April 20, 2013
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised this summer's Upper House election would bring tangible progress on constitutional revision, as he tried to drum up enthusiasm for an issue many voters see as a low priority.
April 20, 2013
Takeshi Kitano, who has starred as a gangster, police officer and blind swordsman, found himself in unfamiliar territory in his latest role.
April 19, 2013
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe outlined the next steps of his grand plan for restoring Japan's economic power in a news conference April 19, naming a slew of initiatives he said would help awaken the country's “sleeping opportunities.”
April 19, 2013
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.
April 19, 2013
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Japan’s support for Myanmar’s move towards democratization in a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s largest opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), in Tokyo on April 18.
April 19, 2013
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.
April 18, 2013
The Air Self-Defense Force scrambled jets to intercept Chinese aircraft approaching Japanese airspace a record 306 times in fiscal 2012, the Defense Ministry said April 17, surpassing scrambles against Russian aircraft for the first time.
April 18, 2013
BEIJING--Chinese warships plied open waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands on April 17, state media reported.
April 18, 2013
The standoff over sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands appears to be impeding plans for a trilateral summit between Japan, China and South Korea.
April 18, 2013
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.
April 17, 2013
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will head a large delegation of industry executives to Russia at the end of this month as part of an initiative to crack open the Russian market, and perhaps reap a political windfall.
April 15, 2013
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.
April 15, 2013
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on April 15 denounced North Korea for heightening tensions with its “highly provocative rhetoric” and agreed with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to cooperate in implementing sanctions against Pyongyang.
April 14, 2013
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.
April 14, 2013
Japan's percentage of female lawmakers has plummeted to 163rd out of 190 nations since the Liberal Democratic Party won the Lower House election in December, a study showed.
April 14, 2013
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.
April 13, 2013
Despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pledge to protect national interests, Japan appears set to lose far more than it will gain--at least initially--from joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal.
April 12, 2013
Japan and the United States on April 12 agreed on a deal paving the way for Tokyo to join talks on an Asia-Pacific free trade agreement, increasing the economic weight of the proposed pact and triggering a loud protest from U.S. automakers.
April 11, 2013
Japan will continue to face territorial claims from China and Taiwan, despite having knocked a wedge between them by making concessions to Taipei in a fishing agreement over waters surrounding the disputed Senkaku Islands.
April 11, 2013
Plans by the Japanese government to hold a ceremony commemorating the San Francisco Peace Treaty on April 28 are facing criticism from islands that were forsaken in the historical document.