February 25, 2020
The government is asking residents to refrain from going out in public if they have cold symptoms, based on a policy decided Tuesday during its Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters meeting. In r...
Uncertainty over Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Japan slated for April has increased since China formally decided to postpone the annual National People’s Congress.
A key member of...
There have been many cases of the Japanese government being unable to receive defense equipment by the scheduled delivery date despite payments being made in advance by the Japanese government under ...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Social Democratic Party elected Mizuho Fukushima as its new leader at a party convention on Saturday, returning her to the opposition party’s top position in which she se...
MATSUE (Jiji Press) — The Shimane prefectural government held the 15th ceremony to mark Takeshima Day, designated by a prefectural ordinance, on Saturday, attended by a parliamentary vice minister ...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan and South Korea have agreed to hold a bureau chief-level policy dialogue on export controls in Seoul on March 10, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry said Friday. ...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prompted mainly by former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan while on bail, Justice Minister Masako Mori asked an advisory panel Friday to study legi...
The ruling and opposition parties have asked the government to step up efforts to disseminate information about Japan’s response to the new coronavirus so that the country’s image will not deteri...
LONDON (Jiji Press) — Two major candidates in the London mayoral election in May suggested Wednesday that the city is ready to host the 2020 Summer Olympics if Tokyo is forced to give up hosting th...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in a flip-flop on Wednesday showed regret at having skipped a government meeting on the new coronavirus outbreak in favor of attending a N...
The Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Shigeki Takizaki, director general of the ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, held separate talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui an...
WASHINGTON (Jiji Press) — U.S. President Donald Trump revealed Tuesday that he has been invited by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to attend the Tokyo Olympics this summer and is considering accepting th...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minster Shinzo Abe said Tuesday he wants people to take off from work or school and refrain from going out when they have cold-like symptoms such as fever in order to pre...
The government intends to raise the retirement age of government employees from the current 60 to 65 by fiscal 2030, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. A bill to revise the National Public Service La...
Alarm is growing among the government and the ruling parties as the approval rating for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet has gradually fallen.
Abe’s remarks in the Diet and his handling of th...
MUNICH (Jiji Press) — Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Saturday agreed to step up preparations for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Japan e...
MUNICH (Jiji Press) — Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, on Saturday agreed to ensure close bilateral cooperation to deal with the coronavirus outb...
MUNICH (Jiji Press) — Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Saturday agreed to start arrangements for Lavrov to visit Japan at an early date. The Russi...
The spread of a new type of coronavirus has prompted some ruling and opposition party members to call for postponing the planned April visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. If the number of infectio...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government on Friday set up a panel of experts in a stepped-up effort to fight the coronavirus outbreak. “We’ll strengthen countermeasures by setting up a panel compri...
Procurement of defense equipment through the U.S. government program of foreign military sales (FMS) has seen a problem of incomplete delivery, and Japan’s Defense Ministry plans to submit a proposa...
The government is creating rules to govern how civil servants and others should interact with businesses involved in integrated resorts centered around casinos, sources said. In the wake of a corr...
The nation’s ruling and opposition parties are competing to increase the number of men taking paternity leave. The Liberal Democratic Party plans to compile measures to improve the system as early a...
The health ministry will translate the content of the maternal and child health handbook into 10 languages and publish it on its website in March. City, town and village governments will distribute...
The number of foreign workers accepted under the category of specified skilled workers, a new status of residence introduced last April through the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition ...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Local governments are divided over how they should handle information on the movements of people infected with the new coronavirus, such as where they visited and with whom the...
Japan and South Korea have unresolved bilateral issues, such as lawsuits involving former wartime requisitioned workers that the Japanese government calls “former civilian workers from the Korean P...
The government will start subsidizing local governments from April for measures to improve disaster awareness and preparations for foreigners. Specifically, it will provide them with a special loca...
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his British counterpart Dominic Raab agreed to start talks soon to conclude the Japan-Britain economic partnership agreement when the two met at the Iikura Gues...
Economic discourse focuses on either ordinary economics or crisis economics. When considering past economic events to look ahead, economists usually apply theories of ordinary economics. Discussions o...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday expressed his determination to advance negotiations on resolving the country’s long-standing territorial row with Russia over four norther...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Another Japanese government-chartered plane was to leave Thursday night to bring home Japanese nationals remaining in China’s Hubei Province amid the new coronavirus outbreak...
The spread of the new coronavirus is having an impact on the political realm, with Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled to make a state visit to Japan in April, and the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic ...
BRUSSELS (AFP-Jiji) — NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg insisted Monday that a massive transfer of U.S. and allied troops to Eastern Europe as part of a military exercise was not aimed at Russia. About...
The dispatch of a Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer to the Middle East was based on the “survey and research” provision stipulated in the Defense Ministry Establishment Law. It was the first t...
A Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer left the MSDF’s Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Sunday for its mission in the Middle East, which will start later this month.
The destroyer Takana...
With pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus spreading mainly in Wuhan, China, it is likely to take time for the about 140 Japanese nationals who remain in Wuhan and its surrounding areas to ret...
