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Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba extends for a handshake with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto after giving a press statement following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, Indonesia, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

Indonesian and Japanese leaders agree to boost defense and energy ties

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba became the first foreign leader to visit Indonesia this year, meeting President Prabowo Subianto a day after visiting neighboring Malaysia.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) shakes hands with Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto after giving a press statement following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, Indonesia on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 12, 2025

Ishiba hopes diplomacy will give boost to parliamentary management

As the Ishiba administration will have to go into the parliamentary session leading a minority government, he is hoping diplomacy will give his administration a boost.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (right) and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during a ceremonial welcome at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, Indonesia, on Saturday
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 12, 2025

Ishiba turns to Southeast Asia amid growing international uncertainty

Experts say that Ishiba's decision to prioritize Malaysia and Indonesia was a sign of the importance of the two major regional economies.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters after a three-way virtual summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 13, 2025

Ishiba urges Biden to dispel concern about investment in U.S.

Japanese firms invested almost $800 billion in the United States in 2023, more than any other country, and 14.3% of the total, according to official U.S. data.
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck southwestern Japan at 9:19 p.m. on Monday evening
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2025

Strong quake strikes southwestern Japan

The quake measured a lower 5 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale.
Cleveland-Cliffs is reportedly in talks with North Carolina-based steelmaker Nucor to acquire U.S. Steel.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 14, 2025

Japan avoids commenting on Cleveland-Cliffs CEO's provocative comment

Lourenco Goncalves’ remarks over Nippon Steel’s takeover bid for U.S. Steel and description of Japan as being "evil" stunned many in Tokyo.
Self-Defense Forces members search for victims in Kobe's Nagata Ward on Jan. 28, 1995, in the wake of the Great Hanshin Earthquake.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 16, 2025

Hanshin quake sparked changes to Japan's disaster response policies

Having outlined the Self-Defense Forces' active role and support for victims, the government now aims to set up a new central agency for disaster relief.
Roxana Oshiro and her husband gather their belongings in front of their house in Furukawacho, in Kobe's Suma Ward, after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 17, 2025

The efforts to bridge the disaster information gap, 30 years on

Disaster information didn't reach many non-Japanese speakers after the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck. Thirty years later, has the situation improved?
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo hold a joint news conference in Taguig City, Metro Manila, the Philippines, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2025

Japan looks to up the ante with more money and partners in military aid program

As funds for Japan's official security assistance increase, so will Tokyo's efforts to boost the number of countries it assists, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Komeito Secretary-General Makoto Nishida (left) and Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama (center) hold talks with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 17, 2025

A moment of opportunity for Japan-China relations

While the outcome of the Japan-China meeting is important, it must not compromise Japan's national interests.
Staff members of the Kyoto-based company Mitsufuji stand near a small-scale model of a prototype hangar tent for electromagnetic shielding and wearable gadgets at the Vietnam Defense Expo 2024 in Hanoi on Dec. 19.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2025

Japan hunts for dual-use goods makers to aid military expansion

Cultivating a homegrown defense industry was a key plank of Japan's ¥43 trillion military build-up strategy launched in 2022.
Teruko Nakazawa, a retired unpaid parole officer (back), talks with her former parolee in the smoking room of a cafe in Tokyo. Around 47,000 citizen volunteers  far outnumber the 1,000 salaried probation officers working in Japan.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 23, 2025

Japan's unpaid parole officers are driven by a 'love for humanity'

The around 47,000 citizen volunteers far outnumber the 1,000 salaried probation officers in Japan.
Shipping containers at an industrial port in the Keihin Industrial Zone in Kawasaki. Japanese businesses see a larger role for Japan if global trade breaks down and multilateral trade institutions become less effective without U.S. participation.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025

Japan contemplates global free-trade leadership as U.S. goes protectionist

Tokyo could find opportunity in the turmoil while avoiding direct confrontation with Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage with Vice President JD Vance after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States during the presidential inauguration in Washington on Monday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2025

Japan should prioritize free trade as it adapts to Trump’s policies

It is difficult, if not impossible, to know what Trump and his administration will do in specific situations. Words and documents are one thing, actions another.
Supporters of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol protest in Seoul on Tuesday. The previous leaders of the U.S. and Japan, along with Yoon, focused on strengthening alliances and regional stability through cooperation whereas newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy may prioritize transactional relationships.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 24, 2025

Japan and South Korea were stable U.S. allies. Not anymore.

