Boxing: Naoya Inoue ahead of title match in Riyadh

Boxing: Naoya Inoue ahead of title match in Riyadh

Undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue of Japan poses during an event held in Riyadh on Dec. 23, 2025, ahead of a title match against challenger Alan Picasso of Mexico in the Saudi Arabian capital on Dec. 27.

Boxing: Naoya Inoue ahead of title match in Riyadh

Boxing: Naoya Inoue ahead of title match in Riyadh

Undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (C) of Japan speaks during an event held in Riyadh on Dec. 23, 2025, ahead of a title match against challenger Alan Picasso of Mexico in the Saudi Arabian capital on Dec. 27.

Boxing: Inoue trains in Los Angeles

Boxing: Inoue trains in Los Angeles

Undisputed super bantamweight boxing champion Naoya Inoue of Japan takes part in an open training session in front of the media at a gym in Los Angeles that he held immediately after arriving from Tokyo, ahead of his May 4 title fight in Las Vegas against Ramon Cardenas of the United States, ranked first by the World Boxing Association.

Boxing: Inoue trains in Los Angeles

Boxing: Inoue trains in Los Angeles

Undisputed super bantamweight boxing champion Naoya Inoue of Japan poses for a photo during an open training session in front of the media at a gym in Los Angeles that he held immediately after arriving from Tokyo, ahead of his May 4 title fight in Las Vegas against Ramon Cardenas of the United States, ranked first by the World Boxing Association.

Boxing: Annual award ceremony

Boxing: Annual award ceremony

Japan's undisputed super bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue (R) and WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani chat during an annual award ceremony for Japanese boxers in Tokyo on March 31, 2025.

Boxing: Annual award ceremony

Boxing: Annual award ceremony

Japan's undisputed super bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue (R) and WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani pose for a photo during an annual award ceremony for Japanese boxers in Tokyo on March 31, 2025.

BOXING: Annual award ceremony

BOXING: Annual award ceremony

Japan's undisputed super bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue (R) and WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani shake hands during an annual award ceremony for Japanese boxers in Tokyo on March 31, 2025.

Boxing: Annual award ceremony

Boxing: Annual award ceremony

Japan's undisputed super bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue (R) and WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani shake hands during an annual award ceremony for Japanese boxers in Tokyo on March 31, 2025.

ANA plane to promote 2025 World Expo

ANA plane to promote 2025 World Expo

All Nippon Airways Co. President Shinichi Inoue (C, L) attends an unveiling ceremony for a special Boeing 737-800 jetliner at Haneda airport in Tokyo on Dec. 12, 2024, to promote the 2025 World Expo in Osaka. ANA plans to hold demonstration flights of its flying car near the venue of the Expo, which opens in April.

Baseball: Premier12

Baseball: Premier12

Japan's Haruto Inoue throws against the Dominican Republic in an opening round Group B game at the Premier12 baseball tournament in Taipei on Nov. 18, 2024.

Boxing: Inoue vs. Doheny

Boxing: Inoue vs. Doheny

Japan's Naoya Inoue (L) looks on as his Irish opponent TJ Doheny (front R) walks away after an exchange in the seventh round of a bout in which Inoue retained the undisputed super bantamweight world title via technical knockout at Tokyo's Ariake Arena on Sept. 3, 2024.

Boxing: Inoue before Doheny fight

YOKOHAMA, Japan, Aug. 21 Kyodo - Super bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue of Japan holds an open training session at Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama near Tokyo on Aug. 21, 2024, ahead of a title match in Tokyo against former IBF title holder TJ Doheny of Ireland on Sept. 3. (Kyodo)

Japan: Intense Rain Hits Evening Rush Hour In Tokyo, Trains Suspended 8

Heavy rainfall hit the Tokyo metropolitan area on Wednesday, August 21 disrupting some train services during evening rush hour. Videos posted on social media shows water falling from ceilings like a waterfall inside stations and streets flooded like a river across the city.

Boxing: Inoue before Doheny fight

Boxing: Inoue before Doheny fight

Super bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue of Japan holds an open training session at Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama near Tokyo on Aug. 21, 2024, ahead of a title match in Tokyo against former IBF title holder TJ Doheny of Ireland on Sept. 3.

Boxing: Inoue before Doheny fight

Boxing: Inoue before Doheny fight

Super bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue of Japan holds an open training session at Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama near Tokyo on Aug. 21, 2024, ahead of a title match in Tokyo against former IBF title holder TJ Doheny of Ireland on Sept. 3.

