Category Archives: Japan

North Korea fires two more ballistic missiles after South Korea and US navy drills

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Tokyo says North Korea’s seventh round of weapons tests in two weeks may have been launched from submarine

North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters, the latest of its recent barrage of weapons tests, a day after Pyongyang warned the redeployment of a US aircraft carrier near the Korean peninsula was inflaming regional tensions.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement that it detected two missile launches between 1.48am and 1.58am on Sunday local time from the North’s eastern coastal city of Munchon. It added that South Korea’s military has boosted its surveillance posture and maintains a readiness in close coordination with the US.

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North Korea has fired another ballistic missile, South says

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Launch was the sixth in 12 days and the first since an intermediate-range missile was fired over Japan on Tuesday

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missile toward its east coast in the direction of Japan, after joint South Korean and US missile drills and the return of a US aircraft carrier to the region in response to the North’s recent missile tests.

The missile launch was the sixth in 12 days and the first since North Korea fired an intermediate-range missile (IRBM) over Japan on Tuesday.

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North Korea fires missile over Japan prompting warnings for residents to shelter

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Launch is the first time the North has apparently sent a missile over Japanese territory since 2017

North Korea has launched a intermediate-range ballistic missile over northern Japan for the first time in five years, prompting the government to urge people to shelter from falling debris, in an apparent escalation of recent weapons tests by Kim Jong-un’s regime.

Japan’s government had activated its J-Alert system on Tuesday morning for residents in the northernmost main island of Hokkaido and the country’s north-eastern Aomori prefecture. Train services were temporarily halted in the region.

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North Korea fires ballistic missiles in fourth launch in a week after naval drills

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Launch follows joint military drills by South Korea, Japan and the US and visit by Kamala Harris

North Korea has fired two more ballistic missiles, South Korea’s military said, its fourth such launch this week as Seoul, Tokyo and Washington ramp up joint military drills.

The launch early on Saturday came after the navies of South Korea, the United States and Japan staged trilateral anti-submarine exercises on Friday for the first time in five years, and the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, made a visit to the region this week.

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State funeral for Shinzo Abe held in Tokyo amid controversy

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Public anger at cost of ceremony for former PM and revelations over his party’s ties to religious group

A state funeral for Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has been held in Tokyo amid public anger over the cost of the ceremony and revelations over his party’s ties to a controversial religious group.

More than 4,000 guests, including the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, stood in silence as a member of Japan’s self-defence forces entered the Nippon Budokan hall, where a 19-gun salute sounded in honour of the assassinated former leader.

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Japan consul ‘blindfolded and restrained’ during FSB interrogation in Russia

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Tokyo demands apology from Moscow after diplomat subjected to ‘coercive interrogation’ in Vladivostok

Japan has summoned Russia’s ambassador in Tokyo after a Japanese diplomat was blindfolded and physically restrained during an interrogation in Vladivostok.

Japan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said Tatsunori Motoki, a consul based in the eastern Russian city, had been subjected to a “coercive interrogation” during his detention by Russia’s FSB security service.

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Shinzo Abe funeral: world figures fly in to political storm over state service for Japan former PM

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More than 50 past and present leaders to gather amid domestic opposition to ceremony fuelled by links between Abe’s party and Unification Church

The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, and British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, will be among foreign dignitaries arriving in Japan to attend a state funeral for the assassinated former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, despite strong public opposition to the ceremony.

They will be among about 700 people from overseas, including 50 former and current leaders, who are expected to attend the funeral in Tokyo on Tuesday, almost three months after Abe was shot dead while making a campaign speech.

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Typhoon Talas lashes Japan, setting off landslides with more rains to come

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At least two people killed and 120,000 households without power as authorities urge caution for more landslides and flooding

A typhoon lashed central Japan on Saturday with torrential rain and fierce winds, killing two and leaving tens of thousands of households without power, the Kyodo news agency reported.

Shizuoka city, south-west of Tokyo, was hit especially hard, seeing a record 417mm (16.42 inches) of precipitation since the rain started on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

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Weather tracker: storms batter Alaska, Caribbean and Japan

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Hurricane causes blackout across Puerto Rico while typhoon forces 8m to flee homes in Japan

It has been very active across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in recent days with more than five storms officially named.

Hurricane Fiona in the Caribbean was the first storm of the tropical Atlantic season to strengthen into a major hurricane. Fiona made landfall on Sunday across south-western Puerto Rico, where it dumped 762mm (30in) of rain with sustained gusts of 115mph.

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Japan to reopen to tourists after more than two years of Covid border restrictions

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PM says relaxation will take effect from 11 October as Hong Kong scraps hotel quarantine measures for visitors

Japan has announced it will lift tough Covid restrictions on foreign tourists, reopening the borders after two and a half years.

The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said on Thursday that the pandemic had interrupted the free flow of people, goods and capital that had helped the nation flourish.

