeating incumbent Governor Denny Tamaki and bringing an end to 12 years of prefectural administrations committed to blocking the project.

Roads around the Fushimi Otesuji Shopping Street in Kyoto's Fushimi Ward were flooded on the evening of September 13 after water began gushing from a nearby road, forcing authorities to close part of the street to traffic.

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A 29-year-old man accused of killing his pregnant former girlfriend, a nail artist in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, admitted the charges at his first trial on September 14, with prosecutors saying he used tracking tags to locate the woman after deciding he wanted to kill her and "reset" his life to before their relationship.

Tokyo police have found that two teenage girls detained during coordinated patrols in the "Toyoko" area of Kabukicho were carrying forged student identification cards containing false ages and names.

Roads around the Fushimi Otesuji Shopping Street in Kyoto's Fushimi Ward were flooded on the evening of September 13 after water began gushing from a nearby road, forcing authorities to close part of the street to traffic.

Newly recovered video from a passenger's digital camera has revealed conditions aboard the Kazu I sightseeing boat before it sank off Hokkaido's Shiretoko Peninsula in April 2022, a disaster that left 20 passengers and crew members dead and six passengers still missing more than four years later.

Police have rearrested a 30-year-old senior member of an organization affiliated with the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi on suspicion of directing a loosely organized criminal group that stole smartphones and other goods worth about 4.15 million yen from stores in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures.

High-end bonsai are being stolen from gardens across Japan in a growing series of thefts, with some trees later appearing on social media overseas and industry officials saying more than 100 cases are now reported each year.

Three people have been arrested in Kyoto on suspicion of operating an unlicensed underground banking service for Chinese clients, with police believing the group handled transactions worth about 600 million yen in total.

Two 14-year-old junior high school students in Aichi Prefecture have been arrested on suspicion of obstructing traffic while performing dangerous bicycle stunts linked to group rides known on social media as Nagoya Ride.