Category Archives: Japan

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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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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Japanese man becomes oldest person to reach Mount Fuji summit at 102

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Kokichi Akuzawa climbed with 70-year-old daughter to break record for oldest person to make ascent – a second time

Kokichi Akuzawa has become the oldest person to climb to the top of Mount Fuji at the age of 102 – despite almost giving up during his trek.

“I was really tempted to give up halfway through,” Akuzawa said. “Reaching the summit was tough, but my friends encouraged me, and it turned out well. I managed to get through it because so many people supported me.”

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Whisky maker Suntory’s CEO resigns amid investigation into suspected illegal supplements

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Takeshi Niinami bought supplements in the belief that they were legal, says Jim Beam and Laphroaig owner

Takeshi Niinami, one of Japan’s best-known business leaders, has resigned as chief executive of the drinks company Suntory after police raided his home as part of an investigation into suspected illegal supplements.

His resignation from the owner of the Jim Beam whisky brand has sent shockwaves through Japan’s corporate world, with Suntory executives attempting to reassure investors and consumers at a hastily arranged news conference.

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Japanese town wants residents to limit smartphone use to two hours a day

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Draft ordinance in Toyoake has triggered a backlash from locals, with some calling it an attack on individual freedom

A town in Japan is to urge all residents to restrict their smartphone use to two hours a day in an attempt to tackle online addiction and sleep deprivation.

Officials in Toyoake, Aichi prefecture, said the measure would target not only children but also adults, amid growing concern about the physical and psychological toll excessive smartphone use is taking on people of all ages.

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Attempt to partner African countries with Japanese cities triggers xenophobic backlash

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Cities in Japan have received thousands of complaints amid confusion over scheme that was intended to foster closer ties

An attempt to promote friendship between Japan and countries in Africa has transformed into a xenophobic row about migration after inaccurate media reports suggested the scheme would lead to a “flood of immigrants”.

The controversy erupted after the Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, said this month it had designated four Japanese cities as “Africa hometowns” for partner countries in Africa: Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania.

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Fireball lights up sky over western Japan

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Flash of light visible for hundreds of miles was an exceptionally bright meteor, say experts

A huge fireball dashed across the skies of western Japan, shocking residents and dazzling stargazers, though experts said it was a natural phenomenon and not an alien invasion.

Videos and photos emerged online of the extremely bright ball of light visible for hundreds of miles shortly after 11.00pm local time (1400 BST) on Tuesday.

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Japan rocked by bullying scandal after team withdraws from high school baseball tournament

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Koryo high pulled out of the popular competition after an outcry over reports that some of its members had bullied a junior player

One of Japan’s most popular sports tournaments is reeling after the sudden withdrawal of a team whose teenage players have been accused of abusing a younger teammate.

Koryo high school, which had been representing Hiroshima prefecture in the summer high school baseball championships, announced on Sunday it would no longer take part.

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Nagasaki’s twin bells ring in unison for first time in 80 years to mark atomic bombing

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Mayor of Japanese city used the anniversary of US bombing to urge the world to stop armed conflicts, warning nuclear war was ‘looming’ over everyone

Twin cathedral bells rang in unison in Nagasaki for the first time in 80 years on Saturday, commemorating the moment the city was destroyed by an American atomic bomb.

The two bells rang out at Immaculate Conception cathedral, also called the Urakami cathedral, at 11.02am, the moment the bomb was dropped on 9 August 1945, three days after a nuclear attack on Hiroshima.

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Hiroshima anniversary: mayor says Ukraine and Middle East crises show world ignoring nuclear ‘tragedies’

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On 80th anniversary of atomic bombing, Kazumi Matsui urges younger people to recognise ‘inhumane’ consequences of nuclear weapons as a deterrent

The mayor of Hiroshima has led calls for the world’s most powerful countries to abandon nuclear deterrence, at a ceremony to mark 80 years since the city was destroyed by an American atomic bomb.

As residents, survivors and representatives from 120 countries gathered at the city’s peace memorial park on Wednesday morning, Kazumi Matsui warned that the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East had contributed to a growing acceptance of nuclear weapons.

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Thursday briefing: How ​global ​preparedness ​prevented a ​tsunami ​tragedy

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In today’s newsletter: Years of preparation and global coordination ensured communities from Japan to Hawaii were not caught off guard

Good morning. Yesterday one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded hit a sparsely populated region in far east Russia.

It triggered a tsunami that started crossing the ocean at hundreds of miles an hour. What followed was a race against time – early warning systems went into alert mode as waves fanned out towards the coastlines of Japan, Hawaii and the US west coast.

