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A German Air Force Eurofighter jet takes off from Chitose Airbase in Hokkaido during Germany and Japan's first-ever bilateral fighter exercise, which ran from Monday to Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2024

Japan and Germany elevate ties with first joint fighter exercise

Named Nippon Skies, the aerial maneuvers took place in the airspace around the Air Self-Defense Force’s Chitose Air Base in Hokkaido.
Enea Almeida (right), chair of the Brazilian amnesty commission, shakes hands with the representative for Japanese immigrants on Thursday in Brasilia.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2024

Brazil issues apology for persecuting Japan immigrants during WWII

The apology aims to restore the dignity Japanese Brazilians lost due to the government's past atrocities, 79 years after the end of the war.
A decline in COVID-19-caused deaths likely helped boost the average life expectancy for Japanese men and women to rise for the first time in three years in 2023.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 26, 2024

Japan's average life expectancy rises for first time in three years

The rise in life expectancy may possibly be a reflection of a drop in fatality rates for COVID-19 patients.
The Sado Gold Mine, so heavily tapped that the mountain bearing it has been cleaved in two, is up for consideration for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site status.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2024

Japan should display full history of Sado mine, South Korean archaeologist says

He will not advise the South Korean UNESCO delegation against accepting the designation of the mine if Japan explains its history properly.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Vientiane, Laos, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 27, 2024

As foreign ministers meet, China says relations with Japan at 'critical stage'

The pair discussed thorny issues, including Japanese nationals detained in China, food import bans and semiconductor curbs.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and her South Korean counterpart, Cho Tae-yul, shake hands during talks on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Vientiane, Laos, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 27, 2024

Japan and South Korea top diplomats pledge even stronger cooperation

The pair reaffirmed the importance of cooperation in order to maintain and strengthen a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
A tunnel inside the Sado Island Gold Mines in Sado, Niigata Prefecture
JAPAN / History
Jul 27, 2024

Japan's Sado gold mines added to World Heritage list

The site is associated with Korean wartime labor and was once the world's largest gold mine complex.
South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik (left to right), Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pose for a photo at the Defense Ministry Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 28, 2024

U.S., Japan and South Korea ink deal to 'institutionalize' security ties

The move — just months before the U.S. presidential election — is seen as part of a bid to make the trilateral relationship more difficult to reverse.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (left to right), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara prior their "two-plus-two" talks at the Iikura Guest House in Tokyo on Sunday
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 28, 2024

In historic move, U.S. to upgrade military command structure in Japan

The move — one of the most significant in the alliance's history — comes as Washington and Tokyo overhaul military ties in the face of an increasingly assertive China.
Though some in the country rejected their wartime associations, the Japanese government made the Hinomaru flag and "Kimigayo" anthem official 25 years ago.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Aug 1, 2024

Japan Times 1999: Flag, anthem now official

After some controversy, the Hinomaru flag was made official alongside the country's national anthem, "Kimigayo."
Inscriptions on a disaster monument in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture (left), can be seen clearly when illuminated using a smartphone app "Hikari Takuhon" developed by researcher Hideyuki Uesugi.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jul 30, 2024

Number of natural disaster monuments on state map increasing in Japan

Stone monuments inscribed with descriptions of the damage caused by past natural disasters and lessons from forerunners have been erected since ancient times.
Members of U.S. military services and the Self-Defense Forces wait for the arrival of then-U.S. President Donald Trump at the Air Force's Yokota Air Base, headquarters of U.S. Forces Japan, in Fussa, on the outskirts of Tokyo, in November 2017.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2024

U.S. panel recommends four-star general as military commander in Japan

The commission reviewing the Pentagon's National Defense Strategy also said it “strongly praises” U.S. diplomatic and defense efforts to strengthen partnerships in Asia.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken looks on as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shakes hands with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 31, 2024

China lodges protest with Japan over 'irresponsible remarks' in talks with U.S.

