Category Archives: Japan

Japan and South Korea leaders mend fences in visit to Hiroshima memorial

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Joint visit during G7 summit seen as further evidence of determination to overcome longstanding friction

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, and the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, have paid their respects at a memorial to the tens of thousands of Korean victims of the atomic bombing, in a further sign of improving ties between the north-east Asian neighbours.

The pair, accompanied by their wives, laid bouquets of white flowers before lowering their heads at the memorial in the city’s peace park on Sunday on the sidelines of the G7 summit, where Yoon is one of several non-member leaders taking part in “outreach” sessions.

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Australia, India, Japan and US take thinly veiled swipe at China

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Beijing clearly target of joint statement by Quad group calling for ‘stability in Indo-Pacific maritime domain’

The leaders of the Quad group – Australia, India, Japan and the United States – delivered a thinly veiled swipe at Beijing’s behaviour on Saturday at a summit in Hiroshima.

The US president, Joe Biden, and his three partners in the group did not mention China by name but the communist superpower was clearly the target of language in a joint statement calling for “peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain”.

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Sunak to urge G7 support for collective action against ‘economic coercion’

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Leaders expected to form council that will discuss response if states such as Russia and China boycott trade for political reasons

The UK and other G7 countries are planning collective action against Russia and China if they threaten trade boycotts for political reasons, announcing a new body to deal with “economic coercion”.

Rishi Sunak will urge “bold and pragmatic collective action” against hostile states that stop trading with other countries when they disagree with their geopolitical decisions.

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G7 prepares new Russia sanctions as Zelenskiy to attend summit in person

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Ukrainian president to take part in Hiroshima talks on Sunday as leaders target exports to Russia

The G7 has unveiled further sanctions targeting Russia over its war against Ukraine, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy prepared to attend the Hiroshima summit in person.

“Our support for Ukraine will not waver,” the G7 leaders said in a statement on Friday, vowing “to stand together against Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine”.

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PM announces new sanctions – as it happened

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Biden’s cancellation not a snub, Marles insists

The media is still trying to get the Albanese government to admit it feels bruised after Joe Biden cancelled his Australian visit for the Quad leaders meeting.

You’ve got a leader of a country who is dealing with an urgent issue in terms of their domestic politics. It’s unfortunate. But it happens. It’s nothing more than that.

It says a lot about Australia’s standing in the world right now. It says a lot, I think particularly about our relationship with Japan, actually, given that they’re the hosts of this.

We wish to express our thanks to God and all who have continued to pray for us.

We express our relief that Dr Elliott is free and thank the Australian Government and all who have been involved over time to secure his release. We also continue to pray for those still held and wish them freedom and safe return to their loved ones.

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Albanese urged to take stand against nuclear weapons during G7 summit in Hiroshima

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International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons wants Labor to send a ‘message to the region’ and sign and ratify a treaty to impose a ban on atomic weapons

Anthony Albanese is being urged to take a firm stand against nuclear weapons when he attends the G7 summit in Hiroshima this weekend.

The prime minister has been invited to attend the summit in Hiroshima, which along with Nagasaki was devastated by the US atomic bombing in the closing stages of the second world war.

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Rishi Sunak arrives in Japan to announce defence pact

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PM also says Japanese businesses have invested £18bn in UK as he visits country for G7 summit

Rishi Sunak has arrived in Tokyo to announce a new defence partnership with Japan and support £18bn of private business deals, ahead of the G7 summit aimed at addressing the threats of Russia and China.

Before the gathering of world leaders in Hiroshima on Friday, Sunak is meeting Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, to discuss more defence cooperation in the face of China’s increasing belligerence towards Taiwan.

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As G7 leaders start to arrive, Japan PM prepares push in Hiroshima for nuclear weapons pledge

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Ukraine and China’s Taiwan ambitions are expected to dominate summit discussions, but Fumio Kishida will have a powerful backdrop

The war in Ukraine and Chinese aggression towards Taiwan will dominate G7 discussions this week, but host Fumio Kishida is expected to carve out time to push for a pledge on nuclear weapons when leaders meet in Hiroshima, the first place on Earth targeted by an atomic bomb.

The leaders began to arrive on Thursday, ahead of an expected visit on Saturday to the city’s Peace Memorial Museum, which contains exhibits showing the scale of the tragedy that unfolded after the US dropped a nuclear bomb on the morning of 6 August 1945, killing 140,000 people by the end of the year.

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Rishi Sunak seeks to build stronger defence with Japan at Tokyo G7

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PM expected to unveil Hiroshima accord at meeting with Japan’s Fumio Kishida amid fears of China’s rising militarisation

Rishi Sunak will seek to build a stronger defence with Japan amid fears of China’s rising militarisation as he travels to Tokyo and Hiroshima for the G7 summit.

The prime minister will be accompanied by his wife, Akshata Murty, on their first official visit since he entered No 10 for the meeting of leaders from the US, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Italy and the EU.

