The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Quake chaos forces Wajima kids to leave families to continue studies
KANAZAWA, Japan - Junior high school students from a quake-hit central Japan city said teary goodbyes to their families on Wednesday and headed some 100 kilometers away to community facilities where they will continue their studies.
Some 250 of the roughly 400 students from all three Wajima city-run junior high schools have opted to temporarily relocate together as their schools are either damaged or being used as evacuation centers after a magnitude-7.6 quake struck the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast on New Year's Day.
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Foreign visitors to Japan in 2023 jump over 6-fold to 25.07 million
TOKYO - The number of foreign visitors to Japan climbed more than six-fold to 25.07 million in 2023 from a year earlier, with their spending growing to a record 5.29 trillion yen ($35.8 billion), government data showed Wednesday.
The Japan National Tourism Organization said the number of overseas visitors had surged since April when Japan removed its coronavirus restrictions, with monthly visitors surpassing a pre-pandemic level for the first time in October. However, the annual total was still 21.4 percent lower than the 2019 record high of 31.88 million.
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China's 2023 GDP grows 5.2% to meet annual target, outlook bearish
BEIJING - China's economy in 2023 expanded a real 5.2 percent from a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday, with the figure meeting the country's annual target of around 5.0 percent due partly to the previous year's low base caused by the stringent "zero-COVID" policy.
But the world's second-largest economy continued to be affected by a property-sector crisis, with investment in real estate development dropping 9.6 percent, following a 10.0 percent fall in 2022.
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Japanese lawmaker Kakizawa indicted over violation of election law
TOKYO - Japanese lawmaker and former senior vice justice minister Mito Kakizawa was indicted Wednesday for violating the election law by allegedly running illegal campaign financing related to a Tokyo ward election last April, prosecutors said.
The 52-year-old former ruling Liberal Democratic Party member, who was arrested along with his four secretaries in late December, is suspected of making payments, or having offered to do so, totaling 2.8 million yen ($19,000) as bribes in connection with the Koto Ward mayoral election -- allegations to which he has admitted.
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JAL taps ex-flight attendant Tottori as 1st female president
TOKYO - Japan Airlines Co. on Wednesday tapped former flight attendant Mitsuko Tottori to become its first female president in April.
Tottori, 59, senior managing executive officer, will replace current President Yuji Akasaka, 62, who will become chairman, the airline said in a statement.
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10 injured after kindergarten bus rear-ended by crane truck in Japan
OITA, Japan - Ten people on a kindergarten bus, including eight children, sustained minor injuries after their vehicle was rear-ended by a crane truck Wednesday afternoon in southwestern Japan, local authorities said.
The accident, which occurred around 2:45 p.m. in Oita city, caused the bus to nearly flip on its side, but a driver and all on board managed to escape, according to prefectural police and the local fire department.
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Daihatsu mulls recall of up to 320,000 vehicles amid safety scandal
TOKYO - Scandal-hit Daihatsu Motor Co. said Wednesday it is considering a recall of two mini-vehicles found with a door defect, potentially affecting about 320,000 units.
The announcement comes a day after Japan's transport ministry instructed Daihatsu to consider recalling the Cast model sold under the Daihatsu brand and the Pixis Joy sold under the marque of its parent Toyota Motor Corp. in the wake of a revelation that the company had rigged safety tests for most of its models.
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Pakistan denounces Iran for air strike killing 2 children
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan denounced Iran on Wednesday for an air strike that killed two children and injured three others in the country's southwestern Balochistan province the previous day.
The South Asian country's Foreign Ministry said that it strongly condemns "the unprovoked violation" of Pakistan's airspace by Iran and the strike inside Pakistani territory, adding it has summoned Iran's charge d'affaires to convey the condemnation.
Video: Residents in Kobe pray for the victims in quake-hit Noto area
