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Mobile phone chargers set up in Japan public phone booths
Rentable mobile phone chargers have been installed in a handful of public phone booths in southwestern Japan, the first endeavor of its kind in the country, a telecommunications giant's regional unit said recently. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corp., alongside the phone charger sharing service Inforich Inc., is now offering fee-based, portable chargers in eight locations in the city of Fukuoka for an approximately six-month trial period starting Friday. The chargers, installed by the Tokyo-based Inforich, can be returned to a different public phone booth as well as convenience stores th...
Kyodo News
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FEATURE: In-home chef services cooking with gas during pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a major shift away from restaurant dining, leaving many chefs in Japan out of work and looking to devise ways to stay in business with their normal clientele reluctant to venture out. Adding to the already booming food delivery business, the hiring of chefs to cook high-quality dishes in home kitchens has become increasingly popular as a way for people to conveniently access restaurant-quality meals while staying at home, safe from the coronavirus. "It's been a great help because we can't really eat out now and I'm pretty occupied with raising my child," ...
Kyodo News
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Global coronavirus death toll tops 2 million: U.S. tally
The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has exceeded 2 million amid an accelerating pace of fatalities, a tally by Johns Hopkins University of the United States showed Friday. The death toll from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has doubled in about three and a half months since it passed the 1 million mark on Sept. 29. The latest data indicate that the world health crisis has become more severe despite efforts by countries around the globe to prevent the spread of the virus by shutting down businesses, restricting travel, tightening border control...
Kyodo News
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Japan makers' appetite for overseas expansion lowest amid pandemic
Nearly 60 percent of Japanese manufacturers plan to expand their overseas business in the next three years or so, the lowest on record as the coronavirus pandemic made them cautious about stepping up investment abroad, a survey showed Friday. The figure, 59.3 percent, is down from 71.4 percent in the previous survey in fiscal 2019, underscoring the gravity of the global virus outbreak. A total of 37.9 percent responded that they will maintain current levels, up from 26.7 percent a year earlier, according to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, which began the survey in 1989. The perce...
Kyodo News
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Baseball: Lotte suspends Kiyota indefinitely over virus-rule breach
The Chiba Lotte Marines on Friday suspended outfielder Ikuhiro Kiyota indefinitely after he breached the Pacific League club's rules on the novel coronavirus to dine with an outsider and then made a false report. Kiyota dined with the person in late September when Lotte was on the road in Sapporo. The team had 14 members test positive for the virus, eight of them first-team players including the 34-year-old Kiyota, in early October. The club at the time said it had set a rule banning players from dining with outsiders and none had breached it. Kiyota will not be able to train with the team for...
Kyodo News
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Pirate attacks remain high in Singapore Strait amid pandemic
Sea piracy and armed robbery in Asian waters jumped 17 percent last year compared with a year earlier, with a particularly high occurrence in the Singapore Strait, a Japan-led international center to combat the scourge said on Friday. A total of 97 such incidents were reported last year, of which the largest -- 34 -- took place in the Singapore Strait, the ReCAAP Information Sharing Center said in its annual report. The Singapore Strait, one of the world's busiest, remained a high-risk area last year, continuing the trend in 2019 when there were 31 incidents. The second highest was in Indonesi...
Kyodo News
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JR Central employees to take leave due to declining travel demand
Central Japan Railway Co. said Friday about 9,500 employees will take several days off in the period between Jan. 25 and the end of February, as travel demand has declined amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections. The railway company, which operates shinkansen bullet train services connecting Tokyo and Osaka, decided to introduce such a measure for the first time since its founding in 1987 following the privatization of the state-owned Japanese National Railways. During the period, the railway operator plans to allow about 400 employees per day to take paid leave. The program, which is also...
Kyodo News
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Biden proposes $1.9 tril. virus relief package before taking office
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said Thursday that he is proposing a $1.9 trillion emergency relief plan to change the course of the coronavirus pandemic and put the economy on track for recovery. The package, which includes $1,400 per-person checks in direct financial assistance, is the first of a two-step plan for "rescue and recovery," said Biden, who will take office next Wednesday. He added that next month he will unveil a plan for "historic" investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and clean energy. But it is unclear whether the first relief package, which the Democrat president-elect...
Kyodo News
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U.S. blacklists major Chinese oil firm over S. China Sea "coercion"
The U.S. government said Thursday that it is taking further actions to preserve a "free and open" South China Sea such as by adding major oil company China National Offshore Oil Corp. to its economic blacklist. The measure, which came just days before the end of the administration of President Donald Trump, was taken against the company in light of its role in Beijing's campaign of "coercion against other claimants of an estimated $2.5 trillion in South China Sea oil and gas resources," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. "The United States stands with Southeast Asian claimant states seeking ...
Kyodo News
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China's foreign trade up in 2020 as economy recovers from virus shock
China's foreign trade rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier in 2020, the government said Thursday, as exports bounced back late in the year with the economy recuperating from a slowdown triggered by the novel coronavirus outbreak. The total volume of the country's trade totaled $4.65 trillion last year, according to the General Administration of Customs. China's exports increased 3.6 percent, while imports fell 1.1 percent as those from Australia decreased 5.3 percent. China has been Australia's primary export market for several years, but the deteriorating trade relationship between the two na...
Kyodo News
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