Category Archives: Japan

Japan beachgoers warned to steer clear of dolphins after spate of attacks

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A single dolphin thought to have injured at least six people at beaches in Fukui prefecture, with one person requiring 14 stitches

Beachgoers in Japan are being urged to stay away from dolphins following a spate of attacks thought to involve a single animal that have left at least six people with minor injuries.

The cetacean – believed to be an adult Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin – has bitten several swimmers at three beaches in Fukui prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast since the end of July.

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Japanese nurseries’ take-home dirty nappy rule perplexes parents

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Survey reveals common practice is seen as ‘strange’ by parents handed child’s soiled nappies to take home

Waiting lists for Japanese nurseries are finally falling, but many parents have found that securing one of the coveted places comes at a price – taking home their child’s soiled nappies.

A survey has shone a light on the common but rarely discussed practice, with about 40% of towns and cities in Japan saying they demand the guardians of their infant clientele take their used nappies with them.

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Japan ministers visit war shrine as South Korea calls for end to historical tensions

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Japan PM Fumio Kishida sends offering but stays away from Yasukuni, which honours dead including class-A war criminals

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, sent a ritual offering to a controversial war shrine on Monday – the anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the second world war – as one of its wartime victims, South Korea, called for an end to historical tensions.

Kishida apparently decided to stay away from the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo to avoid antagonising South Korea and China, but three of his ministers have made the pilgrimage in recent days.

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Tropical storm Meari unleashes heavy rains on Japan

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Warnings of floods and mudslides on Honshu island south-west of Tokyo as storm heads towards the capital

Tropical storm Meari unleashed heavy rains on Japan’s main Honshu island as it headed northward towards the capital, Tokyo, according to Japanese weather officials.

The national meteorological agency said Meari made landfall in Shizuoka prefecture south-west of Tokyo on Saturday afternoon, bringing sudden heavy rains and blasting winds to a widespread area and prompting warnings about mudslides and flooding.

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Japanese PM shakes up cabinet amid anger over Unification church links

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Reshuffle comes after murder of Shinzo Abe put spotlight on ruling party’s ties with religious movement

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has removed ministers associated with the Unification church in a cabinet reshuffle aimed at reviving his fortunes amid a public outcry over his party’s ties to the religious movement.

The reshuffle comes just over a month after the murder of Shinzo Abe by a man who has said he targeted the former prime minister over his links to the church, which he blamed for his family’s financial ruin.

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China missile drills around Taiwan a threat to regional security, says Japan PM

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Fumio Kishida welcomes Nancy Pelosi in Tokyo and urges Beijing to halt planned four days of military exercises sparked by US House speaker’s visit

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has condemned Chinese military drills near Taiwan as a “grave problem” and a threat to regional peace and security, after five ballistic missiles landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Speaking after a meeting with the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in Tokyo on Friday, Kishida said China’s live-fire exercises near the self-governed island must “stop immediately”. Beijing announced four days of drills that are expected to finish on Sunday.

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Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan: calls for calm in Asia as US-China tensions rise

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South Korea calls for dialogue and Japan conveys concerns over drills, while North Korea praises China

The historic visit to Taiwan of the US House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has provoked a furious response from China, and heightened fears of a crisis in the Taiwan strait. In Asia and beyond, the visit has put governments on edge.

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US airman who rescued film of A-bomb horrors is honoured at last

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Cameraman Daniel McGovern copied footage of Hiroshima and Nagasaki devastation to ensure lessons were learned

The photograph shows devastation in Nagasaki after the atomic bomb: a scorched wilderness where there was once a city. At its centre stands a lone man with a camera.

It was 9 September 1945 and Lt Daniel McGovern, a US Army Air Force cameraman, was documenting ground zero, the point directly below the bomb’s detonation four weeks earlier. Few would recognise McGovern, but the vision of apocalypse is familiar from documentary footage of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the second world war.

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‘Logic of brute force’ is rising in Indo-Pacific, says Japan amid China concerns

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Japan’s foreign minister tells Washington audience world at ‘historical crossroads’ and that Russian invasion of Ukraine must not succeed

Japan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, has sounded the alarm about China’s behaviour in the Indo-Pacific during a visit to Washington, saying the “logic of brute force” was gaining more traction over the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific.

Referring to Chinese and Russian joint bomber flights near Japan in May, Hayashi said stronger military coordination between China and Russia was emerging as a security concern. “We are currently standing at a historical crossroads, one fraught with a sense of crisis,” he told the Centre for Strategic and International Studies thinktank on Friday. “We are facing a watershed moment.

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Monkey put down but hunt still on after attacks in Japanese city

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Male identified as one of a group of monkeys that have wounded 49 people and counting in Yamaguchi

Hunters on the trail of a group of monkeys that have attacked and wounded nearly 50 people in western Japan have caught and killed one of them.

Officials in Yamaguchi city have been trying for weeks to track down the group, who have made national headlines by assaulting residents, leaving mostly mild scratches and bites.