China's director-general of Asian affairs at the Foreign Ministry lodged a complaint with the Japanese Embassy, in the latest row between the Asian giants.
Japan has made an extradition request for anti-whaling activist Paul Watson.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2024

Denmark says Japan made extradition request for anti-whaling activist Watson

Japan is one of only three countries in the world to permit commercial whaling, along with Iceland and Norway.
Wreckage from a crashed U.S. Air Force CV-22B Osprey is brought ashore at a port on Yakushima island, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Nov. 30, 2023.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2024

Gearbox fault caused fatal Osprey crash in Japan, U.S. Air Force says

The crash was caused by a "catastrophic” failure of the left-hand gearbox, which destabilized the aircraft.
Chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Gen. Romeo Brawner (left), and Yoshihide Yoshida, chief of staff of the Joint Staff of the Self-Defense Forces, in Manila in July
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 2, 2024

Philippines and Japan militaries hold first joint exercises in South China Sea

The drills, which took place within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, followed similar exercises between Manila and Washington on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during the opening session of the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting in Tokyo last month.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 3, 2024

Japan and Central Asia to vow to uphold rule of law

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida aims to drive a wedge between these Central Asian countries and China and Russia during a summit later this month.
Freshly-caught bonito fish unloaded in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. Japan's food exports to China plunged in the first half of 2024 due to Beijing's import ban on Japanese fishery products.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2024

Japan's first-half food exports fall for first time in four years

The latest result reflected China's import ban on Japanese fishery products since last summer in response to the release of treated Fukushima water.
Ukrainian Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska (center left) and Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi (center right) sign a memorandum of cooperation on judicial reforms and anti-corruption measures, in Kyiv on Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2024

Japan and Ukraine agree to cooperate on anti-corruption measures

The countries' two justice ministries will cooperate across fields such as judicial reform and the strengthening of judicial institutions via personnel training.
U.S. President Joe Biden escorts Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to their trilateral summit at the White House in Washington in April.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 6, 2024

As U.S. ‘minilateral’ diplomacy grows, Japan emerges as key actor

As geopolitical tensions in the region rise, the breakout of any conflict would put Tokyo on the front lines alongside Washington.
Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 7, 2024

Japan and Mongolia likely to agree on defense equipment transfer pact

Japan and Mongolia are likely to reach a broad agreement to conclude a treaty aimed at allowing the two nations to export defense equipment to one another, Japanese government officials said Tuesday.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel (left) attends a U.S.-Japan ministerial meeting on extended deterrence in Tokyo on July 28.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 7, 2024

Top envoys to Japan set to skip Nagasaki A-bomb ceremony after Israel not invited

Nagasaki said it decided not to invite the Israeli ambassador on the basis of security concerns.
A Japanese protester holds a picture of the disputed islands called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, during a rally in Tokyo in February 2013.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2024

Japan protests South Korea's maritime survey near Takeshima

According to the Foreign Ministry, a South Korean survey ship was spotted on the day dropping apparent wires into waters within Japan's exclusive economic zone.
Frederick Go, who advises the Philippine president on the economy, says Washington, Tokyo and Manila will prioritize five major projects in the Luzon Economic Corridor plan.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2024

U.S. and Japan reportedly keen on $15 billion Philippine projects

The Philippines is seeking to leverage stronger ties with the U.S. and its allies to help unlock economic benefits.
In the past 11 months, health minister Keizo Takemi has been charting his own path, seeking to make Japan's health care policies more global and digitalized.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2024

Global mindset crucial for reform of Japan's health care, minister says

International strategies and domestic health care reform are inextricably linked, says health minister Keizo Takemi.
Health minister Keizo Takemi fields questions from reporters in March after a Cabinet meeting to deal with health problems caused by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's beni kōji red yeast rice supplements.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2024

Health Minister Keizo Takemi on how to improve Japan's health care system

Digitalization, hiring high-skilled foreign workers and increasing wages are among the steps that Japan could take.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left), U.S. President Joe Biden (center) and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hold a joint conference in Camp David near Washington in August 2023.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 16, 2024

Japan, U.S. and South Korea mull trilateral summit by end of year

At their Camp David meeting in August last year, the leaders of the three countries agreed to meet at least once a year.
Lee Yi-yang
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 17, 2024

Taiwan names Lee Yi-yang as next de facto ambassador to Japan

Lee, the next head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, was a close aide to former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian.
A Mexican man rescued near Uotsuri Island in the Senkaku chain in Okinawa Prefecture is believed to have drifted to the area in a canoe from the island of Yonaguni, also in Okinawa.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2024

Japan rescues Mexican man from Senkakus

A Mexican national had gone missing from an accommodation facility on Yonaguni, and it appears this was the rescued person, officials said.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol arrive for a joint news conference at Camp David in Maryland on Aug. 18, 2023.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 19, 2024

South Korea, Japan and U.S. leaders renew pledge to cooperate on regional challenges

The principles on trilateral cooperation established at the summit last year continues to serve as a roadmap for the three countries' cooperation.

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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.