Category Archives: Japan

China sends coast guard to Senkaku islands amid row with Japan

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Activity around Japanese-held islands, also claimed by China, comes after PM Sanae Takaichi said Japan might respond militarily to an invasion of Taiwan

China has sent its coast guard through the waters of the Senkaku islands and military drones past outlying Japanese territory as Beijing ramps up tensions over the Japanese prime minister’s remarks on Taiwan.

On Sunday the Chinese coast guard said its ships made a “rights enforcement patrol” through the waters of the Senkaku, which are administered by Japan but also claimed by China as the Diaoyu islands.

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China advises against travel to Japan amid escalating row over PM’s Taiwan comments

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Sanae Takaichi says the use of force against Taiwan could warrant a military response from Tokyo

China has advised its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan, escalating a diplomatic feud sparked by comments from Tokyo’s new prime minister about a hypothetical attack on Taiwan.

Sanae Takaichi told Japan’s parliament on 7 November that the use of force against the self-ruled island claimed by China could warrant a military response from Tokyo. Japan has since said its position on Taiwan – just 100km from the nearest Japanese island – is unchanged.

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First Thing: Jeffrey Epstein advised Steve Bannon during 2018 pro-Trump media campaign

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Text messages released by US House show convicted sex offender coaching Maga influencer on political messaging. Plus, readers’ favourite photo booth moments 100 years after its invention

Good morning.

The convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein apparently served as a behind-the-scenes adviser to the former Trump official and Maga influencer Steve Bannon during an August 2018 media campaign to defend Trump and his agenda, and to promote Bannon’s media ventures.

What else has been released in the flood of recent Epstein emails? Among many, many other things, one email shows an exchange between him and an associate in which they discuss “girls” and travel. The justice department continues to downplay the possibility that other men were involved in Epstein’s abuse of teen girls.

What’s happening with rest of the Epstein files? Trump is facing the prospect of a politically damaging congressional vote to release the files, after attempts to press two members of Congress to withdraw their backing for it appeared to have failed.

What exactly is climate finance? Who pays it? And who gets it? Sixteen years ago, at the climate summit in Copenhagen, rich and polluting countries pledged to provide $100bn (£76bn) each year by 2020 so that poorer countries could cut their emissions and adapt to a hotter world. Last year, they set a new target of $300bn (£227bn) a year by 2035.

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Amid Japan’s surge in bear attacks, a torrent of AI-generated videos is adding to anxiety

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Videos show schoolgirls fighting off animals, while others show people feeding bears, with some so realistic that users struggled to distinguish between fact and fiction

If a record number of fatal bear attacks wasn’t terrifying enough, experts say a torrent of AI-generated videos in Japan purporting to show people in close encounters with the animals is only adding to public anxiety – and could put people at greater risk.

While headlines about real attacks and disruption appear on a regular basis, monitors of online content are warning social media users not to be taken in by realistic videos on platforms such as TikTok of the animals attacking or interacting with humans.

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Groundbreaking British Museum show set to challenge samurai myths

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Exclusive: Exhibition will reveal complex reality, featuring women and artistic creations, beyond armour-clad warriors

A groundbreaking samurai exhibition that promises to challenge “everything we think we know about Japan’s warrior elite” spanning a millennium of myth and reality is to open at the British Museum next year.

Titled Samurai, the blockbuster exhibition will reveal a world beyond armour-clad warriors and epic duels, as popularised by the noble, katana-wielding heroes of Akira Kurosawa’s classic action films and PlayStation’s hit video games.

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Japan deploys soldiers to contain surge in bear attacks in Akita

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Close encounters reported almost daily as bears intrude into residential areas and attack and sometimes kill people

Japan has deployed troops to the northern prefecture of Akita to help contain a surge in the number of bear attacks that have terrorised people in the mountainous region.

Unexpected encounters with bears are being reported almost daily in the lead up to hibernation season as the animals forage for food. The bears have been roaming near schools, train stations, supermarkets and even at a hot springs resort.

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Japanese PM promises golden age in relations with US during Trump visit

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Sanae Takaichi says she will nominate Trump for peace prize as two leaders sign agreement on rare earths

Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has pledged to realise a “golden age” in relations with the US and to “fundamentally reinforce” her country’s defence posture at the start of a visit by Donald Trump.

The US president, who is in Japan on the second leg of a week-long tour of Asia, and Takaichi quickly signed an agreement laying out a framework to secure the mining and processing of rare earths and other minerals.

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Japan’s new PM will hope the Abe effect endears Trump to her at crucial talks

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Sanae Takaichi leads a minority government and needs a successful meeting with the US president on Tuesday. Thankfully her mentor, Shinzo Abe, is one of Trump’s ‘favourites’

Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, faces the first real test of her diplomatic and personal skills when she meets Donald Trump for talks in Tokyo that are expected to focus on trade and security.

Takaichi, who this month became Japan’s first female leader after winning a vote to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP), made her international debut at this weekend’s Asean summit.

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Bear attack survival tips released in Japan as encounters surge

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Governor of one prefecture says he is considering asking the military for help to tackle increasing attacks amid thousands-strong bear population

Knowing what to do in the event of a close encounter with a bear was once a concern only for hikers and foragers in Japan. Now, however, people in populated areas are being urged to learn how to protect themselves following a spate of attacks, as the animals leave their natural habitats in search of food.

Bear encounters are generating almost daily headlines. In the past week in Akita prefecture, the animals attacked a jogger and a walker in built-up areas, while another terrorised four people before holing up inside a nearby house. None of the victims was seriously injured.