Boxing: Inoue before Doheny fight

Boxing: Inoue before Doheny fight

Super bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue of Japan holds an open training session at Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama near Tokyo on Aug. 21, 2024, ahead of a title match against former IBF title holder TJ Doheny of Ireland on Sept. 3.

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Japan's Naoya Inoue, the world's undisputed super bantamweight champion, speaks at an awards dinner in New York on June 6, 2024, after winning the Sugar Ray Robinson Award as the Boxing Writers Association of America's Fighter of the Year for 2023.

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Japan's Naoya Inoue, the world's undisputed super bantamweight champion, holds an open training session at Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama near Tokyo on May 29, 2024. He successfully defended his four crowns against Mexico's Luis Nery in a title fight earlier in the month.

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Japan's Naoya Inoue, the world's undisputed super bantamweight champion, holds an open training session at Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama near Tokyo on May 29, 2024. He successfully defended his four crowns against Mexico's Luis Nery in a title fight earlier in the month.

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Japan's Naoya Inoue, the world's undisputed super bantamweight champion, holds an open training session at Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama near Tokyo on May 29, 2024. He successfully defended his four crowns against Mexico's Luis Nery in a title fight earlier in the month.

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Japan's Naoya Inoue, the world's undisputed super bantamweight champion, holds an open training session at Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama near Tokyo on May 29, 2024. He successfully defended his four crowns against Mexico's Luis Nery in a title fight earlier in the month.

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Boxing: Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue

Japan's Naoya Inoue, the world's undisputed super bantamweight champion, holds an open training session at Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama near Tokyo on May 29, 2024. He successfully defended his four crowns against Mexico's Luis Nery in a title fight earlier in the month.

All Nippon Airways President Inoue

All Nippon Airways President Inoue

All Nippon Airways Co. President Shinichi Inoue gives an interview at the airline's head office in Tokyo on May 17, 2024.

Boxing: Inoue vacates 4 belts, moves up to super bantam

Undefeated Japanese boxer Naoya Inoue announced his decision Friday to relinquish all four bantamweight belts and move up to the super bantamweight division. The 29-year-old, nicknamed "Monster," completed a sweep of the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF belts last month with an 11th-round knockout of Britain's Paul Butler, who came in as the World Boxing Organization's bantamweight champion. "The real battle starts from here," Inoue said at a press conference in Yokohama. "I'm very excited." He became the first Japanese to top the pound-for-pound rankings published by the prestigious Ring magazine in June 2022 and now has a 24-0 record, with 21 knockouts.

Spa Resort Hawaiians to have new hula, facility

Spa Resort Hawaiians to have new hula, facility

IWAKI, Japan - President Naomi Inoue (L) of Jaban Kosan Co., an operator of Spa Resort Hawaiians in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, is flanked by the new mascot character "Big Sister CoCo" on Dec. 11, 2014. Inoue said the hot spring theme park in northeastern Japan will introduce new hula dancing performances and a big aquarium in 2015 to celebrate the resort's 50th anniversary.

Yahoo to seek greater tie-ups with newspaper firms, broadcasters

Yahoo to seek greater tie-ups with newspaper firms, broadcasters

TOKYO, Japan - Masahiro Inoue, president of Yahoo Japan Corp., speaks in an interview with Kyodo News on Sept. 14. Inoue expressed interest to seek tie-ups with a wide range of mass media, including newspapers and broadcasters in order to obtain more Net-based advertisers.

Japan pro boxer Inoue gets domestic MVP award

Japan pro boxer Inoue gets domestic MVP award

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese professional boxer Naoya Inoue, shown in an undated photo, wins the 2014 Most Valuable Player award from the Japan Boxing Commission on Jan. 6, 2015, for setting a Japan record by needing just eight career fights to capture world championships in two weight categories -- super flyweight and light flyweight.

Work room of Godzilla movie art director exhibited

Work room of Godzilla movie art director exhibited

FUKUOKA, Japan - The work room of the late Yasuyuki Inoue, a Japanese art director of special effects involved in the production of Godzilla movies, is displayed on Aug. 19, 2014, at an exhibition of his mementos in Koga, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

'Hula girls' company gives donation to quake victims

'Hula girls' company gives donation to quake victims

TOKYO, Japan - President Naomi Inoue (2nd from front L) of Joban Kosan Co., an operator of hot spring theme park Spa Resort Hawaiians in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, poses with "hula girls" and others for a photo commemorating the company's donation of revenue from a recent hula performance to the Great East Japan Earthquake Recovery Initiatives Foundation at the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Tokyo on Aug. 4, 2014.

