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Jesse Johnson
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 23, 2019
Kim Jong Un receives letter from Trump, saying he will 'seriously contemplate' its 'interesting content'
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has received an "excellent" letter from U.S. President Donald Trump, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday, just days before Trump travels to Asia for the Group of 20 summit in Osaka.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 20, 2019
In Pyongyang, Xi and Kim discuss nukes as speculation grows over possible message to Trump
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday kicked off his first visit to Pyongyang as president, meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, telling him that the international community expects the U.S. and North to restart nuclear talks in efforts to produce a tangible outcome.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 20, 2019
High-profile defector says Kim has shown 'great interest' in meeting Abe, but summit will come at a cost
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has shown "great interest" in meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — with a major caveat — one of the highest-ranking North Korean diplomats to defect in years told a news conference Thursday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 19, 2019
Xi writes rare op-ed in North Korea's ruling party newspaper, touts 'grand plan' for East Asia stability
Chinese President Xi Jinping has penned a front page op-ed in the Wednesday edition of North Korea's ruling party newspaper, a day ahead of his landmark visit to the nuclear-armed country, writing that Beijing is willing to work with Pyongyang to prepare a "grand plan" for achieving "permanent stability"...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 18, 2019
When it comes to North Korean nukes, Xi wants U.S. and Japan to know that China still wields immense power
When Xi Jinping makes his first visit to North Korea as China's president on Thursday, he'll be broadcasting a message to the U.S. and Japan: When it comes to Pyongyang's nukes, Beijing still wields immense power.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 17, 2019
China's Xi to make first visit to North Korea as president on Thursday
Chinese leader Xi Jinping will make his first visit to North Korea as president on Thursday, state-run media from both countries reported Monday, just over a week before Xi is due to meet U.S. leader Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe separately on the sidelines of the Osaka Group of 20 summit....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2019
Japan's largest warship joins U.S. carrier for military exercises in disputed South China Sea
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Izumo helicopter carrier has joined the United States' sole forward-deployed aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, in joint military exercises in the disputed South China Sea, the MSDF and U.S. 7th Fleet said in separate statements Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2019
Chinese aircraft carrier sails between Okinawan islands
The Defense Ministry said Tuesday that China's sole operating aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, had passed through the Miyako Strait between the island of Miyako and Okinawa's main island as it ventured into the Pacific that morning.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 11, 2019
One year after Singapore summit, hopes fading for progress in U.S.-North Korea nuclear talks
One year after the handshakes, photo ops and circus-like fanfare of the first-ever summit between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader, hopes that Pyongyang will soon give up its nuclear weapons have all but evaporated.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 5, 2019
'Don't test our patience,' North Korea tells U.S. as one-year anniversary of Singapore summit looms
In the latest in a spate of increasingly threatening warnings by North Korea, the country's Foreign Ministry has urged the U.S. to "change its current method of calculation" in nuclear negotiations or risk turning last year's Singapore joint declaration into a "mere blank sheet of paper."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 4, 2019
As U.S. rips China on Tiananmen crackdown anniversary, Japan takes a different tack
In an annual statement, the U.S. State Department marked the 30th anniversary of China's June 4, 1989, Tiananmen crackdown with one of its most harsh criticisms to date, delivering a scathing assessment of the massacre and praising the "heroic protest movement" — a message that stood in stark contrast...
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 3, 2019
30 years after the Tiananmen massacre, can Japan do more to keep its memory alive?
The West and Japan have sought to balance human rights concerns with reaping the rewards of economic relations with China.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 3, 2019
'Purged' North Korean No. 2 reappears at event with Kim
The apparent right-hand man of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who a report last week said may have been purged and sent to a labor and re-education camp, has appeared alongside Kim during a musical performance, state-run media said in a dispatch Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 28, 2019
Japan the new 'leader of the liberal order in Asia,' top Australian think tank says
Japan has become "the quintessential smart power" and the new "leader of the liberal order in Asia," according to a new index of power in the region published Wednesday by a leading Australian think tank.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 27, 2019
North Korea calls Bolton 'warmonger' and says halting missile tests means giving up right to self-defense
North Korea has labeled U.S. national security adviser John Bolton a "warmonger" for saying that recent missile tests by the nuclear-armed country had violated U.N. sanctions, adding that giving up the test-firings would amount to relinquishing their right to self-defense, state-run media quoted the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
May 26, 2019
Sumo diplomacy as Abe courts Trump, but U.S. leader's tweets may have left Tokyo unnerved
U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bromance gets stronger but the president's U.S. president's tweets on Twitter — focusing on trade and North Korea — may have unnerved Abe.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 24, 2019
North Korea vows 'fiercer' response, end to nuclear talks if U.S. continues 'hostile acts'
North Korea said Friday that nuclear talks with the United States "will never be resumed" unless Washington halts what Pyongyang said were "hostile acts" and demands of "unilateral disarmament," warning of a "fiercer" response if this continues.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 23, 2019
U.S. Navy sends ships through Taiwan Strait for eighth time in nine months
The U.S. Navy has again sent ships through the Taiwan Strait, making transits of the waterway increasingly regular amid growing economic and military acrimony between the United States and China.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 22, 2019
North Korea labels Joe Biden an 'imbecile,' in contrast to effusive praise for Trump
North Korea, which has offered effusive praise for U.S. President Donald Trump, delivered a scathing rebuke of one of his top Democratic foes, Joe Biden, for insulting leader Kim Jong Un, calling the former vice president "an imbecile bereft of elementary quality as a human being, let alone a politician."...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 21, 2019
Chinese defense chief close to Xi to attend key Asia security forum next month
China's Defense Minister will deliver a "highly anticipated" speech at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue next month — the first time in eight years that Beijing has sent such a high-level official to the annual security gathering, which will include a speech by the acting U.S. defense secretary.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?