NEWSWORTHY
Challenges await Japan as Trump presidency enters its third year
On Sept. 26 in New York, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was facing reporters at a joint news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump when Trump cracked a joke that in fact sounded like a veiled threat. "We've agreed today to start trade negotiations between the ...
Expansion of Pacific trade deal discussed at ministerial meeting in Tokyo
The 11 members of a trans-Pacific free trade agreement hold their first ministerial meeting and discuss future expansion and how to counter the rise of protectionism.
Trump to hold second summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un at end of February
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold a second summit on denuclearization near the end of next month, the White House said Friday in a bare-bones announcement that left many questions unanswered — including what steps Washington expects ...
Abe Cabinet approves reworked 2019 draft budget after Japan jobs data debacle
The rework was required after the government was revealed to have published a monthly labor survey without having collected sufficient data over a 15-year period.
Gloomy forecast for Davos: Crises aplenty to deal with, but few world leaders around to do it
An array of crises will keep several world leaders away from the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos next week, which takes place against a backdrop of deepening gloom over the global economic and political outlook. Anxieties over trade disputes, fractious international relations, Brexit ...
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 ...
Putin to visit Japan in June as Foreign Minister Taro Kono looks ahead to 'historic year'
Kono goes to Moscow in hopes of injecting fresh momentum toward concluding a postwar peace treaty.
Amid Russia probe and North Korea maneuvering, could a Trump-Kim deal leave Japan in the lurch?
“I think there’s a very a high chance — maybe more than 50 percent — that, if Trump meets Kim again, there will be a deal that sells out allies,” says Van Jackson, a former Pentagon official and North Korea expert.
Some questions and answers about the ongoing Tokyo-Moscow territorial talks, which Japan hopes will result in the return of territory off Hokkaido seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
North Korea tells Japan it may raise wartime labor issue if Tokyo keeps up pressure on abductees
North Korea has told Japan it could raise the subject of wartime forced labor during Tokyo's occupation of the Korean Peninsula in any future bilateral talks, diplomatic sources have said. The wartime labor issue has been the source of heightened tensions between Tokyo and Seoul ...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is considering visiting Japan from Feb. 4 to 5 to hold talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, informed sources said. The two leaders will likely agree to strengthen bilateral cooperation to promote free trade ahead of the summit of the Group ...
