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August 28, 2025
 

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Jesse Johnson
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 1, 2018
Trump was talked out of pulling U.S. troops from South Korea ahead of Pyeongchang Olympics, report says
White House chief of staff John Kelly persuaded U.S. President Donald Trump not to order the withdrawal of all American troops from the Korean Peninsula ahead of the February Winter Olympics in South Korea, a report said Monday, just weeks ahead of a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un....
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 30, 2018
Mike Pompeo says he spoke with North Korea's Kim about denuclearization 'mechanism'
Newly minted U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday he has spoken with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about how the isolated country might relinquish its nuclear arsenal and what a "complete, verifiable, irreversible mechanism might look like."
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 29, 2018
North Korea's Kim vows transparency in nuclear site closure, says foreign experts and journalists can view dismantling
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un plans to shutter his country's nuclear test site next month and will invite foreign experts and journalists to view the dismantling, as planning ramps up for a landmark meeting between him and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 27, 2018
North Korea's Kim and South's Moon pledge 'new era of peace'
In a historic summit that few could have imagined just months ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced Friday the opening of "a new era of peace" that would end the Korean War and achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 26, 2018
Denuclearization to take center stage as Kim and Moon meet in rare inter-Korean summit
Sixty-five years after the Korean War ended in an armistice, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will become the first leader from the North to set foot on South Korean soil when he strides across the Demilitarized Zone on Friday for a historic summit with the rival South's president, Moon Jae-in.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 25, 2018
On North Korea's Kim, Trump shifts from 'Little Rocket Man' to 'very honorable' man
Ditching his derisive "Rocket Man" label for North Korea's leader, U.S. President Donald Trump shifted his assessment of Kim Jong Un on Tuesday, calling the dictator — whose country is said to operate a system of gulags — a "very honorable" man.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 25, 2018
Trump taps Pacific Command chief Harry Harris to be South Korea envoy ahead of Kim summit
U.S. Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris, nominated to be ambassador to Canberra, will instead fill the long-vacant post of ambassador to South Korea, Australia's top diplomat said Wednesday.
WORLD
Apr 23, 2018
Pentagon corrects statements about missile used in Syria strikes, says stealthy new weapon eyed by Japan was not fired
The Pentagon has corrected its statement on the use of an advanced missile in the U.S. strikes on Syria on April 14, saying that the weapon fired was, in fact, not the stealthy type missile it initially described. Japan is considering purchasing that missile, known as the JASSM-ER (Joint Air-to-Surface...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 23, 2018
Trump falsely claims North Korea has agreed to denuclearize, but will it ditch its 'treasured sword'?
U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Sunday to serve up the dubious claim that North Korea has "agreed to denuclearization" ahead of his meeting with Kim Jong Un — an assertion at odds with what the White House has previously said and something Pyongyang has yet to say publicly.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Apr 22, 2018
North Korea's surprise move unlikely to deepen U.S.-Japan rift ahead of Trump-Kim summit: experts
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sudden announcement Saturday that his country had suspended nuclear and longer-range missile tests and shut down its main atomic test site to focus on its sanctions-hit economy may have caught the U.S. and Japan off guard, but experts say it is unlikely to deepen any...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 21, 2018
Abe cautious as North Korea pledges to halt nuclear and longer-range missile tests just days before key summit
North Korea's suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests draws wary praise and skepticism from experts less than a week before a pivotal inter-Korean summit.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2018
In first, Chinese aircraft carrier performs drills in Pacific, Japanese Defense Ministry says
The Defense Ministry in Tokyo confirmed Saturday that for the first time China has conducted a drill in the Pacific with its sole operating aircraft carrier.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 20, 2018
Trump looking to rid North Korea of chemical and biological weapons as well as nuclear arsenal: ambassador
The U.S.-North Korea summit could see U.S. President Donald Trump push for eradicating its chemical and biological weapons as well, U.S. Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty says.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Apr 20, 2018
Did North Korea's Kim Jong Un just remove a key stumbling block in negotiations with the U.S.?
By affirming that American troops can stay in South Korea under a possible nuclear deal, did North Korean leader Kim Jong Un just remove a key stumbling block in negotiations with the United States?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 19, 2018
Trump and Abe agree to intensify trade talks, but show little progress on metals tariff exemption
Asked for clarification on whether moves to deepen discussions could lead to a bilateral trade deal, neither leader was prepared to give a definitive response.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Apr 19, 2018
Trump says he would walk away if Kim summit isn't 'fruitful'
U.S. President Donald Trump voiced hopes Wednesday of a successful planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but warned that he could "respectfully" walk away if it appeared the talks would not be "fruitful."
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 19, 2018
Trump confirms CIA chief visited North Korea for secret meeting with Kim Jong Un
U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday that CIA chief Mike Pompeo had held clandestine talks with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, as the two nations move closer to a landmark summit that would see their sitting leaders meet for first time ever.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 17, 2018
Two Koreas to discuss announcing official end to war, report says
In what would amount to a stunning development, North and South Korea are in discussions to announce at next week's leaders' summit an official end to the military conflict between the two neighbors, which remain technically at war, the South's Munhwa Ilbo daily reported Monday, citing an unidentified...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 16, 2018
China launches new website that lets users report 'foreign spies'
China has ramped up its crackdown on foreign espionage with a new website in both Mandarin and English that allows users to report alleged threats such as collusion with foreign countries that endangers the country's "sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2018
Strike on Syria gives Japan preview of stealthy new 'standoff' missile it is looking to buy
Japan was given a preview of the stealthy JASSM-ER "standoff" missiles it is considering purchasing after U.S. officials said B-1B bombers launched the weapons Friday for the first time in combat during strikes on the Syrian regime.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Japan Post to stop accepting some parcels for shipment to the U.S.
Japan Post's UGX will still be available for many rejected packages.
Japan aims to tighten rules for business manager visas from October
The number of foreign residents with business management residency status had reached a record 41,615 as of the end of 2024.
Tokyo releases AI-generated video of Mount Fuji erupting
A screenshot from an AI-generated video showing what could happen to Tokyo if Mount Fuji erupted
Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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