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Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a joint meeting of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 12, 2024

'The world needs the United States': Kishida warns Congress over risk of American retreat

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida became just the second Japanese leader to address a joint meeting of Congress, pledging to stand side-by-side with the U.S.
Ayuko Kato, minister for children-related policies
JAPAN
Apr 12, 2024

Japan discloses more details of costs to fight low birthrate

The planned fees that will be added to public medical insurance premiums aims to help secure funds to combat the declining birthrate trend.
U.S. President Joe Biden escorts Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to their trilateral summit at the White House in Washington on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 12, 2024

Biden vows 'ironclad' defense of Philippines and Japan as China tensions rise

Biden reiterated Washington’s commitment to defending the Philippines from any attack in the South China Sea.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tours a new Toyota battery factory in Liberty, North Carolina, with state Gov. Roy Cooper (second from right) on Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2024

Kishida touts Japan’s investments in U.S. with visit to swing-state Toyota plant

The prime minister visited the North Carolina plant where Toyota last year injected an additional $8 billion to make batteries for electric vehicles.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives for a tour of a new Toyota battery factory in Liberty, North Carolina, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 13, 2024

Kishida touts U.S. visit success, saying snap election not on his mind

The prime minister, who is due to fly back on Saturday, will be hoping the diplomatic success can translate into a bump in his low approval ratings.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. salutes during a welcome ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 13, 2024

U.S.-Japan-Philippines trilateral deal to change dynamic in South China Sea, Marcos says

Still, the Philippine president sought to assure China it was not a target, saying the summit was "not against any country."
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's summit in Washington showed that Japan's evolving defense policy reflects a changing security landscape. It will also require increased defense spending and commitments to international engagement.
EDITORIALS
Apr 12, 2024

Japan steps up to become a 'full global partner'

One U.S. official described the results of the Japan-U.S. talks as probably the largest set of substantial, significant deliverables ever seen.
Results of three by-elections on April 28 will likely influence the fate of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's administration.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 14, 2024

Three Japan by-elections set to start amid fund scandal

The official campaign period is set to start Tuesday for the April 28 by-elections for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet.
A woman in the Tokai region posts her meals on social media and gives advice to young people suffering from eating disorders.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 22, 2024

Woman with eating disorder looks to help young sufferers via social media

The woman is letting people know that a person’s value is not determined by their body shape.
On average between 1991 and 2020, the highest temperature in Sapporo on April 15 was 11.5 degrees Celsius, but the temperature rose above 25 degrees on Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2024

Japan's Sapporo sees earliest 25C day since records began

A city known for the 1972 Winter Olympics and hosting one of the country's biggest snow festivals saw summer-like temperatures.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden during a joint news conference at the White House on Wednesday
BUSINESS / EXPLAINER
Apr 15, 2024

Biden-Kishida summit drives home U.S.-Japan economic union

The leaders used their meeting to bake economic cooperation into the allies' relationship in hopes of making it harder to pull out of in the future.
Ian Foster, then-New Zealand head coach, during training in Paris on Oct. 13
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Apr 16, 2024

Former All Blacks coach Foster makes Japan move

Ian Foster has not coached since leading the All Blacks to last year's World Cup final, where they lost 12-11 to South Africa.
Japan's Fair Trade Commission may take administrative action against Google over its digital advertising business.
BUSINESS
Apr 16, 2024

Japan FTC may take administrative action against Google

The FTC suspects that Google is unfairly restricting transactions on Yahoo Japan and messaging app Line, in violation of Japan's antimonopoly law.
Lung cancer causes about 76,000 deaths in Japan each year, and about 1.8 million deaths worldwide.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 16, 2024

Japan study shows link between passive smoking and lung cancer

The study shows how passive smoking causes genetic mutations, providing further evidence of the harmful effects of secondhand smoke.
Workers clean argeli bark in the Ilam district of eastern Nepal. Thousands of miles away, in Japan, the bark will be used to make yen notes.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 16, 2024

On Himalayan hillsides grows Japan’s cold, hard cash

One of the poorest pockets of Asia supplies a primary ingredient for the economy in one of the richest.
Japan's exports grew 7.3% year-on-year in March, up for the fourth straight month, showing that the economy continues to benefit from the effects of the sliding yen.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 17, 2024

Japan’s exports get boost from China aided by yen tailwind

Exports gained 7.3% in March from a year earlier, with growth slightly decelerating from February’s 7.8% gain.
"Great Japan History Briefing Session, the 15th Empress Jingu." Expedition in Korea. The legendary Empress Jingu setting foot in Korea. Painting by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi in 1880.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Apr 18, 2024

What would Sigmund Freud have thought of Japan’s largely peaceful history?

