Category Archives: Japan

Campaigners criticise Japan firm selling whale meat from vending machines

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Kyodo Senpaku opened ‘stores’ at two locations in Tokyo after successful trial

A Japanese whaling company has sparked an angry response from animal rights campaigners after it started selling whale meat from vending machines in an effort to boost consumption.

Kyodo Senpaku, whose vessels led Japan’s whaling fleet during its controversial expeditions to the Southern Ocean, opened its first kujira (whale meat) “stores” at two locations in Tokyo this month after a successful trial late last year.

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Japan’s ageing population poses urgent risk to society, says PM

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Fumio Kishida says country may be unable to function if birthrate does not rise

Japan’s low birthrate and ageing population pose an urgent risk to society, the country’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has said, as he pledged to address the issue by establishing a new government agency.

Birthrates are declining in many developed countries, but in Japan the issue is particularly acute because it has the world’s second highest proportion of people aged 65 and over, after the tiny state of Monaco, according to World Bank data.

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Japan PM aide told off by his ‘ashamed’ mother for putting hands in pockets on Biden trip

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Social media users said Seiji Kihara had bad manners and ‘more attitude than the prime minister’ but it was his mother’s comments that struck home

A senior aide to Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has apologised for putting his hands in his pockets during an official trip to the US, admitting that his mother had scolded him and told him she was “ashamed” of him.

Seiji Kihara, the deputy chief cabinet secretary, revealed on YouTube that his mother had read comments that he was “disgracing his parents” after he was caught with his hands in his trouser pockets as Kishida spoke to reporters outside Blair House in Washington.

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Fukushima: court upholds acquittals of three Tepco executives over disaster

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High court in Japan agreed defendants could not have predicted the massive tsunami that crippled the power plant and triggered a nuclear meltdown

Three former executives from the company that operates the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have had their not-guilty verdicts upheld by a court in Japan, dealing a blow to campaigners demanding the firm take legal responsibility for the disaster in March 2011.

The Tokyo high court on Wednesday cleared Tsunehisa Katsumata, the former chairman of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), along with former vice-presidents Ichiro Takekuro and Sakae Muto, of professional negligence resulting in death.

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Ex-Russian president suggests Japanese PM should ritually disembowel himself

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Dmitry Medvedev accuses Fumio Kishida of shameful subservience to US after Joe Biden meeting

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has accused Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida of shameful subservience to the US and suggested he should ritually disembowel himself.

His remarks on Saturday were the latest in a long line of shocking and provocative statements from Medvedev, who was once seen as a western-leaning reformer but has reinvented himself as an arch-hawk since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

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Japan’s PM vows to modernise military for new era of threats

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Fumio Kishida outlines step change in US-Japan security alliance after White House meeting with Joe Biden

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has pledged to modernise his country’s military alongside US president Joe Biden, warning that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had opened a dangerous new era and could embolden China.

Welcoming Kishida at the White House, Biden hailed the Japanese government’s announcement last month that it will double defence spending over the next five years and develop new capabilities.

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Fukushima water to be released into ocean in next few months, says Japan

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Authorities to begin release of a million tonnes of water from stricken nuclear plant after treatment to remove most radioactive material

The controversial release of more than a million tonnes of water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will begin in the northern spring or summer, Japan’s government has said – a move that has sparked anger among local fishing communities and countries in the region.

The decision comes more than two years after the government approved the release of the water, which will be treated to remove most radioactive materials but will still contain tritium, a naturally occurring radioactive form of hydrogen that is technically difficult to separate from water.

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Attack from space would trigger collective defence, say US and Japan, amid China fears

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Antony Blinken says China is ‘greatest shared strategic challenge’ in the region as US backs Japan’s biggest military build-up since second world war

The US and Japan have said that an attack in space would trigger their security treaty, as senior officials from both countries warned that China represents the “greatest strategic challenge” to regional security.

“We agree that [China] is the greatest shared strategic challenge that we, our allies and partners face,” the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Thursday after meeting his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, in Washington.

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Tokyo lodges protest after China punishes Japanese travellers over Covid test requirements

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Japan says Beijing’s decision to halt visa processing is ‘extremely regrettable’, amid uncertainty as to whether China will take action against other countries

Japan has lodged a protest with Beijing over its decision to suspend the issuance of visas to Japanese citizens in retaliation for Covid testing requirements for travellers from China.

Chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno characterised the move as an act of revenge rather than a public health measure and requested China reverse the decision. “It is regrettable that China unilaterally has taken visa suspension action for reasons other than steps for the coronavirus,” he said on Wednesday.

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China halts short-term visas for South Korea and Japan over Covid travel curbs

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Beijing had said it would retaliate against countries that require negative tests from Chinese travellers

China has suspended issuing short-term visas in South Korea and Japan after announcing it would retaliate against countries that required negative Covid-19 tests from Chinese travellers.

China has ditched mandatory quarantines for arrivals and allowed travel to resume across its border with Hong Kong since Sunday, removing the last major restrictions under the “zero-Covid” regime that it abruptly began dismantling in early December after protests against the curbs.