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his long-awaited Mideast peace plan Tuesday alongside a beaming Benjamin Netanyahu, presenting a vision that matched the Israeli leader’s ha...
MOSCOW (Jiji Press) — The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday criticized the exhibits displayed at Japan’s National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty, which was reopened last week. Summoning a...
Humans exist essentially as individuals. But when they opt to live separately from others, they are apt to be helpless. In contrast, when individuals meet and join hands with others to found an organi...
A Japanese government-chartered private plane has arrived at Haneda airport, carrying some 200 Japanese residents from Wuhan, China., in response to the outbreak of pneumonia caused by a new type of c...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — An All Nippon Airways plane chartered by the Japanese government arrived at an airport in Wuhan late Tuesday night local time on a mission to bring home Japanese nationals from...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japanese nationals in Wuhan are set to return home Wednesday morning aboard a commercial flight sent by the Japanese government in response to the spread of a deadly coronavirus...
The government decided to designate pneumonia caused by a new coronavirus found in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, as a “designated infectious disease” under the Infectious Diseases Law at a Cabinet...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that codifying the Self-Defense Forces in the Constitution is related to the backbone of national defense. At a meeting of the Budget Co...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government said Monday it will designate pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus that is spreading mainly in China as a specified infectious disease. The government ...
The government decided Sunday to repatriate all Japanese residing in Wuhan, China, who wish to return to Japan, in response to the spread of pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus confirmed in ...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his eagerness on Wednesday to go ahead with the government’s plan to introduce casino-featuring integrated resorts (IRs) in Japan, despite...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Democratic Party for the People, at a meeting on Monday of its lawmakers in both chambers of the Diet, failed to reach a conclusion on its proposed merger with the Constitu...
TOKYO (Reuters) — U.S. President Donald Trump marked the 60th anniversary of the signing of the security treaty between the United States and Japan with a call for a stronger and deeper alliance bet...
TOKYO (Reuters) — Japan and the United States on Friday lauded the decades-old security treaty that is the bedrock of their alliance, but which U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized as “unfai...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — A Cabinet Office survey showed Friday that 80.8% of the Japanese public tolerates the capital punishment system. Only 9.0% think the system should be abolished, according to ...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Cabinet Office said Friday that it has severely reprimanded six current and former personnel division heads for failing to properly manage records on controversial cherry b...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who is expecting a child with his wife, said Wednesday that he will take paternity leave for some two weeks in total over three months. K...
For many Japanese people, Japan’s diplomacy is Shinzo Abe’s. Past foreign ministers of the current administration, Fumio Kishida and Taro Kono, earnestly carried out their duties, and their curren...
SEOUL (Jiji Press) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged Japan on Tuesday to present its own ideas to resolve the issue of South Koreans requisitioned to work for Japanese firms during World W...
ABU DHABI — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates at the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Currently on a tour of the M...
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry aims to allow the use of commercially available tablets and personal computers for electronic voting in local elections. E-voting became possible in ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. president Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi squared off Sunday ahead of his impeachment trial, as she said senators will “pay a price” for blocking new witnesse...
Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia (Jiji Press) — Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at a meeting with visiting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday expressed full support for Japan’s dispatch of...
The Japanese government welcomed the victory of Tsai Ing-wen, leader of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, in the island’s presidential election on Saturday. “The government of ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe departed from Tokyo on Saturday to visit three Middle East countries, amid mounting tensions between the United States and Iran.
Abe will visit Saudi Arabia, the United Ar...
BEIRUT (Jiji Press) — Japanese Ambassador to Lebanon Takeshi Okubo at a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Tuesday formally sought the Middle East country’s cooperation in looking int...
The government is coordinating efforts to rename the Air Self-Defense Force, using “aerospace” instead of “air,” The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The move comes amid increasing threats to the ...
The government is likely to draw up a national economic security strategy by the end of this year in a bid to protect and nurture domestic advanced technologies and secure maritime interests, among ot...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will call a snap election is expected to be the biggest issue in the Japanese political scene in 2020, pundits say. Many politicians specula...
TOKYO (AP) — The relocation of a U.S. Marine Corps base to a less-crowded area of the southern Japanese island of Okinawa will take more than twice as much money and time as previously estimated be...
The government intends to gradually raise the retirement age of national civil servants to 65 from the current 60, and will submit bills to next year’s ordinary Diet session for that purpose, The Yo...
CHENGDU, China (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday confirmed cooperation to realize a successful visit to Japan by Chinese President Xi Jinping as a...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japanese prosecutors are considering building a bribery case against ruling party lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto over a Chinese company’s plan to open a casino-featuring integrated...
CHENGDU, China (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday conveyed to South Korean President Moon Jae-in a wish to improve relations between Tokyo and Seoul. “Japan and South Korea are ...
CHENGDU, China — The leaders of Japan, China and South Korea reiterated their cooperation toward achieving denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at a joint press conference after the summit meet...
BEIJING – In a Monday meeting, visiting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping confirmed they would aim to achieve a “new era” for Japan and China.
Abe’s first visit to ...
