Tag - relations

 
 

RELATIONS

The United States was the biggest food export destination for Japan, with shipments totaling ¥242.9 billion, up 17.8%, helped by efforts to diversify scallop export markets following China's fishery import ban.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 5, 2025
Japan's food exports hit record high for 12th straight year
The United States was the biggest food export destination for Japan.
Cargo containers await loading onto ships at the port of Tianjin, China, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 5, 2025
Xi’s careful reply to Trump tariffs shows China has more to lose
The shift reflects both Xi’s success at diversifying imports away from the U.S. since Trump’s first term, as well as China’s more precarious economic situation.
While it's unclear whether U.S. President Donald Trump will follow through with his promised 25% levies on Mexico and Canada after agreeing to a 30-day pause on Monday, the blowback would be profound for Nissan.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Feb 4, 2025
Trump tariffs will only add to the pain for hard-hit Nissan
The blowback from potential tariffs on Mexico and Canada would be profound for Japan's No.3 carmaker, which is struggling to turn itself around.
Russian demand for Japanese grand pianos is always very high, a dealer has said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 4, 2025
Smuggled grand pianos show Trump’s challenge in pressuring Putin
High-end Japanese pianos still make their way to Russia despite export ban, highlighting Tokyo's struggle to enforce sanctions.
China said on Tuesday it would impose tariffs on imports of U.S. energy, vehicles and equipment, firing a return salvo in an escalating trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
BUSINESS / Economy / EXPLAINER
Feb 4, 2025
Where things stand in China-U.S. trade tensions
China has made good on its threats to retaliate in the escalating trade war with the United States, imposing tariffs on American imports of energy, cars and machinery parts.
Trading company Mitsui
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025
Japan's Mitsui could study Alaska LNG project, but no decision yet
Japan is considering offering support for a $44-billion gas pipeline in Alaska as it seeks to court U.S. President Donald Trump and forestall potential trade friction.
The Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai on Jan. 20. China's Finance Ministry said it would impose levies of 15% for U.S. coal and LNG and 10% for crude oil, farm equipment and some autos.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 4, 2025
China hits back with tariffs on U.S. goods after Trump imposes new levies
Trump on Monday suspended his threat of 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada at the last minute, but there was no such reprieve for China.
Former Nissan executive Greg Kelly in his Tokyo apartment in February 2020. He returned to the United States after the first verdict nearly three years ago in which he was given a suspended prison sentence.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 4, 2025
Tokyo court upholds suspended jail term for former Nissan exec
Greg Kelly was found guilty in 2022 of helping the automaker's fugitive ex-CEO, Carlos Ghosn, underreport his income.
Despite numerous past meetings between U.S. and Japanese leaders, Shigeru Ishiba's relationship with Donald Trump is expected to be awkward, lacking the rapport the U.S. president had with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2025
Ishiba will finally meet Trump, but expectations need to be kept low
His long-time rival Shinzo Abe's relationship with Trump is the ideal but an unfair comparison.
Nippon Steel and United States Steel said in an opening brief Monday that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States violated their due process rights last year by allowing "virtually no substantive engagement” with the companies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025
Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel blast Biden's 'sham' merger block
While Biden is no longer in office, President Donald Trump has expressed his own opposition to the deal.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters the Prime Minister's Office on Monday. Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump are due to have their first summit on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 4, 2025
Ishiba and Trump eye joint statement after first summit
The statement is expected to underscore Japan and the United States' commitment to working together in a wide range of areas including security and the economy.
Monks at the temple of the golden Buddha Dordenma in Thimphu, Bhutan, in 2023
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2025
Japanese-made AI Buddha to make debut in Bhutan
Monks in the country will use the chatbot on a trial basis to further improve its functions and create guidelines on its use.
Fentanyl precursors on display in Mexico City on Oct. 4, 2023. Chemical components are said to be shipped from China to Mexico, where they are then made into fentanyl and smuggled across the border.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 4, 2025
How China allegedly contributes to the deadly fentanyl crisis
Chemical components are said to be shipped from China to Mexico, where they are then made into fentanyl and smuggled across the border.
DeepSeek’s AI breakthrough has shaken assumptions about China’s innovation, highlighted weaknesses in U.S. tech restrictions, and reinforced China’s push for self-sufficiency despite export controls.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2025
DeepSeek forces a rethink of China’s ability to innovate
The Trump administration hasn’t outlined a policy toward technology flows yet, but it ordered a review of export controls on day one.
Taiwanese star Barbie Hsu, who was hugely popular across Asia for her leading role in the 2001 television drama "Meteor Garden," died from a respiratory illness during a family trip to Japan over the Lunar New Year holiday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 3, 2025
Taiwan's 'Meteor Garden' star Barbie Hsu dies at 48
The actor, who rose to fame as the romantic lead in a 2001 television drama based on a manga series, died from a respiratory illness during a family holiday in Japan.
A map of the South China Sea is shown during a Philippine Coast Guard mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, claimed by both the Philippines and China. Each country has its own name for this area, signaling the use of toponyms to stake territorial rights.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2025
What’s in a name? In the South China Sea, a whole lot.
In the South China Sea, disputed territories have been given different names by the states vying for them. Will Trump's moves thousands of miles away validate this approach?
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio addresses employees and families during a meet-and-greet at the United States Embassy in Panama City, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 3, 2025
Rubio tells Panama to end China's influence of canal or face U.S. action
Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino signaled he would review agreements involving China and Chinese businesses.
A sign that reads ''Buy Canadian Instead'' is displayed after the top five U.S. liquor brands were removed from sale at B.C. Liquor Stores, as part of a response to U.S. President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on Canadian goods, in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 3, 2025
Trump says Americans could feel 'pain' in trade war with Mexico, Canada and China
Wall Street and Washington's largest trading partners signaled hope that the trade war would not last long.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a Lower House plenary session last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 2, 2025
LDP conservatives frustrated by Ishiba's diplomacy with China
As Ishiba's foothold within the LDP remains precarious, one misstep could spark moves to undermine his administration.
Communist Party supporters take part in a rally next to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in July 2022. Economic reforms pushed by the U.S. in 1990s on Russia caused hardship and extremism, fueling Vladimir Putin's rise.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2025
A secret cable and a clue to where America-Russia relations went wrong
Putin is the main culprit for Russia’s return to authoritarianism, aggression and hostility to the West. But American arrogance and presumptions cannot be dismissed.

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’