- Japan’s Kishida warns world at ‘historic turning point’ as he touts US alliance ahead of Biden summit CNN
- Opinion | Japanese national security adviser sees ‘epic’ shift in Japan’s defense posture The Washington Post
- Why the U.S.-Japan Summit Matters Council on Foreign Relations
- What Japan’s Military Reorganization Means for US-Japanese Bilateral Operations – Modern War Institute United States Military Academy West Point
- Senior US official hints US and Japan ‘coproduction’ of ‘vital’ military tech on the horizon Breaking Defense
Tag Archives: Japans
Japan’s tissue-damaging bacterial disease: What you need to know – The Japan Times
- Japan’s tissue-damaging bacterial disease: What you need to know The Japan Times
- Commentary: What you need to know about the deadly strep infections spreading across Japan CNA
- Opinion | A Tornado Ripping Through the Body: Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome Medpage Today
- ‘Flesh-eating’ bacterium no cause for alarm, Japan tells world | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis 朝日新聞デジタル
- No ‘Flesh-Eating’ disease reported in Thailand so far this year – DDC Pattaya Mail
Pod of killer whales trapped in sea of ice just off Japan’s coast and there’s nothing officials can do but wait: ‘We have no choice’ – New York Post
- Pod of killer whales trapped in sea of ice just off Japan’s coast and there’s nothing officials can do but wait: ‘We have no choice’ New York Post
- A pod of killer whales trapped in drift ice off northern Japan has apparently safely escaped ABC News
- Orcas gasp for air whilst trapped in drift ice off the coast of Japan BBC.com
- Pod of orcas trapped by ice, fighting for life off coast of Japan, drone footage shows USA TODAY
- Have Japan’s trapped orcas ‘escaped’? Nation holds breath as case highlights changing nature of Hokkaido’s drift ice South China Morning Post
Japan’s Johnny Kitagawa Sex Abuse Scandal: 478 Victims Come Forward, Company Rebranding Slammed as “Ridicule” – Hollywood Reporter
- Japan’s Johnny Kitagawa Sex Abuse Scandal: 478 Victims Come Forward, Company Rebranding Slammed as “Ridicule” Hollywood Reporter
- Johnny & Associates, Japan Talent Agency, to Split Following Sex Abuse Scandal Variety
- Japan’s Johnny & Associates rebrands to ‘Smile-Up’ after huge sex abuse scandal South China Morning Post
- Johnny’s abuse scandal giving fresh Japanese talent a chance to shine Japan Today
- Johnny’s Entertainment Press Conference and Media Reactions: A Pledge for Accountability tokyohive
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Kishida marks 78th anniversary of World War II’s end without mentioning Japan’s wartime aggression – The Associated Press
- Kishida marks 78th anniversary of World War II’s end without mentioning Japan’s wartime aggression The Associated Press
- Japan will ‘never repeat the tragedy of war,’ PM vows on 78th anniversary of unconditional WWII surrender Fox News
- Japan marks 78th anniversary of end of World War II with memorial service CNA
- China’s military paper slams Japanese defence and Taiwan policies as Tokyo marks 78th year of WWII surrender South China Morning Post
- Japan marks 78th anniversary of the end of World War II The Japan Times
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Japan’s new immigration law raises concerns over safety of refugee applicants – The Japan Times
- Japan’s new immigration law raises concerns over safety of refugee applicants The Japan Times
- Japan’s refugee law changes empower government amid distrust in refugee system South China Morning Post
- Watch: Chaos breaks out in Japanese parliament before controversial immigration bill passes Yahoo News
- Japan OKs refugee law change allowing forced repatriation of asylum seekers after repeated rejection ABC News
- Actor-turned-politician flings himself in bid to stop a controversial bill in parliament | WATCH WION
- View Full Coverage on Google News
It’s ‘now or never’ to stop Japan’s shrinking population, PM says
Jan 23 (Reuters) – Japanese Prime minister Fumio Kishida pledged on Monday to take urgent steps to tackle the country’s declining birth rate, saying it was “now or never” for one of the world’s oldest societies.
Japan has in recent years been trying to encourage its people to have more children with promises of cash bonuses and better benefits, but it remains one of the most expensive places in the world to raise a child, according to surveys.
Births plunged to a new record low last year, according to official estimates, dropping below 800,000 for the first time – a watershed moment that came eight years earlier than the government had expected.
That most likely precipitated a further population decline in a country where the median age is 49, the highest in the world behind only the tiny city-state of Monaco.
“Our nation is on the cusp of whether it can maintain its societal functions,” Kishida said in a policy speech at the opening of this year’s parliamentary session.
“It is now or never when it comes to policies regarding births and child-rearing – it is an issue that simply cannot wait any longer,” he added.
Kishida said he would submit plans to double the budget for child-related policies by June, and that a new Children and Families government agency to oversee the issue would be set up in April.
Japan is the third-most-expensive country globally to raise a child, according to YuWa Population Research, behind only China and South Korea, countries also seeing shrinking populations in worrying signs for the global economy.
Other countries are also coming to grips with ageing and shrinking populations. Last week, China reported that its population dropped in 2022 for the first time in 60 years.
Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by John Geddie and Gerry Doyle
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Bank of Japan’s policy tweak drew rare request from government for a break
TOKYO, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Government officials who attended the Bank of Japan’s December policy meeting were given a half-hour adjournment to contact their ministries, minutes showed, underscoring the significance of the central bank’s decision to tweak its bond-market peg.