BEIJING (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday as they seek to promote exchanges for a new era in the bilateral relationship. The two leaders held...
WASHINGTON (AFP-Jiji) — A U.S. budget official told the Pentagon to “hold off” on military aid to Kiev 90 minutes after a controversial phone call between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainia...
The government released a draft report on how to dispose of treated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Monday.
The draft includes two methods, narrowed down from five that had been u...
This is the fifth and final installment of a series.
Lee Yong-soo, 90, a South Korean former so-called comfort woman, entered the courtroom in a wheelchair. When her lawyer urged her to speak, she...
YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa (Jiji Press) — Defense Minister Taro Kono on Saturday inspected one of the two Izumo-class destroyers, which are set to be transformed into de facto aircraft carriers. He visit...
NAHA (Jiji Press) — Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga visited fire-hit Shuri Castle in Naha on Saturday, pledging the central government’s all-out efforts for the reconstruction of one of th...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump in phone talks on Saturday reaffirmed close cooperation between their countries toward resolving the issue of North Kor...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that the areas of operation for the Maritime Self-Defense Force, which Japan plans to dispatch to ensure the safety of commerci...
As part of the plan to move the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station from Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to the Henoko district of Nago in the prefecture, it is expected to take about 10 years to co...
This is the fourth installment of a series.
As anti-Japan sentiment builds in South Korea, people are voluntarily refraining from visiting Japan while a campaign to boycott Japanese products spread...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan on Friday eased its curbs on South Korea-bound exports of photoresists, one of the three semiconductor materials subject to the stricter controls, ahead of a bilateral su...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry’s top administrative official was replaced Friday for leaking penalty information to Japan Post Holdings Co., its minister sa...
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed his understanding during talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over Japan’s plan to send the Maritime Self-Defense Force to the Middle East to protect Japan...
This is the second installment of a series.
A message on Facebook posted in Polish and Korean on Sept. 5 by a South Korean male college student in his 20s has spurred outsize reactions: “I found ...
To strengthen security on remote islands near the nation’s borders, including the Senkaku Islands in Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, the National Police Agency decided Friday to establish a remote isl...
BEIJING (Jiji Press) — Defense Minister Taro Kono told his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, on Wednesday that Tokyo is “strongly concerned” about frequent activities by Chinese government ships...
SEOUL (Jiji Press) — Moon Hee-sang, speaker of South Korea’s National Assembly, submitted to the parliament on Wednesday a bill to create a foundation to pay consolation money to South Koreans req...
South Korea has decided to conditionally continue the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan, which means the two countries avoided a further crucial deterioration in t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority in U.S. House has voted to impeach President Donald Trump on the charge of abuse of power for enlisting a foreign ally to investigate a political rival ahead of the 20...
A government panel on competition in the digital marketplace has proposed regulations on large technology companies that would require stricter controls on personal information as businesses expand th...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government Tuesday decided to cut medical fees, including drug prices, under the public health insurance system by 0.45% in a biennial cost revision for fiscal 2020. The f...
A Japan-U.S. joint opinion survey has found that nearly 50% of Japanese people disapprove of the United States’ foreign policy — which has been stagnating of late — toward North Korea.
In Feb...
MADRID — Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi spoke with his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe Meeting of foreign ministers in Madrid on Sunday. The two min...
A nationwide opinion survey by The Yomiuri Shimbun found that 64% of respondents approved of continuing the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) between Japan and South Korea, c...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — While Saturday marked the first anniversary of the start of landfill work at a planned U.S. base site in the Henoko coastal area in Okinawa Prefecture, the dispute between the g...
The government plans to invite officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations secretariat and policymakers from the 10 member countries to Japan for training on cybersecurity in January an...
Dec. 15 marks the third anniversary of talks between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Nagato, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where they agreed to start negotiations on joint ec...
WASHINGTON (Jiji Press) — U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to name Hudson Institute President Kenneth Weinstein as the country’s ambassador to Japan, informed sources told Jiji Press on Th...
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to apply the public medical health insurance system to treat gambling addiction starting next fiscal year.
The ministry concluded it is urgent to establi...
In October, the government’s National Security Secretariat (NSS) opened an ad hoc office to prepare to add an economic division to the NSS, which serves the National Security Council (NSC). The new...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed a strong desire to realize constitutional amendment by September 2021, when his term as president of the Liberal Democratic Party ends, saying, “I definitely want...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Diet approved Wednesday a recently signed trade agreement between Japan and the United States, with Tokyo and Washington expected to put it into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, afte...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Diet enacted Wednesday government-proposed legislation to oblige major firms in the nation to have outside board directors. The House of Councillors passed the bill to am...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government plans to advance reconstruction efforts for fire-hit Shuri Castle by establishing a council of experts who were involved in the restoration of the castle in 1992....
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Diet enacted a bill Wednesday to introduce a new working-hour system that will enable public school teachers to take extended holidays, as part of work-style reforms. The l...
