The Liberal Democratic Party’s Foreign Affairs Division met on Dec. 6 to discuss the issue of Chinese professional tennis player Peng Shuai, whose safety has been a matter of concern since she accused a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official of sexual violence. The participants at the division meeting called for a strong response from the Japanese government.   On November….Read more

Sapporo, Nov. 29 (Jiji Press)–The city of Sapporo, which is aiming to host the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, presented Monday a plan to cut its projected costs for the events by a maximum of 90 billion yen, or up to 20 pct.   The government of the capital of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost prefecture, reported the cost reduction plan to….Read more

TOKYO – The Tokyo Paralympics held this summer has fostered a greater understanding of disabilities, a Kyodo News survey carried out shortly after the games showed Sunday.   Seventy percent of respondents in the survey, conducted on people with a wide variety of disabilities, such as hearing, mental, and visual impairments, in 45 of the 47 prefectures said the hosting….Read more

TOKYO – The organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics said Tuesday it will likely be discussing with the metropolitan and central governments through the end of the year on how to share the expected deficit incurred from the games this summer due to COVID-19 restrictions.   The organizers have lost hundreds of millions of dollars through ticket sales….Read more

TOKYO – Japan will conduct an experiment using proof of COVID-19 vaccination at professional baseball and soccer stadiums in preparation for easing capacity restrictions, a Cabinet minister said Monday.   The experiment is expected to be conducted in October as Japan continues seeing a steady decline in newly reported coronavirus cases, according to top officials of Nippon Professional Baseball and….Read more

Tokyo, Sept. 9 (Jiji Press)–Concerns are mounting over the six sports facilities that were created by the Tokyo metropolitan government for the Olympics and Paralympics held this summer and for future events, as only one of them is expected to be profitable.   While the Tokyo government spent about 140 billion yen on the permanent facilities, they may end up….Read more

An NHK poll shows that many people in areas of northeastern Japan hard hit by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident do not feel the Tokyo Olympics helped boost regional reconstruction efforts.   NHK conducted the online survey late last month among residents of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.   One thousand people responded. The average age of respondents….Read more