Japan gov't to seek Cabinet approval on defense policy

Japan gov't to seek Cabinet approval on defense policy

TOKYO, Japan - Senior lawmakers of Japan's New Komeito party -- (from R) Secretary General Yoshihisa Inoue, party leader Natsuo Yamaguchi and deputy chief Kazuo Kitagawa -- attend an in-house meeting on June 30, 2014, in Tokyo to discuss security issues. The government is in the final stages of talks on obtaining Cabinet approval to reinterpret the Constitution to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense.

Ruling bloc eyes deal as gov't drafts decision on collective defense

Ruling bloc eyes deal as gov't drafts decision on collective defense

TOKYO, Japan - Ruling bloc lawmakers -- (from R) Liberal Democratic Party Vice President Masahiko Komura, New Komeito party deputy chief Kazuo Kitagawa and New Komeito Secretary General Yoshihisa Inoue -- attend a meeting on June 27, 2014, in Tokyo to discuss Japan's exercise of the right to collective self-defense. The two parties are expected to reach an agreement after focusing on a review of Japan's legal constraints on the Self-Defense Forces under the pacifist Constitution.

Tohoku Electric files for safety review to allow reactor resumption

Tohoku Electric files for safety review to allow reactor resumption

TOKYO, Japan - Shigeru Inoue, vice president of Tohoku Electric Power Co., (R) submits an application for a state safety assessment of a nuclear reactor at its Higashidori plant to a Nuclear Regulation Authority official in Tokyo on June 10, 2014. The No. 1 reactor at the plant is the 19th in Japan for which a safety review application has been filed since safety requirements were tightened last year in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.

Peach Aviation

Peach Aviation

OSAKA, Japan - Peach Aviation Ltd. CEO Shinichi Inoue is pictured during an interview in Osaka, western Japan, on Dec. 26, 2013. He said the budget carrier aims to start a service linking Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, and a Southeast Asian city in 2014.

Japanese, N. Korean children to work for peace through drawings

Japanese, N. Korean children to work for peace through drawings

OSAKA, Japan - An Inoue (R), a fifth grader from Tokyo's Chuo Ward, draws a picture, together with a 10-year-old local girl at Rungra elementary school in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Aug. 30, 2013.

Japanese conductor in Pyongyang

Japanese conductor in Pyongyang

PYONGYANG, North Korea - Michiyoshi Inoue, an award-winning Japanese conductor, is interviewed by Kyodo News at a hotel in Pyongyang on March 7, 2013, a day before his planned concert in the North Korean capital.

Comedian admits mother had lived on welfare

Comedian admits mother had lived on welfare

TOKYO, Japan - Comedian Junichi Komoto holds a press conference at the Tokyo headquarters of Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., the entertainment company he belongs to, on May 25, 2012. The popular comedian, who with Satoshi Inoue forms the standup comedy duo Jicho Kacho, publicly offered an apology after confirming media reports that his mother, despite having a high-income-earning son, had received welfare benefits for 14 to 15 years until April, when the rumor started.

Comedian admits mother had lived on welfare

Comedian admits mother had lived on welfare

TOKYO, Japan - Comedian Junichi Komoto holds a press conference at the Tokyo headquarters of Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., the entertainment company he belongs to, on May 25, 2012. The popular comedian, who with Satoshi Inoue forms the standup comedy duo Jicho Kacho, publicly offered an apology after confirming media reports that his mother, despite having a high-income-earning son, had received welfare benefits for 14 to 15 years until April, when the rumor started.

Comedian admits mother had lived on welfare

Comedian admits mother had lived on welfare

TOKYO, Japan - Comedian Junichi Komoto (C) bows in apology during a press conference at the Tokyo headquarters of Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., the entertainment company he belongs to, on May 25, 2012. The popular comedian, who with Satoshi Inoue forms the standup comedy duo Jicho Kacho, publicly offered an apology after confirming media reports that his mother, despite having a high-income-earning son, had received welfare benefits for 14 to 15 years until April, when the rumor started.

ANA affiliated low-cost carrier

ANA affiliated low-cost carrier

OSAKA, Japan - Peach Aviation Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Shinichi Inoue holds an airplane model at a press conference in Osaka in May 2011. Peach Aviation, a Japanese low-cost carrier owned partially by All Nippon Airways Co., plans to begin operating flights in March 2012.

