TOKYO -- Japan will ask other countries to ease entry requirements for holders of its COVID-19 vaccination certificate while exploring reciprocal moves for incoming travelers as part of a push to revive international travel.

The vaccine certificates, which will include such information as the date of vaccination and its manufacturer, are slated to debut in July. The documents will be issued through municipalities, using special paper to combat counterfeiting. Plans are to eventually offer them digitally via app.

Under the diplomatic rule of reciprocity, countries are expected to

TOKYO -- Though Japan's population continues to decline, about 300 growing communities nationwide have bucked the trend thanks in part to their investments in child care assistance for families.

Japan's population of 126.22 million in 2020 was down 0.7% from the 2015 count, preliminary twice-a-decade census data released Friday shows. More than 80% of cities, towns and villages lost residents. The total population declined for the second

TOKYO -- On the same day Toshiba shareholders voted to remove the company's board chairman, Japan's industry minister suggested that corporations key to national security need protection from activist investors.

"We will consider in the government whether there are ways to enable a certain measure of deterrence in cases where particular companies' business environment becomes unstable, threatening vital operations or research and development," Hiroshi Kajiyama, who heads the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, told reporters Friday.

The comments suggest concern that Japan'

Nobuko Kobayashi is a partner with EY Strategy and Consulting Co., Ltd., Strategy and Transactions -- EY-Parthenon.

Around the world, the countdown to humanity's numerical demise is audible. Under the influence of the pandemic, both China and the U.S. recently posted their slowest rates of population growth respectively since the early 1960s and 1900.

If any country is ahead of the curve in terms of shrinking demographics, it is Japan, where the population started

JAKARTA -- China's Sinovac Biotech coronavirus vaccine is not approved for use in Japan.

But still unvaccinated, Japanese diplomats at the embassy in Jakarta are seriously considering taking up the Indonesian government's offer to provide Sinovac shots to diplomatic missions.

The diplomats are on the front line of information gathering, often meeting with foreign counterparts in person. Being vaccinated is a basic etiquette in meeting other foreign diplomats, but many of Japan's diplomats overseas remain unvaccinated, in large part due to the Foreign Ministry's

NEW YORK -- 7-Eleven will divest 293 retail fuel outlets in the U.S. to settle antitrust charges around its acquisition of Speedway from Marathon Petroleum, the Federal Trade Commission said Friday, suggesting a regulatory hurdle has been cleared for the $21 billion deal.

The stores 7-Eleven is ordered to sell are located across 20 states in markets that an FTC analysis deemed vulnerable to monopolistic behavior if the Speedway merger went through as is.

The FTC's announcement came a month after

Rupa Subramanya is a researcher and commentator.

At the conclusion of the Group of Seven summit in the U.K. last week, the group's seven advanced economies, along with India, South Korea, Australia and South Africa, signed a joint statement in favor of freedom of expression.

The statement followed a session on open societies at which India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a keynote speaker. Attending virtually, Modi claimed that "democracy and freedom are a part of India's civilizational ethos."

SEOUL -- South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang is facing a potential consumer boycott after a logistics center warehouse blaze left a firefighter dead, the latest in a series of unflattering incidents for a company that wants to make itself indispensable to shoppers.

Coupang's customers, which it estimates to number about 15 million, are drawn to features like its Rocket Delivery service, which promises same-day or overnight arrival. Demand for its services ballooned as more people shopped from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

TOKYO -- Israel, the country that has fully vaccinated the largest share of its population against COVID-19, is back on alert as infections rise and experts increasingly suspect the virus may stick around like the flu.

The small Middle Eastern state has verified over 100 new cases for four straight days this week -- a modest rise compared with many countries, but the highest numbers since April. The increase is largely being blamed on the more infectious delta variant spreading in schools, spurring a push to vaccinate