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A U.S. V-22 Osprey lands on the USS Mesa Verde ship during excercises in the Baltic Sea in September.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 8, 2024

U.S. lifts Osprey flight ban, eyeing aircraft's return to Japan's skies

Tokyo and Washington will closely coordinate a timeline for resuming flights of Osprey V-22 aircraft in Japan, three months after a deadly accident.
Ground Self-Defense Force members disembark from a V-22 Osprey aircraft during an annual live-fire exercise at East Fuji Maneuver Area, in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in May 2022.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 11, 2024

Osprey safety concerns linger in Japan, despite U.S. reassurances

Critics have decried the lack of specifics about the cause of the deadly November crash as Tokyo and Washington tout "unprecedented" information-sharing.
A U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 flies near Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Thursday morning.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 14, 2024

U.S. military resumes Osprey flights in Japan

The resumption came after Washington last week lifted a worldwide flight ban on the aircraft following a deadly crash last year.
Supporters of South Korean plaintiffs in wartime labor lawsuits hold a rally in Seoul on March 6.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2024

Wartime labor issue still overshadowing Japan-South Korea ties

Last month, a South Korean plaintiff received compensation deposited by Hitachi Zosen with a South Korean court handling the wartime labor suit.
Japan welcomed 2.79 million visitors in February, a record for the month and the most for any month since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2024

Japan sees record 2.79 million visitors in February due to Lunar New Year boost

The travel industry is getting a major boost from a weak yen that has made Japan a bargain destination for foreign travelers.
Known in Hokkaido business circles as an internationalist due to his close ties with the United States and the International Olympics Committee, Yoshiro Ito headed dozens of Hokkaido and national organizations during his decadeslong career.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Mar 25, 2024

Hokkaido mourns Yoshiro Ito, promoter of Japan-U.S. ties

Ito was known in Hokkaido business circles as an internationalist due to his close ties with the United States.
Kurt Campbell
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 22, 2024

Japan to discuss AUKUS defense tech partnership, says U.S. diplomat

The United States, Australia and Britain established the AUKUS security partnership in 2021.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister said Monday that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has requested a summit with her brother, hinting that any meeting was unlikely without a policy shift by Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2024

Japan reaching out to North Korea for Kim-Kishida summit

The sister of leader Kim Jong Un said any summit would hinge on whether Japan was willing to make a "political decision" — likely on the abductee issue.
A U.S. Marine prepares to demonstrate the use of night vision goggles to Ground Self-Defense Force troops at the GSDF's Camp Somagahara in Gunma Prefecture in March 2017.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2024

U.S. eyes revamped military command in Japan, reports say

The allies are expected to announce the landmark agreement when Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits the White House next month.
Sunao Takao (center) interprets as then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump talk prior to a working lunch at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 26, 2024

Japan tees up Abe's ex-interpreter to help chart course with Trump

Japanese officials are preparing to deploy the Harvard-educated bureaucrat to bolster engagement with the Republican candidate's campaign.
Afghan evacuees arrive at Narita International Airport in October 2021. Applicants from Afghanistan made up the majority of those recognized as refugees by the Japanese government last year, similar to 2022.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 26, 2024

Japan granted refugee status to record 303 asylum-seekers in 2023

While this is a jump from the 202 people in 2022 and a new record high, the number is still considerably lower when compared with Western countries.
Kim Yo Jong, who serves as a top adviser to her brother, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Tuesday that Pyongyang had ruled out holding a leaders' summit with Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 26, 2024

North Korea rules out summit with Japan and rejects more talks

The sister of leader Kim Jong Un said that a meeting was not of interest to the North, alluding to Tokyo's unyielding stance on the abductions issue.
The meeting between Japanese Ambassador to China Kenji Kanasugi and a Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma who has been detained by Chinese authorities on suspicion of espionage lasted about 30 minutes.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2024

Japan's envoy to China meets detained Astellas worker

The meeting was held in Beijing for about 30 minutes. The man had no particular health problems, according to the sources.
Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attend the opening ceremony of the Gangdong Greenhouse in North Korea in this picture released on March 16.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Mar 27, 2024

North Korea reaches for familiar playbook in talks with Japan

Pyongyang blowing hot and cold on a potential leaders summit is meant to gain the upper hand in negotiations to realize such a meeting.
Blue pipelines to transport seawater, part of the facility for releasing treated radioactive water to sea from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, are seen during a treated water dilution and discharge facility tour for media, in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, last August.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 31, 2024

