Overview
- Nanjo City’s assembly ousted Mayor Keishun Koja on Nov. 17 with a second no-confidence vote, and officials set the mayoral election for a Dec. 14 campaign start and Dec. 21 balloting.
- Japanese Communist Party official Akira Koike condemned Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Diet remarks on a Taiwan contingency as dangerously imprudent, warning of serious strain on Japan–China relations.
- Shimonoseki City canceled a Nov. 18–20 trip to China that included a Nov. 19 Suzhou seminar, saying counterparts notified the city the timing had become inconvenient.
- The Ground Self-Defense Force suspended a 20-something corporal for four months over upskirt filming at a station in Hokkaido, as Muroran police re-arrested a 39-year-old Malaysian man suspected as a cash courier in a ¥21.5 million fraud case.
- Police in Tomakomai reported 144 bicycle thefts through September, largely affecting high school students, while sports news noted Tokyo Paralympic cycling champion Paige Greco’s death at 28 and the Nov. 22 ‘Clasico’ alumni match cancellation for lack of preparation.