Tag - relations

 
 

RELATIONS

An Iranian military ship takes part in an annual drill in the coastal area of the Gulf of Oman and near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran, in this picture obtained in December 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 23, 2025
China criticizes attack on Iran as U.S. asks Beijing for trade route help
Beijing "strongly” condemns the attacks on Iran, according to a four-sentence statement from the Foreign Ministry on Sunday.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 23, 2025
Ishiba to skip key NATO summit following Iran strikes
Two other invitees — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung — have also decided not to attend the gathering.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at a ceremony in the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN / History
Jun 23, 2025
Okinawa marks 80th anniversary of end of ferocious ground battle
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba spoke of the horrific ground war involving Okinawan residents, noting that 200,000 lives were lost, or about one in four Okinawans.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 23, 2025
Japan denies U.S. directly asked it to hike defense spending to 5% of GDP
Tokyo’s top government spokesman also said it was untrue that Japan had postponed a key bilateral security meeting over the issue.
An electric motor, jointly developed by Honda and Daido Steel, for hybrid cars that uses no heavy rare earth metals  is displayed at an unveiling in Tokyo in July 2016.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2025
Honda supplier rethinks China relationship as trade war bites
For Daido Steel, the trade war has meant renewing a push to build rare earth supply routes outside of China.
Trishit Banerjee moved to Japan in 2015, embarking on an academic and personal journey that taught him lessons about the collective and the individual.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jun 23, 2025
A singular ensemble: Indian food, science and Fukushima
After moving to Sendai for college, an Indian student began thinking about the dynamic between the individual and the ensemble — in food, science and society.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung shake hands in Canada last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 22, 2025
Japan and South Korea mark 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties
The future of the bilateral relationship now appears to depend on Japan policies chosen by new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.
South Korean Ambassador to Japan Park Cheol-hee attends an interview on June 17 in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 22, 2025
South Korean envoy calls ties with Japan best ever
The ambassador called for closer relations in the face of deepening cooperation between North Korea and Russia and pressure from China and the current U.S. administration.
Lexus GX 550 SUV is displayed at the New York International Auto Show in New York in March last year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 21, 2025
Toyota to raise U.S. auto prices by more than $200 from July
Some Toyota- and Lexus-branded models will see their prices raised by an average of $270 and $208, respectively.
Members of the Japan Coast Guard prepare to toss a dummy into the sea for a rescue operation simulation during a maritime exercise with the Philippine Coast Guard ship Teresa Magbanua, the United States Coast Guard cutter Stratton and the Japan Coast Guard ship Asanagi in the waters around the southern city of Kagoshima on Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2025
Japan, U.S. and Philippine coast guards simulate crisis amid China threat
The joint coast guard exercises held off Japan's southwest shore follow a warning from the three countries about Chinese activity in disputed regional waters.
A White House official said the United States is  "just laying the groundwork" for possibly revoking authorizations granted in recent years to global chipmakers Samsung, SK Hynix and TSMC to receive U.S. goods and technology at their plants in China, in case the trade truce reached between the two countries falls apart.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 21, 2025
U.S. may target Samsung, Hynix and TSMC operations in China
Revoking authorizations to receive U.S. goods and tech would make it difficult for foreign chipmakers to operate in China.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo on March 30.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 21, 2025
Japan scraps ‘two-plus-two’ meeting with U.S. over defense spending demand, report says
The talks’ cancellation reportedly came after the U.S. asked Japan to hike its defense budget to 3.5% of gross domestic product.
A statue of Mohandas Gandhi in Tetsugakudo Park, Tokyo. The Indian nationalist saw lessons for humanity in the trajectory of modern Japan and the violence wrought by — and perpetrated upon — the nation.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jun 21, 2025
Gandhi and Japan: Turning away from ‘brute force’ and toward love
“I did not move a muscle when I first heard that an atom bomb had wiped out Hiroshima.”
A model of a next-generation fighter jet that is being developed by Japan, Italy and the U.K. is displayed at the DSEI Japan defense exhibition in Chiba in May.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2025
GCAP industry partners launch joint venture for trilateral fighter project
Named Edgewing, the new firm will be responsible for the fighter’s design and development and will remain the design authority for the life of the product.
Toyota has filed a lawsuit in a South African court over 2022 flood damages that shuttered its plant near Durban.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2025
Toyota insurer files $361 million South Africa flood damage lawsuit
The claim alleges that by failing to maintain waterways and drainage systems that carried the floodwater, the defendants shared responsibility for the damage.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a speech at a reception hosted by the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo on Thursday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two neighboring countries.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 20, 2025
Ishiba calls for expanding Japan-South Korea exchanges
The prime minister said he had very good discussions with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung when they met in Canada on Tuesday.
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa has said that his U.S. counterparts are open to an extension of the July 9 deadline for countries that are making an effort toward a deal.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 20, 2025
Japan hopes good-faith negotiations will buy it some time in U.S. tariff talks
U.S negotiators have said that the July 9 deadline is flexible and that extensions might be granted.
A helicopter takes off from China's Shandong aircraft carrier in waters south of Okinawa Prefecture in April 2023.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2025
Chinese aircraft carriers conducted over 1,000 sorties during Pacific training
Japan says the takeoffs and landings highlight the Chinese Navy’s growing ability to operate in distant seas and airspace.
People pray during a visit to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, the 79th anniversary of Japan's surrender during World War II.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 20, 2025
Why only Japan is criticized for honoring its war dead
Other countries honor the ultimate sacrifice regardless of whether the war was just, later judged a mistake or involved actions that could be seen as war crimes.
Katsuya Toji looks at Jizo statues, which his father Kentaro had installed in his garden to honor the men he had executed, on May 13. The statues have been moved to a different location in the city of Fukuoka.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2025
Diaries of a Japanese war criminal reveal 'how irrational war truly is,' son says
“It felt like I was sinking quietly into the bottom of a deep sea,” the convicted war criminal wrote after hearing of his death sentence.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’