The government has settled on a plan to establish a public-private council tasked with promoting educational trips for young people to Japan, including school excursions and language training visits, ...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that he will visit China on Dec. 23-25. Abe showed the trip schedule at a meeting between the government and the ruling coalition of th...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and new European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have agreed to deepen relations between Japan and the European Union. In telephone talks ...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — A nonpartisan group of House of Councillors lawmakers Monday agreed on the early completion of renovation work to improve barrier-free access in the upper chamber of the Diet. ...
The Cabinet is expected to decide in mid-December to send a Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer and a P3C patrol plane with an aim to secure sea lanes in the Middle East.
The P3C plane will likely...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Total expenditures by political parties in Japan in 2018 dropped ¥13,443 million, or 17 percent, from the previous year, to ¥65,436 million, an Internal Affairs and Communica...
Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who died on Friday at the age of 101, was the architect of an era in postwar politics and implemented many reforms. Those close to him remembered his achieveme...
SEOUL (AFP-Jiji) — North Korea fired two “unidentified projectiles” on Thursday — the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. — Seoul said, as nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington remain ...
SEOUL (Jiji Press) — South Korean National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang has drafted a bill to set up a foundation to settle the current wartime labor dispute with Japan, South Korea’s Yonhap ne...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government has unveiled three conditions for it to review the tightening of its export controls on South Korea and once again give the neighboring country preferential trade...
NAGOYA (Jiji Press) — Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in Nagoya on Friday and agreed to meet again in Russia next month. Motegi told Lavrov that he...
WASHINGTON (Jiji Press) — The United States welcomes South Korea’s decision to renew its military intelligence-sharing agreement with Japan, a State Department spokesperson said Friday. “This...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government on Friday announced a plan to resume bureau-chief-level talks with South Korea over issues related to export controls. The announcement came as Seoul decided t...
A total of about ¥13.3 billion in Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) programs failed to achieve the designated goals, the Board of Audit of Japan found in its Audit Report for fiscal 20...
SEOUL (Jiji Press) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday he will make efforts with Japan “until the very last moment” to keep a bilateral military intelligence-sharing pact in place....
Shinzo Abe’s tenure as prime minister reached 2,887 days on Wednesday, surpassing the time spent in office by pre-World War II leader Taro Katsura and making him the longest-serving prime minister ...
Toshihiro Nikai, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, reiterated his intention to support Prime Minister Shinzo Abe if Abe wants to win a fourth consecutive term as party president, at a...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Hong Kong authorities have taken a Japanese man in his 20s into custody amid pro-democracy protests in the former British colony, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tue...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The House of Representatives approved a Japan-U.S. trade agreement signed last month, at a plenary session on Tuesday.
The bilateral agreement was passed by a majority vote, ...
The 2019 GZERO Summit, organized by Eurasia Group and supported by The Yomiuri Shimbun and other entities, was held in Tokyo on Monday. Participants including politicians, bureaucrats and experts fro...
The 2019 GZERO Summit will be held in Tokyo on Monday, co-chaired by U.S. political scientist Ian Bremmer and Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren). Experts from aro...
BEIJING (Jiji Press) — A Japanese university professor who was detained during a trip to Beijing in September has been freed and returned to Japan on Friday. The Hokkaido University professor, No...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday denied violating the public offices election law or the political funds control law over his hosting of an annual cherry blossom-viewing par...
SEOUL (Jiji Press) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday reiterated his unwillingness to maintain a military intelligence-sharing agreement with Japan unless Tokyo lifts its restrictions o...
SEOUL — South Korea on Friday again stressed the withdrawal of Japan’s strict export controls to the country as a condition for the continuation of the GSOMIA bilateral military intelligence-shari...
TANEGASHIMA, Kagoshima — The Self-Defense Forces conducted a large-scale amphibious training drill premised on regaining control of a remote island invaded by hostile forces from a nearby country. ...
SEOUL (Reuters) — A $5 billion demand to meet the cost of hosting American troops, and tensions between Seoul and Tokyo that threaten to undercut regional cooperation are set to top the agenda when...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — A Japanese man was injured amid escalating protests in Hong Kong on Monday, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi revealed Tuesday. The man, in his 50s, is not in critical condit...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government will cancel next year’s cherry blossom-viewing party hosted by the prime minister, mainly to clarify the criteria for choosing guests to the event, Chief Cabine...
SEOUL (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent personal letters to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un between May and September, proposing holding a summit between them, a major South Korean daily...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The profit margin at hospitals in Japan, excluding psychiatric institutions, came to minus 2.7 percent on average in fiscal 2018, as labor costs ballooned reflecting an increase...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, the highest-ranking U.S. military officer, expressed gratitude on Tuesday for the Japanese government’s plan to dispatch Maritime Self-Defense Force tro...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Tokyo metropolitan government’s election commission Wednesday set the next gubernatorial election for July 5, 2020, about three weeks before the opening of the Tokyo Olymp...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government decided on Tuesday to extend the stay of two Ground Self-Defense Force members at the Multinational Force & Observers in the Sinai Peninsula, which oversees a ce...
Two top figures in the Liberal Democratic Party are making opposing moves in pursuit of the same goal: They both aim to become the “post-Abe” leader.
LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Fumio ...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — China is strengthening its energy ties with Central Asian countries through its Belt and Road regional development initiative, a Defense Ministry think tank said Friday. Beij...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government at a Cabinet meeting Friday decided to disburse ¥131.6 billion from its fiscal 2019 budget reserves to help areas affected by recent powerful typhoons. The fu...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Yasuhiko Funago, a lawmaker with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, on Thursday attended a House of Councillors committee meeting and asked questions for the first time sin...
The government intends to develop a new system that will enable officials to instantly determine whether foreign fishing vessels are operating illegally in Japan’s exclusive economic zone and wheth...
The government aims to develop a system to support safe navigation of ice-covered areas in the Arctic Ocean, with an eye on taking advantage of a shipping route through the ocean, it has been learned....
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s quick decision to effectively remove the industry minister from his post on Friday comes in an effort to minimize the impact on the handling of his administration.
Onl...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Thursday with South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon and again demanded that South Korea take measures to improve its relations with Japan, which have deteriorated follo...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe performed a delicate balancing act during his brief talks with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan on Wednesday, with an eye on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned visit...
Pardons granted in commemoration of the Emperor’s enthronement ceremony took effect Tuesday. Given by Cabinet decree, the pardons are limited to restoring the rights of people who lost their legal...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday kicked off a series of meetings with foreign dignitaries who are visiting Japan to attend the Emperor’s enthronement proclamation ceremony.
The series of meetin...
Forty-four percent of respondents admitted they had taken false information on the internet to be true, a figure slightly exceeding the 41 percent who said they had not believed non-factual material, ...
LONDON (AFP-Jiji) — A British whistleblower responsible for a dramatic leak in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and now the subject of a Hollywood film hopes it will refocus attention on the ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic presidential race that had been largely static through the summer has tumbled into a chaotic fall, shaped by unpredictable events and the deepening impeachment crisis ...
BRUSSELS (AFP-Jiji) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson started phoning EU leaders Saturday to sell his proposals for a managed Brexit, but he met with pressure to revise his offer — and to do ...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Puzzling speeches made by new Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi have sparked concerns among officials of the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party over his abi...
NEW YORK (Jiji Press) — Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, agreed Thursday to continue dialogue between them and other diplomats of the two countri...
NEW YORK (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday expressed hopes for active discussions on constitutional amendments to be held at an extraordinary session of the Diet, set to open on...
NEW YORK — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in New York on Tuesday and asked him to ensure the safety of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz amid rising tensions in...
SEOUL — In July, South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s administration dissolved the foundation to support former so-called comfort women, which had been established on the basis of the 2015 Japan-...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — With a parliamentary session to start on Oct. 4, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to place less conservative members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party in key party and parl...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A whistleblower’s complaint over U.S. President Donald Trump’s interactions with a foreign leader is testing the political and practical power Democrats can use against a Repub...
The government will undertake a research and development project to use artificial intelligence to automatically detect signs of cyber-attacks and evaluate their potential impact, The Yomiuri Shimbun ...
SINGAPORE — Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council Chairman Fumio Kishida, while speaking with other nations’ political figures in Singapore, stressed his intention to aim for the top pa...
The United Nations will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2020. Could this present an opportunity for Japan to realize a long-held wish of becoming a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council? Aga...
The Japanese and South Korean governments are arranging a meeting between Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, to be held during the ongoing U.N. Gener...
The government intends to strengthen systems to give the Prime Minister’s Office more power over guiding economic security policy, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
To do so, a new policy group is ...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government held a uniform employment examination for people with disabilities on Sunday for the second time since a hiring scandal came to light last year. A total of 4,57...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan remains committed to reducing coal-fired power generation to cut greenhouse gas emissions, new Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said in a recent interview. Japanese...
A North Korean government vessel with armed crew threatened a Fisheries Agency’s patrol ship in the Sea of Japan in late August, prompting Japanese fishing boats operating in the area to flee, The ...
The reshuffled fourth Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that launched on Wednesday includes a striking number of new economy-related ministers, though key economic policymaker Taro Aso has kept his...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who doubles as Liberal Democratic Party president, is attempting to maintain “stability” by not changing the core members of his administration in the reshuffle of his ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to appoint Koichi Hagiuda, 56, who is executive acting secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, to the position of education, culture, sports, science ...
The government is making the final arrangements to grant pardons within October to commemorate the enthronement ceremony of the Emperor slated for Oct. 22. Pardons related to Imperial family events ...
The government decided Friday to standardize, in principle, the writing of Japanese surnames before given names when writing in Roman letters on official state documents. The Cabinet Secretariat and...
With an extraordinary Diet session scheduled to convene in the autumn, the House of Councillors is set to accelerate discussions on making its facilities more accessible, to support the activities of...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seen keeping Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai in the post when he reshuffles the Cabinet and the LDP leadership team Sept...
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Jiji Press) — Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated on Thursday the opening of a new large fishery processing plant built on one of the northern territories. Talking wit...
Sixty-four percent of Japanese people who responded to a nationwide survey by The Yomiuri Shimbun said they write their given name before their surname when writing in Roman letters, unless the order...
