Minutes found for 1980s meetings about Japan ministers' contentious visits to Yasukuni Shrine
Minutes of 1980s panel meetings on visits to war-related Yasukuni Shrine by ministers have been found at the Cabinet Secretariat, a government official said Thursday. The private advisory body for the chief Cabinet secretary, created under the administration of then-Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, held a ...
Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone effectively persuaded U.S. President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s to aim for the total elimination of intermediate-range nuclear forces in Asia, instead of an initially proposed 50 percent cut in Soviet forces, according to recently released Japanese diplomatic records. The United ...
Ex-Prime Minister Nakasone makes call for amending Constitution as he celebrates 100th birthday
At 100, former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, a legendary figure in Japanese politics, expresses hopes that “serious efforts” will be made to amend the postwar Constitution.
Nakasone pitched trade with North Korea as part of 1980s appeal to China: declassified records
In 1986, then-Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone told Chinese government heavyweight Hu Yaobang that Japan was prepared to trade with North Korea, according to diplomatic records declassified Wednesday.
Israel's Peres sent 'secret envoy' to sound out Japan in 1985 on playing Mideast peace role
An Israeli-American political cartoonist secretly passed a request from Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres to Japanese counterpart Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1985 to get more involved in the Middle East peace process, according to Japanese diplomatic records declassified Wednesday. But Nakasone decided to turn down the ...
The art, and fallout, of the Japanese political gaffe
If there is one way you can count on Japanese politicians, it is their ability to make headlines by putting their foot in their mouth. Time and again, high-profile politicians and Cabinet ministers have placed their careers in jeopardy over slips of the tongue, misstatements ...
Echoes of 1980s trade war seen in Trump comments on Japan
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump surprised and angered many in Japan with comments about how unfair Japan's trade policies were. His Twitter comments threatening Toyota Motor Corp. with a border tax if they built a plant in Mexico and tried to sell their cars ...
Declassified papers show U.S. urged Japan to pay more for security costs in 1980s
The U.S. government in 1983 strongly urged Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone to raise Japan’s share of spending on security, according to diplomatic records declassified by Tokyo on Thursday. The files also showed that Nakasone immediately responded to a U.S. request to contribute funds to a ...
Chinese leader warmed to Japanese defense strength in 1980s, declassified records show
Chinese government heavyweight Hu Yaobang told Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1983 that he would not oppose an "appropriate enhancement" of Japan's defense capabilities, newly declassified records showed Thursday, underscoring the leading Chinese official's conciliatory stance toward the then-Japanese leader. At the time of Hu's ...
Former Prime Minister Nakasone sought to halt 1980s trade talks with U.S.
Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone resisted pressure from the United States in the 1980s to open up the Japanese market to imports, according to diplomatic records declassified Thursday. The push by the administration of former President Ronald Reagan on imports of U.S. beef and oranges ...
Abe matches Nakasone for fourth place on postwar prime minister longevity list
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe matches the record of 1,806 days in office set by former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone in the 1980s, the fourth-longest term held by a prime minister in the postwar era.
Ex-Reagan aide says Abe has yet to eclipse Nakasone in terms of strategic vision
In the wake of the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito ruling bloc victory in the Upper House election in July, Shinzo Abe appears set to eclipse Yasuhiro Nakasone this year as the fourth-longest-serving prime minister in postwar Japan. But as many point out, the issue is not ...
