Tag - us-japan-relations

 
 

US JAPAN RELATIONS

Soldiers from the Ground Self-Defense Force's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade take part in a marine landing drill on Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture in November 2023. Japan on Monday formally established a permanent Joint Operations Command that will centrally oversee the three branches of the Self-Defense Forces.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2025
Japan launches new Joint Operations Command to unify SDF branches
The new command will allow for the smoother integration of operations across domains to prepare for and respond to possible emergencies.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington on Friday
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2025
U.S. defense chief Pete Hegseth to visit Japan next week
Hegseth will visit the Pacific island of Iwo Jima to participate in a joint memorial ceremony as Japan and the U.S. mark 80 years since the end of World War II.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 21, 2025
Pentagon eyeing plan to halt U.S. Forces Japan upgrade, reports say
The move could create “political risk” for Washington with Tokyo and reduce the scope of command and control in the Indo-Pacific region as the U.S.-China rivalry heats up.
Hino Motors pleaded guilty on Wednesday over a multiyear emissions fraud scheme in the United States and must pay $1.6 billion in penalties.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 20, 2025
Toyota's Hino pleads guilty to U.S. emissions fraud and is fined $1.6 billion
Hino admitted that between 2010 and 2019, it used "illicit short-cuts" and submitted false applications for engine certification approvals.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference in January in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 19, 2025
Bank of Japan holds steady at 0.5% as trade war escalates and inflation rises
The move was widely expected, with economists unanimous in seeing back-to-back rate increases as unlikely from the central bank, which made one in January.
Shipping containers at a port in Long Beach, California. Higher tariffs will raise the cost of doing business in the U.S., raising the bar for Japanese companies to invest in America.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 18, 2025
Trump tariffs to raise bar to invest in the U.S., JETRO says
Higher tariffs will raise the cost of doing business in the U.S. with more expensive materials and products, said JETRO’s chair, Norihiko Ishiguro.
U.S. Justice Department has asked that oral arguments for a lawsuit filed by Nippon Steel against the U.S. government for blocking its planned acquisition of United States Steel be rescheduled for the week of May 12.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 18, 2025
U.S. government seeks to postpone oral arguments in Nippon Steel suit
The move is apparently aimed at giving the current administration time for talks with the Japanese steelmaker for it to decide on the bid to acquire United States Steel.
Officials from the state-run Alaska Gasline Development Corporation and development partner Glenfarne Group want to transport natural gas south from Alaska's remote north via a $44 billion 1,300-kilometer pipeline, to be shipped as liquefied natural gas to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2025
Alaskan officials to seek investors in Japan as Trump touts LNG
Japanese energy firms have yet to commit, with cost being a focal point.
Yoko Suetsugu at Haco, her gallery in New York
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Mar 17, 2025
Sculptor connects Fukushima to U.S. through New York gallery
Yoko Suetsugu is aiming to launch a program inviting U.S. artists to hot springs in the city of Fukushima for a creative retreat.
Bank of Japan headquarters building in February. In January, the BOJ voted to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25%, taking it to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 17, 2025
Bank of Japan unlikely to raise rates this week as trade war intensifies
The central bank voted to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25% in January, taking it to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
Then-U.S. President Joe Biden awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson during a ceremony at the White House in July 2022.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 16, 2025
Former U.S. senator who aided Japanese American internees dies
Former Sen. Alan Simpson, who died Friday, was a cross-party ally of the late Democrat Norman Mineta, the first Japanese American to hold a U.S. Cabinet post.
U.S. President Donald Trump, flanked by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, holds an executive order about a tariffs increase in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 13.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 15, 2025
U.S. commerce chief rules out auto tariff exemption for Japan
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick linked the 25% tariffs on car imports, set to begin on April 2, to cutting the U.S. trade deficit with Japan.
Idled blast furnaces at U.S. Steel's Granite City Works in Granite City, Illinois, in July 2017
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 15, 2025
U.S. Steel activist investor boosts holding in turnaround push
The move comes as hope for the deal that drew massive attention during the 2024 American presidential election has shown little progress.
George Glass, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Japan, speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing in Washington on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 14, 2025
Trump's ambassador pick to press Japan to spend more to host U.S. troops
The remarks by George Glass were the latest volley from the Trump administration to target Japan, following comments by other nominees.
Toyota vehicles are loaded onto a ship at the Port of Nagoya in June last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 13, 2025
Concerns grow over possible U.S. tariffs on Japan's auto sector
U.S. President Donald Trump has pointed out that the U.S. is importing a "very big" amount of Japanese cars while other countries are not really buying American cars.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 13, 2025
Ishiba mulls visit to Iwo Jima, site of fierce WWII battle
He plans to attend a joint Japan-U.S. memorial service on March 29, which would make him the first Japanese prime minister since April 2013 to set foot on the remote island.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2025
Lack of exemption from U.S. steel tariffs 'regrettable,' says Japan
Top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said the two nations would continue to discuss details of the duties, which came into force at midnight U.S. time.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a piece of paper with information about tariff rates at the White House on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2025
The U.S. says Japan has a 700% tariff on American rice. Is that the case?
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's accusation describes only a small portion of U.S. rice imported by Japan.
Trade minister Yoji Muto says his talks in Washington with U.S. officials didn’t result in any confirmation to exclude Tokyo from upcoming tariff measures.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 11, 2025
Japan's trade minister fails to win tariff exemption assurance from U.S.
New duties on car imports would deal a direct blow to the economy of Japan, which is already bracing for an indirect impact from tariffs the U.S. is imposing on other nations.
Many in Japan are increasingly concerned that under the Trump administration's shifting policies, the U.S. may no longer be a reliable ally, raising fears of a weakened security partnership amid rising threats from China and Russia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 11, 2025
Japan reels from — and steels for — U.S. policy shifts
“What Japan has learned from the Ukraine war is that the era where we could rely entirely on the U.S. is over.”

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The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Eighty years after the Battle of Manila, old foes forge new ties