Category Archives: Japan

End of an era for Canada-US ties, says Carney, as allies worldwide decry Trump’s car tariffs

Posted on by

Canadian PM says Donald Trump has permanently altered relations, as countries around the globe insist import taxes are harmful to all, including Washington

Canada’s prime minister has said the era of deep ties with the US “is over”, as governments from Tokyo to Berlin to Paris sharply criticised Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on car imports, with some threatening retaliatory action.

Mark Carney warned Canadians that Trump had permanently altered relations and that, regardless of any future trade deals, there would be “no turning back”.

Continue reading...

Tokyo court orders dissolution of ‘Moonies’ Unification church

Posted on by

Assassination of former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe spurred official request for closure of South Korea-based sect

A court in Japan has ordered the Unification church to be dissolved after a government request spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of the former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

The church, founded in South Korea and nicknamed the “Moonies” after its late founder, Sun Myung Moon, is accused of pressuring followers into making life-ruining donations, and blamed for child neglect among its members, although it has denied any wrongdoing.

Continue reading...

Exonerated prisoner awarded $1.4m after 46 years spent on death row in Japan

Posted on by

Iwao Hakamada, the world’s longest serving death row prisoner, had been wrongly convicted of a quadruple murder

A Japanese man wrongly convicted of murder who was the world’s longest-serving death row inmate has been awarded $1.4m in compensation, an official has said.

The payout represents 12,500 yen ($83) for each day of the 46 years that Iwao Hakamada spent in detention, most of it on death row when each day could have been his last.

Continue reading...

Japan to deploy long-range missiles able to hit North Korea and China

Posted on by

Planned missiles on Kyushu said to be part of ‘counterstrike capabilities’, as fears grow over US security pact

Japan is planning to deploy long-range missiles on its southern island of Kyushu amid concerns around the Trump administration’s stance towards its security pacts and continuing regional tensions.

The missiles, with a range of about 1,000km, would be capable of hitting targets in North Korea and China’s coastal regions, and are due to be deployed next year in two bases with existing missile garrisons. They would bolster the defences of the strategically important Okinawa island chain and are part of Japan’s development of “counterstrike capabilities” in the event it is attacked, according to reports from Kyodo News agency, citing government sources.

Continue reading...

Japan battles largest wildfire in decades

Posted on by

More than a thousand people have been evacuated near forest of Ofunato in northern region of Iwate

More than a thousand people have been evacuated as Japan battles its largest wildfire in more than three decades.

The flames are estimated to have spread over about 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) in the forest of Ofunato in the northern region of Iwate since a fire broke out on Wednesday, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

Continue reading...

Three resort workers die in suspected gas poisoning near hot spring in Japan

Posted on by

Hydrogen sulphide gives Takayu Onsen its unmistakable sulphurous smell but can be dangerous if inhaled in high enough concentrations

Three people have died in north-east Japan in an accident that authorities suspect is linked to the inhalation of deadly gas found in the country’s famed hot spring resorts.

Japanese media said the three men, who all worked at a nearby hotel, were found in a mountainous area near the city of Fukushima on Tuesday. They were discovered in an area of Takayu Onsen (hot spring) where high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide, a toxic byproduct of volcanic hot springs, have been recorded.

Continue reading...

Japan releases 200,000 tonnes of emergency rice stockpile as prices soar

Posted on by

Agriculture minister says rising prices have ‘had a significant impact on people’s lives’ amid record heat, surges in demand and distribution problems

Japan is to flood the market with almost a quarter of a million tonnes of stockpiled rice in an unprecedented attempt to arrest soaring prices caused by record summer heat, panic buying and distribution problems.

The government will release up to 210,000 tonnes of rice, the agriculture minister, Taku Eto, said on Friday, as consumers battled a surge in prices of more than 50% in recent months.

Continue reading...

Sweet romance: Japanese boys start buying into gift giving on Valentine’s Day

Posted on by

Women are traditionally expected to buy chocolates for male colleagues on Valentine’s Day but teenage boys are shunning the one-sided custom

It has been several years since Japanese women first signalled their contempt for the long tradition of showering male colleagues with chocolates on Valentine’s Day. Now the country’s young people are slaying another sacred cow associated with Friday’s orgy of commercialised romance: one-sided gift giving.

Traditionally, women are expected to buy gift-wrapped chocolates for the men in their working lives, usually senior colleagues and others to whom they feel indebted – a tradition called giri choco, literally “obligation chocolates”.

Continue reading...

Nissan and Honda end $60bn merger talks

Posted on by

Both Japanese carmakers say they will continue to cooperate on electric vehicle technology

Japan’s Nissan and Honda have said that their boards have voted to end talks over a merger that would have created a $60bn (£48bn) auto group, but added that both companies would continue to cooperate in electric vehicles.

A merger would have spawned the world’s fourth-biggest carmaker by vehicle sales after Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai.

Continue reading...

Trump and Japanese PM Ishiba talk tariffs and vow to stand against Chinese ‘aggression’

Posted on by

Leaders praise each other at White House but president warns Japan could face tariffs if it doesn’t cut US trade deficit to zero

The Japanese prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, and the US president, Donald Trump, struck a warm tone at their first meeting on Friday, with Tokyo avoiding tariffs that Trump has slapped on other allies – for now.

Heaping praise on each other at the White House, the two leaders pledged to stand together against Chinese “aggression” and said they found a solution for a blocked deal for troubled US Steel.

