Japan's Prime Minister has started the new extraordinary session of the Diet by stressing he intends to achieve consensus with opposition parties. He needs to secure. a wider support after the ruling coalition lost its majority in last month's lower house election.
Ishiba Shigeru delivered a policy speech on Friday.
Based on the coalition between the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, I will carefully listen to opinions from other parties. and sincerely and humbly work to form a broad consensus as much as possible to protect the safety and security of the people.
On diplomacy and national security, Ishiba expressed willingness to hold frank discussions with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Ishiba says he wants to raise the country's alliance to a new level. He also pledged to drastically improve Japan's ties with South Korea,by frequently holding summit talks. The countries will mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year.
As for China, Ishiba says the government will try to communicate with the country on every level to build what he calls constructive and stable relations.
On the economy, he pledged a shift to a growth-oriented economy driven by wage hikes and investment. The ruling and opposition blocs have been discussing whether to raise the threshold for income tax to encourage more people to work further. Right now, part-time workers have to pay the income tax when their annual income exceeds 1.03 million yen, or roughly $6,900.
The so-called 1.03 million yen wall will be discussed and raised as part of tax reforms in fiscal 2025.
Some local governments oppose raising the threshold because it would lead to lower tax revenues.
For the first time, Japan's government has released the results of an expansive nationwide survey into levels of potentially harmful PFAS chemicals in tap water. None of the treatment facilities tested this fiscal year found levels beyond that target for safety. But gaps remain in the overall picture.
PFAS chemicals are a group of organic compounds which some studies argue lead to cancer risks. The new survey results cover water quality tests from the 2020 fiscal year up till this September. It found no facilities detected PFAS levels above the target for tap water in fiscal 2024.
Japan is considering upgrading its provisional target for PFAS levels to a water quality standard, which would mandate tests and improvements for water providers.
Hiroshima City is planning to create an environment at its Peace Memorial Museum for visitors to view the exhibits for visitors to view the exhibits in a relaxed and tranquil setting.
It came up with the idea in response to overcrowding at the museum.
About 1.2 million people visited in the six months from April to September. The number of visitors has been shooting up, partly because of foreign tourism. A survey by the organization that runs the museum found that students on school trips complained of congestion.
They reported difficulties such as not being able to stop in exhibits they wanted to see because there were too many people. The city wants to help younger generations learn about the atomic bombing in a calmer environment.
It plans to make use of more than 500 square meters of basement space now being used for conference rooms and other purposes. Officials are considering using virtual reality in the exhibition planned there.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has almost finished rounding out his team. He named more of his economic posts this week. The announcements are coming much faster than they did before his first term eight years ago. And he has already laid out some of his priorities, including introducing new tariffs.
Hedge fund investor Scott Bessons was picked to lead the Department of Treasury. U.S. media have described him as one of Trump's most vocal supporters in the finance world. Two officials from Trump's first term were tapped for other major posts. Kevin Hassett will head the National Economic Council. He'd previously chaired the Council of Economic Advisers.
And Jamieson Greer will be the new Trade Representative. He oversaw trade negotiations with China and Japan back during Trump's first term.
Howard Lutnick, a co-chair of Trump's transition team, was chosen to run the Commerce Department. Analysts are trying to assess how Trump's choices could impact global trade. For more on that, NHK spoke with Imamura Takashi.
He's an expert who has been watching Washington politics for decades.
Imamura says Trump's recent appointments show he's serious about his proposed tariffs. He believes Japan will first feel their impact through its manufacturing overseas.
They have already huge money to build the automobile factory in Mexico.
President Trump already saw the target of his tariff is China and Mexico.
So I think such an indirect impact should be more bigger than direct impact to the Japanese economy itself.
But the largest impact will come from the proposed tariffs on China. that could have a major impact on Asia at large, especially if some factories have to move.
Damage to Chinese manufacturing is very severe. And also like East Asian countries, ASEAN countries, also suffer the damage because their so-called global value chain that includes China and the ASEAN countries. They have to change the supply chain. That caused a huge cost for the ASEAN countries, I think. So the damage is not so small.
Imamura says all of this is being done in the name of the working class. But he said this America First policy is effectively isolationism.
So this is very dangerous for the all the global market. All the working classes they bought to the President Trump expects more high-quality and high-wage jobs in their own towns or cities by manufacturing. I think it is very difficult to do that. I think also it is out of date.
Imamura said those jobs likely won't exist without global partners. So it will be difficult for Trump to achieve both goals. He believes this will be a difficult issue throughout Trump's second term.
Australia's Upper House greenlit a bill on Thursday that bans children under the age of 16 from using social media. The legislation is expected to go into effect in about a year. The legislation will be enacted after the Governor General signs it. The measure would require social media operators to take steps to keep under-16s off their platforms.
Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X and Facebook are among those operators. But YouTube and other services that primarily support the health and education of end users would be exempt from the legislation.
Violators would face fines of up to nearly 50 million Australian dollars. That is roughly 32 million U.S. dollars.
But there would be no penalties for young rule breakers or their parents.
The latest opinion polls in the country suggest nearly 80% of respondents want the prohibition. But analysts say challenges remain, such as how to confirm a user's age and how to handle personal information. Discussions are being held around the world about restricting children's social media use. Other measures aimed at protecting kids from harmful content on the Internet are also being debated. But some children's rights organizations say it is problematic to completely ban access to social media. They point out doing so could hamper the rights of children to express themselves freely and obtain information.
Popular K-pop group New Jeans announced it was terminating its contract with management agency Adore. The group has demanded that its producer return to the agency, which they say has not listened to them.
Speaking to reporters at a news conference on Thursday, NewJeans said that Adore had neither the intention nor the ability to protect the group.
It will be a waste of time to stay in the agency. We will keep suffering mental pain if we do that. We would like to freely engage in activities we care about.
The group said since the company was the one who violated their contract, they don't need to pay penalties.
Adore said it is regrettable that the group made the announcement at a news conference without sufficient consideration. It also said the contract is still in effect.
Adore is a sub-label of the major South Korean K-pop company HYBE, which manages boy band BTS and other popular pop artists.
Now we'll check out the world weather. In the northeastern U.S., wide-stripped snow showers have caused traffic disruptions going into this Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Our meteorologist Yumi Hirano has the details.
It was severely affected by heavy rain and snow in parts of the U.S. Northeast.
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And that concludes this edition of NHK Newsline, but there's there's much more to come on NHK World Japan, so please do stay.
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