Yukana Inoue from The Japan Times:
The Japan International Cooperation Agency is set to designate at least four cities in the country as “hometowns” for certain nations in Africa at the 2025 Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
The agency, which assists with implementing development assistance in developing countries, will assign the city of Nagai in Yamagata Prefecture to Tanzania, Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture to Nigeria, Sanjo in Niigata Prefecture to Ghana and Imabari in Ehime Prefecture to Mozambique.
The purpose stated in the article is that it will promote two-way dialog and bring more population to these cities in Japan. But with an immigration system like it is now, is it realistic to expect that Africans could immigrate to Japan?
Shimpei Torii from The Mainichi:
A male assistant professor at Hokkaido University assaulted and injured multiple students while intoxicated at a social gathering, sources involved with the university have told the Mainichi Shimbun.
Following the incident, the students called on the university administration to conduct an investigation and take disciplinary action against the assistant professor, a member of the chemistry department of the university's Faculty of Science, questioning the department's reluctance to make the issue public. It took over a month following the incident for the department to distribute a document to students regarding "measures to prevent a recurrence."
Totally outrageous and this faculty should be terminated and prosecuted. Let’s keep the school violence sequestered on the other side of the Pacific and not let it seep into this country.
Shotaro Tani from Nikkei:
Japanese trading house Itochu will begin discussions with the banking unit of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain on a capital and business alliance, as it looks to increase its consumer financial service offerings.
The Japanese trader has "agreed to commence discussions" with Seven Bank on the tie-up, "including collaboration across a wide range of financial fields," it said on Monday. Nikkei understands that Itochu is considering acquiring not only Seven Bank's treasury shares -- stock bought back from shareholders -- but also shares held by institutional investors. Combined, they would potentially amount to a 20% stake.
Worth noting that Itochu owns FamilyMart. Compared to the failed Couche-Tard deal, increased domestic partnerships like this seem like a better way to grow.