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Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (left) addresses a meeting of ministers involved in compiling a policy to revise the system for foods with function claims, held at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
JAPAN
May 31, 2024

Japan to overhaul foods with function claims system

The overhaul plan will make it mandatory for companies to promptly report health issues related to foods with function claims to authorities to prevent spread.
Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's president, during the election result announcement at the Independent Electoral Commission national results center in Midrand, South Africa, on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2024

South Africa’s ANC courts rivals after election humiliation

The African National Congress' slump comes after years of economic mismanagement and corruption saddled the country with high unemployment and weak growth.
A child holds a sign during a rally demanding the release of Israeli hostages outside the U.S. consulate in Tel Aviv on Monday.
WORLD
Jun 4, 2024

Back to class — or shelters? Next school year snags Israel's Lebanon strategy

Of 60,000 civilians relocated from northern Israel at the outset of the war, 14,600 are children, scattered in temporary kindergartens and schools.
Lebanon's Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem speaks during an interview in Beirut's suburbs on June 6, 2022.
WORLD
Jun 5, 2024

Israel nears decision on Lebanon border offensive, army chief says

The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel intensifying adds concerns that an even wider confrontation could break out between the heavily armed adversaries.
Demonstrators hold Fatah flags during a protest in support of the people of the Gaza Strip in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Oct. 27, 2023.
WORLD
Jun 5, 2024

Hamas signals post-war ambition in talks with Palestinian rival Fatah

The meetings highlight that the Islamist militant group is likely to retain influence in the Gaza Strip after its war with Israel.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida answers questions during a session of the Lower House special committee on political reform at parliament in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 8, 2024

Kishida faces tough time constraints in parliament after bill's delay

The political funds bill only cleared the Lower House on Thursday, two days later than the LDP had expected, due to prolonged negotiations to amend the legislation.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivers a joint press conference with Chile's president after talks at the Chancellery in Berlin on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 11, 2024

Scholz heading for another election rout in eastern Germany

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his allies in government have little choice now but to go into survival mode.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida listens to voters in the city of Kumamoto in April. Liberal Democratic Party politicians are afraid that Kishida's unpopularity could seal their own fates when they stand for local elections.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 13, 2024

Calls for Kishida to step down growing among local LDP chapters

They blame their party’s unpopularity on him over the way he handled the kickbacks scandal and the political funds bill aimed at toughening up rules in its wake.
Core machinery orders in April dropped month-on-month for the first time in three months, but the Cabinet Office said they are continuing to show signs of picking up.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 17, 2024

Japan's core machinery orders down in April but seen firming up ahead

Core orders fell 2.9% month-on-month in April, the first drop in three months.
The administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday approved this year's honebuto economic and fiscal policy guidelines.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 21, 2024

Japanese government restores 2025 primary budget surplus target

In its economic blueprint, the Kishida administration has pledged a balanced budget other than interest payments by fiscal 2025.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un holds a reception for Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang on Wednesday. Agreements reached by the two leaders this time were tactical in nature and hardly strategic.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2024

Putin’s Pyongyang visit, pivotal talks and a generational shift reshape regional dynamics

The move by Russia and North Korea this time is tactical in nature and hardly strategic.
Prospective candidates for the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election include digital minister Taro Kono (left) and former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 28, 2024

Potential candidates in LDP presidential election come into view

Digital minister Taro Kono and former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba appear ready to run in September.
As the 1924 Exclusion Act came into effect in the United States, people in Japan were not happy. It would define American immigration policy for near three decades.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Jul 1, 2024

Japan Times 1924: Anti-America Day observed by all Japan

Two very different views of the United States from Japan, separated by 25 years and, more importantly, a war, define this month's look back at Japanese history.
Economic security minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at a panel meeting on economic security information at the Prime Minister's Office last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 2, 2024

Takaichi gearing up for LDP presidential election this autumn

The economic security minister is set to deliver a speech in Tokyo on July 16, followed by ones in Miyagi on July 21, Okinawa on July 28 and in Hyogo on Aug. 3.
People protest in Tokyo on Tuesday against sexual abuse cases by U.S. servicemen stationed in Okinawa Prefecture and the fact that the central government failed to quickly inform local officials of the cases.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 3, 2024

