Tag - us-japan-relations

 
 

US JAPAN RELATIONS

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.”
Former Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said Japan must fix "any misunderstanding" held by U.S. President Donald Trump that its central bank was intentionally weakening the yen with monetary policy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 8, 2025
Japan must fix 'misunderstanding' it is manipulating yen, says ex-BOJ chief Kuroda
Trump said he had told Japan and China they could not continue to reduce the value of their currencies, as doing so would be unfair to the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he walks to board Marine One, while departing the White House en route to Florida, in Washington, on Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2025
Majority in Japan expect stronger economic ties under Trump
Also in the survey, 81.5% said they strongly or somewhat agree that the security environment in East Asia is becoming more severe.
A man is silhouetted beneath a screen displaying Japan's Nikkei share average in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 8, 2025
Japanese stocks expected to remain on downward trend amid tariff turmoil
Uncertainties over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs this week pushed the Nikkei 225 index below 37,000 for the first time in six months.
Trade Minister Yoji Muto speaks during a meeting with steel and aluminum company executives on Feb. 25.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 8, 2025
Japan to send trade minister Muto to U.S. amid tariff tensions
The visit is set to take place from March 9 to March 11, just before the extra levies on steel and aluminum are expected to kick in on March 12.
Nintendo shares sank as much as 9.8% in Tokyo Friday, as U.S. President Donald Trump doubling levies on China means game consoles, mostly made in China, could have higher selling prices in the United States due to heftier import costs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 7, 2025
Nintendo shares plunge on tariff fears as foreign investors retreat
Nintendo sank 9.2% in Tokyo, its biggest intraday drop since the stock market rout on Aug. 5.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) and U.S. President Donald Trump arrive for a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on Feb. 7.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 7, 2025
Tokyo responds to Trump remarks on 'interesting' Japan-U.S. security pact
Japan's top government spokesperson underlined the agreement's cooperative element after the U.S. president complained the deal was one-sided.
President Donald Trump delivers an address to a joint session of Congress in Washington on Tuesday. Some critics are questioning if the U.S. is shifting away from global leadership under his stewardship.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2025
Trump's speech was more campaign rhetoric than leadership
Trump's speech to Congress, like the one eight years ago, was little more than domestic political propaganda.

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Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan