Transcript

Welcome to Japan Daily News on April 15th. Here are today’s headlines:

• The Self-Defense Forces are aiming to resume their saturation diving method, which was canceled the day before due to a helicopter accident near Miyako Island, Okinawa. The team is working to find the missing members and resume the diving operation on April 15th.

• An international working group on anti-money laundering, which reviews measures against money laundering in each country, has confirmed that it will strengthen its response to new risks such as cyber-attacks by North Korea that steal cryptocurrencies. The meeting was held in Tokyo until April 14th.

• The National Tax Agency will strengthen its efforts to disseminate information on the “invoice system,” which aims to accurately grasp the amount of consumption tax paid, ahead of its implementation in October. The agency will hold individual consultation sessions at tax offices around the country for small business owners, among others.

• A robbery occurred at a store that buys and sells luxury goods near JR Okachimachi Station in Ueno, Tokyo on the night of April 14th. A man broke into the store and fled with several watches. The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the incident.

• A collision between two cars in Gero, Gifu on the afternoon of April 14th resulted in the death of two women in their 70s and injuries to four others, including two children.

• A company executive who was involved in the production of videos for former Senator Garsee, who is suspected of repeatedly threatening celebrities on a video-sharing site, has been arrested on suspicion of coercion upon returning from the United Arab Emirates on April 14th. The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the details of the video distribution.

• A memorial service was held at the Kumamoto Prefectural Office on April 14th, seven years after the series of earthquakes in Kumamoto that claimed 276 lives, including those related to disaster.

• The government plans to establish a new study group consisting of related ministries and agencies to address the challenges of generating AI such as ChatGPT, which automatically creates text and images, and to make effective use of it in various fields.

That’s it for today’s Japan Daily News. Thank you for listening.