The government is coordinating over issuing recommendations to use the Japanese “surname-first” order when names are written in Roman letters.
The idea was proposed by Education, Culture, Sport...
WIELUN, Poland (AFP-Jiji) — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday asked Poland’s forgiveness for history’s bloodiest conflict during a ceremony in the Polish city of Wielun, where t...
LONDON (AFP-Jiji) — Protesters wielding pro-democracy placards and EU flags rallied on Saturday in dozens of British cities against British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s controversial move to sus...
SKALA SYKAMINEAS, Greece (AFP-Jiji) — In Skala Sykamineas, a small fishing village at the north end of the Greek island of Lesbos, locals fear the arrival of 500 migrants on Thursday may signal a re...
In a recent survey asking in what areas the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe performed well, 39 percent of respondents, the highest rate, answered “foreign policy.”
The rate of those who ans...
The government has announced new support measures focusing on human resources development for five West African countries in the Sahel region at the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African D...
The government decided at a Cabinet meeting on Friday to appoint Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings Chairman of the Board Kojiro Shiraishi as Japan’s ambassador to Switzerland.
With the decision, Shiraishi,...
The seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) on Friday adopted the Yokohama Declaration, which for the first time spells out the free and open Indo-Pacific initiative (see...
A focus on quality over quantity will be a signature element of Japan’s economic support for Africa in the coming years.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made this pledge, which includes assisting the de...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he intends to help Japanese companies expand their business and investment in Africa at a public-private business dialogue session of the seventh Tokyo International Co...
YOKOHAMA — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday pledged the government’s full support regarding Japanese companies’ investments in African countries.
Abe made the pledge during his remarks a...
At the height of Sudan’s Darfur war in 2004 — then the world’s worst conflict — an American nurse tended to a baby injured in the leg. Fifteen years later, she was miraculously reunited with ...
BALUKHALI, Bangladesh (AFP-Jiji) — Heavily pregnant Rohingya mother Rashida Khatun fled her home in a remote village in Myanmar’s Rakhine state two years ago, bone-tired but desperate to find a sa...
ROME (AFP-Jiji) — Italy’s president is due to begin a fresh round of talks with discordant political parties on Tuesday aimed at finding a new coalition government and ending a political crisis sp...
BIARRITZ, France — The Japanese and U.S. governments have agreed to aim for signing a new trade agreement in September. The bilateral agreement in principle was realized over a mere five months of n...
Seventy-two percent of people who responded to a weekend survey by The Yomiuri Shimbun said they agreed with the need for Japan and South Korea to cooperate over security, far exceeding those who did...
The South Korean government’s decision to abandon the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan has led to concerns that weakened cooperation between the two nations wil...
BANGKOK (AFP-Jiji) — The United States and 10 Southeast Asian states will hold their first-ever joint maritime exercises in September, aimed at preventing “wrongdoing” as Washington and Beijing ...
BIARRITZ, France — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Biarritz, France, on Saturday for the Group of Seven nations summit meeting that kicked off in the evening on the day.
Attending a G7 summit ...
SEOUL — The South Korean military began a military exercise on Sunday morning near the Takeshima islands of Shimane Prefecture — which South Korea is illegally occupying and calls them Dokdo — a...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the nation’s longest-serving prime minister since World War II on Saturday, surpassing Eisaku Sato’s 2,798 days in office.
Saturday was his 2,799th day as prime...
Aiming to achieve the smooth relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in Ginowan to the Henoko district of Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture, the government plans to establish an adv...
BEIJING — North Korea is likely to have welcomed South Korea’s decision to scrap an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, a move that could weaken international efforts to encircle and pressure th...
The fiscal 2020 national budget is likely to include funding to develop a successor to the Air Self-Defense Force’s F-2 fighter, multiple government sources said.
The goal is for Japan to lead th...
According to the original version of the Japanese government’s 2019 white paper on defense, North Korea is believed to have already achieved the miniaturization of nuclear weapons and the developmen...
Japan-South Korea relations are worsening to a level not seen since the end of World War II. The deterioration began on Oct. 30, 2018, when South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered a Japanese company t...
The government is considering launching a satellite to intercept foreign countries’ military satellites in the event of an emergency, as part of efforts to strengthen deterrence amid a rapidly incre...
The government has tightened the criteria on bidding for security-related research and study projects and other contracts that handle confidential information in order to screen out companies that co...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with top officials at the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday to discuss Japan’s response to a U.S.-led maritime security mission aimed at ensuring security mainly i...
SEOUL — South Korean President Moon Jae-in indicated his willingness to pursue dialogue and cooperation with Japan during his speech Thursday to mark Liberation Day, in an apparent bid to avoid furt...
SEOUL — South Korean President Moon Jae-in indicated his willingness to pursue dialogue and cooperation with Japan during his speech Thursday to mark Liberation Day, in an apparent bid to avoid furt...
The U.S. government has shown its understanding of Japan’s position that the issue of South Korean former requisitioned workers had been “resolved under a 1965 agreement between Japan and South Ko...