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Former world leaders urge G7 to get nuclear arms control back on track

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Exclusive: Letter calls on US and Russia to isolate weapons agreements from other disputes

A global array of former world leaders and defence ministers, nuclear experts and diplomats have called on the leaders of G7 countries at their meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, not to let progress on nuclear arms control continue to be the victim of growing geopolitical conflict, including the conflict between the west and Russia over Ukraine.

The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, who is from Hiroshima, chose the G7 venue to lend seriousness to his personal call to world leaders to at least agree a roadmap to resume nuclear arms control talks.

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Quad summit cancelled after Joe Biden calls off trip to Australia

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Leaders of Japan, India, US and Australia will instead meet on sidelines of the G7 in Hiroshima this weekend

Anthony Albanese has confirmed the Sydney Quad meeting will not go ahead, after US president Joe Biden pulled out of his Australian visit to deal with domestic issues.

Early Wednesday morning Albanese was still hopeful the meeting with the leaders of India and Japan could proceed with a senior representative from the US, but hours later he confirmed the event was off.

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Joe Biden cancels Australian visit amid US domestic debt deadlock

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President had been due to address parliament next week, the first US leader in 10 years to do so, as part of Asia tour

President Joe Biden has cancelled a visit to Australia, the second leg of his upcoming Asia trip, due to the slow-motion crisis building in Washington over the US debt ceiling.

Biden is to attend a three-day summit of G7 leaders that starts on Friday in Hiroshima, Japan, and will return to the US on Sunday.

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Grin and bare it: as mask mandates end Japan turns to tutors to relearn how to smile

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‘Smile education’ coach Keiko Kawano says more and more people have developed a ‘complex’ about smiling

After three years of concealing their mouths behind masks, some Japanese people are turning to specialist smile tutors to relearn the art of breaking into a beaming grin without looking awkward.

Since lifting the official advice to wear masks to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, many people have admitted to struggling to adjust to life without face coverings, with some confessing they have forgotten how to smile.

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Japanese talent agency apologises over claims founder sexually abused boys

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Johnny Kitagawa’s niece issues apology to men who have made abuse claims while not commenting on veracity of allegations

The president of one of Japan’s most powerful talent agencies has apologised over allegations that the firm’s late founder and pop impresario, Johnny Kitagawa, sexually abused multiple boys.

In a video and statement released on Sunday evening, Julie Fujishima, Kitagawa’s niece, issued the apology to young men who had stepped forward with abuse claims, although she did not comment on the veracity of the allegations.

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Japanese PM expresses sympathy with Korean victims of colonial rule

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Fumio Kishida pays reciprocal visit to Yoon Suk-yeol as rows over Japanese occupation are soothed

Japan’s prime minister has expressed sympathy for the suffering of Korean forced labourers during Japan’s colonial rule, as he and his South Korean counterpart renewed their resolve to overcome historical grievances and strengthen cooperation in the face of shared challenges such as North Korea’s nuclear programme.

Comments by the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, on Sunday during his second summit in less than two months with the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, are being closely watched in Seoul.

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Nato planning to open Japan office to deepen Asia-Pacific ties – report

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Liaison office plans likely to attract criticism from China which has warned against the western alliance extending into Asia

Nato is reportedly planning to open a liaison office in Japan to coordinate with close partners across the Indo-Pacific region including Australia, South Korea and New Zealand.

The plans are likely to attract criticism from the Chinese government, which has previously warned the western alliance against extending “its tentacles to the Asia-Pacific”.

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Japan approves abortion pill for the first time

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Health ministry gives green light to two-step treatment made by British pharmaceutical firm Linepharma

The abortion pill will become available in Japan for the first time after the health ministry approved a drug used to terminate early-stage pregnancies.

Abortion is legal in Japan up to 22 weeks, but consent is usually required from a spouse or partner, and until now a surgical procedure had been the only option.

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Japan pledges to have women in third of top boardroom roles by 2030

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Prime minister Fumio Kishida says diversity in listed companies is key to ‘achieving new capitalism and an inclusive society’

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has said he wants almost a third of executive positions at the country’s top companies to be occupied by women by the end of the decade.

In an apparent attempt to address Japan’s poor record on gender equality ahead of the G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima next month, Kishida said more boardroom diversity would boost the world’s third-biggest economy.

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Last images taken by Japanese journalist killed in Myanmar in 2007 released

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News outlet obtains camera of Kenji Nagai, who was reporting on Saffron Revolution when he was shot

The family of a Japanese journalist killed while reporting on Myanmar’s 2007 Saffron Revolution have released his last pictures, sharing footage from a recently obtained video camera missing since his fatal shooting 15 years ago.

The final pictures from 50-year-old Kenji Nagai during an anti-government protest were obtained by Myanmar-focused news outlet the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), which returned the camera on Wednesday to Nagai’s family in Bangkok.

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Japan’s ispace says moon lander probably crashed on lunar surface

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Hakuto-R may have miscalculated altitude, says company after losing contact with spacecraft

Japan’s ispace said its attempt to make the first private moon landing had failed after losing contact with its Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) lander when it unexpectedly accelerated and probably crashed on the lunar surface.

The startup said it was possible that as the lander approached the moon, its altitude measurement system had miscalculated the distance to the surface.

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