Tag - shigeru-ishiba

 
 

SHIGERU ISHIBA

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as they meet in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15.
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2025
Peace in Ukraine is within reach — if the world holds firm
Peace prospects swing with Trump’s erratic diplomacy. Allies, including Japan, need to stress unity and rule of law as they prepare to fill gaps and stabilize support for Ukraine.
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a  Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 22, 2025
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
By naming the popular lawmaker to his Cabinet, the beleaguered prime minister turned a potential rival into a member of his team — at least, for now.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a speech at a dinner during the Tokyo International Conference on African Development on Thursday in Yokohama.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 22, 2025
LDP mulls pushing back deadline for review of Upper House election
The delay is mainly due to Prime Minister and LDP President Shigeru Ishiba's schedule of diplomatic events.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera on the sidelines of the TICAD meeting in Yokohama on Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2025
Japan calls for private investments in Africa at TICAD
Tokyo is offering itself as an alternative to China as African nations reel from a debt crisis made worse by Western aid cuts, conflict and climate change.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shakes hands with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders' summit in Kananaskis in Alberta, Canada, on June 17.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 21, 2025
Can Ishiba and South Korea’s Lee keep the hatchet buried?
The South Korean leader's unprecedented visit Saturday will highlight to what extent he has put his hard-line Japan views in the rearview mirror.
Yoshihiko Noda, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. The former prime minister has signaled he’s ready to take his conciliatory approach to the government to new heights, hinting that the time for clashes with the Liberal Democratic Party is over.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 20, 2025
CDP softens stance toward LDP in bid to bolster political center
“Right-wing populism has grown too strong,” CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda said. “Unless the center gains more strength, Japanese politics won’t improve.”
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025
Japan to donate $550 million to Gavi vaccine alliance over five years
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will announce the pledge at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, set to begin in Yokohama on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to the media after a meeting in Tokyo last month.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 19, 2025
Ishiba says Japan considering role in security guarantees for Ukraine
The “coalition of the willing,” which groups 30 nations backing Ukraine that includes Japan, has been working for months to craft a comprehensive package of security guarantees.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba takes part in an online meeting focused on Ukraine, with leaders from the "coalition of the willing," a group of nations that have pledged support for Kyiv against Russian aggression, late Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 18, 2025
Japan watches nervously as Trump ramps up pressure on Zelenskyy
The U.S. president is pushing the Ukrainian leader to reach a quick peace deal with Russia — an agreement that could have broad ramifications for Japan.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba holds a news conference in Tokyo last month.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 16, 2025
Japan to accelerate development of logistics network in Africa
The planned corridor, which will link the inland African country of Zambia and a port in Mozambique, is aimed at enhancing supply chains for mineral resources.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 16, 2025
On anniversary of WWII's end, China urges Japan to make the 'right choice'
"Only by remembering the past can straying onto the wrong path again be avoided," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was quoted as saying.
Jose Takei, an 82-year-old man of Japanese descent in the Philippines, speaks during an interview on Aug. 8 at the Foreign Ministry.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2025
Stateless man of Japanese descent in Philippines eager for Japan citizenship
The son of a Japanese man and Filipino woman, Jose Takei never met his father, who left before he was born to join the Japanese military during World War II.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba lays a flower during the memorial service at the Nippon Budokan on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 15, 2025
As Japan marks 80 years since WWII surrender, Ishiba expresses remorse
The prime minister’s reflections about the war stood in contrast to those of his recent predecessors.
GDP grew at an annualized pace of 1% in the three months through June from the prior period, surpassing economists’ forecast of a 0.4% gain, according to the Cabinet Office.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 15, 2025
Japan growth beats forecasts, boosting rate-hike case for BOJ
Better-than-expected economic growth has given Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba some good news as he fends off calls to resign after July's election setback.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference in Nagasaki on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 14, 2025
Approval for Ishiba Cabinet rises to 27.3%, poll shows
Respondents who think Ishiba should not resign following the ruling party's setback in last month's House of Councilors election slightly outpacing those who think he should.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is considering issuing a formal statement on the 80th anniversary of WWII’s end. There is no shortage of opposition to the idea in his own party.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 14, 2025
Why Ishiba shouldn’t issue a WWII 80th anniversary statement
I’m not saying Japan shouldn’t have apologized, but rather that Japan has sincerely worked to resolve international issues, especially in the past 30 years.
Setsuko Kawai, who lost her mother and two younger brothers in the March 1945 bombing, has fought for recognition of the victims.
JAPAN / History / FOCUS
Aug 14, 2025
Civilian air raid survivors fight for recognition 80 years after war's end
After drafting a bill to provide concrete relief to survivors this spring, a bipartisan group of lawmakers failed to submit it to parliament days before the session’s closure.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday. Ishiba plans to launch a new economic initiative to strengthen ties with India, the Middle East and Africa at an event near Tokyo next week.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 14, 2025
Ishiba to launch new regional economic initiative
The initiative is aimed at helping Japanese companies expand operations in India, the Middle East and Africa.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's political survival likely hinges on whether a leadership race will take place within the Liberal Democratic Party following its decision to have its election committee canvass the opinions of party members and prefectural chapters on the subject.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Aug 13, 2025
Will Ishiba's critics be able to garner enough support for a leadership race?
The only way to remove an LDP president from office — other than a resignation — is to invoke the recall clause and hold a leadership race.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a news conference at the Blue House in Seoul on July 3.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 13, 2025
South Korean President Lee to visit Japan for summit with Ishiba, Seoul says
The leaders will discuss ways to improve regional peace and boost trilateral cooperation with Washington.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past