Boxing: Inoue becomes undisputed bantamweight champion

Boxing: Inoue becomes undisputed bantamweight champion

Japan's Naoya Inoue (L) tries to lure Britain's Paul Butler into launching an attack by leaving himself open in the middle of the ring in the sixth round of their bantamweight title unification boxing match at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on Dec. 13, 2022. (Pool photo)

Playwright, peace activist Hisashi Inoue dies at 75

Playwright, peace activist Hisashi Inoue dies at 75

TOKYO, Japan - April 2008 file photo shows playwright Hisashi Inoue speaking during an interview in Tokyo. Inoue, who was also a pacifist and was known for his activities promoting peace as one of the nine founding members of the Article 9 Association died of lung cancer on April 9, 2010, at his home in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture. He was 75.

'Ecozzeria' center aims to lead Marunouchi into eco-friendly era

'Ecozzeria' center aims to lead Marunouchi into eco-friendly era

TOKYO, Japan - Naka Inoue talks about a variety of eco-projects at the ''Ecozzeria'' center in the Shin-Marunouchi Building in Tokyo in an interview with Kyodo News on Dec. 2, 2009.

Cadbury to launch friendly bid for candy maker Sansei Foods

Cadbury to launch friendly bid for candy maker Sansei Foods

TOKYO, Japan - Yukari Inoue (L), president of Cadbury Japan Ltd., and Jiro Yumoto, president of Sansei Foods Co., pose for photographers at a news conference in Tokyo on June 18 after announcing that an investment unit of Cadbury Schweppes plc will launch a friendly bid of up to 13.75 billion yen for Sansei Foods Co. and turn the Japanese candy maker into a wholly owned subsidiary.

Huser chief called for delay in revealing quake data fabrication

Huser chief called for delay in revealing quake data fabrication

TOKYO, Japan - Masakazu Inoue, head of Space One design office, testifies as an unsworn witness at the Committee of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the House of Representatives on Jan. 19.

Malaysia police interview released crewmen

Malaysia police interview released crewmen

PENANG, Malaysia - Shunji Kuroda (R), chief engineer of Japan's tugboat Idaten and the ship's captain Nobuo Inoue (L) arrive at a police office in Penang on March 22 for an interview with police about their abduction by pirates. Kuroda, Inoue and third engineer Edgardo Sadang of the Philippines were found safe on March 20 after being abducted by pirates in the Malacca Strait.

Suzuki downs Inoue in open class to win ticket to Athens

Suzuki downs Inoue in open class to win ticket to Athens

TOKYO, Japan - Reigning world champion Keiji Suzuki (L) throws up arms in joy after defeating Sydney Olympic gold medalist Kosei Inoue (R) in the open class final at the judo national championships to secure an Olympic berth on April 29.

(3)Kyoto dance master Inoue Yachiyo IV dies at 98

(3)Kyoto dance master Inoue Yachiyo IV dies at 98

KYOTO, Japan - Inoue Yachiyo IV (L), a living national treasure and the master of the Inoue school of Kyoto dancing, died March 19, her family said March 24. She was 98. Photo shows Inoue handing a dancing fan to an apprentice dancer in December 1998.

(4)2 Japanese diplomats killed in Iraq

(4)2 Japanese diplomats killed in Iraq

TOKYO, Japan - Masamori Inoue (R), a third secretary from the Japanese Embassy in Baghdad, is seen unfolding a Japanese national flag at the embassy on May 8, 2003 when the embassy resumed business after a two-month hiatus. Inoue and Katsuhiko Oku, a counselor from the Japanese Embassy in London, were killed in an ambush in northern Iraq on Nov. 29.

Kamagaya mayor held on suspicion of bribery

Kamagaya mayor held on suspicion of bribery

CHIBA, Japan - Keiichiro Minagawa, mayor of Kamagaya in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, leaves his home in Kamagaya on May 30 to be questioned by prosecutors on suspicion of taking bribes from a construction company via an aide to former House of Councillors President Yutaka Inoue. The mayor was arrested later.

Inoue bows at news conference

Inoue bows at news conference

TOKYO, Japan - Former House of Councillors President Yutaka Inoue bows at the end of his news conference May 2. He resigned as an upper house member to take responsibility for his former state-paid aide's involvement in a bribery scandal in 1998 in his constituency.