Foreign Ministry

National / Politics Sep 3, 2019

Japan names new top diplomat for Asian affairs

Japan named its new top diplomat for Asian affairs on Tuesday, at a time when it is embroiled in a bitter feud with South Korea over wartime history and trade and as North Korea provokes its neighbors with a series of missile tests. Shigeki Takizaki, ...

National Aug 31, 2019

Japan's Foreign Ministry seeks to double WTO budget after defeat in Fukushima food ban case

The Foreign Ministry hopes to more than double its budget for activities related to the World Trade Organization in fiscal 2020 after losing a dispute over a South Korean ban on imports of Japanese seafood.

National / Social Issues Jul 31, 2019

Passports, maiden names, brackets: Japan Foreign Minister Taro Kono wades into a minefield

by Hinano Kobayashi

When Foreign Minister Taro Kono wrote on Twitter that he would order his ministry to look into the contentious issue of maiden names on passports in response to a tweet in early June, he may not have been aware of the minefield he was ...

National / Politics Jul 25, 2019

Allies agree to quick access for Japan officials to U.S. military accident sites, but consent still required

by Reiji Yoshida

Tokyo and Washington revised a set of 2005 guidelines Thursday that deal with off-base U.S. military aircraft accidents in Japan to allow for the "expeditious early entry" of Japanese officials into an inner cordoned off area to be set up around the wreckage, the ...

National Jul 16, 2019

Ex-captive Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda denied passport by Foreign Ministry

Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda, who returned home last year after more than three years of captivity in Syria, said Tuesday the government has denied him a new passport, effectively preventing him from traveling overseas. The Foreign Ministry notified him on July 10 that it based ...

National Jun 28, 2019

Activist Rebiya Kadeer calls on Japan to highlight persecution of Uighurs as Osaka G20 begins

by Tomohiro Osaki

As the Group of 20 summit formally kicked off in Osaka on Friday, Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent political activist for China's Uighur ethnic minority, urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to highlight Beijing's alleged persecution of the majority-Muslim group in the country's far west, slamming ...

Business / Economy | G20 Osaka Jun 25, 2019

Can the G20 summit pave a path for the future of multilateral trade?

by Satoshi Sugiyama

Since it first convened two decades ago, the Group of 20 summit has been regarded as a forum for developed and developing countries to take collective action against economic uncertainties. Now, as Japan prepares to host the summit for the first time, multilateralism and global ...

National May 29, 2019

Lost lives in Kawasaki rampage: A good-natured schoolgirl and a Burmese-language specialist

Hanako Kuribayashi was known as being a thoughtful and good-natured girl, while Satoshi Oyama was recognized as a specialist in the Burmese language and a highly qualified Foreign Ministry official, before they were killed in Tuesday's mass stabbing in Kawasaki. The two fell victim when ...

National / Politics May 9, 2019

Japan supports Taiwan's bid to attend World Health Assembly in move that could anger China

Foreign Minister Taro Kono expressed support on Wednesday for Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly in a move that could anger China. It marks the first time Japan has publicly supported Taiwan's bid to attend the annual meeting of the WHA, the decision-making body ...

National / Politics Apr 23, 2019

Japan softens tone on North Korea and Russia in foreign policy report as Abe pursues deals

Tokyo removed a reference to applying “maximum pressure” on Pyongyang and stopped short of explicitly claiming ownership of the Russian-held islands off Hokkaido.