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Jetstar flight forced to land in central Japan after reportedly receiving bomb threat

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Footage posted to social media showed passengers disembarking via emergency slides and walking across tarmac

A Jetstar flight has been forced to make an emergency landing in central Japan after receiving a bomb threat, according to local media.

The aircraft was reportedly travelling from Narita airport near Tokyo to Fukuoka on Saturday, when it was forced to divert to Aichi prefecture, public broadcaster NHK said.

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Legacy of Japan’s Nakagin Capsule Tower lives on in restored pods

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One of Tokyo’s most famous buildings was dismantled in April due to asbestos fears. Now 23 of the capsules have been saved for posterity

Tatsuyuki Maeda had more reason than most to feel a pang of regret as he joined admirers and passing office workers to watch Nakagin Capsule Tower being dismantled.

The building was not just one of Tokyo’s most famous structures; for more than a decade it had been Maeda’s occasional home – a pied-à-terre in the heart of the city he had coveted since he first set eyes on it from his nearby workplace.

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Million yen per child to leave Tokyo – Japan’s offer to families

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Government boosts incentives to lure people to ‘unfashionable’ regional areas hit by ageing, shrinking populations

Japan’s government is offering ¥1m ($7,500) per child to families who move out of greater Tokyo, in an attempt to reverse population decline in the regions.

The incentive – a dramatic rise from the previous relocation fee of ¥300,000 – will be introduced in April, according to Japanese media reports, as part of an official push to breathe life into declining towns and villages.

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Japanese architect and ‘postmodern giant’ Arata Isozaki dies aged 91

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Pritzker prize winner who combined Asian and western influences said postwar ruins of Japan stayed with him in his work

Pritzker-winning Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, known for his avant garde style and category-defying works, has died at the age of 91, his office says.

Isozaki died of old age at his home in Okinawa on Wednesday, with the funeral to be attended only by his close family, the office said in a statement on Friday.

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China’s move to open up travel sparks concern over spread of new variants

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Japan, India and Taiwan introduce measures to prevent influx of cases as experts say lack of data makes it difficult to assess risk

Virologists are watching nervously to see how China’s abrupt decision to drop some of its toughest Covid-19 restrictions, including scrapping quarantine rules for travellers, may affect variants and their global spread as some countries increase precautionary measures.

China’s decision on Monday to drop quarantine for overseas visitors from 8 January has prompted concerns about the potential for new variants to spread beyond China’s borders. Japan and India are among the countries that have introduced measures to prevent an influx of cases.

This article was amended on 28 December 2022. Airfinity estimates there are more than 5,000 deaths a day in China, rather than new cases as an earlier version said.

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Fourth member of scandal-hit Japanese cabinet resigns

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Reconstruction minister quits amid accusations of election law violations and ties to Unification church

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has ended the year facing fierce political headwinds after his reconstruction minister became the fourth member of his scandal-hit cabinet to resign in two months.

Kenya Akiba announced his resignation on Tuesday after opposition MPs accused him of election law violations and of having ties to the Unification church, a controversial religious group whose connections to the ruling party have sent Kishida’s approval ratings to record lows.

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Japan approves biggest military buildup since second world war amid China fears

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US welcomes doubling of military spending but critics express unease over abandoning seven decades of pacifism

Japan has approved its biggest military buildup since the second world war, warning that China poses the “greatest strategic challenge ever” and outlining plans to develop a counterstrike capability funded by record defence spending.

The plans, announced by the government on Friday, reflect growing alarm over a more assertive Chinese military and a North Korean regime that continues to improve its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities.

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‘Road sleeping’ deaths soar in Tokyo as socialising returns to pre-Covid levels

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Authorities concerned that death toll from people being hit by cars while sleeping on roads will increase further as end-of-year party season begins

The end of Covid-19 restrictions on Japan’s nighttime economy has brought more people out on to the streets of Tokyo – but it could also be contributing to a spate of deaths among people who are struck by cars as they sleep on the road.

The number of deaths among people who sleep where they drop on the capital’s roads has nearly doubled from last year, from seven to 13, according to police.

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Japan chooses ‘war’ as kanji of the year amid Ukraine conflict and Abe assassination

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The character, chosen by public vote, reflected feelings about the state of the world and anxiety over living cost pressures

People in Japan have chosen the kanji character for “war” as the symbol that sums up 2022 – a year marked by conflict in Ukraine and the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

The character, chosen in a public vote, reflected Japanese sentiment about the state of the world, as well as heightened anxiety over the weak yen and high cost of living, according to the annual contest’s organisers, the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation.

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UK to develop next-generation fighter jets with Italy and Japan

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Rishi Sunak says defence deal for Tempest means ‘outpacing those who seek to do us harm’

Britain will work to develop next-generation fighter jets with Italy and Japan, Rishi Sunak has announced.

The prime minister said the defence partnership will ensure the UK and allies are “outpacing and outmanoeuvring those who seek to do us harm”.

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