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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.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 2, 2024

Japan starts 2024 with flurry of security deals

In January alone, Tokyo signed cooperation deals with at least four countries, strengthening and expanding its network of like-minded partners.
Karolina Shiino (center), winner of Miss Japan 2024, poses with other prize winners at the contest in Tokyo on Jan. 22.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 6, 2024

Ukraine-born Miss Japan relinquishes crown following affair

Karolina Shiino's decision, the first time a Miss Japan winner has relinquished their title, follows a report that she was dating a married man.
A traveler walks past a flight information display at the Beijing Capital International Airport on Feb. 2 ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday that begins on Saturday in China.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2024

Chinese visitors to Japan over Lunar New Year to fall short of 2019 level

Visa-free travel offered by some countries and last year's release of treated wastewater from Fukushima may be swaying Chinese travelers' decisions.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (left), South Korea's then-Foreign Minister Park Jin (center) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrive for a trilateral foreign ministers' meeting in Busan, South Korea, in November.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 9, 2024

Japan, China and South Korea still out of step over summit

Despite their foreign ministers agreeing to convene a meeting of top leaders promptly, no concrete scheduling has emerged.
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.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Thursday that a visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Pyongyang could materialize, but only if Tokyo met several caveats.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 16, 2024

North Korea-Japan summit push gains steam after remarks by Kim’s sister

A visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Pyongyang could materialize, but only if Tokyo met several caveats, Kim Yo Jong said.
Anastasiia Pelykh (left) and Daria Datsenko talk about their lives in Japan after evacuating from Ukraine during an interview in Kyoto earlier this month.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 19, 2024

Two years after invasion, Ukrainians in Japan forge their own paths

A pair of women have taken different paths, but echoed the same refrain: They want the war to end as soon as possible so they can see their families.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 19, 2024

North Korea eyes well-worn playbook with Japan summit hints

Pyongyang's offer of repairing ties with Japan may be concealing what may be a more likely motivation — to drive a wedge between Tokyo and its partners.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (right) presents a gift to a Ukrainian refugee an event at the Keidanren Kaikan in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2024

As war fatigue grows, Japan pledges long-term support to Ukraine

Describing the aid as an investment in the future, Tokyo emphasized how Japan’s technology and expertise in reconstruction could serve Ukraine’s needs.
A member of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service attends a transfer ceremony of special vehicles from Japan to Ukraine in Kyiv on Nov. 20, 2023.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 23, 2024

An ominous portent emerges for Japan as Ukraine war enters third year

There are growing indications that the once-durable coalition of partners backing Kyiv’s war effort is crumbling — an ominous sign for Japan.
Ukrainian evacuees arrive at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in April 2022.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 24, 2024

90% of Ukrainian evacuees in Japan unwilling to return home

According to the survey of 153 Ukrainian evacuees last month, only 16, or 10.5%, said they would return home immediately if a cease-fire is reached.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 26, 2024

Families of North Korea abductees give Japan breathing room for summit

The group won't oppose Tokyo's lifting of sanctions on Pyongyang if all abductees are returned while their parents' generation is still alive.
Japan, Britain and Italy have made headway in their joint next-generation fighter aircraft project, with industry officials saying that the partners are close to completing the aircraft’s conceptual design phase.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 26, 2024

Japan joint fighter program gains steam as firms zero in on conceptual design

The completion of the conceptual design phase will allow Japan, Britain and Italy to move to the next stage of the program next year.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 2, 2024

U.S. to lift ban on Osprey flights, three months after deadly Japan crash

The U.S. military will next week share its plans with Japan — the sole international partner involved in the Osprey program.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the AUKUS security partnership after a trilateral meeting, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego in March last year.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 3, 2024

AUKUS eyes defense tech collaboration with Japan, report says

Japan’s involvement in the partnership would be limited to specific projects and would exclude nuclear-powered submarines.
Six months have passed since Japan started releasing treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 4, 2024

Fukushima water release still vexing China-Japan ties

China-bound exports of Japanese fishery products in 2023 plunged by some 30% from the previous year in value terms.
Nikolai Nozdrev, who arrived in Tokyo on Sunday, succeeds Mikhail Galuzin as Russia's ambassador to Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2024

Russia’s new ambassador arrives in Japan after more than yearlong absence

Moscow had left the post unfilled for over a year amid strained ties with Tokyo.
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.
Ground Self-Defense Force members disembark from a V-22 Osprey aircraft during an annual live-fire exercise at East Fuji Maneuver Area, in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in May 2022.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 11, 2024

Osprey safety concerns linger in Japan, despite U.S. reassurances

Critics have decried the lack of specifics about the cause of the deadly November crash as Tokyo and Washington tout "unprecedented" information-sharing.
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.
Supporters of South Korean plaintiffs in wartime labor lawsuits hold a rally in Seoul on March 6.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2024

Wartime labor issue still overshadowing Japan-South Korea ties

Last month, a South Korean plaintiff received compensation deposited by Hitachi Zosen with a South Korean court handling the wartime labor suit.
Japan welcomed 2.79 million visitors in February, a record for the month and the most for any month since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2024

Japan sees record 2.79 million visitors in February due to Lunar New Year boost

The travel industry is getting a major boost from a weak yen that has made Japan a bargain destination for foreign travelers.
Known in Hokkaido business circles as an internationalist due to his close ties with the United States and the International Olympics Committee, Yoshiro Ito headed dozens of Hokkaido and national organizations during his decadeslong career.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Mar 25, 2024

Hokkaido mourns Yoshiro Ito, promoter of Japan-U.S. ties

Ito was known in Hokkaido business circles as an internationalist due to his close ties with the United States.
Kurt Campbell
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 22, 2024

Japan to discuss AUKUS defense tech partnership, says U.S. diplomat

The United States, Australia and Britain established the AUKUS security partnership in 2021.
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 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.
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.
Afghan evacuees arrive at Narita International Airport in October 2021. Applicants from Afghanistan made up the majority of those recognized as refugees by the Japanese government last year, similar to 2022.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 26, 2024

Japan granted refugee status to record 303 asylum-seekers in 2023

While this is a jump from the 202 people in 2022 and a new record high, the number is still considerably lower when compared with Western countries.
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.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.