Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and British leader David Cameron agreed Tuesday in Tokyo to strengthen bilateral defense cooperation, including joint weapons development, in what will be the first such case since Japan eased its de facto ban on arms exports. It is also the ...

The alliance between the Democratic Party of Japan and the reshaped Kokumin Shinto (People’s New Party) got off to a shaky start Friday as both parties tried to move on after dealing with internal conflict created by the consumption tax bill. Kokumin Shinto officially ...

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb expressed hope in Tokyo Thursday that the contentious relocation of the Futenma air base will move forward now that Japan and the United States have agreed to delink the issue from the transfer of thousands of marines to Guam. The ...

Divisions within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan deepened Monday as a lawmaker resigned in a show of defiance against Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s key bill to double the consumption tax to 10 percent. Takatane Kiuchi, a DPJ freshman and follower of DPJ kingpin ...

The March 2011 disasters have increased Japanese awareness of international cooperation, says Sadako Ogata, and the departing president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency hopes this will lead the government to play a larger role in assisting developing nations. When Japan was hit last ...

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his ruling Democratic Party of Japan-led government managed to submit the contentious bill to the Diet on Friday to double the consumption tax to 10 percent by 2015, while junior coalition partner Kokumin Shinto (People’s New Party) was on ...

The Democratic Party of Japan endorsed a bill Wednesday to double the consumption tax to 10 percent by October 2015 after forcibly ending discussions dominated by party members critical of the DPJ leadership. With the DPJ’s stamp of approval, the administration is ready to ...