Capital city of Kyoto Prefecture, cultural anchor of Greater Kyoto in Japan
Suzuki has died at age 93 from heart failure at his Tokyo home, according to Seven-Eleven operator Seven & i Holdings. He helped bring 7-Eleven to Japan and led 7-Eleven Japan for four decades, overseeing a shift from a single store to tens of thousands of locations and pioneering in-store banking and other services.
Weston Higginbotham, a 20-year-old Auburn student, has been found deceased by a volunteer search‑and‑rescue team in a mountainous area outside Kyoto, Japan. His family says the grief is overwhelming; authorities have not immediately disclosed a cause of death. He went missing on May 29 during a family trip to Kyoto.
The yen has weakened to multi-decade lows as US rates remain higher than Japan's. Intervention is being considered, but the long-running carry trade and energy costs keep downward pressure on the currency. Markets are watching potential official action and the broader implications for Japan's economy and global markets.
Kyoto's Gion Matsuri festival, one of Japan's oldest rites, draws crowds for a centuries-old parade of 12-ton floats. Scholars describe it as an offering to deities, rooted in epidemic protection, while the Meiji-era split of Shinto and Buddhism reshaped its religious practices.
Japan and the United States have conducted a coordinated yen-buying intervention after the currency fell to four-decade lows near ¥163. Officials have said the joint action has pushed the yen toward ¥156–157, that both sides remain ready to act again, and that Washington sold euros rather than dollars to fund its purchases to avoid disrupting US Treasury markets.