From Kyodo:
In 2020, the government released its first damage estimates for the Tokyo metropolitan area in the event of an eruption of Japan's highest peak, which straddles Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures west of Tokyo.
In the worst-case scenario, the accumulation of ash could reach 10 centimeters in the capital's Shinjuku Ward 15 days after the eruption starts.
We will need a lot of brooms.
Kazuaki Nagata from The Japan Times:
Japan's average hourly minimum wage is set to rise by another record amount as the government endeavors to support households in the face of persistent inflation and as it works to boost economic growth with wage-driven stimulus.
A panel tasked with arriving at a target for the minimum wage has agreed to a national average increase of ¥50 ($0.30), the fourth record increase in as many years.
Should be more but progress...
From Kyodo:
E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. on Tuesday started online prescriptions and medicine delivery services in Japan in cooperation with some 2,500 drug stores across the country, the retailer's Japan unit said.
While people are now able to obtain medicine without visiting pharmacies through the Amazon Pharmacy service, it means small- and medium-sized pharmacies lagging behind in digitalization may face difficulties continuing their businesses.
From South China Morning Post:
The chairman and president of a major Japanese dietary supplement maker announced their resignation on Tuesday, as the company probes dozens of deaths potentially linked to products meant to lower cholesterol.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical is at the centre of a health scare linked to its over-the-counter tablets containing red yeast rice, which is fermented with a mould culture.
Keiichi Furukawa from Nikkei:
Japan Airlines (JAL) and flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will soon bolster their business tie-up by launching a revenue-sharing arrangement to maximize earnings on routes, Nikkei has learned.
JAL and Garuda, which have been in a code-sharing agreement since 2018, will enter into a joint venture. The two sides will coordinate schedules and fares, providing passengers with more convenient connections.
From The Japan Times:
Over a year has passed since the PDAS-X06 unmanned experimental aircraft, part of a space travel project, crashed into the sea off Shimojishima Airport in the city of Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture.
PD Aerospace, the Nagoya-based developer of the aircraft, aims to realize space travel by manned spacecraft from the airport under the Shimojishima Spaceport Project, which was signed between the company and Okinawa Prefecture in September 2020.
Under the project, the company’s spacecraft, which is designed to fly to an altitude of 100 kilometers, will allow passengers to experience a state of weightlessness for about five minutes. Originally, the company had planned to launch space travel in 2025, sending 100 passengers to space that year and gradually increasing capacity to 1,000 by 2030.
With this story and the previous one about Hokkaido Spaceport, Japanese industry is making up for lost time in the new space race. While JAXA is far from a small player in the industry, it is small in comparison to the legacy space states. But, experimentation like this could be vital to the next generation of spacecraft and there could be a breakthrough in the testing on Miyako.
Eric Johnston from The Japan Times:
Located on the Pacific coast, Taiki, with 5,300 people, is home to the Hokkaido Spaceport (HOSPO), billed as Asia’s first privately operated spaceport, which the town first proposed nearly 40 years ago.
Since 2008, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been carrying out experiments involving scientific balloon, aeronautical technology and the Hayabusa2 laser altimeter at HOSPO following the signing of an agreement with the town.
But now, HOSPO is aiming to become one of Japan’s major domestic spaceports for launching satellite-equipped rockets and spacecraft as well as for the aerospace industry to conduct research and development.
Yuka Kato from The Mainichi:
In the future, convenience stores may become the new base for crane games. Lawson hopes that "people will be able to casually enjoy playing the games at their local convenience stores nationwide." It plans to expand its crane game services by offering original prizes that can only be obtained at the stores where the games are installed and by linking the games to campaigns.
This weblog is slowing turning into a crane game news site. At least this will give me a reason to go to Lawson.
From The Mainichi:
The Mainichi Newspapers Co. will start delivering a newsletter in Japanese titled "Mainichi Shimbun nyusu de manabu eigo" (Learning English through Mainichi Shimbun news) on July 24. It will feature a selection of Mainichi Shimbun articles that have English translations -- in other words, the Japanese originals of The Mainichi's English-language pieces.
From Nikkei:
Japanese online marketplace Mercari has laid off nearly half of the employees from its U.S. subsidiary, Nikkei has learned, as it struggles with falling sales and competition from low-price Chinese e-commerce rivals like Temu.
The June layoffs have apparently reduced the workforce to a little over 100 people. The subsidiary had 226 employees at the end of June 2023, excluding temporary workers, a securities filing showed.