Experts from Japan and China discuss Fukushima water release

The two Asian powerhouses have spared over the issue since Japan began releasing the water into the Pacific Ocean last August.
Tan Tan was supposed to be sent back to China in 2020, but her return was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024

Japan’s oldest panda, Tan Tan, dies at 28

The giant panda leased from China lived in Kobe Oji Zoo for 24 years as a symbol of recovery from the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia's defense minister and president-elect, at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

Kishida and Prabowo agree to strengthen Japan-Indonesia ties

Prabowo, who is set to take office as president in October, said that the two countries have built a good cooperative relationship so far.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden meet at the White House on Jan. 13, 2023. Kishida will hold talks with Biden in Washington on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2024

Japan, U.S. and Philippines eye cooperation on mineral supply chains

Japanese and U.S. officials think that security cooperation with the Philippines is important for responding to potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell in Tokyo on March 21
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 4, 2024

U.S. and Japan to discuss joint defense equipment production

Japan and the United States are set to discuss the launch of a new project for the joint production of defense equipment at an upcoming summit meeting.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during the Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction in Tokyo on Feb. 19.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Apr 4, 2024

Japan committed to long-term public-private aid to Ukraine

By bolstering assistance to Ukraine, Japan also aims to send a message to China, cautioning against unilateral attempts to change the status quo.
Philippine Ambassador Mylene Garcia-Albano is interviewed at the country's embassy in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 4, 2024

Closer defense ties expected after first U.S.- Japan-Philippines summit, Manila's envoy says

The statement comes amid media reports that the three countries plan to launch joint naval patrols in the South China Sea later this year.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (left), South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin (center) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi prior to the trilateral foreign ministers' meeting in Busan, South Korea, in November
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 5, 2024

China, Japan and South Korea looking to hold summit in May, reports say

The three-way talks could follow a summit set for next week in Washington where Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is due to meet U.S. President Joe Biden.
Rescuers prepare supplies before entering Taroko National Park after an earthquake in Hualien, Taiwan.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2024

Local governments in Japan move to support quake-hit Taiwan

Areas in Japan hit by previous disasters are aiming to offer support for Taiwan.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield (right) at U.N. headquarters in New York in March
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 5, 2024

U.S. ambassador to U.N. to visit Japan and South Korea this month

The ambassador plans to discuss responses to North Korea, diplomatic sources said.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shakes hands with U.S. President Joe Biden during a trilateral summit at Camp David near Thurmont, Maryland, in August.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Apr 6, 2024

What U.S.-Japan defense shakeup will involve and why

Next week's summit between Biden and Kishida will bring a "historic" upgrade in defense ties between the long-time allies.
U.S. Osprey aircraft hover above an Australian landing helicopter dock ship during a joint exercise between Australian and Philippine troops at a naval base in San Antonio town, Zambales province, on Aug. 25.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 6, 2024

Philippines, U.S., Australia and Japan to hold joint drills in disputed sea

The exercise will take place in the South China Sea — which Beijing claims — days before U.S. President Joe Biden is due to hold a trilateral summit.
Philippine, Australian, Japanese and U.S. warships take part in the four nations' first-ever joint military drills in the South China Sea on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 7, 2024

Philippines, U.S., Australia and Japan hold joint military drills in disputed South China Sea

The exercises came as the Chinese military held a “joint maritime and aerial combat patrol” in an unspecified area of the waterway.
James Schoff, senior director at Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA, speaks in an interview in Washington last week.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2024

Expert cites need for stronger U.S. military command in Japan

A U.S. expert has stressed the urgent need for strengthening the functions of the U.S. military command in Japan.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps speak during a news conference following an AUKUS defense ministerial meeting in Mountain View, California, last December.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 9, 2024

U.S., U.K. and Australia consider working with Japan on AUKUS security pact

The three countries said they were weighing inviting Tokyo to join the pact’s second stage, with talks with Japan and others set to begin this year.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his sister, Kim Yo Jong
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 9, 2024

Kishida-Kim summit unlikely to happen soon, Japan envoy to U.S. says

Shigeo Yamada said recent statements from North Korea indicate they aren't ready to deal with "outstanding issues of concern" with Japan.

Longform

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