Tag - relations

 
 

RELATIONS

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who chairs the German parliament's defense committee, argues that the security of Europe is inseparable from that of the Indo-Pacific.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 28, 2024
German MP warns of complacency amid growing Indo-Pacific threats
Closer attention need to be paid to the often-belligerent rhetoric coming from places such as China and North Korea, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said.
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.
While Beijing promotes a vision of a peaceful and cooperative world, its foreign policy increasingly involves coercion, military buildup and assertive actions that challenge the existing international order.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2024
What is Beijing’s ultimate endgame? The answer is clear.
China's purported vision of equality and security for the world is belied by increasingly forceful foreign policy.
General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for a news event with members of the new Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and Chinese and Foreign journalists at The Great Hall of People in October 2022 in Beijing.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 27, 2024
Xi meets with U.S. CEOs in push to restore confidence in China’s economy
Whipsawing tensions with Washington, a shaky economic recovery and raids on consulting firms have damped investor enthusiasm.
Tesla Model 3 assembly line at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, in 2018. Before the Shanghai plant opened, Fremont was Tesla’s principal factory.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2024
A pivot to China saved Elon Musk. It also binds him to Beijing.
Musk is now treading a fine line, sounding the alarm about Chinese rivals, even as he remains reliant on the Chinese market.
Japanese chocolatier Yasushi Sasaki holds a box of chocolates in his workshop in the Brussels commune of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 27, 2024
A Japanese 'flavor wizard' conquers the homeland of chocolate
Yasushi Sasaki has been named Brussels' chocolatier of the year by the prestigious Gault & Millau food guide.
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 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.
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.
High school students visit seawalls in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, on Thursday during a weeklong tour of areas hit by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in the prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 26, 2024
Students from wildfire-struck Hawaii learn about disaster recovery in Miyagi
The students visited four municipalities in Miyagi Prefecture to study their efforts to rebuild following the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami.
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.
Both the U.S. and U.K. have announced sanctions against Chinese nationals for cybercrimes.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2024
U.S. and U.K. accuse China of broad cyberattacks and voter data theft
The revelations add to a growing list of cybersecurity breaches that the U.S. and its allies say are backed by the Chinese government.
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.
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.
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.
Containers transporting coal at a dock in Cam Pha, Vietnam. Enthusiasm for Vietnam’s renewables boom is dampened by factors such as its underdeveloped electricity grid and patchy regulatory framework, while the country’s major source of electricity remains coal.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET
Mar 25, 2024
With Japan’s help, is Vietnam headed for a flawed energy transition?
The climate-vulnerable nation is looking to renewables, but also questionable solutions promoted by Tokyo, for its energy needs.
Wakana Nukui has been described as having a knack for storytelling and vividly sharing her vision with those around her.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Mar 24, 2024
A social entrepreneur who is determined to lift Cambodian women's status
Wakana Nukui has fostered new talent in design while opening shops dedicated to local products.
North Korean fans cheer on the national team during a World Cup qualifying match against Japan on Thursday in Tokyo.
SOCCER
Mar 24, 2024
The many twists and turns for Japan's canceled World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang
On Sunday, FIFA ultimately determined that the match wouldn't go ahead at all, which could hand Japan a place in the next round.
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.
After Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination last week, the buzzword underwent an evolution as he outpaces incumbent President Joe Biden in a number of major polls.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 21, 2024
'What if Trump?' Moshitora reenters Japanese lexicon
The compact Japanese buzzword has resurfaced in local media reports as the ex-president rises through a number of polls.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’