The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan PM Kishida meets with Indonesian president at start of 5-nation tour
JAKARTA - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday as he started a five-nation trip to Southeast Asia and Europe in a bid to boost relations amid China's growing assertiveness and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Japan views Indonesia, this year's host of the Group of 20 major economies' summit to be held in November and a key economy in Southeast Asia, as a strategic partner sharing universal values such as democracy and the rule of law.
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Missing tourist boat found underwater off Hokkaido
SAPPORO - A tourist boat that went missing six days ago with 26 people aboard was found underwater off Hokkaido on Friday, the Japan Coast Guard said.
The 19-ton Kazu I was located after the Maritime Self-Defense Force conducted a search with an underwater camera off the Shiretoko Peninsula. So far the bodies of 14 people have been found since contact with the boat was lost on April 23.
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Japan asks Kazakhstan to align with int'l community against Russia
TOKYO - Japan on Friday asked Kazakhstan to keep in line with the international community against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi made the request at a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Mukhtar Tileuberdi in Nur-Sultan, following Kazakhstan's abstention last month from the U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning Russia.
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China suspends freight train operations with North Korea amid virus
BEIJING - China has suspended freight train operations with North Korea amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the Chinese border city of Dandong, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
Since earlier this week, many residential compounds in Dandong, which lies opposite the North Korean city of Sinuiji, have been locked down against a backdrop of the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, while people living in such areas have been compelled to stay home.
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Travelers crowd trains, airports as Japan's Golden Week holiday begins
TOKYO - Travelers wearing masks crowded train stations and airports across Japan as the Golden Week holiday began Friday without the issuance of a coronavirus state of emergency for the first time in three years.
Transportation reservations have increased sharply compared with those a year earlier, although they have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
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FEATURE: Pop idol Kyary Pamyu Pamyu collabs with Little Tokyo shops in LA
LOS ANGELES - Pop singer and icon of Harajuku fashion Kyary Pamyu Pamyu took her unique brand of Japanese cuteness to Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, in mid-April.
The artist visited as part of her "Local Power Japan" project, in which she spotlights various regions of her home country through collaborations with local businesses.
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Death row inmate seeks retrial over 2016 care home mass murder
YOKOHAMA - A 32-year-old Japanese man on death row over the mass murder in 2016 of 19 mentally impaired residents of a care home near Tokyo is seeking a retrial, Yokohama District Court officials said Friday.
The death sentence for Satoshi Uematsu, a former caretaker at the Tsukui Yamayuri En facility in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, who also injured 26 people in the rampage, was finalized in March 2020.
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South Korea to allow taking masks off outside from May 2
SEOUL - South Korea to allow people to take masks off outside from next Monday amid a decreasing trend in the number of daily COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Kim Boo Kyum said Friday.
"The government has decided to adjust preventive measures (for the coronavirus) given the decreasing trend that has been continuing for the past six weeks," Kim said in his regular COVID-19 response meeting.