The infrastructure ministry will send Japanese engineers to Southeast Asian countries in a bid to increase the number of foreign construction workers with specified skills needed to qualify for the n...
Arrangements have started for Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan to attend the Sokuirei-Seiden-no-gi ceremony related to the enthronement of the Emperor with a visit to Japan in the latter half of Oct...
Workplace support for people with disabilities has become a major topic following the House of Councillor’s decision to provisionally cover the costs of care for two lawmakers with severe disabilit...
Japan has clearly showed that its stricter controls on exports to South Korea are not an “embargo” as claimed by Seoul, by granting approval for the shipment of some of the three items subject to...
The government is making final arrangements to create a space unit in the Self-Defense Forces — the first SDF unit of this kind — in fiscal 2020, according to several government sources.
The uni...
Amid the accelerating deterioration of Japan-South Korea relations, the Japanese government is intensifying its arguments against the South Korean Supreme Court ruling involving former requisitioned w...
BANGKOK — Friday’s decision by the Japanese government to take further export control measures against South Korea has prompted fierce opposition from the South Korean government.
The trade dis...
BANGKOK — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged his Japanese and South Korean counterparts to find ways to ease heightened tensions between Tokyo and Seoul during a three-way meeting held in Ba...
TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) — South Korea fired back at Japan over a deepening trade dispute on Friday, pledging it would not be “defeated again” by its neighbor, laying bare decades-old animosity at...
MOSCOW (Jiji Press) — Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Friday visited one of the four northern territories, Russian news agency Tass reported. The visit to the island, Etorofu, came in sp...
The first attendance at the Diet by two newly elected House of Councillors lawmakers with severe disabilities has shone a spotlight on the plodding efforts by political assemblies across Japan to mak...
Efforts to make the House of Councillors barrier-free are speeding up for the sake of lawmakers with disabilities who won seats in the recent upper house election, ahead of an extraordinary Diet sessi...
The government plans to introduce about 20 large, unmanned helicopters to Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers and other ships, several government sources said.
In response to China’s maritime ...
The government is not expecting there to be a change in the current order of succession to the Imperial throne in upcoming discussions on the issue. The government believes that if discussing the pos...
The government will prioritize lobbying Tehran to ease tensions over the Iranian situation, while taking time to coordinate with Washington over a U.S.-proposed international coalition to safeguard w...
SYDNEY (AFP-Jiji) — Australian universities are being investigated over their contracts with Chinese-state run Confucius Institutes, officials said Thursday, amid fresh revelations over the scope of...
Regarding U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s request for Japan to join an international coalition to protect the Strait of Hormuz, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference o...
TAMPA, Fla. — The United States has asked Japan and other countries to take part in an international coalition to ensure security in waterways including the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Secretary of State...
The Defense Ministry has confirmed that a Russian military aircraft violated the airspace over Takeshima, Shimane Prefecture, on Tuesday morning.
South Korea, which illegally occupies the islets it ...
Upper house members who favor amending the Constitution, including those in the ruling bloc and Nippon Ishin no Kai, fell four short of a two-thirds majority, or 164 seats, in the recent House of Coun...
Following the results of the upper house election on Sunday in which the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito won more than a majority of the contested seats, Prime Minister S...
The Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito won 71 of the 124 seats contested in Sunday’s House of Councillors election with all winners finalized Monday morning.
While the two ruling coalition part...
Voter turnout for Sunday’s House of Councillors election was 48.8 percent, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. The figure is far below the 54.7 percent mark in the previo...
The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito steadily gained seats in the House of Councillors, winning more than 63 seats, or a majority of the 124 seats up for grabs, in the uppe...
Leaders of the seven major political parties in total traveled more than 100,000 kilometers — enough to circle the globe two and a half times — seeking support around the country during the 17-day...
Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Friday the government will take countermeasures against South Korea for failing to meet a deadline to accept arbitration over a ruling ordering Japanese companies to p...
The traditional zodiac character for this year is the boar, and in past such years voter turnout tends to fall and the Liberal Democratic Party struggles.
These “Year of the Boar elections” come...
The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito is expected to win at least 63 seats in the House of Councillors election next Sunday, more than half of the 124 seats up for grabs, a...
Ruling and opposition party candidates are taking opposing stances on two main points of contention in the upcoming House of Councillors election — the economy and social security system — accord...
The Japanese government takes seriously South Korea’s repeated illegal export of strategic goods with potential military applications, as these goods have been delivered to Iran, Syria and other co...
The Japanese government intends to gather information from U.S. authorities and carefully consider its response to a U.S. plan to form a coalition to protect waters in the Middle East, including the ...
The Japanese and South Korean governments have started to plan for talks to be held as early as this week among related officials over Tokyo’s tightening export controls against Seoul on materials ...
Why hasn’t Japan been able to eliminate the perception that politics is a man’s world? Gender equality, women’s active participation in the workplace and female empowerment have taken root in so...
BEIJING — China held a ceremony Sunday to mark the 82nd anniversary of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, a prelude to the Sino-Japanese War, but its highest leadership is believed to have skipped the ...