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Scott Morrison ditches parliament’s return to speak at Japan event not starting until Thursday

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Former PM says he is ‘unable to attend’ first sitting week in Canberra as Labor calls for details about Tokyo engagement

Scott Morrison has skipped the first sitting week of parliament to speak at a conservative leaders’ summit in Tokyo that does not begin until Thursday afternoon.

The former Australian prime minister and member for Cook announced on Monday that “as a consequence” of having accepted the invitation he is “unable to attend the first three sitting days of the new parliament this week”, from Tuesday 26 July to Thursday 28 July.

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Monkey attacks injure 42 people in Japanese city

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Authorities in Yamaguchi to use tranquilliser guns after macaques – or possibly one aggressive individual – uncharacteristically target adults and children

Local authorities in a Japanese city are to use tranquilliser guns to confront marauding monkeys that have injured 42 people in recent weeks.

Japanese macaques are common across large parts of the country and are a pest in some areas, eating crops and sometimes entering homes. But a spate of monkey attacks in Yamaguchi in the west of the country has been unusual, with adults and children suffering wounds including scratches and bites.

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Plan for Shinzo Abe state funeral faces growing opposition

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Cabinet has approved event for 27 September but critics question cost and possible political exploitation

Opposition is mounting to plans to hold a state funeral for the former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead earlier this month.

The cabinet on Friday approved arrangements for the funeral – only the second of its kind for a former Japanese leader in the postwar period – on 27 September.

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Japan urges ‘highest level of vigilance’ as Omicron subvariant drives record Covid surge

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People in Okinawa asked to avoid non-essential outings amid new wave of infections driven by highly transmissible BA.5

Japan’s government has urged people to exercise the “highest level of vigilance” after the country reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases in a new wave of infections driven by the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant.

More than 186,000 cases were recorded nationwide on Thursday, while Tokyo easily beat its existing daily record with 31,878 cases. The capital, along with Osaka and Fukuoka, were among 30 of the country’s 47 prefectures to report record highs this week.

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Japan sees increasing threat to Taiwan amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

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Defence ministry also sounds alarm at prospect of Beijing-Moscow ties deepening amid expectations Tokyo will boost defence spending

Japan’s defence ministry has said it is alarmed at fresh threats from Russia and has growing worries about Taiwan, in an annual report that comes as Tokyo considers significantly increasing military spending.

The document includes a chapter on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which it says risks sending the message “that an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force is acceptable”.

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‘Dominated by old men’: Tokyo ward’s first female mayor takes on status quo

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Satoko Kishimoto sets sights on ‘radical change’ in Japan, where only 2% of local government leaders are women

The first female mayor of a district in Tokyo has vowed to challenge Japan’s male-dominated politics, weeks after she became one of only two women leading municipalities in the Japanese capital.

Satoko Kishimoto was elected mayor of Suginami ward last month to become the district’s first female leader in its 90-year history. The progressive candidate beat the conservative incumbent – by just 187 votes – despite having recently returned to Japan after a decade living in Belgium.

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Hunt for wild monkey in Japan after 10 attacks in a fortnight

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Traps set and residents warned to keep windows shut after infant grabbed in most serious incident

Police in Japan are searching for a wild monkey that has attacked 10 people in the space of a fortnight.

The attacks began on 8 July in the Ogori district of Yamaguchi prefecture in the country’s south-west. In the most serious incident, it badly scratched an infant after invading a family home.

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Fukushima nuclear disaster: ex-bosses of owner ordered to pay ¥13tn

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Firm’s president at time of disaster among five defendants found liable for £80bn in damage by Tokyo court

A court in Japan has ordered former executives of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) to pay ¥13tn (£80bn) in damages for failing to prevent a triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011.

The ruling by Tokyo district court centred on whether senior Tepco management could have predicted a serious nuclear accident striking the facility after a powerful tsunami.

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Family and friends of Shinzo Abe attend private funeral in Tokyo

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Members of the public pay their respects to former prime minister outside Buddhist temple

Family and friends of Japan’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, have attended his funeral at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo while members of the public paid their respects outside, four days after he was shot dead while making a campaign speech.

Mourners in black suits and dresses gathered at Zojoji temple for the private funeral service, while police officers monitored onlookers, some holding bunches of flowers, who had braved the early afternoon heat.

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Shinzo Abe killing: ‘Moonies’ church confirms suspect’s mother is member

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Tetsuya Yamagami’s mother attends meetings, says Unification church, after he told investigators of grudge

The mother of the man accused of assassinating Shinzo Abe is a member of the Unification church, which the suspect has cited as a motive for his fatal shooting of the former Japanese prime minister last week.

The church, whose members are colloquially known as Moonies, confirmed at a press conference on Monday that the mother of Tetsuya Yamagami, who was detained moments after he shot Abe from behind during an election campaign speech on Friday, attends meetings about once a month.

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