Tag - relations

 
 

RELATIONS

Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 7, 2024
Japan and Mongolia likely to agree on defense equipment transfer pact
Japan and Mongolia are likely to reach a broad agreement to conclude a treaty aimed at allowing the two nations to export defense equipment to one another, Japanese government officials said Tuesday.
British Ambassador to Japan Julia Longbottom in Hiroshima on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 7, 2024
British envoy worried about Nagasaki's decision over not inviting Israel to ceremony
British Ambassador to Japan Julia Longbottom has expressed concern that her Israeli counterpart was not invited to a key Nagasaki ceremony.
Shujun Wang leaves the federal courthouse in Brooklyn on June 26 during his trial on charges that he acted as an agent of a foreign government. Wang, who billed himself as a scholar and a democracy activist, was convicted in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday of acting as a spy for the Chinese Communist Party.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 7, 2024
Chinese academic convicted of acting as foreign agent in U.S.
The U.S. Department of Justice is cracking down on what it calls "transnational repression" by U.S. adversaries such as China and Iran.
U.S. President Joe Biden escorts Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to their trilateral summit at the White House in Washington in April.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 6, 2024
As U.S. ‘minilateral’ diplomacy grows, Japan emerges as key actor
As geopolitical tensions in the region rise, the breakout of any conflict would put Tokyo on the front lines alongside Washington.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a news conference in the city of Hiroshima on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 6, 2024
Kishida quiet on running in LDP leadership race
The prime minister said that "The coming (LDP) presidential election is very important," and that "An open leadership race is desirable."
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara speaks on July 30 during a parliamentary inquiry into a series of scandals involving the ministry and the Self-Defense Forces.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 6, 2024
The wider international and domestic implications of the SDF scandals
The problems have put the spotlight on Japan’s ability to convince its partners that it’s ready to shoulder a larger security role.
Ukrainian Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska (center left) and Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi (center right) sign a memorandum of cooperation on judicial reforms and anti-corruption measures, in Kyiv on Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2024
Japan and Ukraine agree to cooperate on anti-corruption measures
The countries' two justice ministries will cooperate across fields such as judicial reform and the strengthening of judicial institutions via personnel training.
People attend a memorial event in Cowra, Australia, Sunday to mourn for the deaths of over 230 people who died during a mass escape attempt by Japanese soldiers from an internment camp 80 years ago during World War II.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2024
Memorial events mark 80 years since Japanese POW breakout in Australia
During the POW breakout in Cowra during World War II, 234 Japanese and four Australian soldiers died, according to the Australian government.
Freshly-caught bonito fish unloaded in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. Japan's food exports to China plunged in the first half of 2024 due to Beijing's import ban on Japanese fishery products.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2024
Japan's first-half food exports fall for first time in four years
The latest result reflected China's import ban on Japanese fishery products since last summer in response to the release of treated Fukushima water.
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has said the 50-50 control of LY, the operator of the Line app, by SoftBank and Naver leaves the messaging app vulnerable to cyberattacks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 4, 2024
SoftBank and Naver to sell down stake in Japan’s Line app
The tender comes as the capital structure of the operator of Japan’s biggest messaging app Line threatens to become a diplomatic flash point with South Korea.
South Korean Ambassador to Japan Yun Duk-min is interviewed in Tokyo on July 19.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 4, 2024
South Korea's outgoing envoy pushes for joint declaration on history recognition
Yun Duk-min reiterated that a declaration could be announced in 2025 to mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral diplomatic ties.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during the opening session of the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting in Tokyo last month.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 3, 2024
Japan and Central Asia to vow to uphold rule of law
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida aims to drive a wedge between these Central Asian countries and China and Russia during a summit later this month.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2024
U.S. military helicopter makes emergency landing in Kanagawa rice paddy
No one was injured in the landing, the local fire department said, and the cause was not immediately clear.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government is working hard to enhance Japan's global and regional influence through strategic defense reforms and international partnerships.
EDITORIALS
Aug 2, 2024
Japan’s defense reforms and diplomacy boost regional security
Considerable progress was made this week in a series of meetings with Tokyo's counterparts in various endeavors, the heart of which is the Japan-U.S. alliance.
Chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Gen. Romeo Brawner (left), and Yoshihide Yoshida, chief of staff of the Joint Staff of the Self-Defense Forces, in Manila in July
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 2, 2024
Philippines and Japan militaries hold first joint exercises in South China Sea
The drills, which took place within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, followed similar exercises between Manila and Washington on Wednesday.
Customers stand in line outside a Louis Vuitton store in Tokyo's Ginza district on July 19.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 2, 2024
Luxury brands count cost as shoppers from overseas enjoy weak yen discount
Goods sold in Japan by global luxury brands, ranging from designer sneakers to whisky, now tend to be cheaper in dollar terms than elsewhere.
Wreckage from a crashed U.S. Air Force CV-22B Osprey is brought ashore at a port on Yakushima island, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Nov. 30, 2023.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2024
Gearbox fault caused fatal Osprey crash in Japan, U.S. Air Force says
The crash was caused by a "catastrophic” failure of the left-hand gearbox, which destabilized the aircraft.
Japan has made an extradition request for anti-whaling activist Paul Watson.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2024
Denmark says Japan made extradition request for anti-whaling activist Watson
Japan is one of only three countries in the world to permit commercial whaling, along with Iceland and Norway.
Then U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, on June 30, 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 1, 2024
North Korea wants to restart nuclear talks if Trump wins, says ex-diplomat
The former diplomat said North Korea has also set Russia, the U.S. and Japan as its top foreign policy priorities.
A Samsung HBM chip
WORLD / Politics
Aug 1, 2024
U.S. weighs restrictions on China’s access to AI memory chips
The new restrictions are likely to be unveiled as soon as late August as part of a broader package that also includes sanctions against over 120 Chinese firms.

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’