More sexual offense cases disclosed involving U.S. servicemen in Okinawa

The three other cases occurred in February and August last year and in January this year, with all of them being dismissed.
The survey found that most groping cases occurred on trains and that 80.4% of victims did not alert the police or train station staff after being groped, out of fears of causing a commotion.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 4, 2024

One in 10 young people in Japan a victim of molestation, survey finds

According to the findings, 10.5% of respondents said that they had experienced being molested, with women accounting for 88.0% of them.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivers a speech during the closing ceremony of the Asia Business Summit in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 6, 2024

Kishida keen to leverage diplomacy to buoy his administration

Diplomacy is one of Kishida's strengths, but it remains unclear if his strategy will pay off.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters in Tokyo Monday following news of U.S. President Joe Biden's exit from the presidential race.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 23, 2024

Kishida aides wary of impact from Biden's withdrawal

Many expect Kishida to make a decision on his approach to the LDP's leadership race after the summer holiday period in mid-August.
The Kestrel I Suborbital Launch Vehicle, operated by AtSpace, sister company of Taiwanese rocket startup TiSpace, at an AtSpace facility in Queensland, Australia, on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Jul 25, 2024

Taiwanese rocket startup may bolster Japan's space hub ambitions

A planned launch has faced regulatory hurdles and delays amid questions over whether Japan should embrace overseas business as it works to grow its space industry.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama embraces Vice President Kamala Harris while arriving to speak on the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid in the East Room of the White House in Washington in April  2022.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 27, 2024

Harris to lean on tight team and Obama staff in White House run

Here’s a look at the people in her orbit as she moves to reshape the campaign and form the nucleus of a potential new administration.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during question time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra June 27.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 28, 2024

Australia reshuffles senior ministers ahead of upcoming election

If Albanese wins the upcoming election, he will be the first Australian leader to secure consecutive victories since 2004.
Rockets fired from southern Lebanon are intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system over the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 5, 2024

Israel braces for attack by Iran as U.S. urges Gaza cease-fire

The top U.S. diplomat said Sunday that the exact timing of any attacks remained unclear, but they would likely start within the next 24 to 48 hours.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attend the Japan-U.S. Extended Deterrence Dialogue in Tokyo on July 28.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 7, 2024

Japan-U.S. alliance transforms with concrete 'two-plus-two' talks

Despite the long and challenging history of Japan-U.S. two-plus-two meetings, this year's Tokyo meeting was truly groundbreaking.
Naoshi Hirata, chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday evening.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2024

Japan issues first-ever alert over risk of Nankai Trough megaquake

It is believed that the chance of a major earthquake occurring in the Nankai Trough is relatively higher than usual, the weather agency said.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida canceled a four-day visit to Central Asia from Friday to prioritize responding to a higher quake risk.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 11, 2024

Concerns over Central Asia diplomacy after Kishida cancels trip

Some regret that Japan missed an important opportunity to increase its presence in Central Asia.
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.
Former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 15, 2024

Kishida clears the way for ministers to campaign in LDP election

Prospective candidates are weighing whether they can gather the necessary endorsements and rake in enough votes to have a decent shot at winning.
If two veterans, Toshimitsu Motegi and Shigeru Ishiba, run for the role of Liberal Democratic Party president, the race might come down to a choice between one of former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s allies versus one of LDP Vice President Taro Aso’s allies.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 16, 2024

Despite disbandment, factions still loom over LDP leadership race

Faction leaders' continued influence means they can't be ignored by candidates for party president.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Takayuki Kobayashi speaks to reporters during a visit to Tokyo's war-linked Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday, the 79th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 17, 2024

Takayuki Kobayashi set to announce LDP presidential bid

The 49-year-old lawmaker, serving his fourth term in the House of Representatives, has already secured support "from well over 20 people."
If Shigeru Ishiba, a former secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, announces his candidacy for the party's presidential election, it will be his fifth attempt at the top post.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 18, 2024

Shigeru Ishiba to announce LDP leadership candidacy soon

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last week said that he will not seek reelection as LDP president and will step down after the party picks his successor.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami