August 15, 2018
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday expressed his strong desire to end the debate on constitutional reform within his ruling Liberal Democratic Party through its presidential election in September. Hi...
GINOWAN, Okinawa (Jiji Press) — Atsushi Sakima, mayor of the Okinawa Prefecture city of Ginowan, on Tuesday announced his bid for the governorship of the prefecture following the death of Gov. Takes...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to accelerate the improvement of Japan-China relations through the realization of reciprocal visits with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Sunday marked the 40th anniver...
SHIMONOSEKI, Yamaguchi — The Liberal Democratic Party will present its proposal for constitutional revision during the extraordinary Diet session expected to be convened this autumn, Prime Minister...
SEOUL (AP) — Senior officials from the rival Koreas met Monday to set a date and venue for a third summit between South Korean President Moon Jae In and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, part of an ...
WASHINGTON — In the latest round of Japan-U.S. trade talks on Thursday and Friday in Washington, the United States called for launching negotiations on a bilateral trade deal, illustrating its posit...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — A Japanese man has been detained in North Korea by local authorities, government officials said Saturday. The man entered North Korea from China for travel and was detained in...
WASHINGTON (AFP-Jiji) — Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday unveiled details of plans to build a U.S. Space Force that would become the sixth branch of America’s massive military, saying the tim...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The National Personnel Authority on Friday recommended law revisions to raise the retirement age of national public servants from the current 60 to 65 in stages. The governme...
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russia threatened to retaliate for a new round of sanctions announced by the United States, as the ruble slid amid the spiraling tensions between the Cold War rival...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba announced Friday his intention to run in the Japanese ruling party’s leadership election in September.
Ishi...
NAGASAKI (Jiji Press) — U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for concrete action to break the deadlock in global talks on nuclear disarmament, at a ceremony on Thursday to mark the 73rd a...
TOKYO (Reuters) — Japan will try to avert steep tariffs on its car exports and fend off U.S. demands for a bilateral free trade agreement at talks on Thursday in Washington, but a quick fix for the ...
BEPPU, Oita (AP) — Malaysia’s leader called Thursday for more international exchange among young people as a way to prevent war and terrorism, as he received an honorary degree from a like-minded...
In response to the death of Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, a gubernatorial election will be held as early as September. A plan to hold voting and ballot counting on Sept. 23 or 30 is gaining traction, an...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres agreed Wednesday to work together for the full implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions imposin...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Defense Ministry will raise the age limit of applicants for Self-Defense Forces members and cadets from the current 26 to 32 as early as October, ministry officials said Tu...
Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga died on Wednesday, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. He was 67 years old.
Vice Gov. Kiichiro Jahana had announced earlier on the day that he had taken over Onaga’s officia...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested Tuesday that he will instruct the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to consider the idea of introducing daylight saving time for the 2020 Tokyo...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated Monday his willingness to have a summit meeting with Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, to resolve such issues as Pyongyang’s nuclear and mi...
NAGANO (Jiji Press) — Shuichi Abe was elected to a third four-year term as governor of Nagano Prefecture on Sunday, beating a first-time candidate. Abe, a 57-year-old independent, was supported by ...
BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) — China’s state media said on Saturday the government’s retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods showed rational restraint and they accused the United States ...
CARACAS (AP) — Drones armed with explosives detonated near Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Saturday in an apparent assassination attempt that took place while he was delivering a speech to hund...
JAKARTA (Reuters) — A U.S. diplomat handed over a letter for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from U.S. President Donald Trump to North Korea’s foreign minister at a meeting Singapore on Saturday,...
SINGAPORE — Foreign Minister Taro Kono’s brief conversation with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on Friday in Singapore marked the first contact between the two ministers since the Washin...
SINGAPORE (Jiji Press) — Foreign Minister Taro Kono and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed Saturday that their countries will work together for the full implementation of U.N. Security Coun...
SINGAPORE (Jiji Press) — Foreign Minister Taro Kono had a brief conversation with his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong Ho, in Singapore on Friday night. This was the first contact between Japanes...
SINGAPORE (Jiji Press) — The ASEAN Regional Forum, or ARF, held a ministerial meeting in Singapore on Saturday, with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho...
Japan has asked the United States to prevent a possible adverse impact on Japanese companies’ activities in connection with the U.S. request to Japan and other countries to stop crude oil imports fr...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Citing safety, the Trump administration on Thursday proposed rolling back car-mileage standards, backing away from years of government efforts to cut Americans’ trips to the gas...
GENEVA (Reuters) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s verbal attacks on the media run the risk of triggering real violence against journalists, the U.N. rapporteur for freedom of expression said on Th...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government has drawn up a package of measures, including financial aid for small companies and tourism industries, to facilitate the reconstruction of areas, mainly in west...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security team said on Thursday that Russia is behind “pervasive” attempts to interfere in upcoming U.S. elections, in a rejection ...
HARARE (Reuters) — Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former spy chief installed after Robert Mugabe’s removal in a coup in November, was elected on Thursday after a poll marred by the deat...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Responding to wide-ranging criticism that it lacked a clear national strategy to protect U.S. elections, the Trump administration put on a show of force Thursday and said the pres...
SINGAPORE — Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were to agree to support efforts toward denuclearization of North Korea, in a meeting that started Thursday in Singapore. ...
HIGASHIMATSUSHIMA, Miyagi (Jiji Press) — The government aims to finish the relocation of March 2011 disaster victims living in temporary housing in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures to public homes by f...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Tom Tanigawa, a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker of the House of Representatives, has described same-sex affairs as “something like a hobby.” The remark came at a time wh...
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump bluntly declared on Wednesday his attorney general should terminate “right now” the federal probe into the campaign that took him to the White Hous...
BERLIN (Reuters) — Berlin signaled on Wednesday that it was prepared to use its new power to veto foreign takeovers of German companies in the case of a Chinese bid for toolmaker Leifeld. Earlier...
MOSCOW — Japan and Russia confirmed at a meeting of their foreign and defense ministers in Moscow on Tuesday that they will cooperate toward the denuclearization of North Korea.
The so-called tw...
The Japan Atomic Energy Commission has revised its basic policy for plutonium utilization for the first time in 15 years to state clearly that Japan’s plutonium stockpile should be reduced. The comm...
SYDNEY (Jiji Press) — Australia will work with Japan and the United States to invest in infrastructure development and other projects in the Indo-Pacific region, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said ...
NEW YORK (Jiji Press) — U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres will attend this year’s peace memorial ceremony in Nagasaki on Aug. 9, the United Nations said Tuesday. Guterres will be the firs...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government launched a new office Wednesday to strengthen its ability to gather and analyze terrorism-related information toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. T...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Tokyo metropolitan government on Wednesday filed for the agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister’s approval for the relocation of the aging Tsukiji wholesale food ma...
