Japan | News

Japan has scrambled jets to monitor Russian and Chinese air forces conducting joint patrols around the country, the Japanese defence ministry said late Tuesday, amid rising tensions between Tokyo and Beijing. Two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable strategic bombers flew from the Sea of Japan toward the East China Sea to rendezvous with two Chinese H-6 bombers, and performed a “long-distance joint flight” in the Pacific, the ministry said. Four Chinese J-16 fighter jets joined the bombers as they made a round-trip flight between Japan’s Okinawa and Miyako islands, it added. The Miyako Strait between the two islands is classified as international waters. Japan also detected simultaneous Russian air force activity in the Sea of Japan, consisting of one early-warning aircraft A-50 and two Su-30 fighters, the ministry said. Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said in a post on X on Wednesday that the Russian and Chinese joint operations were “clearly intended as a show of force against our nation, which is a ser...

Japan’s FSA is set to mandate liability reserves for crypto exchanges to boost consumer protection. The new rules are set to change the market. Japan is in the process of introducing significant changes to cryptocurrency regulation following renewed attention to Mt. Gox-related repayment activity in 2024. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) plans to introduce new rules requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to maintain special “liability reserves” to protect customers if their assets are lost due to hacks or unauthorized transfers. The measures aim to bring the cryptocurrency sector closer to the strict standards applied to traditional financial institutions in Japan, one of the world’s most heavily regulated markets. Read more

The Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) on Monday reported a 7.6 magnitude earthquake off the coast of its eastern Aomori prefecture. The JMA reported that the epicentre of the quake was registered off the coast of Aomori at a depth of 80 kilometres at 11:15pm local time (7:15pm PKT). On Japan’s 1-7 scale of seismic intensity, the tremor registered as an “upper 6” in Aomori prefecture — a quake strong enough to make it impossible to keep standing or move without crawling. In such tremors, most heavy furniture can collapse and wall tiles and windowpanes are damaged in many buildings. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and tsunamis from 20 to 70 cm (7 to 27 inches) high were observed at several ports, JMA said. Japanese public broadcaster NHK World reported that a tsunami warning had been issued 10 minutes later, urging citizens along the northeast coast to evacuate. Waves were estimated to reach a height of three metres. There have been no reports of casualties, bu...

Het Nederlands elftal treft Japan, Tunesië en de winnaar van de Europese play-off (Oekraïne, Polen, Zweden of Albanië) tijdens het WK voetbal van volgend jaar in de Verenigde Staten, Canada en Mexico. Dat werd vrijdagavond bekend in het John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, waar bondscoach Ronald Koeman en directeur topvoetbal Nigel de Jong aanwezig waren namens de KNVB.

Het Nederlands elftal is vrijdag bij de loting van het WK van 2026 gekoppeld aan Japan. Ook Tunesië en een land uit een Europese play-off kwamen in Washington uit de koker voor het toernooi in de Verenigde Staten, Canada en Mexico.

Indian crypto holders now hold 5 tokens on average, Ripple secures regulatory approval in Singapore, and Japan’s crypto tax: Asia Express The average crypto holder on the popular Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX is starting to diversify their portfolio, according to recent survey results. The Indian crypto investor today holds an average of 5 tokens per portfolio, CoinDCX said in an annual report released on Thursday. Its survey indicates the average investor in India has almost doubled the range of crypto tokens they hold, up from around two to three tokens in 2022. CoinDCX said that investors are increasingly exploring the potential of other blockchain networks rather than focusing solely on Bitcoin. Read more

Indian crypto holders now hold 5 tokens on average, Ripple secures regulatory approval in Singapore, and Japan’s crypto tax: Asia Express The average crypto holder on the popular Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX is starting to diversify their portfolio, according to recent survey results. The Indian crypto investor today holds an average of 5 tokens per portfolio, CoinDCX said in an annual report released on Thursday. Its survey indicates the average investor in India has almost doubled the range of crypto tokens they hold, up from around two to three tokens in 2022. CoinDCX said that investors are increasingly exploring the potential of other blockchain networks rather than focusing solely on Bitcoin. Read more

The crypto industry in Japan is poised for a surge in growth among retail investors, observers say, as the government plans to introduce a moderate 20% tax. A new, more moderate tax on digital assets in Japan is projected to make crypto more appealing to retail investors. Lawmakers in the National Diet, Japan’s legislature, reportedly support a proposal from the country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), that would lower taxes on crypto. The rate would decrease from a maximum of 55% to 20%, aligning the taxation regime more closely with traditional assets and securities. Relaxing the tax code reflects a growing trend of the government moderating its stance toward crypto in Japan. From a relative gray zone to strict regulations, to becoming part of a national growth plan, the government has gradually recognized crypto as part of the financial industry. Read more

Bitcoin’s decline to $84,000 was driven by US dollar stablecoin concerns, a weakening global macroeconomic outlook and factors beyond Japan’s bond market stress. Key takeaways: Stablecoin concerns, regulatory pressure, and reduced risk appetite among traders weighed more on Bitcoin than Japan’s bond-market moves. Reduced confidence in global growth and stress on digital asset reserve companies amplified BTC selling and subsequent stop losses. Read more

De gouverneur van de Bank of Japan heeft de deur naar een renteverhoging opengezet. Het ‘keerpunt voor de yen’, aldus analisten.

