Highlights of Japan-related events for Feb. 4-10:

Feb. 4 (MON)

— Sapporo Snow Festival to be held through Feb. 11.

— German Chancellor Angela Merkel to make two-day visit to Japan for talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

— Panasonic to announce April-December financial results.

— House of Representatives Budget Committee to hold question-and-answer sessions for two days regarding the second supplementary budget draft for fiscal 2018. Opposition parties are expected to continue to grill Abe and his government over inaccurate monthly labor data that has been released for more than a decade, and demand the resignation of labor minister Takumi Nemoto.

Feb. 5 (TUES)

— Nagasaki Lantern Festival to be held through Feb. 19.

Feb. 6 (WED)

— Japan Automobile Dealers Association to release new motor vehicle sales figures on car-model basis for January.

— Toyota Motor, SoftBank Group to announce April-December financial results. Toyota has reported record sales in the half-year period through September on the back of strong sales in China and Europe. Amid increasing concerns about global economic slowdown, the focus is on whether the Japanese automaker can maintain the pace.

Feb. 7 (THURS)

— Rally to call for the return of Russian-held islands off Hokkaido to be held in Tokyo. Abe has usually taken part in the annual event to express his resolve to seek progress in the territorial dispute. A 1956 joint declaration calls for the handover of smaller two of the four disputed isles to Japan.

Feb. 8 (FRI)

— Finance Ministry to release preliminary balance of payments statistics for December, whole of 2018.

— Cabinet Office to release results of monthly “economy watchers” survey for January.

— Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to release wage earners’ household spending for December.

— Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to release monthly labor survey for December, whole of 2018. The statistics have come under increased scrutiny after the ministry admitted in January to have released data based on incorrect survey methods.

— District court to hold retrial for a man who served a prison term for a 1985 murder committed in a town then known as Matsubase, in Kumamoto Prefecture. The hearing is expected to conclude the same day, with Koki Miyata, now in his 80s, certain to win a not-guilty verdict.

Feb. 9 (SAT)

— 18th anniversary of collision between Japanese fisheries school training boat Ehime Maru and U.S. Navy submarine off Hawaii.

Feb. 10 (SUN)

— Liberal Democratic Party to hold convention in Tokyo. The ruling party will adopt its 2019 action plan that will include pledges to win in the House of Councillors’ election in the summer.

==Kyodo