ATHENS (AFP-Jiji) — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday warned that the country risks a return to the “dark days” of austerity if his party loses a snap election on Sunday. As a trio...
The Liberal Democratic Party maintained a sizable lead over the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), ahead of the July 21 upper house election, according to a...
A total of 104 women are running in the House of Councillors election, for which campaigning officially kicked off Thursday, eight more than in the previous upper house election in 2016.
The ratio ...
SEOUL — South Korea’s foundation to support former comfort women, which was set up on the basis of a Japan-South Korea accord at the end of 2015, has officially been dissolved, a source close to t...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s 6½-year-long administration will be put to the test in the House of Councillors election, with voting on July 21. Whether the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition ...
The official House of Councillors election campaign will start Thursday, with the future of the social security system, including the pension system, likely becoming the largest point of contention. ...
Japan’s decision to impose a de facto embargo on exports to South Korea of chemicals crucial to semiconductor production is a firm hand against the country, which has shown no attitude to resolve a ...
The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry announced Monday that the government will more tightly control exports to South Korea of chemicals used in producing semiconductors and other devices. The me...
OSAKA (AFP-Jiji) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday he was confident there would be no U.S. sanctions against Turkey over a controversial Russian missile deal, following reassur...
OSAKA — The Group of 20 summit closed its two-day meeting on Saturday, adopting the G20 Osaka Leaders’ Declaration. Amid mounting trade friction between the United States and China, the joint stat...
OSAKA — Reporters and media representatives covering the Group of 20 summit meeting in Osaka tasted some local delicacies served at the International Media Center.
Kushikatsu deep-fried meat and ...
The launch of the “Osaka Track” declared Friday by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at an event on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit meeting opened a new chapter in diplomatic bargaining over rule-...
OSAKA — Leaders of Group of 20 major economies addressed the issue of gender equality and called for empowering women during the second day of the summit in Osaka on Saturday.
A special event was h...
OSAKA — Japan has served as the chair of the Group of 20 summit at a critical time, when trade and geopolitical tensions are rising. To steer possibly volatile discussions among G20 leaders, Prime ...
OSAKA — A Japan-U.S. summit meeting was held on Friday amid concern over the bilateral relationship caused by a media report that U.S. President Donald Trump had considered withdrawing from a securi...
MIAMI (AFP-Jiji) — Frontrunner Joe Biden came under withering criticism Thursday from his Democratic rivals for the 2020 presidential nomination, including calls to leave the fight against Donald Tr...
OSAKA — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping both emphasized that they will keep improving bilateral relations during their meeting in Osaka on Thursday, although some...
OSAKA — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for the world’s leading economies to find common ground to mitigate downward risks to the global economy, during the first session of the Group of 20 summi...
OSAKA — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sustained his handshake with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for eight seconds while welcoming him as chair of the summit of the leaders of the Group of 20 major...
OSAKA — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance and cooperate on issues related to North Korea and Iran during a meeting in Osaka on Fr...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he wants “to start a new Japan-China era” during bilateral talks with China’s President Xi Jinping in Osaka on Thursday.
The two leaders met at a hotel in the ...
OSAKA — The first summit of the Group of 20 major economies to be held in Japan opens on Friday in Osaka. In the two-day meeting, leaders from around the world are set to discuss issues including th...
OSAKA — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, reaffirmed their position to work together to realize a “free and open Indo-Pacific” during their bilateral talks in ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and China’s President Xi Jinping are expected to state their intention to build a new relationship between Japan and China both at home and abroad during their bilateral su...
This is the second installment of a four-part series on the summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Osaka.
Cross-border data transactions have become a widespread international business and ar...
This is the first installment of a four-part series on the summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Osaka.
The first summit of the Group of 20 major economies to be held in Japan is just a few...
In a Cabinet meeting Friday, the government approved four plans that address how to develop future national policies, with an extra emphasis on expanding the workforce.
The four plans include the B...
The number of women planning to stand in this summer’s upper house elections makes it likely that a record-high ratio of female candidates will be fielded, possibly exceeding 30 percent. A law to p...
A flying object was likely used to attack a tanker operated by Kokuka Sangyo Co., the shipping company said at a press conference at its head office in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on Friday.
The tanker was...
The Japan Coast Guard plans to establish one of the nation’s largest bases at Kagoshima Port, to support security operations that would strengthen the JCG’s ability to counter repeated incursions...
TEHRAN — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani confirmed Wednesday that the Middle East country and the United States should avoid a military clash and strive to ease growin...
The government and ruling parties are struggling to calm the furor over a report stating that an elderly couple will need savings of ¥20 million ($184,000) in addition to their pension benefits in o...
The government will accelerate efforts to launch a website and a framework to help consumers resolve problems related to online shopping and other forms of e-commerce. Called online dispute resoluti...
KAWASAKI — The man who went on a stabbing spree in Tama Ward, Kawasaki, on Tuesday used two thin knives about 30 centimeters in length, according to investigative sources. Ryuichi Iwasaki, 51, a r...