Continue reading...

Japan’s PM heads to Washington hoping he can recreate rapport of Trump-Abe era

Posted on by

Shigeru Ishiba will seek familiar guarantees: that the US will continue to stand on Japan’s side against China and North Korea

Donald Trump had yet to get his feet under the Oval Office desk when he held his first meeting with a foreign leader in late 2016. Shinzo Abe, then Japan’s prime minister, arrived at Trump Tower in November that year bearing a gift of a gold-plated golf club and harbouring a determination to get the Japan-US relationship under Trump off to the best possible start.

The success, or otherwise, of Abe’s charm offensive had potentially serious repercussions. During the election campaign, Trump had suggested he would withdraw US troops from Japan, contingent on Tokyo’s willingness to make a bigger financial contribution to their countries’ postwar alliance.

Continue reading...

Parts of Japan blanketed by thick snow during strongest cold front for years

Posted on by

Hokkaido and the Japan Sea coast have been hardest hit, forcing domestic airlines to cancel flights between cities in the region and Tokyo

Large parts of Japan have been blanketed with snow, as the lowest temperatures this winter disrupted rail and air travel, amid warnings that more heavy snowfall was expected through the weekend.

Residents struggled to dig out cars that had been buried by snow in just a few hours, with the meteorological agency describing the cold front as the “strongest in several years”.

Continue reading...

Fears grow in Japan for truck driver trapped in sinkhole for third day

Posted on by

Residents near Tokyo question slow pace of effort to rescue 74-year-old as workers race to build 30-metre ramp

Fears are growing for a truck driver who has spent three days trapped inside a sinkhole in Japan, as rescue workers started building a ramp in a desperate attempt to reach him.

The 74-year-old, who has not been named, became trapped when the sinkhole opened up in a road near Tokyo on Tuesday, swallowing him and his two-tonne truck.

Continue reading...

SoftBank ‘in talks’ to invest up to $25bn in OpenAI

Posted on by

Reported move would make Japanese group largest financial backer of US startup behind ChatGPT

The Japanese investment group SoftBank is reportedly in talks to invest up to $25bn (£20bn) in OpenAI in a deal that would make it the biggest financial backer of the startup behind ChatGPT.

The lender is considering putting a sum of between $15bn and $25bn into the San Francisco-based company, according to the Financial Times.

Continue reading...

Race to rescue driver trapped in Japan sinkhole for two days

Posted on by

Attempts in Japan to retrieve the man were temporarily halted early on Wednesday after a second sinkhole appeared

Rescue workers in Japan are battling water leaks, gas pipes and unstable ground as they attempt to reach a man whose truck fell into a sinkhole near Tokyo two days ago.

The hole, which is reportedly 10 metres across and 10 metres deep, opened up at an intersection in Yashio, Saitama prefecture, on Tuesday morning, swallowing the 74-year-old truck driver and his two-tonne vehicle.

Continue reading...

Picture prefect: Japanese city deploys guards to control unruly tourists seeking perfect shot

Posted on by

Overseas tourists are blocking roads or walking onto railway tracks in Otaru to capture its views, stoking local resentment and complaints of overtourism

Authorities in Japan are stepping up measures to deter crowds of overseas visitors from taking risks in their quest for the perfect photo, in another attempt to address the negative impact of a record surge in inbound tourism.

Tourism officials in Otaru, a small city in the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, deployed security guards this week to prevent people congregating on Funami-za, a steep street and the perfect spot for photos of the port and sea in the distance.

Continue reading...

Open (your wallet) wide: Australians pay more for dental care than most OECD countries

Posted on by

Australia ranks well when it comes to total dental care expenditure. But a closer look at the numbers reveals that trips to the dentist are a luxury many people can’t afford

Australia spent $11.1bn on dental care in 2021–2022, ranking it sixth out of 31 OECD countries for per capita expenditure.

At first glance, that statistic seems pretty good. Dig deeper? Not so much.

Continue reading...

Joe Biden delays order to end Nippon Steel bid for US Steel

Posted on by

Suspension of executive order until 18 June gives courts time to review steelmakers’ legal challenge

The Biden administration has delayed until June an order for Nippon Steel to abandon its $14.9bn bid for US Steel, potentially giving the companies some time to revive the politically contentious deal.

Joe Biden blocked the acquisition on national security grounds on 3 January and the treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said this week the proposed deal had received a “thorough analysis” by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

Continue reading...

Japanese yakuza leader pleads guilty to trafficking nuclear materials from Myanmar

Posted on by

US authorities charged Takeshi Ebisawa with conspiring to traffic nuclear materials from Myanmar for expected use by Iran in nuclear weapons

A member of the Japanese criminal underworld has pleaded guilty to handling nuclear material sourced from Myanmar and seeking to sell it to fund an illicit arms deal, US authorities have said.

Yakuza leader Takeshi Ebisawa and a co-defendant had previously been charged in April 2022 with drug trafficking and firearms offences, and both were remanded.

Continue reading...

World’s oldest person, Tomiko Itooka, dies in Japan aged 116

Posted on by

Itooka, who died at a care home in Ashiya, enjoyed bananas and had been a keen mountain climber

A Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest living person has died at the age of 116.

Tomiko Itooka, who was awarded the Guinness World Record status last year, died on 29 December at a care home in Ashiya, Hyogo prefecture in central Japan.

Continue reading...