Bitcoin price erased recent gains, shedding nearly 5% to below $87,000 in early Asian trading hours on Dec. 1. This came as a surge in Japanese government bond yields triggered a broad risk-off sentiment, shattering a fragile, low-volume market structure. According to CryptoSlate data, BTC fell from a consolidation range near $91,000, wiping out approximately […] The post $150B wiped: Bitcoin drops below $87k on Japan yield shock appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Japan is quietly preparing the most pro-crypto shift of any G7 nation. According to multiple reports from local media, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) is drafting a sweeping reclassification of digital assets that would bring Bitcoin, Ethereum, and around 100 other tokens under the same umbrella as stocks and investment funds. If the plan moves […] The post Japan’s 20% crypto tax sets a new bar in Asia, pressuring Singapore and Hong Kong as retail costs fall appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A fire ripped through more than 170 buildings and killed one person in a southern Japanese coastal city on Wednesday, with military and firefighting helicopters scrambling to extinguish the country’s largest urban blaze in almost half a century. Aerial footage from broadcasters showed houses reduced to rubble and thick plumes of smoke rising from the hilly Saganoseki district of Oita city, which overlooks a fishing harbour renowned for its premium Seki-brand mackerel. The flames had also spread to nearby forested slopes and an uninhabited island more than one kilometre off the coast, likely due to strong winds, local media reported. The blaze started on Tuesday evening and has burned 48,900 square metres — roughly the size of seven soccer fields — forcing 175 residents in the district, some 770 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, to flee to an emergency shelter, Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. The cause of the fire was under investigation, the agency added. One person has been found dead, local m...

Japan’s FSA plans to reclassify crypto as financial products, enforce new disclosure and insider trading rules, and cut the crypto tax rate from 55% to a flat 20%. Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is preparing an overhaul of the country’s crypto regulatory framework, moving to classify digital assets as “financial products” under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. The plan would introduce mandatory disclosures for 105 cryptocurrencies listed on domestic exchanges, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), and bring them under insider trading regulations for the first time, according to a Sunday report from Asahi Shinmun. If enacted, exchanges would be required to disclose detailed information about each of the 105 tokens they list, including whether the asset has an identifiable issuer, the blockchain technology underpinning it and its volatility profile, per the report. Read more

A volcano on Sakurajima in southwestern Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture erupted early on Sunday morning, spewing ash and smoke up to 4,400 metres into the atmosphere, according to Kyodo News. As the eruption continued, the weather agency issued an ashfall forecast for parts of Kagoshima, Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures. However, no injuries or building damages have been reported. “An explosive eruption around 12:57am (8:57am PKT) on Sunday at the Minamidake crater sent a plume rising above 4,000m for the first time since October 18 last year,” the news agency said citing the local meteorological observatory. In the latest series of eruptions, large volcanic rocks flew “as far as the fifth station”, but no pyroclastic flows were detected, said Kyodo News. It added that the alert level remains at a three on a scale of five, restricting access to the mountain. Sakurajima is one of Japan’s most active volcanoes and is linked to the Osumi Peninsula on Kyushu, the country’s southwestern main island. The agency adds ...

Stablecoin issuers could become key buyers of Japan’s government bonds, filling the void as the central bank scales back its $9 trillion debt purchases. The post Stablecoin May Replace Central Bank Demand in Japan’s $9 Trillion Bond Market appeared first on Cryptonews.

The sense of fear is palpable in parts of northern Japan, where some locals have fastened bells to their bags hoping the noise will keep bears away, while signs warn people to be on guard. The animals have killed a record 13 across the country since April, with a steady flow of reports of bears entering homes, roaming near schools and rampaging in supermarkets. “We hear news almost every day about people being attacked or injured,” said 28-year-old Kakeru Matsuhashi, a traditional “Matagi” hunter, as he walked through a forest clutching a knife. “It’s becoming something that feels personal, and it’s simply frightening,” he added in the northern prefecture of Akita, an area hit by a series of attacks. This year, the number of fatalities is double the previous record of 2023-24, with five months of the fiscal year still to go. Data is patchy from certain regions, but in recent years, Japan has seen among the highest number of fatal attacks globally. Bells used for warning bears of approaching hikers are seen at...

Ukraine can significantly expand its cooperation with Japan, and it intends to do so.

Canaan will supply 4.5 megawatts of water-cooled Bitcoin mining ASICs to a Japanese engineering firm for real-time grid balancing and energy optimization. Mining hardware producer Canaan won a contract to supply 4.5 megawatts (MW) of Bitcoin mining application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for a project designed to help stabilize Japan’s electric grid. According to a Thursday announcement, the company will supply an electrical engineering solutions provider Bitcoin mining ASICs with a capacity of 4.5 MW. The project will deploy Canaan’s new Avalon A1566HA-488T water-cooled mining ASICs for “real-time grid balancing and energy-efficiency optimization,” Canaan said. The mining operation will run continuously and utilize controlled overclocking and underclocking, adjusting power consumption to stabilize the regional grid load. Canaan’s proprietary control systems will dynamically adjust frequency, voltage and hashrate to match power supply and demand. Read more

Bybit suspends new accounts in Japan, halting new user sign-ups from October 31, citing compliance with stricter regulations being prepared by the country's FSA. The post Bybit Suspends New Accounts in Japan as FSA Prepares Stricter Crypto Regulations appeared first on Cryptonews.