Political paralysis in the U.S., Japan and South Korea has left a leadership vacuum in the Indo-Pacific.
Taeko Oshioka, a member of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) looks for visitors to sign a petition to call on the Japanese government to sign and ratify the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, in front of the preserved Atomic Bomb Dome in the city of Hiroshima last October.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 26, 2025

Japan rules out participating in nuke ban treaty meeting as observer

Instead, the country is considering sending lawmakers from the ruling bloc to the meeting, officials have said.
A worker walks past cattle carcasses at the municipal slaughterhouse in Sao Felix do Xingu, Brazil.The country is in talks with Japan over exports of its beef.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2025

Brazil in talks for beef shipments to Japan in threat to U.S.

The U.S. is currently one of Japan’s major beef suppliers, but the country is dealing with a severe shortage of cattle that drove a spike in beef imports from Brazil.
Brookfield Asset Management has bought a stake in Gajoen, a mixed-use luxury complex in Tokyo, and plans to ramp up real estate investments in Japan.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2025

Brookfield seeks to buy more property in Japan after $1.6 billion in deals

There has been a trend of increased foreign investor activity in Japanese real estate in recent years, buoyed by the weak yen and cheap financing.
Constitutional Democratic Party head Yoshihiko Noda (right) at a plenary session in the Lower House in Tokyo on Monday
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 27, 2025

Constitutional Democratic Party head grills Ishiba on diplomacy with Trump

The CDP leader raised concerns about the United States' decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization and the Paris agreement on climate change.
With Donald Trump's second term as U.S. president, Japan faces a new era in its relationship with the United States, requiring a shift from values-based diplomacy to a transactional approach.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 28, 2025

New era for U.S.-Japan depends on adapting to Trump’s America

The next four years will be more consequential and transactional for leaders in Tokyo as the Trump administration puts America first.
Shiori Ito (right) speaks outside the Tokyo District Court in December 2019 after hearing the ruling on a damages lawsuit by her, accusing a former TV reporter of rape.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 29, 2025

Japan #MeToo survivor says media are failing in wake of Fuji TV scandal

Despite several high-profile cases, Japan has never seen an outpouring of #MeToo allegations.
Members of the popular Japanese pop group SMAP, including scandal-plagued Masahiro Nakai (right), perform in Beijing in September 2011.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 29, 2025

A pop-star sex scandal shows the death throes of old Japan

As the leader of a now-defunct boy band SMAP, the 52-year-old Nakai has been a ubiquitous mainstay in Japanese life for decades.
A concept model of the Global Combat Air Program's fighter jet is displayed at the DSEI Japan defense show at Makuhari Messe in the city of Chiba in March 2023.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 31, 2025

Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss bringing Saudi Arabia into jet project

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said Italy is in favor of Saudi Arabia joining the joint development of a new sixth-generation fighter jet.
A Japanese class at a job placement company in Hanoi in 2022. The number of foreign workers in Japan hit a record high in 2024.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2025

Japan’s foreign workforce hits fresh record as labor crisis deepens

Japan had a record 2.3 million foreign workers as of October 2024, marking a 12.4% increase from the previous year.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2025

Japan wary of taking another hit if Trump slaps tariffs on China

Policymakers, investors and economists are watching Trump’s trade policy amid fears that his threatened use of tariffs could batter global commerce.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s reluctance to engage with newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump while strengthening ties with China raises concerns about Japan’s strategic priorities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 31, 2025

Ishiba nudges his ‘little Japan’ closer to China

Prime Minister Ishiba’s reluctance to engage with Trump while strengthening ties with China raises concerns about Japan’s strategic priorities and its alliance with the U.S.
Billed as a “cultural bridge that connects Japan and Vietnam,” Tet Viet Saitama drew tens of thousands of attendees from across the Kanto region.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Feb 2, 2025

Home away from home: My first time at a Tet festival in Japan

A longtime resident of Japan attends Saitama’s first public celebration of Vietnam’s most important holiday.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 1, 2025

Trump says Ishiba will visit him next week

"They’re coming in to speak to me and I’m looking forward to it," the U.S. president told reporters in the Oval Office.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato holds a virtual meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 2, 2025

Japan to closely monitor impact on yen of Trump tariffs, Kato says

Kato spoke as the world braces for first salvo in Trump's tariff war, with general levies of 25% on Canada and Mexico and 10% on China.
Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Feb 3, 2025

Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?

They're no substitute for policy, but by providing food and belonging, these safe spaces are filling in the cracks of the nation's fraying communities.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes