South Korea’s foreign minister will cancel his trip to Tokyo to protest visits to a shrine symbolizing Japan’s militaristic past by Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and other Cabinet members, sources said April 22.

WASHINGTON--U.S. Vice President Joe Biden assured Japan's deputy prime minister on April 19 that the United States is committed to the defense of Japan against the threat posed by North Korea.

Takeshi Kitano, who has starred as a gangster, police officer and blind swordsman, found himself in unfamiliar territory in his latest role.

A government plan to hold a ceremony this month to mark the day Japan recovered its sovereignty under the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1952 has triggered a firestorm because Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will attend the event.

All parties involved in talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement will likely signal their approval for Japan's participation in the negotiations on April 19, enabling Japan to join the talks as early as late July.

BEIJING--Chinese warships plied open waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands on April 17, state media reported.

Staple food products often found on the kitchen table must be placed on the negotiating table if Japan is to join discussions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade arrangement, government officials in New Zealand, Australia and Canada have suggested.

The support rate for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet dropped but remained relatively high at 60 percent, buoyed by voter optimism for his economic policies, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on April 14 stressed the United States is willing to engage with North Korea as long as it takes steps to give up nuclear weapons.

WASHINGTON--The United States is fully prepared to defend Japan and South Korea in response to a possible missile launch by North Korea, Ashton Carter, U.S. deputy secretary of defense, said in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun.