Search - japan

 
 
The Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (center) attends a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2025

Japan's Cabinet approves legislation on 'active' cybersecurity

The new measures aim to enable the government to infiltrate the sources of cyberattacks in order to neutralize them.
Ishiba eats a mikan tangerine at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Jan. 22.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 7, 2025

A 'joyful' Japan? Ishiba's choice of slogan sparks the opposite feelings

Even members of Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party were not happy with the slogan.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump will likely aim at maintaining the status quo, avoid new trade issues and ensure Japan isn’t targeted by tariffs.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2025

A new golden age for U.S.-Japan? I don’t think so.

Ishiba won’t be looking for any great breakthrough, a dramatic defense re-posturing, or support for any of his long-held foreign policy goals
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 8, 2025

Trump targets U.S. trade deficit in first meeting with Ishiba

The two leaders pledged to pursue a "new golden age" of U.S.-Japan relations — though Ishiba did get an earful about America's trade deficit with its ally.
Domino's Pizza will close 172 unprofitable outlets out of about 1,000 stores in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2025

Domino's pizza to close 172 outlets in Japan

The global delivery pizza chain will prioritize investments in areas that will help it improve earnings.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 9, 2025

Ishiba says Trump didn't push defense spending hike or discuss tariffs

Ishiba also echoed Trump's pledge to help mediate a move by Japan’s Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel rather than purchasing the American company.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's visit to the U.S. for talks with Donald Trump yielded moderate success, highlighting the strategic focus of the American presidents second administration.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 9, 2025

So far, so good for Ishiba — at least for now

It's safe to say, Ishiba’s visit to the U.S. went well. But we mustn't become complacent.
Investors believe the amicable atmosphere of the first summit between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday has the potential to help support Japanese stocks in the medium term.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 10, 2025

Japan markets wobble as Trump talks of new steel tariffs for 'everyone'

The U.S. president's talk of reciprocal tariffs for "everyone” has provided a reminder of the risks that face America’s trading partners.
Saburo Kita (a pseudonym, left) submits a claim for forced sterilization compensation on Jan. 17 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 10, 2025

Japan enforces compensation law for forced sterilization victims

Under the new law, victims of forced sterilization will receive ¥15 million in compensation, while their spouses will be entitled to ¥5 million.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 10, 2025

Ishiba builds inroads with Trump, but challenges still loom

Ishiba won praise for his deft handling of Trump, squelching critics’ predictions that the president would walk all over the bookish Japanese leader.
Giving out courtesy chocolates to coworkers on Valentine's Day is becoming obsolete.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 10, 2025

How giving chocolates on Valentine’s Day is evolving in Japan

One change is fewer people are handing out chocolates to others at work, which had been a widespread practice over the past few decades.
Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura hailed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump as successful.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 11, 2025

Japan's business community expresses relief after the Ishiba-Trump summit

Uncertainty about the future remains, however, as Trump mentioned his eagerness to eliminate the U.S. trade deficit with Japan.
Emperor Hirohito speaks during a welcome ceremony hosted by U.S. President Richard Nixon in Anchorage, Alaska, on Sept. 26, 1971.
JAPAN / History
Feb 11, 2025

Emperor Showa was cautious about Nixon's 1972 visit to China, document shows

That the emperor voiced his own position on the visit to China may raise questions about diplomacy involving the imperial family.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is hoping to realize a visit to China at an early date.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

Visit to China by Ishiba from early May under consideration as ties warm

The Japanese prime minister hopes to hold his second meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to enhance momentum for improving Sino-Japanese relations.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders, including two official proclamations that will impose a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum from all countries globally, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 12, 2025

Japan asks for exemption from Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs

Officials in Tokyo said the government will closely examine the impact of U.S. measures on Japanese companies and will take necessary actions.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shows a picture of him with U.S. President Donald Trump during a joint news conference at the White House on Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 12, 2025

Ishiba navigates the low expectations for Japan’s foreign policy

The summit proceeded well enough, but some will argue that this is only because Ishiba had a low bar for his engagement.
New Zealand Ambassador to Japan Hamish Cooper says his country and Tokyo are close to inking a key intelligence-sharing agreement that will further reinforce growing security and defense ties.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

New Zealand paving way for deeper security ties with Tokyo, envoy says

The moves are part of a reset in New Zealand’s foreign and defense policy as Wellington looks to step up engagements with its Asian partners.
Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear power station in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2025

Kansai Electric proposes doubling Fukui-France nuclear waste shipments

It remains to be seen whether the prefectural government will support the revised plans. Fukui has long called for spent nuclear fuel to be taken out of the prefecture.
Vehicles bound for shipment at a port in Yokohama. Last year, auto and auto parts made up a third of Japan’s shipments to the United States.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2025

Japan begins talks with U.S. to sound out Trump tariff specifics

Trump has singled out Japan and South Korea as nations he believes are taking advantage of the U.S., according to a White House official.
Leaders of patients' groups submit signatures opposing the move by the government to raise the medical copayment ceiling on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2025

Japan to rethink medical copayment hike amid patient outcry

Many patients, especially those undergoing costly but effective cancer therapy, say a hike might force them to abandon their treatments.
The 50th ASEAN-Japan commemorative summit was held in Tokyo in December 2023. Japan has strong relations with ASEAN member countries and should continue leveraging this position to pursue its Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 14, 2025

Why ASEAN is crucial to a Free and Open Indo-Pacific

Tokyo understands ASEAN's centrality to the Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision better than Washington does and should continue leading in defending this regional order.
China frequently shifts between warming and freezing relations with Japan, driven by its domestic issues, often using softer rhetoric while masking aggressive actions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 14, 2025

Are China-Japan relations truly 'warming,' or is this just fool’s gold again?

As the trade war between the U.S. and China heats up, Beijing is turning to its familiar playbook, using softer language to court American allies and partners while offering things like greater cooperation and more dialogue — part of its ongoing divide-and-conquer strategy.
A general view of Myanmar from Thailand's side of the border, in Mae Sot district, on Feb. 5.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 15, 2025

Teen says several more Japanese nationals involved in frauds in Myanmar

Thai authorities took the 16-year-old teenager into custody in Mae Sot, in northwestern Thailand, this month, and are looking into the details of the situation.
The N Seoul Tower was lit up on Saturday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between South Korea and Japan.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2025

Tokyo and Seoul towers light up to mark anniversary of ties

Ambassadors from Japan and South Korea respectively attended the lighting ceremonies in the two countries.
Ichiro Aisawa (second from left), head of the Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on the Election System, addresses a meeting of major political parties on election-related issues held at the parliament building on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 16, 2025

Japan parties to tackle issue of collaborating candidates

A provision to unify the size and other aspects of posters, which currently vary by election type, was also included in the bill.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya meets with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and counterparts from other countries at the State Department in Washington on Jan. 21.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2025

Japan's Iwaya vows to push ahead with sanctions against Russia

Iwaya made the Russia sanctions remark after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his eagerness to achieve an early ceasefire in Ukraine through direct negotiations with Moscow.
Akihiro Arimoto (left), accompanied by his wife, Kayoko, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in 2002. Arimoto, the father of a girl who was spirited away to North Korea more than four decades ago and remains unaccounted for, died late Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2025

Akihiro Arimoto, father of girl abducted by North Korea in 1983, dies

His death at the age of 96 is a sign of how long the issue has dragged on, with most parents of abductees having now died without finding out what happened to their loved ones.
Naturalized Japanese citizens from Taiwan will be able to list Taiwan as their place of origin in their family register instead of China from May.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 17, 2025

Naturalized Japanese can soon list Taiwan as original nationality

Since Japan does not officially recognize Taiwan as a country, those from the self-ruled island had been required to list China as their original nationality.
An All Nippon Airways passenger plane at Noto Airport in Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 27, 2024, after its arrival from Haneda Airport in Tokyo following the reopening of earthquake-affected Noto Airport to commercial flights.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2025

Japan eyes system for faster repairs of disaster-hit airports

The system, expected to cover about 60 airports, is based on lessons from the delayed resumption of an airport on the Noto Peninsula.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba receives fruit from tangerine farmers of Shizuoka Prefecture in Tokyo on Jan. 22. The government's new regional revitalization plan focuses on convincing younger workers to choose a career and life somewhere other than a major urban center such as Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 18, 2025

Can Ishiba's 'joyful Japan' policy revitalize the nation's rural regions?

The prime minister may be taking cues from the mistakes of past efforts, but ultimately, even the best rural revitalization plan is tough to realize in practice.

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