Japan, 5 Central Asian Nations Start 2-Day Summit

Four major Japanese banks said Friday that they will raise their annual interest rates on ordinary deposits to 0.3pctfrom current 0.2 pct, effective Feb. 2, 2026, following the Bank of Japan's latest rate hike decision.

Japan and five Central Asian nations kicked off their first-ever leaders' meeting in Tokyo on Friday, aiming to deepen cooperation on energy and mineral resources and on artificial intelligence.

Japan's ruling parties agreed Friday to seek to reduce the country's medical costs by 188 billion yen per year, by revising the eligibility of certain drugs for insurance coverage.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is considering adding Japanese language proficiency as a requirement for permanent residency for foreigners, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. said Friday that it plans to invest some 396.2 billion Indian rupees, or about 682.3 billion yen, in major Indian nonbanking financial company Shriram Finance Ltd.

Japan's Emperor Naruhito held separate meetings with the visiting presidents of four Central Asian countries--Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan--at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Friday.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Friday instructed relevant government agencies to work to hold a summit on artificial intelligence in Japan as early as possible.

Japanese opposition parties on Friday urged Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to dismiss a senior government official who has said that the country should possess nuclear weapons.

A man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in a stabbing incident near the Mizuho PayPay Dome Fukuoka in the southwestern Japan city of Fukuoka told investigators he was targeting members of the idol group HKT48, investigative sources said Friday.

The ruling bloc of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party ()削除 adopted on Friday a tax system reform package for fiscal 2026, including a rise in the taxable income threshold to 1.78 million yen.