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May 14, 2025
 

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MINISTRY

Newly appointed Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya speaks during his first news conference as Japan's top diplomat at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2024
Japan's new top diplomat calls 'Asian NATO' an idea for the future
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya hinted that such a grouping would be open to all countries and partners in the region — including rivals such as China.
Japan's new justice minister Hideki Makihara says abolishing the death penalty would be "inappropriate."
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2024
New justice minister says scrapping death penalty 'inappropriate'
Capital punishment has strong public support in Japan, where scrapping it is rarely discussed.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, 66, has experience as the onetime head of Japan’s former Defense Agency before it became a full-fledged ministry and is seen as a pair of steady hands.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 2, 2024
Ishiba looks to 'defense tribe' to fill key Cabinet positions
The new prime minister has named four former defense ministers to key posts — most notably, the defense and foreign affairs portfolios.
Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Koizumi stressed that the granting of the special residency permits to children subjected to deportation orders was a one-time measure.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 27, 2024
Japan fine-tunes issuance of humanitarian visas
The move comes amid a near-tripling of technical intern trainees from Myanmar going missing from their programs in 2023.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Sazanami arrives in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean during a scheduled port visit in July. The Sazanami became the first Japanese warship to sail through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 26, 2024
Japan MSDF warship sails through Taiwan Strait for first time
The transit on Wednesday, which follows a spate of Chinese military moves near Japan, drew a strongly worded warning from Beijing.
Yonaguni Mayor Kenichi Itokazu speaks to a Ground Self-Defense Force soldier at the town hall on Yonaguni, Japan's westernmost inhabited island in Okinawa Prefecture last November.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2024
Deterring Taiwan conflict is top priority for Japan's ‘front-line’ mayor
The mayor believes the U.S. and Japan must do away with "strategic ambiguity" over Taiwan if they intend to keep China in check.
Iwao Hakamata in March 2023 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Hakamata was convicted in 1968 over the fatal stabbings of a couple and their children two years earlier. He has pleaded his innocence throughout his trial, maintaining that his confession was coerced.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 25, 2024
In Japan, the road to exoneration takes decades
Defense lawyers’ extremely limited access to evidence and prosecutors’ right to appeal a court order for a retrial result in a long, drawn-out process.
The Justice Ministry said there are now over 250,000 specified skilled foreign workers.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2024
Number of specified skilled visa holders in Japan surpasses 250,000
The government is aiming to attract 820,000 foreign workers under the specified skilled worker program over a five-year period through April 2029.
A Maritime Self-Defense Force P-1 patrol plane fires off flares during a demonstration at an international fleet review ceremony in November 2022. The firing of flares is intended to confuse heat-seeking missiles but they are also commonly deployed to warn away other aircraft.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Sep 24, 2024
Moscow and Beijing unlikely to stop testing Tokyo's limits
Tokyo’s unprecedented decision to fire flares as a warning after a Russian military plane entered Japanese airspace may not be enough to prevent a recurrence.
A Russian IL-38 patrol aircraft is seen in this image taken by the Air Self-Defense Force on Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2024
Japan fighters fire flares after Russian military plane enters airspace
A Russian IL-38 patrol aircraft violated Japanese airspace off Hokkaido’s Rebun Island three times, with the ASDF firing flares for the first time in response.
Rice in a field in Tambasasayama, Hyogo Prefecture in August. Rice prices jumped 28.3%, posting the largest increase since September 1975.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2024
Japan core consumer prices up 2.8% in August
Rice prices shot up 28.3%, electricity rates soared 26.2% and city gas rates 15.1%, following an end of government subsidies.
China's Liaoning aircraft carrier sails in waters near Okinawa Prefecture on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2024
Chinese carrier sails between Japanese islands near Taiwan for first time
China's Liaoning aircraft carrier passed through a narrow waterway between Yonaguni and Iriomote islands in Okinawa Prefecture.
North Korean leader Kim Jong inspects the training base of the special operation armed force of the Korean People's Army at an undisclosed location in the country on Sept. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 18, 2024
North Korea fires off 'multiple' ballistic missiles in latest show of force
The Defense Ministry in Tokyo said the latest launches saw the missiles splash down into waters outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.
There are worries that residents' personal information would be compromised if vulnerabilities in local government security systems are left unnoticed.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2024
Japan to conduct mock cyberattack tests on local governments
The measure aims to strengthen local governments' security by checking for system vulnerabilities.
A CH-148 Cyclone helicopter and a CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft fly over the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Winnipeg in the Asia-Pacific region in November 2020. Canada has been gradually boosting its military engagement with Asian partners.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2024
Canada and Japan aiming to rapidly expand defense ties
Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair has said he thinks there are "unlimited areas of cooperation" between the two countries.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech in Pyongyang in a photo released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2024
North Korea looks to keep itself on U.S. agenda with missile launches
The launches came just a day after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris assailed former President Donald Trump for his "love letters" with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa announces her candidacy in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 11, 2024
Yoko Kamikawa banks on overseas experience in LDP leadership race
Her candidacy could increase attention on foreign policy questions in a race so far dominated by party reform and domestic economic issues.
A Chinese Navy ship heads northeast in the Tsushima Strait about 130 kilometers southwest of Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2024
Chinese ships enter Sea of Japan ahead of military drills with Russia
Local media in Japan suggested the Chinese ships were on their way to drills with Russia announced by Beijing on Monday.
Masato Kanda, Japan's former top currency diplomat, led massive bouts of yen-buying intervention in the currency markets in 2022 and 2024.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 10, 2024
Japan nominates ex-currency diplomat Kanda to head ADB
Since its 1966 founding, the ADB's top post has always gone to a Japanese national, making Kanda a strong candidate.
A Mid-Range Capability, or Typhon, launcher with the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force arrives in the Philippines on April 8, in the capability’s first deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2024
U.S. eyeing midrange missiles in Japan for drills, U.S. Army secretary says
U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said deploying the unit that hosts the missile system had been discussed during her visit to Japan last month.
Transport ministry issues warning to Haneda Airport operator
The operator of Tokyo's Haneda Airport has been warned by the government over its inappropriate transactions.
Xi defiance pays off as Trump meets most China trade demands
Then-Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visits a school in South Gate, California, in February 2012. Experts say Xi won big in his standoff with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Nissan shares surge as carmaker set to cut 20,000 jobs in huge overhaul
U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on cars and car parts imported to the U.S. have been painful to most global brands, but crippling in Nissan’s case.
Japan might be playing long game in U.S. tariff talks
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House earlier this year. Ishiba said Monday that farmers won't be sacrificed for automakers in Japan's tariff negotiations with the U.S.
More details emerge about stabbing near Tokyo University metro station
Yoshitaka Toda, the suspect in Wednesday's knife attack at Todaimae Station on the Tokyo Metro Nanboku Line, leaves a police station in the Japanese capital the same day for a pre-detention medical examination.
Sculpted waves, sleek updos: Showa hairstyles are back in fashion
The larger-than-life hairstyles of Japan's Showa Era are unmistakable — and they're making a comeback.
Consumption tax set to dominate Upper House election debate
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan should produce its own AI defense solutions, Sakana AI CEO says
Sakana AI CEO David Ha speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Nissan gets ‘wake-up call’ with $4.5 billion annual net loss
Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa in Tokyo as the company releases its results

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Fujitsu crafts sustainable innovation for itself, society
Fujitsu crafts sustainable innovation for itself, society

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