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A Trump visit, a creaking coalition and a cost of living crisis: Japan’s new PM needs a fast start

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Sanae Takaichi has made history but will have little time to settle in before negotiating the pitfalls of rising prices, power struggles and a mercurial US president

It is hard to overstate the symbolism of Sanae Takaichi’s achievement in becoming the first female prime minister of Japan, a country that consistently ranks poorly in global gender equality comparisons, not least in politics and business.

However, she will have precious little time to savour her historic appointment on Tuesday.

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Sanae Takaichi on course to become Japan’s first female PM after new coalition deal

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Officials confirm reports that Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic party will join forces with rightwing Nippon Ishin

Sanae Takaichi is on course to become Japan’s first female prime minister this week after her party agreed to form a new coalition with a minor party.

Officials confirmed on Monday that Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic party (LDP) had joined forces with the rightwing Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation party), which shares her hawkish stance on China and support for restrictions on immigration.

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Japan’s imported baby boom spotlights a political and demographic timebomb

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Rise in births to non-Japanese comes as politicians keep dodging the choice between economic decline and a more diverse population

This week brought encouraging news for Japan’s long battle to defuse its demographic timebomb: in 2024, the number of babies born to one sector of the population rose to a record of more than 22,000 – that’s about 3,000 more than the previous year and a 50% increase on a decade ago.

But none of the women who answered calls – invariably issued by conservative male politicians – to have more children were Japanese.

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Record number of babies born to foreign parents in Japan amid political row over migration

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More than 20,000 children were born to non-Japanese couples, accounting for more than 3% of all newborns

The number of babies born to foreign parents reached a record high in Japan in 2024, underlining rapid demographic changes that have propelled migration to the heart of the country’s political debate.

More than 20,000 children were born to non-Japanese couples, accounting for more than 3% of all newborns, according to the health ministry – in stark contrast to another sharp fall in the number born to Japanese parents.

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France is in crisis but bond markets leave other governments at risk of meltdown too

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Investors rattled by resignation of French PM but country is not alone in trying to grapple with political maths

Sébastien Lecornu’s abrupt resignation as the French prime minister on Monday after less than a month in the role marked the latest clash between France’s stretched public finances and its polarised politics.

Lecornu was the latest prime minister to try and fail to cobble together a package of spending cuts and tax rises that would pass muster in a parliament without a clear majority, and contain mounting bond market pressures.

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Japan poised to get first female PM after Sanae Takaichi wins ruling party leadership

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Margaret Thatcher admirer beat her more moderate rival to become leader of Liberal Democratic party

Japan is poised to get its first female prime minister after Sanae Takaichi was elected as leader of the governing Liberal Democratic party (LDP) – a victory that should lead to her being installed as the country’s new leader in the middle of the month.

Takaichi, a rightwing politician who has voiced admiration for Margaret Thatcher in her quest to build a “strong and prosperous” Japan on the international stage, beat her moderate rival, Shinjiro Koizumi, in a runoff election at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Saturday.

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Japan days away from running out of Asahi Super Dry due to cyber attack – reports

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The attack forced the company to halt production at most of its 30 factories nationwide, including those producing its signature beer

The Asahi group, Japan’s biggest brewery, is reportedly just days away from running out of its most popular beer, as it struggles to recover from a cyber-attack that caused a system outage.

The ransomware attack, reported on Monday, forced the company to halt production at most of its 30 factories nationwide, including those producing it signature mass-market lager Asahi Super Dry.

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Generational change or gender breakthrough, whoever Japan’s next PM is will have a mountain to climb

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Two candidates have emerged as favourites to lead Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, ahead of the party vote next week

The next leader of Japan’s ruling party will either be the country’s first female prime minister or its youngest leader since the war. But the significance of those milestones will be quickly lost in the party’s attempts to rebuild after two bruising elections that have cast doubt over the future of one of the world’s most successful political machines.

Two of the five candidates vying to replace Shigeru ishiba – who announced his resignation earlier this month – as the next president of the Liberal Democratic party (LDP) have emerged as clear favourites in what analysts are describing as a last-ditch attempt to unify a party battered by a major funding scandal and the cost-of-living crisis.

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Japan’s next PM will face a problem that won’t go away with Shigeru Ishiba’s resignation

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The ruling Liberal Democratic party is still grappling with the fallout from a years-old funding scandal that may see it go into opposition for just the third time in its history

The precise timing of Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba’s resignation announcement – on a Sunday evening – took many by surprise; but the countdown to his departure arguably began just weeks after he took office.

Having won the presidency of the Liberal Democratic party (LDP) – a formidable political force that has governed Japan for much of the past seven decades – Ishiba called a snap election in search of a public mandate after a major funding scandal, and to silence his opponents on the right of the party.

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Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba to resign amid fallout from disastrous elections

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Public broadcaster says prime minister has made decision to avoid divide within his Liberal Democratic party

Japan’s prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, is to resign less than a year after taking office, throwing the country’s politics into turmoil and setting in motion a potentially messy contest to replace him as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP).

The softly spoken centrist has presided over two disastrous elections since being elected to lead the LDP last autumn. In October, the party and its junior coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in the lower house and met the same fate in upper house elections this July.

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Japan’s second in line to emperor’s throne comes of age amid succession debate

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Teenage Prince Hisahito’s elaborate ceremony overshadowed by questions over royal family’s male-only succession rules

Japan has heralded the coming of age of Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing.

The nephew of Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk and lacquer crown at Saturday’s ceremony in Tokyo, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life.

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