Timeline for July 2023

3

The Bank of Japan publishes its June Tankan (Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan). The business sentiment index for large manufacturers rises to +5, a measure of the gap between those seeing a favorable outlook minus those seeing an unfavorable outlook, for the first improvement since September 2021.

The National Tax Agency announces that roadside land prices, used for calculating inheritance and gift taxes, rose 1.5% in 2023, increasing for the second consecutive year.

Ohtani Shōhei is named American League Player of the Month for June, becoming the first Japanese baseball player to win the award three times. In June, Ohtani hit 15 home runs.

4

The International Atomic Energy Agency publishes a report on the planned release of treated water into the sea from TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, saying that it is “consistent with international safety standards.” The report is submitted to Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology states that it is “appropriate to begin with limited usage” of generative AI in schools.

8

One year after the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō in Nara, a ceremony is held at the temple of Zōjōji in Tokyo.

People pay respects to former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō at Zōjōji in Tokyo on July 8, 2023. (© Reuters)

10

Shizuoka prosecutors announce their intention to prove the guilt of Hakamada Iwao in a retrial that follows his 2014 release from prison after decades on death row.

Linear rainbands lead to record downpours in northern Kyūshū causing landslides and flooding in the prefectures of Fukuoka, Ōita, and Saga, which result in nine fatalities.

Self-Defense Forces members search near where housing was swept away by debris flow caused by heavy rain. Photograph taken in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, on July 11, 2023. (© Jiji)

11

The Supreme Court rules that the government’s action to limit the use of female toilets by a transgender Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry worker is unlawful. It is the court’s first ruling on LGBT rights in the workplace.

12

North Korea launches an intercontinental ballistic missile that lands in the Japan Sea, outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. North Korean media reports it as a test launch of the Hwasong-18 ICBM.

13

The European Union ends import controls on some food products that were imposed after the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011.

14

Tokyo District Court hands down a 19-year prison sentence to an attacker who randomly attacked passengers on an Odakyū Line train with a knife in 2021, injuring three people.

The Boy and the Heron, the first film by Studio Ghibli director Miyazaki Hayao for a decade, opens across Japan.

A poster for The Boy and the Heron in Tokyo. (© Jiji)

16

Oda Tokito wins the men’s wheelchair singles title at Wimbledon for the first time. It is his second Grand Slam title after the French Open.

Oda Tokito celebrates after winning the men’s wheelchair singles title on July 16, 2023. (© Jiji)

18

A memorial ceremony is held to mark the fourth anniversary of the arson attack at Kyoto Animation that killed 36 people.

19

The Akutagawa Prize is awarded to Ichikawa Saō for Hanchibakku (The Hunchback) and the Naoki Prize goes to Nagai Sayako for Kobikichō no adauchi (Vengeance in Kobikichō) and Kakine Ryōsuke for Gokuraku seii taishōgun (Paradise Shōgun). Ichikawa, who has congenital myopathy, uses a wheelchair and a ventilator, and the protagonist of her novel also has a serious disability.

The government’s Personal Information Protection Commission conducts an on-site inspection at the Digital Agency after personal information breaches related to the My Number card.

21

The consumer price index for June rises by 3.3% year on year, up 0.1 percentage point from May.

23

The government adds 23 items of semiconductor equipment to its export control list. This is effectively a sanction aimed at China, and follows a similar move by the United States.

25

Used car dealership Bigmotor’s President Kaneshige Hiroyuki announces his resignation at a press conference after a report by an external company found widespread cases of conducting unnecessary repairs and making fraudulent insurance claims.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announces that the population of Japan was 122.4 million, as of January 1, 2023, after an 800,000 year-on-year decrease. The population of all prefectures dropped for the first time.

Boxer Inoue Naoya defeats Stephen Fulton of the United States with an eighth-round technical knockout in a world super bantamweight WBC and WBO title match. This means he has now won world titles in four weight divisions.

Inoue Naoya (right) after winning the WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles in Tokyo on July 25, 2023. (© Jiji)

26

Nissan and Renault sign an agreement over a review of their capital relationship that will see Renault reduce its stake in the Japanese company to 15% during this fiscal year to match Nissan’s stake in the French company. Nissan will also invest up to 600 million euros (¥93 billion) in Renault’s new electric vehicle company Ampere.

28

The Bank of Japan announces its decision to take a more flexible approach to adjusting interest rates, lifting its cap on long-term interest rates from 0.5% to 1.0%. It thereby aims to decrease the side effects from holding down interest rates artificially.

31

In the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Japan completes its group stage matches with a 4–0 win against Spain. This follows a 5–0 victory over Zambia on July 22, and a 2–0 win over Costa Rica on July 26.

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi, at far left, meets with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, second from left, at the Kantei in Tokyo on July 4, 2023. © Jiji.)