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Blue pipelines to transport seawater, part of the facility for releasing treated radioactive water to sea from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, are seen during a treated water dilution and discharge facility tour for media, in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, last August.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 31, 2024

Experts from Japan and China discuss Fukushima water release

The two Asian powerhouses have spared over the issue since Japan began releasing the water into the Pacific Ocean last August.

Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attend the opening ceremony of the Gangdong Greenhouse in North Korea in this picture released on March 16.

JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER

Mar 27, 2024

North Korea reaches for familiar playbook in talks with Japan

Pyongyang blowing hot and cold on a potential leaders summit is meant to gain the upper hand in negotiations to realize such a meeting.

Kim Yo Jong, who serves as a top adviser to her brother, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Tuesday that Pyongyang had ruled out holding a leaders' summit with Japan.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 26, 2024

North Korea rules out summit with Japan and rejects more talks

The sister of leader Kim Jong Un said that a meeting was not of interest to the North, alluding to Tokyo's unyielding stance on the abductions issue.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani delivers a statement during a news conference at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Monday.

BASEBALL / MLB

Mar 26, 2024

Ohtani denies betting on baseball and accuses ex-interpreter of lying and theft

The baseball star expressed shock over the gambling scandal involving his long-time ex-interpreter, in his first public comments on the matter.

A U.S. Marine prepares to demonstrate the use of night vision goggles to Ground Self-Defense Force troops at the GSDF's Camp Somagahara in Gunma Prefecture in March 2017.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 25, 2024

U.S. eyes revamped military command in Japan, reports say

The allies are expected to announce the landmark agreement when Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits the White House next month.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister said Monday that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has requested a summit with her brother, hinting that any meeting was unlikely without a policy shift by Tokyo.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 25, 2024

Japan reaching out to North Korea for Kim-Kishida summit

The sister of leader Kim Jong Un said any summit would hinge on whether Japan was willing to make a "political decision" — likely on the abductee issue.

A screenshot from a video taken and released Saturday shows China Coast Guard ships deploying water cannons against a Philippine military-chartered civilian supply boat near the Second Thomas Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Mar 24, 2024

After clash, China warns Philippines over escalation in South China Sea

China's Defense Ministry issued the warning a day after Manila accused Beijing of damaging a Philippine vessel and injuring its crew with water cannons.

A screenshot from a video taken and released Saturday shows China Coast Guard ships deploying water cannons against a Philippine military-chartered civilian supply boat near the Second Thomas Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Mar 23, 2024

Philippines says China Coast Guard again injured crew with water cannon in South China Sea

Chinese vessels severely damaged a Philippine civilian resupply ship as it headed for a military base in the flashpoint Second Thomas Shoal.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. John Aquilino said that since he took command in 2021, the PLA has added over 400 advanced fighter aircraft and more than 20 major warships, and has more than doubled its inventory of ballistic and cruise missiles.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Mar 21, 2024

China on track to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, U.S. commander says

All signs point to the People's Liberation Army meeting President Xi Jinping’s preferred timeline, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief says.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observs a ground test of a solid fuel engine for a new intermediate-range hypersonic missile, at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on North Korea’s western coast in this digitally altered image released Wednesday.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Mar 20, 2024

North Korea's Kim oversees hypersonic missile engine test

The isolated country's leader compared "the military strategic value" of the new weapon as being on par with its powerful long-range missiles.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo attend a working luncheon at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila on Tuesday. Blinken’s trip, which also touched upon economic cooperation, followed a trade mission visit by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo a week earlier.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Mar 19, 2024

Blinken pledges closer U.S.-Philippine security ties ahead of trilateral summit with Japan

The top U.S. diplomat and his Philippine counterpart also signaled the allies were eyeing ways to "operationalize" security cooperation with Tokyo.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko, welcome Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and his wife, Louise Araneta, at the Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo last December.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 19, 2024

Biden, Kishida and Marcos to hold first trilateral summit in April

The summit comes as economic and security ties continue to grow and the partners cast wary eyes on China.

People walk past a television showing a news broadcast of a past North Korean missile test, at the main railway station in Seoul on Monday.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Mar 18, 2024

North Korea launches three ballistic missiles as top U.S. diplomat visits Seoul

The latest launches came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul for a multinational democracy summit.

A concept model of the Global Combat Air Programme's fighter jet is displayed at the DSEI Japan defense show at Makuhari Messe in Chiba in March 2023.

JAPAN

Mar 15, 2024

Japan's ruling coalition approves export of future joint fighter jet

The step removes a potentially critical hurdle for the multinational Global Combat Aircraft Program involving the U.K. and Italy.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 14, 2024

U.S. military resumes Osprey flights in Japan

The resumption came after Washington last week lifted a worldwide flight ban on the aircraft following a deadly crash last year.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 13, 2024

Kishida agrees on need for strict rules to export of fighter jet

Concessions by the LDP president could pave the way for a deal with junior coalition partner Komeito on a revision to Japan's defense export guidelines.

The defense request is largely seen as a symbolic opening shot in what is expected to be a protracted spending battle in Congress ahead of a November presidential election that will almost certainly pit President Joe Biden against his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump.

WORLD / Politics

Mar 12, 2024

With eye on Indo-Pacific, Biden seeks record U.S. defense budget

But the $895.2 billion figure for fiscal 2025 is only about a 1% increase from the $886.3 billion proposal made last year — far below inflation levels.

JAPAN / Science & Health

Mar 9, 2024

Space One postpones bid to be Japan's first private firm to put satellite in orbit

The Tokyo-based startup halted the mission after a ship ventured into a "maritime warning area" just 10 minutes before the launch.

A U.S. V-22 Osprey lands on the USS Mesa Verde ship during excercises in the Baltic Sea in September.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 8, 2024

U.S. lifts Osprey flight ban, eyeing aircraft's return to Japan's skies

Tokyo and Washington will closely coordinate a timeline for resuming flights of Osprey V-22 aircraft in Japan, three months after a deadly accident.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, speaking at an Upper House budget committee session on Tuesday, said that if Japan is unable to sell the new fighter to other countries, the joint project’s success could be undermined.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 6, 2024

Fighter exports crucial for ‘favorable security environment’: Kishida

The prime minister is seeking the backing of Komeito to revise export rules for fighter jets that Tokyo is seeking to build with Britain and Italy.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.

Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.

By Tomoko Otake

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