Jul 07, 2022 (skynews.com.au) - Japanese Ambassador to Australia Shingo Yamagami says the decision to hike up royalties for mining companies may potentially trigger “widespread effects” on investing in Queensland.
The Queensland coal scheme proposes new higher coal mining royalties –drastically exceeding the previous top rate of 15 per cent.
Mr Yamagami said the royalty rate hike on locally mined coal was an issue of great concern.
A landslide on Mount Fuji buried three vehicles as torrential rain battered wide areas of Japan on September 9, while Nagoya continued to assess extensive flooding damage a day after the city recorded its heaviest hourly rainfall on record.
Heavy rain intensified across the Tokai and Kanto regions on September 9, with locally developed rain clouds bringing wind-driven downpours to Gifu Prefecture and steady rain to Tokyo, while forecasters warned that another round of strong rain could reach Kanto during the night.
Large volumes of floodwater poured into the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, following heavy rain on September 7, prompting the massive underground flood-control facility known as the "Underground Temple" to go into operation.
Osaka Metro plans to abolish magnetic tickets and replace them with QR code-based tickets around fiscal 2031, as declining use and the cost of maintaining conventional ticket gates accelerate the shift toward digital fare systems.
Ticket sales for the Asian Games are gathering pace with less than two weeks until the competition begins, with more than 60% of tickets sold for the opening ceremony and 31 sports as of September 7, although organizers say seats remain readily available for events including soccer and baseball.
Closures and bankruptcies among Japanese rice farmers are running at a record pace in 2026, with 32 cases recorded from January through August as an aging workforce, rising costs and falling rice prices make it increasingly difficult for producers to remain in business.
Tokyo stocks edged lower on September 9, with the Nikkei 225 closing at 65,143, down 126.55 points, as a stronger yen and crude oil’s move toward $100 outweighed support from selected artificial intelligence and semiconductor-related shares.
South Korean semiconductor giant Samsung Electronics has begun full-scale operations at a new semiconductor research center in Yokohama, seeking to accelerate development and strengthen cooperation with Japanese suppliers as demand for chips used in artificial intelligence continues to grow.
Tokyo stocks fell sharply on September 8, with the Nikkei 225 closing at 65,269, down 1,130.51 points, or 1.70%, as a sudden surge in the yen hit exporters and forced investors to reassess the impact of faster Bank of Japan tightening on corporate earnings, equity valuations and the broader economy.
The yen strengthened to around 152 against the dollar on September 8, reaching its strongest level in about six months after gaining nearly 7 yen in roughly a week as investors focused on prospects for a narrowing interest-rate gap between Japan and the United States.
Japan's inflation-adjusted real wages rose 2.4% in July from a year earlier, marking a seventh consecutive monthly increase as higher base salaries and easing price pressures improved workers' purchasing power.
Rakuten Mobile faces a new test of its network quality after KDDI decided to scale back roaming support from September 2026, ending access to its network in areas where Rakuten already has its own base stations while continuing service in mountainous and sparsely populated regions.
Japanese homebuyers are facing growing uncertainty as mortgage costs rise alongside a sharp increase in interest rates, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond briefly topping 3% last week for the first time in about 30 years.
