News On Japan

G-7 leaders visit World Heritage shrine, dine at traditional inn

HIROSHIMA, May 20 (Kyodo) - The leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations visited a small island in Hiroshima Bay containing a world heritage shrine and sat down to a working dinner at a traditional hot-spring inn there at the end of the first day of their summit Friday.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other leaders arrived at Miyajima Island, a popular tourist destination in the Seto Inland Sea, on a cruiser, while U.S. President Joe Biden arrived separately in a helicopter.

The leaders posed for the traditional summit family photo before the large "torii" gate of the Itsukushima Shrine. "Gagaku" music traditionally performed there was played as they listened to a briefing on the history of the shrine, which, according to its website, was established on the site in 593.

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A suspicious object feared to be explosive was discovered at a high school in Sapporo on the afternoon of November 22nd, causing temporary chaos. The object was found to have been brought to the school by one of its students.

China says it will resume allowing visa-free visits by Japanese nationals on short-term trips from the end of this month. (NHK)

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