Tag: Japan

Japan claims China ‘escalating’ military actions

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s defense chief on Monday warned the country faces a tough security environment, with China and Russia stepping up military activity and North Korea posing “imminent threats”. Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said China had been “unilaterally escalating” its military activities in the past year, including carrying out new airborne operations around Japan and running a nuclear submarine near disputed East Coast isles. “China has been rapidly improving its military strength and […]

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Japan’s jobless rate edges up to 2.5% in July

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Japan’s jobless rate edged up to 2.5 percent in July, official data showed Friday, with the number of available positions far outstripping job hunters as the country’s labour shortage persists. The July data from Japan’s internal affairs ministry is only a marginal increase from the 2.4 percent rate in June and 2.2 percent in May, a 26-year low. And the jobs-to-applicants ratio in July was the highest in 44 years, with […]

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Japan’s largest warship to head to PHL for five-day visit

(Eagle News) — Japan’s largest warship will be heading to the Philippines for a five-day visit. In an advisory, the Philippine Navy said Japan Maritime Self Defense Force’s Escort Flotilla Four — JS Kaga (DDH 184) will arrive on Saturday, Aug. 31,  in Subic Bay. The Akizuki-class destroyer JS Suzutsuki (DD-117) and Murasame-class destroyer JS Inazuma (DD-105) will escort the warship. Apart from the Philippines, the warship will visit Indonesia, Singapore, India and Sri Lanka.

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End of an ‘era’: Emperor’s exit resets Japan calendar

by Miwa Suzuki Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The abdication of Japan’s Emperor Akihito next year will be quite literally the end of an era, the Heisei era of his rule, and behind closed doors, talks on the next era have begun. Japan is the only country in the world still using Chinese-style imperial calendars. It might be 2018 in much of the world, but in Japan it is Heisei 30, or 30 […]

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North Korea still ‘serious and imminent threat’: Japan

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — North Korea still poses a “serious and imminent threat”, Japan said Tuesday in its first annual defence review since an outbreak of diplomacy on the Korean peninsula. Japan’s 2018 defence white paper also took aim at China’s rise as a military power, saying Beijing was sparking “strong security concerns in the region and international community, including Japan”. Last year’s defence review was published at the height of the tensions with North […]

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Toyota pours $500 mn into driverless car tieup with Uber

    SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Toyota will pump about $500 million into Uber as part of a deal to work together on mass-producing self-driving vehicles, the Japanese car giant said on Tuesday. The deal, which reportedly values Uber at about $72 billion, aims at “advancing and bringing to market autonomous ride-sharing as a mobility service at scale,” Toyota said in a statement. Technology from both companies will be integrated into purpose-built Toyota vehicles […]

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Hair-raising! Japan bullet train staff made to sit by tracks

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese rail company has defended a safety exercise that requires employees to sit beside tracks in tunnels as bullet trains speed by at 300 kilometres (186 miles) an hour. JR West told AFP it has no plans to alter the exercise despite complaints from some employees. About 190 staff working on safety maintenance for Japan’s famed shinkansen bullet train have undergone the training, a company spokesman said. “The training aims […]

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Asian markets rally after Wall St record, dollar eases

HONGKONG, China (AFP) — Asian markets rallied on Monday following a record lead from Wall Street, while the dollar remained under pressure after the head of the Federal Reserve suggested it would not speed up its pace of lifting interest rates. Jerome Powell said the US economy was healthy and prices showed no sign of rising more than the bank’s two percent target, adding that there appeared to be no risk of overheating. The remarks […]

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Transport disruption as typhoon batters Japan

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A strong typhoon barreled toward Japan’s northern island Friday after churning over parts of western Japan already hit by deadly flooding last month, but while transport links were disrupted, injuries and damages were limited. Typhoon Cimaron made landfall late Thursday and passed over the Japanese archipelago overnight, bringing winds of nearly 200 kilometers per hour (134 mph) and dumping up to 600 millimeters (24 inches) of rain in 48 hours, according […]

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Transport disruption as typhoon batters Japan

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A strong typhoon Friday churned over parts of western Japan already hit by deadly flooding last month, but while transport links were disrupted there were few immediate reports of injury or damage. Typhoon Cimaron made landfall late Thursday and passed over the Japanese archipelago overnight, bringing winds of nearly 200 kilometres per hour (134 mph) and dumping up to 600 millimetres of rain in 48 hours, according to the Japan Meteorological […]

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Strong typhoon barrels towards flood-hit western Japan

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A strong typhoon hurtled towards western Japan on Thursday, with forecasters warning of heavy rains and landslides, including in areas hit by deadly flooding last month. Typhoon Cimaron, with maximum gusts of 216 kilometres (133 miles) per hour, was around 280 kilometres southeast of the Goto islands at 2300 GMT Wednesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The typhoon is expected to make landfall late Thursday and head north through Friday morning, […]

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Four Japan athletes kicked out of Asian Games for buying sex

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Four Japanese basketball players on Monday apologised for bringing “disgrace” to their nation after they were kicked out of the Asian Games for paying prostitutes for sex. The regional Olympics was hit by scandal after the players were spotted in a notorious red light district of the Indonesian capital Jakarta wearing their national jerseys last week. The expulsion of Yuya Nagayoshi, Takuya Hashimoto, Takuma Sato and Keita Imamura will come […]

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