John Geddie - The Japan Times

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Takahiro Mori, executive vice president of Japan's biggest steelmaker Nippon Steel, speaks about its strategy in its headquarters in Tokyo on Nov. 28, 2023.

BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS

May 26, 2025

Garage meets and sleepless flights: How Nippon Steel's negotiator stuck at U.S. merger

With Biden's incoming successor Donald Trump also voicing opposition to the planned purchase, the outlook was bleak.

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a letter from Britain's King Charles as he meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House in Washington on Feb. 27.

WORLD / Politics

Apr 28, 2025

Trump's first 100 days: 'America First' president is overturning world order

Trump's second-term agenda has alienated friends and emboldened adversaries while raising questions about how far he is prepared to go.

U.S President Donald Trump meets with Japan's Ryosei Akazawa, who is in charge of trade negotiations with Washington, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on April 16.

BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS

Apr 26, 2025

Japan is a test case for Trump's tariff deals. But talks may be tortuous.

While some expect an agreement at the June G7 summit in Canada in June, others say it will be risky for Tokyo to cede ground before Upper House elections expected in July.

Japan is the world's No. 2 LNG buyer, a major investor in energy infrastructure and a trading hub with a glut of LNG that could help open new markets for U.S. gas in Southeast Asia.

WORLD / Politics

Feb 22, 2025

Trump seeks to reshape Asia's energy supplies with U.S. gas

While the Alaska LNG proposal faces hurdles, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and others are buying into the idea of increasing U.S. gas imports more broadly.

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during an 'Unleashing American Energy' event at the Department of Energy in Washington in June 2017.

JAPAN / Politics

Jan 31, 2025

Japan weighs Alaska LNG pipeline pledge to win Trump's favor

President Trump may raise the project when he meets Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for the first time in Washington as soon as next week.

Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (third from left) attends a ceremony last month for the Ground Self-Defense Force's systems communications and cyber school.

JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS

Apr 26, 2024

The glitch in Japan's plans to bolster U.S. defense

Japan has suffered high-profile hacks in recent years that have elevated concerns over whether Tokyo can fully support its security partners.

A Wheeling-Nippon Steel facility in in Follansbee, West Virginia. Four senior Japanese officials speaking on condition of anonymity said it is still premature to declare the deal dead.

BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS

Apr 5, 2024

Why Japan is not giving up on fraught U.S. Steel deal

Four senior Japanese officials speaking on condition of anonymity said it is still premature to declare the deal dead.

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (right) meets with UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini in Tokyo on March 28.

JAPAN

Apr 2, 2024

Japan resumes funding to embattled Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA

Japan on Tuesday said it will lift its suspension of funding to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) as the relief body works to regain trust after an allegation that some of its staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Sunao Takao (center) interprets as then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump talk prior to a working lunch at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019.

JAPAN / Politics

Mar 26, 2024

Japan tees up Abe's ex-interpreter to help chart course with Trump

Japanese officials are preparing to deploy the Harvard-educated bureaucrat to bolster engagement with the Republican candidate's campaign.

U.S. Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues Julie Turner speaks to media at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo on Wednesday.

JAPAN / Politics

Feb 15, 2024

U.S. supports Japan's push for talks with North Korea, envoy says

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told parliament last week that he wants to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks in Washington on Wednesday. Japan has stepped up attempts to engage with people close to Trump in recent weeks, worrying that if he returns to power he may seek some kind of deal with Beijing that could undermine recent efforts by the Group of Seven countries to counter China.

JAPAN

Feb 2, 2024

Japan's message for Donald Trump: Don't cut a deal with China

Tokyo has stepped up attempts to engage with people close to Trump in recent weeks.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attend a working dinner during G7 ministerial meetings, in Tokyo on Tuesday.

JAPAN / Politics

Nov 7, 2023

G7 support for Ukraine will not waver due to Gaza crisis, Japan says

The G7 nations, as well as the European Union, meet in Tokyo on Nov. 7 to 8 to discuss issues including the Ukraine war and the Israel-Gaza crisis.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel speaks during an interview at the ambassador's residence in Tokyo on Monday.

JAPAN / Politics

Oct 30, 2023

U.S. military begins Japan seafood purchases to counter China ban

China, which had been the biggest buyer of Japanese seafood, says its ban is due to food safety fears.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 30, 2022

U.N. treaty must tackle production of problematic plastics, Japan says

Studies have shown that plastics output must be curbed to rein in skyrocketing plastic pollution, which is clogging waterways, despoiling oceans and killing wildlife.

Japan Times

WORLD

Mar 4, 2022

Big Oil's plastic boom threatens U.N.'s 'historic' pollution pact

When the U.N. agreed on a deal to create the world's first ever global plastic pollution treaty, every party was quick to claim victory, but that could spell trouble.

Japan Times

WORLD / Science & Health

Feb 22, 2022

Ban on single-use plastics favored by 75%, global survey finds

Governments will meet in Nairobi this month to press ahead with an ambitious treaty on tackling plastic waste.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Feb 18, 2022

A U.N. pact may restrict plastic production. Big Oil aims to stop it.

U.N. members are set to meet this month to draft the blueprint for a global plastics treaty. That's a problem for Big Oil, with the plastic industry set to double output within 20 years.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Nov 1, 2021

Trash and burn: Big brands' new plastic waste plan faces skepticism

Experts say that burning plastic in cement kilns, a practice firms are promoting, emits harmful emissions and amounts to swapping one dirty fuel for another.

Japan Times

ASIA PACIFIC

Sep 8, 2021

How family of a Myanmar junta leader are trying to cash in

Family members of the air force chief have enjoyed a lifestyle that is out of reach for the vast majority of Myanmar's people.

Japan Times

WORLD

Sep 4, 2021

The day the music died: Afghanistan's all-female orchestra falls silent

The last time the Taliban were in power, they banned music and women were not allowed to work.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.

How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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