The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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G-7 vows to strengthen coordinated sanctions on Russia over Ukraine
TOKYO - The leaders of the Group of Seven economies pledged to levy further sanctions on Russia in a bid to stop its war in Ukraine, according to a joint statement released after their online summit Friday, the first anniversary of Moscow's invasion of its neighbor.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joined the video gathering, the first summit presided over by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Japan, this year's chair of the G-7, is scheduled to host the three-day in-person summit in May.
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Boat service linking South Korea's Busan and Japan's Tsushima resumes
TSUSHIMA, Japan - A high-speed boat service linking South Korea's port city of Busan and Tsushima, the Japanese island that lies closest to the Korean Peninsula, resumed Saturday after a three-year lull due to the coronavirus.
The restart of the route between South Korea's second-largest city and Hitakatsu port in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, comes amid growing hopes in both countries for increased travel to Japan's "border island" just under 50 kilometers from Busan.
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FEATURE: Tokyo restaurant offers jobs, slice of home to Ukrainian evacuees
TOKYO - As evacuees from Ukraine try to carve out a niche in their adopted home of Japan, a Tokyo restaurant offering dishes from the Eastern European country is also hoping to serve up a little slice of home to its mainly Ukrainian staff.
Nataliia Glygalo, 44, came to Japan in April last year, shortly after Russia launched its invasion of her homeland the previous February. She wanted to work in an environment where she could be with her compatriots and speak her own language, and found the restaurant through a Ukrainian community network on Facebook.
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Japan's LNG stockpile surges in Ukraine war-induced energy crisis
TOKYO - Japan's inventories of liquefied natural gas has surged since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, government data showed, in an effort to address concerns over potential disruptions of the biggest portion of fuel for power generation in the country.
LNG inventories in Japan stood at 5.9 million tons as of the end of August, up 17.6 percent from a year earlier and the largest since comparable data became available in 2008, according to the most recent data from the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security, a government agency.
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Nordic combined: Japan's Haruka Kasai wins world c'ship bronze
PLANICA, Slovenia - Japan's Haruka Kasai won bronze Friday as Norwegian Gyda Westvold Hansen successfully defended her Nordic combined world title in Slovenia.
Germany's Nathalie Armbruster claimed silver as the top three jumpers maintained their rankings in the 5-kilometer race at the Planica Nordic Center.
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Breakdancing: Women's world champ Ami Yuasa 2nd at Gold World Series
KITAKYUSHU, Japan - Japanese world champion Ami Yuasa finished second in the breakdancing Gold World Series women's event Saturday in Kitakyushu.
The 24-year-old lost the final to Liu Qingyi of China, whom she beat to win October's world championship in Seoul. Antilai Sandrini of Italy was third in the event in Fukuoka Prefecture.
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Wrestling: Stigmatized coach of Olympic champs drops dictatorial ways
TOKYO - A key figure in the rise of women's wrestling in Japan, coach Kazuhito Sakae is now rebuilding his coaching career after quitting his national team and university duties over his abusive training methods.
Under Sakae's tutelage, Japanese women won 11 Olympic gold medals from 2004 to 2016, but the wrestlers, including, Kaori Icho, winner of four straight Olympic golds, were subjected to much harsher training than national men's team wrestlers were required to endure.
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Football: Marinos stay unbeaten, prolong Reds' winless start
YOKOHAMA - Defending champions Yokohama F Marinos made it two wins from two to start the J-League top-flight season, beating Urawa Reds 2-0 on goals from Anderson Lopes and Yan Matheus in the home opener Saturday at Nissan Stadium.
Accustomed to dominating the ball, Kevin Muscat's men had only a moderate edge in possession, but were more clinical when it counted against a visiting Reds outfit still looking for their first win under Polish manager Maciej Skorza.
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Video: Pandas arrive in China from western Japan zoo