In an exchange of letters, Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud discussed human nature when it comes to why people go to war. How does Japan fit in?
Tourists in Kyoto on Saturday. Japan saw a record 3.08 million foreign visitors in March.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 17, 2024

Inbound tourism numbers hit record high, with Japan set to achieve 2025 goal

The nation welcomed a record 3.08 million foreign visitors in March, surpassing the previous high of 2.99 million from July 2019.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday evening.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 17, 2024

Kishida agrees to further deepen ties with South Korea's Yoon

The prime minister informed the South Korean leader about his summit earlier this month with U.S. President Joe Biden.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (center) and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok meet on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund and Group of 20 meetings, at the U.S. Treasury in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 18, 2024

U.S. nods to concerns from Japan and South Korea over slumping currencies

Washington's acknowledgement of concerns may lay the groundwork for intervention, some analysts said.
One of the lawyers representing a group of doctors suing Google told a news conference that the main purpose of the lawsuit is not to seek compensation but instead to raise awareness over various problems with the Google Maps system.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2024

In a first, Japan doctors sue Google over negative reviews on firm's map app

The suit is the first in Japan — and possibly the world — to target a platform rather than the individuals who posted the reviews, lawyers said.
A traditional Ainu preserved food called satchep (dried fish) is made at the government-run National Ainu Museum and Park, nicknamed Upopoy, in the town of Shiraoi, Hokkaido, in December.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2024

Japan court denies fishing rights to Ainu people

It was the first court decision on Indigenous rights related to Ainu people.
The main goal of Australian's new defense strategy is to change a potential adversary’s belief that it could achieve its ambitions with military force at an acceptable cost.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 19, 2024

Australia, like Japan, sees national security interests ‘farther afield’

The goal of Australia's new strategy is to change a potential adversary’s belief that it could achieve its ambitions with force at an acceptable cost.
Josh Rawitch, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, holds a baseball thrown by former Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo during a no-hitter in 1996 while seated next to a Dodgers uniform used by Shohei Ohtani this season during a news conference at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Tokyo
BASEBALL
Apr 19, 2024

Baseball Hall of Fame to highlight history of Japan-U.S. ties in new exhibition

The exhibition, "Yakyu/Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game between Japan and the United States," is slated to open in July 2025.
Delfin Lorenzana
BUSINESS
Apr 20, 2024

Philippines wants U.S. and Japan to take over rail deal eyed by China

The $868 million Subic-Clark railway will link former U.S. military bases turned commercial hubs and form part of the planned Luzon Economic Corridor.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (from left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok hold a trilateral meeting at the Treasury Department in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Apr 20, 2024

Political heat prods Japan and South Korea to team up on weak currencies

The matter is all the more urgent with Middle East tensions threatening to push up oil prices and accelerate cost pressures.
The legality of products that contain cannabinoids, a group of substances derived from the cannabis plant, has been somewhat murky in Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 21, 2024

Japan’s cannabis market growing rapidly amid regulatory shift

Robust sales of products using CBD, a compound found in marijuana, are attributed to rising demand for products that offer relaxation and stress relief.
A "masakaki" tree offering made by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is shown at the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 21, 2024

South Korea protests Japanese leaders' offerings to Yasukuni Shrine

The government in Seoul said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's offering had prompted a feeling of "deep disappointment."
Of 1,729 local municipalities nationwide, 744 have been identified as being at risk of disappearing.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 24, 2024

Over 40% of Japan's municipalities at risk of vanishing, study finds

The Tohoku region takes the top spot in both the number and percentage of municipalities at risk of disappearing due to a sharp population decline.
An image of the lunar surface taken Tuesday by Japan's moon lander, which has survived three lunar nights
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 25, 2024

Japan's moon lander survives third lunar night

SLIM successfully reestablished communication and was continuing to take snapshots and probe the lunar surface, JAXA said.

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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?