Travel | The head of the UK’s air traffic control company is facing calls to resign after hundreds of flights were delayed when the system went down for about 20 minutes on Wednesday.

Israel-Gaza war | A British-Israeli woman who was held hostage by Hamas for more than 15 months has accused Keir Starmer of “moral failure” after he set the UK on course to recognise a Palestinian state. Emily Damari, 29, who was released in January, said the prime minister was “not standing on the right side of history” and should be ashamed.

UK news | The co-founder of Palestine Action can bring a legal challenge to the home secretary’s decision to ban the direct action group under anti-terrorism laws, a high court judge has ruled.

Environment | Ethnic minorities and people living in the most deprived areas of England are at increased risk of dying due to excess heat, according to new research.

Technology | Five million extra online age checks a day are being carried out in the UK since the Online Safety Act introduced age-gating for pornography sites, according to new data from the Age Verification Providers Association.

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‘The sorest my legs have ever been’: hordes to descend on Hackney for litter-picking world cup

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The public-spirited sport of spogomi is catching on across Britain, which boasts its world champion team

Armed with gloves, metal tongs and plastic rubbish sacks, hordes of determined litter-pickers will descend on Hackney Marshes in east London this weekend.

Spogomi, a Japanese litter-picking sport, has come to the UK. Invented in 2008, it was intended as a competition to encourage people to clean up public spaces. It is now played in schools across the country as people gamify collecting rubbish.

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‘Japanese First’: breakthrough by rightwing populists sparks fears of anti-foreigner backlash in Japan

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Analysts say the Japanese are suffering a crisis of confidence that is feeding xenophobia amid economic insecurity and a record number of foreign residents

The emergence of a rightwing populist party in Japan’s upper house election on Sunday running on a Trump-style “Japanese First” slogan has raised concerns of a backlash against the growing foreign presence in the country.

The party, Sanseito, has successfully tapped into unease around an expanding immigrant population and a huge influx of tourists after the pandemic. But many see the underlying cause as economic insecurity among a population that both understands the need for overseas labour and visitors, and feels anxiety at the changes they bring and symbolise.

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Trump announces Japan trade deal as doubt cast over future of PM Ishiba

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Tokyo’s failure to secure a US deal sooner had caused political unease and economic uncertainty in Japan

Donald Trump has announced a trade deal with Japan, potentially resolving weeks of fraught negotiations between the two allies which had caused economic uncertainty in Tokyo and mounting speculation about the future of the prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba.

“We just completed a massive deal with Japan,” the US president announced in a post online, adding: “Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 billion dollars into the United States.”

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Japan’s PM accepts ‘harsh’ election result after losing upper house majority

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Ballot heaps pressure on Shigeru Ishiba’s minority government just as it attempts to negotiate deal to avert Trump tariffs

Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba’s future was unclear on Monday after his coalition lost its upper house majority in elections that saw strong gains by a rightwing populist party.

While the ballot does not directly determine whether Ishiba’s minority government falls, it heaps pressure on the embattled leader, who also lost control of the more powerful lower house in October and who has never been popular within his own party.

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Hunter missing in Japan as spate of bear attacks triggers emergency to be declared in northern town

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Search for missing man comes after series of attacks across Japan this month in which at least two people have died

Authorities in Japan are searching for a hunter who went missing on a mountain in Hokkaido near where a brown bear was recently spotted, amid a spate of deadly attacks by the animals that has triggered the declaration of a bear emergency in one town.

The hunter was reported missing by a friend on Mt Esan on Tuesday afternoon in the northern island of Hokkaido after he failed to return home. A rifle believed to belong to the missing man was found on the side of a mountain road, and bloodstains were discovered nearby. A large brown bear was seen near the road on Saturday.

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Weather tracker: Warm air engulfs parts of Argentina as winter temperatures soar

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Rosario in Sante Fe likely be to 10C above normal, as Japan braces for Tropical Storm Nari

An unseasonably mild start to the week is expected in northern and central parts of Argentina, where it is winter. A plume of warm air will sink southwards from neighbouring Paraguay on Monday, lingering through Tuesday, before giving way to a cold front on Wednesday.

The maximum daytime temperatures on Monday and Tuesday will be up to 5C (9F) higher than normal in these regions, while Buenos Aires is forecast to be about 7C above average on Tuesday.

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Japan’s Tokara islands hit by 900 earthquakes in two weeks

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No major damage has been reported in the Tokara island chain, Japan’s meteorological agency says

More than 900 earthquakes have shaken a remote island chain in southern Japan in the past two weeks, according to the country’s weather agency, leaving residents unable to sleep and fearful of what might come next.

Although no major damage has been reported, the Japan Meteorological Agency has acknowledged that it does not know when the quakes would end.

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