On December 25, the three NEXCO companies announced the introduction of short-time limited parking spaces for large vehicles at 24 new SA/PA locations. The “Short-Time Limited Parking Mass,” which can be used for 60 minutes or less, has been introduced sequentially at 11 SA/PAs since November 2023 as a demonstration experiment to ensure rest opportunities…

JR Bus Chugoku, Hiroshima Kotsu, and Hiroshima Bus will introduce the ICOCA system as IC card tickets on March 30, 2025. In conjunction with this, each company will begin handling ICOCA at their ticket counters and in their buses, and plans to sell tickets in advance of the introduction of the system. ICOCA has been…

summary Event Title: JICA Chair Special Lecture in Mongolia by Prof. Kitano of Waseda University Date: December 16, 2024 Organizers: National University of Mongolia, JICA Location: Ulaanbaatar (National University of Mongolia) Main Participants Speakers: Prof. Naohiro Kitano, Waseda University / Visiting Researcher, Sadako Ogata Peace and Development Institute, JICA Main participants: Researchers, graduate students, university…

Hankyu Corporation will offer same-day baggage delivery service from Osaka Umeda Station and Kyoto Kawaramachi Station to accommodations in Osaka and Kyoto. The service will be offered in conjunction with the Osaka-Kansai Expo and will run from January 15 to October 31, 2025. At Umeda Station in Osaka, the Hankyu Tourist Center Osaka-Umeda will be…

3COINS (3COINS) launched travel items for families with children before the year-end and New Year holidays. The items are available at stores nationwide and on the official mail order site. The “Odekake Desk” (1,650 yen) is a desk for children that can be installed in a stroller or car seat. It can be used to…

JR East announced that some sections of the Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines will be closed from the first train on April 19, 2025 to around midnight on April 20, 2025 due to track switching work to be carried out near Tamachi Station. First train on April 20, 2025 – service suspended around 12:00 p.m. Yamanote…

On December 25, the three NEXCO companies announced that they will postpone the start of operation of the revised late-night expressway discount from around the end of FY2024 to around July 2025. The reason is that it is taking time to develop the system necessary to calculate the fee for driving during the discount-applicable time…

summary Conference Title: JICA and JP-MIRAI co-hosted symposium “What we should work on now for institutional reform of foreign human resources acceptance”. Date: December 12, 2024 Place: International Conference Hall, JICA Ichigaya Bldg. Main Participants Speakers: Akihiko Tanaka, President, JICA; Shuji Maruyama, Director General, Immigration and Naturalization Service; Carlos Busquets, Vice President of Labor Affairs,…

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a Loan Agreement (L/A) with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia on December 24, 2012 in Jakarta, Indonesia, for the “Fishing Port and International Fish Market Integrated Development Sector Loan (Phase I)” and the “Volcano Disaster Mitigation Sector Loan”. The Loan Agreement (L/A) was signed for the…

Tokyo DisneySea will hold the special event “Duffy & Friends Wonderful Kitchen” from January 15 to March 31, 2025. In the new story, Cookie Ann creates a unique pancake dessert with ingredients for a special dish collected by Duffy and his friends, and the “pancake pan” (4,500 yen) and “apron” (3,900 yen) are available to…