National / Politics Jan 21, 2019
Japan may accept Russia peace pact if handover of two islands secured
Persuading Moscow to return more of the disputed territory increasingly seen as “unrealistic.”
NEWSWORTHY
National / Politics Jan 21, 2019
Hundreds of Russians protested against a feared giveaway of strategic islands to Japan on Sunday, two days before a key summit between the countries' leaders in Moscow. Between 300 and 500 people gathered on Suvorovskaya Square, just outside Moscow's city center, for an authorized rally ...
National / Politics Jan 15, 2019
Abe pledges to advance peace treaty talks with Putin despite show of differences
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday he wants to advance postwar peace treaty talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin "as much as possible," a day after a ministerial-level meeting demonstrated the differences between the nations' positions on disputed islands. At a gathering of senior government ...
National / Politics Jan 10, 2019
Russia on Wednesday lodged a protest with Japan over recent remarks by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other senior Japanese officials about disputed islands off Hokkaido, saying they are "distorting" agreements by the two countries' leaders. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov summoned Japan's ambassador ...
National / Politics Jan 2, 2019
In New Year's statement, Abe vows to step up peace treaty talks with Russia in 2019
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday pledged to step up talks with Russia to conclude a postwar peace treaty, among other major diplomatic challenges this year. "As we are at a major turning point, we will aggressively pursue the resolution of Japan's postwar diplomatic concerns," ...
National / Politics Dec 19, 2018
Japan files protest over new Russian military barracks on disputed islands
Japan has logged a protest with Russia over the construction of military barracks on two disputed islands off Hokkaido, the top government spokesman said Wednesday. The protest was made through a diplomatic channel in Moscow on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said during a ...
National / Politics Dec 16, 2018
65% against Diet passage of foreign workers' bill: Kyodo News poll
A poll finds over 65 percent of voters were against the Diet’s passage earlier in the month of a bill to accept more foreign blue-collar workers from April.
National / Politics Dec 4, 2018
Territorial talks under a newly agreed framework between Tokyo and Moscow will include discussions on how to interpret the 1956 Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration, Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin said Monday. The remark echoed an earlier statement by President Vladimir Putin that the declaration says ...
National / Politics Dec 2, 2018
Shinzo Abe and Vladimir Putin tap foreign ministers to head territorial talks
The envoys have been asked to oversee negotiations for concluding a postwar peace treaty based on a 1956 joint declaration.
Commentary / Japan Nov 29, 2018
The catalyst behind Japan-Russia peace talks
by Yuki Tatsumi
Abe must tread carefully between maintaining Japan's diplomatic momentum with Russia while not appearing to acquiesce its international behavior elsewhere.
National / Politics Nov 29, 2018
Ensuring no future U.S. military presence on disputed isles is key for Russia in talks with Japan
Negotiations between Tokyo and Moscow over their decades-old territorial dispute could be affected by a possible U.S. military presence on any of the disputed islands if they are returned to Japan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin are due to meet on ...
National / Politics Nov 28, 2018
Japan and Russia consider high-level framework to push peace treaty talks
Japan and Russia are considering setting up a high-level consultative framework to speed up talks toward concluding a bilateral postwar peace treaty, government sources said Wednesday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin are likely to meet on the sidelines of the Group ...