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Jesse Johnson
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2018
New video emerges of Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda, kidnapped in Syria in 2015
A new video showing kidnapped Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda, abducted by an armed group in Syria just over three years ago while reporting on the country's bloody civil war, emerges.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2018
'All of Asia is thrilled': Trump takes credit for averting war with North Korea
U.S. President Donald Trump personally took credit Tuesday for averting war with nuclear-armed North Korea, writing in a tweet that talks with the regime of leader Kim Jong Un were proceeding smoothly while also claiming that Asian nations were "thrilled" with the developments.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2018
Samurai Blue and fans win praise for clean exit, and dignity in defeat
Despite a heartbreaking defeat and exit from the World Cup in Russia on Monday, the Japan national team and its supporters have again won plaudits on social media not only for their fair play and sportsmanship, but also for thoroughly cleaning up the stadium, bench and dressing room.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 3, 2018
Top U.S. diplomat to visit North Korea for talks amid questions over denuclearization commitment
A spate of reports detailing apparent efforts by North Korea to expand its nuclear arsenal are likely to put pressure on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as he makes his third visit to Pyongyang later this week to flesh out the details of a plan for the North to relinquish its weapons of mass destruction...
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 1, 2018
North Korea needs cash. Japan has it. Can a deal be made?
Tokyo could use its economic clout to insert itself to forefront of nuclear talks, observers say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 30, 2018
U.S. intelligence agencies say North Korea has boosted nuclear fuel production at secret sites: report
A new report citing U.S. intelligence agencies says that North Korea has boosted its nuclear fuel production at multiple secret sites in recent months — despite leader Kim Jong Un's pledge to work toward denuclearization.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 27, 2018
U.S. Supreme Court condemns ruling that enabled internment of Japanese-Americans, but says travel ban is different
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld President Donald Trump's ban on travel from several mostly Muslim countries, but in the process also overruled an infamous 1944 decision that allowed the internment of 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II because of concerns over homeland defense following...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 26, 2018
Pompeo refuses to put timeline on North Korea denuclearization
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that he will not put a timeline on negotiations with North Korea to rid it of its nuclear weapons, an apparent reversal of earlier remarks that the White House would seek "major disarmament" by Pyongyang by January 2021, the end of President Donald Trump's...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 23, 2018
Pentagon says U.S. will 'indefinitely' halt 'select' military exercises with South Korea as talks with North progress
The U.S. Defense Department announced Friday that it had "indefinitely suspended select" military exercises with South Korea less than two weeks after President Donald Trump's historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 23, 2018
Trump flip-flops on North Korea, says it still represents 'extraordinary threat'
U.S. President Donald Trump contradicted himself Friday, announcing via an executive order that North Korea continues to pose "an unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States — a statement that comes less than a week after he triumphantly declared that the North's nuclear weapons were "no...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 22, 2018
U.S. military pilots in East China Sea targeted in laser attacks
U.S. military pilots flying aircraft over the East China Sea have been targeted by blinding laser attacks more than 20 times over the last 10 months, U.S. officials told The Japan Times, after a number of similar attacks in East Africa that the Pentagon has said Chinese military personnel were behind....
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 19, 2018
North Korea's Kim heads to China with nukes and summit likely on agenda
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un began a two-day visit Tuesday, Chinese state-run television said, exactly a week after Kim's landmark summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, as Beijing seeks a larger role in talks with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 19, 2018
U.S. and South Korea suspend joint military exercise in move likely to stoke concern in Japan
The Pentagon said Monday that the United States had agreed with South Korea to halt the Ulchi Freedom Guardian "war game" in August, in a move analysts said would stoke concern in Tokyo.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 16, 2018
Analysis says North Korea yet to dismantle missile facilities despite Trump claim
North Korea has apparently yet to begin work to dismantle any of its six known missile launch and engine test facilities and two ejection test stands, according to an analysis of recent satellite photos, despite a claim by U.S. President Donald Trump that the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, had told him...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 13, 2018
China's massive 'magic island-maker' dredging vessel completes sea trials
China's most advanced dredging vessel — which it calls "a magic island-maker" — returned to a shipyard in Qidong, in eastern Jiangsu province on Tuesday after completing its first sea trial, state-run media said Wednesday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 13, 2018
North Korea plays up apparent U.S. concessions, says Trump explicitly acceded to two of its top demands at summit
North Korea said Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump had told leader Kim Jong Un that he intended to halt joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises and ease crippling sanctions against Pyongyang, suggesting via state media that the American leader had explicitly acceded to two of the nuclear-armed...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 13, 2018
In wake of summit, Trump says world has avoided 'nuclear catastrophe,' but experts say real work starts now
In the wake of the pageantry surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump's historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, questions over the substance of a vaguely written denuclearization deal lingered as some experts and former officials anticipated how the White House might beef up the bare-bones...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 12, 2018
Trump sees shared path with North Korea's Kim after denuclearization summit
In a vaguely worded agreement, the two leaders inked what Trump said was a “comprehensive document” declaring that Kim's regime would work towards complete denuclearization.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 11, 2018
U.S. weighs 'fundamentally different' approach to North Korea as two look to bridge gaps ahead of historic Trump-Kim summit
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the United States was ready to begin a "fundamentally different" process in working with North Korea to find an outcome that "benefits both countries" as top officials from the two sides worked furiously to bridge apparent gaps just hours ahead of...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 6, 2018
U.S. sends B-52 bombers 'in vicinity' of South China Sea amid row over militarization of islets
The U.S. military sent two B-52 heavy bombers for a "routine mission" in the contested South China Sea on Tuesday, just days after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis lambasted Beijing's continued militarization of its outposts in the strategic waterway.

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it