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Water found in asteroid dust may offer clues to origins of life on Earth

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Discovery offers new support for the theory that life may have been seeded from outer space

Specks of dust that a Japanese space probe retrieved from an asteroid about 186 million miles (300m kilometres) from Earth have revealed a surprising component: a drop of water.

The discovery offers new support for the theory that life on Earth may have been seeded from outer space.

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Shinzo Abe: man sets himself alight in protest at state funeral for killed Japan PM

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Protester sustains widespread burns as Japan wrestles with legacy of leader whose death revealed scale of politicians’ links to Unification church

A man has set himself alight near the Japanese prime minister’s office, apparently in protest against next week’s state funeral for the country’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

The man, who has not been named, was initially unconscious and sustained burns over his entire body after the incident in Tokyo on Wednesday morning, less than a week before the controversial send-off for Abe, who was shot dead in July.

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Warnings over floods and landslides in Japan in wake of Typhoon Nanmadol

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Two dead and thousands without power as storm dumps heavy rain and authorities warn six million to evacuate

Two people have died and more than 100 were injured after Typhoon Nanmadol slammed into Japan on Monday, dumping heavy rain, paralysing traffic and leaving tens of thousands of homes without power.

The worst of the rainfall was seen in the southernmost island of Kyushu, where two people died, according to the fire and disaster management agency, before the typhoon was downgraded to a tropical storm as it made its way to the Pacific Ocean.

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Weather tracker: Deadly floods batter Italy’s Adriatic coast

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Ten people confirmed dead with three missing; Typhoon Nanmadol forces millions to flee homes in Japan

European countries around the Adriatic Sea were experiencing extreme flooding towards the end of last week.

The Italian region of Marche was particularly badly affected after a thunderstorm on Thursday afternoon strengthened into the night. Some areas faced more than 400mm of rain, with much of the deluge falling in a couple of hours.

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Rare ‘special warning’ issued as violent typhoon makes landfall in Japan

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More than 7 million people urged to take refuge as Typhoon Nanmadol hits south-west of country with 150mph winds

Typhoon Nanmadol made landfall in south-western Japan on Sunday night, with authorities urging millions of people to take shelter from the powerful storm’s high winds and torrential rain.

The storm officially made landfall at about 7pm local time (11am BST) as its eyewall – the region just outside the eye – arrived near Kagoshima, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

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Japan tells 2m to shelter from ‘very dangerous’ Typhoon Nanmadol

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Authorities urge evacuations in Kyushu before arrival of storm that could cause flooding, landslides and collapse of houses

Two million people in Japan have been told to seek shelter before the arrival of Typhoon Nanmadol, the national broadcaster, NHK, said, as the weather agency issued a rare “special warning” about the powerful storm.

NHK, which compiles alerts issued by local authorities, said level four evacuation instructions – the second highest – were in place for people in Kagoshima, Kumamoto and Miyazaki in the southern Kyushu region.

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Pressure builds on Japan to return to unrestricted tourism by end of month

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Businesses want prime minister Fumio Kishida to loosen restrictions to help the world’s third-biggest economy recover from the pandemic

Japan could return to unfettered tourism by the end of next month as pressure builds on the government to end Covid-19 travel restrictions and cash in on a weak yen.

Officials are reportedly considering removing the current daily cap of 50,000 arrivals, which includes returning residents, and a return to visa-free travel. A rule requiring individual travellers to make bookings through travel agencies could also be lifted, according to media reports.

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‘A new way of life’: the Marxist, post-capitalist, green manifesto captivating Japan

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Kohei Saito’s book Capital in the Anthropocene has become an unlikely hit among young people and is about to be translated into English

The climate crisis will spiral out of control unless the world applies “emergency brakes” to capitalism and devises a “new way of living”, according to a Japanese academic whose book on Marxism and the environment has become a surprise bestseller.

The message from Kohei Saito, an associate professor at Tokyo University, is simple: capitalism’s demand for unlimited profits is destroying the planet and only “degrowth” can repair the damage by slowing down social production and sharing wealth.

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‘Constant and reassuring’: global media pay tribute after death of the Queen

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New York Times says Elizabeth II ‘projected stability’; Japan’s Asahi Shimbun says she ‘cared about post-war reconciliation’

Newspapers in the Commonwealth and beyond have led with the death of Queen Elizabeth II, with many paying tribute to her accomplishments during seven decades on the throne. Some speculated on how the monarchy might change under King Charles III.

The Washington Post’s Twitter account followed the sober format preferred by newspapers in the UK, its front page showing a black-and-white portrait of a smiling Queen against a black background.

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Japan’s state funeral for Shinzo Abe to cost more than £10m

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Public opposition to ceremony grows over cost to taxpayer and ex-PM’s ties to Unification church

Japan will spend about 1.65bn yen (£10.1m) on the increasingly controversial state funeral for the former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead during a campaign speech in July, amid growing public opposition to the plan.

The government has come under pressure to cancel the ceremony, with opinion polls showing that a majority of voters oppose it due to the cost to the taxpayer and revelations about ruling party politicians’ ties to the Unification church.

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