The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Shohei Ohtani's ex-interpreter appears in L.A. court as fraud case continues
LOS ANGELES - Ippei Mizuhara, formerly the interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, attended a court hearing on Tuesday over two charges including bank fraud in connection with the unauthorized use of nearly $17 million of the baseball player's money.
According to a U.S. Justice Department official, Mizuhara, 39, came to the court for a judicial procedure and is expected to enter a plea in the next hearing.
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Foreign visitors to Japan top 3 mil. for 2nd straight month in April
TOKYO - The number of foreign visitors to Japan totaled over 3.04 million in April, up 56.1 percent from a year earlier and exceeding the 3 million mark for the second consecutive month, amid the weak yen, government data showed Wednesday.
It was the second-highest monthly figure on record after 3.08 million recorded in March, and the cumulative number of visitors between January and April stood at around 11.6 million, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
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Honda slashes production workforce in China amid slumping sales
BEIJING - Honda Motor Co. is slashing its full-time production workforce in China amid slumping sales in the market, with some 1,700 employees or over 10 percent of the total staff having applied for voluntary layoffs, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
GAC Honda Automobile Co., a joint venture between Honda and Chinese state-owned automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group, began soliciting for the early exit scheme earlier this month amid an intensifying price war in the world's largest auto market, where electric vehicles account for more than 20 percent of new car sales.
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Over 80,000 foreigners working at convenience stores in Japan
TOKYO - Over 80,000 foreign nationals work part-time in Japan's three major convenience store chains, data collected by Kyodo News showed Wednesday, in a trend likely to continue amid labor shortages from an aging population.
Foreign workers now represent around 10 percent of the part-time labor force across branches of Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Lawson Inc. and FamilyMart Co. convenience stores, according to the data.
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Japan police arrest Iranian man over murder of compatriot in Nagoya
NAGOYA - Police on Wednesday arrested an Iranian man on suspicion of murdering one of his compatriots in 2015 in Nagoya, central Japan.
Seyedmohsen Rezaeikelidbari, 33, allegedly conspired with others to stab a 27-year-old man identified as Anami Shirmard Milad on a street in Nagoya around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 20, the police said.
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Man arrested for pushing 2 people onto tracks at station near Tokyo
YOKOHAMA - A man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly pushing two people onto the train tracks at a station in Kawasaki neighboring Tokyo, police said.
Takashi Akutsu, 32, is suspected of attempted murder after the two men sustained non-life-threatening injuries. No train was entering onto the tracks at Noborito Station on the JR Nambu Line, according to firefighters and East Japan Railway Co.
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Court rejects lawsuit to block restart of west Japan nuclear reactor
MATSUE, Japan - A court rejected Wednesday a lawsuit seeking to block the restart of a nuclear reactor in western Japan due to safety concerns, dismissing the plaintiffs' claim that evacuation plans in the event of a natural disaster are inadequate.
The decision by the Matsue branch of the Hiroshima High Court came ahead of the planned restart by Chugoku Electric Power Co. in December of the Shimane nuclear plant's No. 2 reactor, which is currently undergoing a safety inspection.
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Honda, IBM tie up on development of chips, software for future cars
TOKYO - Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday it will collaborate with IBM Corp. on development of semiconductors and software for future vehicles using artificial intelligence technologies.
The joint project between the Japanese automaker and the U.S. tech company is part of their effort to respond to growing demand for vehicles equipped with a variety of high-performance software, ranging from self-driving functions to entertainment systems.
Video: Giant thermometer set up in one of Japan's hottest cities