At the Dec. 19-20 meeting, the BOJ kept its ultra-easy monetary policy but shocked markets with a surprise change to its yield curve control (YCC) policy that allowed long-term interest rates to rise.
Before the nine-member board voted on the steps, the government representatives requested that the meeting be adjourned for about 30 minutes, the minutes showed on Monday.
Governor Haruhiko Kuroda approved the request as chair of the BOJ meeting, according to the minutes.
“The government understands the matters discussed today were aimed at conducting monetary easing in a more sustainable manner with a view to achieving the BOJ’s price target,” a Ministry of Finance (MOF) official attending the meeting was quoted as saying, referring to the central bank’s inflation objective.
Another government representative, who belonged to the Cabinet Office, urged the BOJ to be vigilant about the fallout from rising inflation, supply constraints and market volatility on Japan’s economy, the minutes showed.
The two representatives did not voice opposition to the yield control tweak nor any other elements of the BOJ’s discussion, the minutes showed.
Two government representatives – one from the MOF and another from the Cabinet Office – are legally entitled to attend BOJ policy meetings and voice the government’s views on policy decisions, though they cannot cast votes.
In a news conference on Monday, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said he had been briefed by the MOF representative on the BOJ’s expected decision during the adjournment.
It is rare for the government representatives to seek adjournment in the BOJ meetings, which only happens in times of key decisions such as a change in monetary policy.
For example, the government was granted an adjournment during a meeting when the BOJ introduced negative interest rates in January 2016, according to minutes of that meeting.
Under YCC, the BOJ sets the short-term interest rate target at -0.1% and that of the 10-year bond yield around 0% with a small tolerance band.
At the December meeting, the band set around the 10-year yield target was doubled to 0.5 percentage point up and 0.5 percentage point down, a move aimed at ironing out market distortions caused by the BOJ’s heavy bond buying.
Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Bradley Perrett and Jacqueline Wong
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
North Korea slams Japan’s military buildup, promises ‘action’ | Nuclear Weapons News
North Korea’s foreign ministry calls Japan’s new $320bn security strategy ‘wrong and dangerous’, promises a response.
North Korea has condemned Japan’s planned military build-up and pledged action against what it described as Tokyo’s “wrong and dangerous choice” to bolster its defence sector.
The statement on Tuesday from North Korea’s foreign ministry comes just days after Japan unveiled a new $320bn security strategy that outlined plans for Japan’s military to mount “counter-strike capabilities”, and to respond to the threats posed by China, Russia and North Korea.
Japan’s sweeping, five-year military strategy will see the country become the world’s third-largest military spender after the United States and China.
Japan’s new security strategy effectively formalises a “new aggression policy” and fundamentally changes East Asia’s security environment, a spokesperson for Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said in a report published by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
In response to Japan’s move to “realise unjust and excessive ambition”, North Korea “will continue to show how concerned and displeased we are with practical action,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson blasted the US for “exalting and instigating Japan’s rearmament and re-invasion plan,” adding that Washington had no right to raise issue with Pyongyang’s efforts to bolster its own defences.
North Korea’s efforts to upgrade military capabilities have included a record number of ballistic missile launches this year, including missiles capable of carrying nuclear payloads and with varying ranges that could reach the US mainland and allies South Korea and Japan.
North Korea claimed advances on Monday in its efforts to acquire a spy satellite, saying that it had launched a test satellite and releasing low-resolution, black-and-white photos that showed a view from space of the South Korean capital, Seoul, and the nearby city of Incheon.
Some analysts in South Korea said the images were too crude to be satellite photos, according to the South Korean Yonhap news agency.
North Korea hit back at that criticism on Tuesday, with Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying it was “inappropriate and hasty” to assess her country’s satellite capabilities from those two photos alone.
Pyongyang’s efforts to develop a spy satellite were a “pressing priority directly linked to our security,” she said, adding that additional sanctions on her country would not stop such technological developments.
South Korea will seek international support and “try hard to impose additional sanctions on us”, she added.
“But, with our right to survival and development being threatened, why are we afraid of sanctions … and why would we stop?”
What does Japan’s military expansion mean for the region? | TV Shows
Video Duration 25 minutes 25 seconds
From: Inside Story
Tokyo announces its biggest military build-up since World War II.
Japan says the strategic challenge posed by China is the biggest it has ever faced.
Besides Beijing, Japan has two other nuclear-armed neighbours: North Korea and Russia.
It has expressed concerns about intensifying Russian military activity in its far east, even as Moscow presses on with its war against Ukraine.
And a North Korean missile flew over Japan in October.
Japan wants to significantly increase its military spending, targeting $315bn in the next five years, or two percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).
But Tokyo’s plans are a reminder of an imperial past, when it occupied the Korean peninsula and parts of China and seized all of East Asia during the second world war.
So, what does the new military drive mean for Japan’s Pacifist Constitution?
Presenter: Laura Kyle
Guests:
Kotaro Tamura – Adjunct Professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. He is a former senator with Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party.
Nancy Snow – Communications Director, International Security Industrial Council. She’s also a Foreign Policy Adviser to the Japanese Government.
David Arase – Resident Professor of International Politics at The Hopkins-Nanjing Center of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.