Japan's new banknotes

Japan's new banknotes

Susumu Kojima, mayor of Saitama Prefecture's Fukaya, the hometown of industrialist Eiichi Shibusawa (1840-1931), rings the bell at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo during an event on July 3, 2024, as Japan begins issuing three new banknotes the same day, including a 10,000 yen note featuring Shibusawa, widely known as the "father of Japanese capitalism."

Paralympic athletes visit mayor in Saitama Pref.

Paralympic athletes visit mayor in Saitama Pref.

TOKYO, Japan - Toshihiro Abe (L) and Momoka Muraoka (R), the oldest and youngest athletes on Japan's Sochi Paralympic Games team, shake hands with Fukaya Mayor Susumu Kojima during their visit to the Fukaya city hall in Saitama Prefecture on Jan. 23, 2014. Abe, 42, and Muraoka, 16, are both residents of the eastern Japan city. The two will compete in alpine skiing events at the Sochi games in March.

Gov't interviews condo developers over data falsification scam

Gov't interviews condo developers over data falsification scam

TOKYO, Japan - Susumu Kojima (L), president of Huser Ltd., sits in a branch office of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Nov. 25 in Tokyo for questioning by ministry officials over condominiums built with false quake-resistance data. The interview was conducted after an architect acknowledged that he falsified structural data for at least 21 buildings in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures.

Saitama Institute of Technology's demonstration experiment with self-driving school buses

Saitama Institute of Technology's demonstration experiment with self-driving school buses

A monitor will be installed inside the bus to display the results of analysis of data acquired by the high-function sensor riders and other devices. At the departure ceremony held on the same day, Fukaya Mayor Susumu Kojima touched on Shibusawa Eiichi, who will be the main character in NHK's historical drama series in 2009, saying, "It takes about 10 minutes to walk between the Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Museum in the city and 'Naka no Ie' (his birthplace). I want to run an automatic bus next year," he said. (= December 23, 2019, photo location unknown, credit: Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun / Kyodo News Images)