By Joseph Campbell and John Geddie TOKYO (Reuters) -Within days of China urging its citizens not to travel to Japan due to a diplomatic dispute, Tokyo-based tour operator East Japan International Travel Service had lost 80% of its bookings for the remainder of the year.

Firefighters and army helicopters battled a fire that burned through old wooden houses in a fishing town in southwestern Japan.

The US government plans to buy and own as many as 10 large nuclear reactors, projects that could be paid for by a $550 billion pledged investment fund being offered by Japan.The new details of the unusual arrangement were outlined Wednesday by Carl Coe,

Tension between Japan and China has escalated over the new Japanese leader's suggestion Tokyo could intervene militarily if Beijing attacks Taiwan.

Yields on the benchmark 10-year bonds, which move inversely to price, climbed 2 basis points to 1.765 per cent on Wednesday — the highest level since June 2008 and the global financial crisis. The sell-off extended to longer-dated notes. Yields on 40-year JGBs rose to a record high of 3.695 per cent.

Japan has reported its economy contracted at a 1.8% annual pace in July-September as President Donald Trump’s tariffs hurt exports.

A fire ripped through more than 170 buildings and killed one person in a southern Japanese coastal city on Wednesday, with military and firefighting helicopters scrambling to extinguish the country's largest urban blaze in almost half a century.

In the west, we tend to treat socks as an afterthought. Most of the time when we are out and about, they are covered by trousers. Women are accustomed to not wearing socks with leather shoes, and loafers without socks have been a menswear staple since the mid-20th century.

Bear sightings and attacks have increased in parts of Japan, especially in municipalities close to or adjacent to populated zones,” the U.S. Embassy said in a wildlife alert.