TOKYO, Dec 1, 2023 (AFP) – The world’s biggest experimental nuclear fusion reactor in operation was inaugurated in Japan on Friday, a technology in its infancy but billed by some as the answer to humanity’s future energy needs. Fusion differs from fission, the technique currently used in nuclear power plants, by fusing two atomic nuclei instead of splitting one. The goal of the JT-60SA reactor is to investigate the feasibility of fusion as a safe, […]
Tag: Japan
Japan scours seabed for US Osprey wreckage
TOKYO, Dec 1, 2023 (AFP) – Japan’s coastguard on Friday scoured the seabed for the wreckage of an Osprey US military aircraft that crashed this week, with still no sign of seven missing airmen. Tokyo’s defence minister has called on the US military in Japan to ground its Ospreys pending safety checks, but the Pentagon said it was still operating the aircraft and had not received a suspension request. The tilt-rotor CV-22B Osprey went down […]
Japan PM hails Kissinger’s ‘significant contributions’ to peace and stability in Asia
TOKYO, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hailed on Thursday the late Henry Kissinger’s “significant contributions” to peace and stability in Asia. Kissinger “made significant contributions to the regional peace and stability, including the normalisation of diplomatic ties between the US and China,” Kishida told reporters after the former US secretary of state died aged 100. “I’d like to express my most sincere respect to the great achievements he made,” Kishida […]
Seven missing after US Osprey crashes off Japan
TOKYO, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – Rescuers scoured waters off Japan on Thursday for seven missing US Air Force personnel whose Osprey crashed during a training exercise, in the latest incident involving the tilt-rotor military aircraft. Japan’s defence minister said he had requested that US forces in the country suspend Osprey flights in the wake of the deadly incident. One unconscious person was found in the sea and later declared dead after the aircraft crashed […]
One confirmed killed as US Osprey crashes off Japan
By Hiroshi HIYAMA, Tomohiro OSAKI TOKYO, Nov 29, 2023 (AFP) – A US Osprey military aircraft crashed on Wednesday off a Japanese island, killing one crew member and leaving five unaccounted for, the coastguard said, in the latest incident involving the tilt-rotor military aircraft. One unconscious person had been found in the sea near the scene of the crash off the island of Yakushima but was later “confirmed dead in hospital”, the coastguard said in […]
Big in Japan: country’s tallest skyscraper opens in Tokyo
Japan’s new tallest building opened in Tokyo on Friday, taking the title from an Osaka skyscraper. The 330-metre-high Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower is not Japan’s highest structure, which is still the Tokyo Skytree, a broadcasting and observation tower in the capital’s east, which stands at 634 metres. But it does have a 30-metre advantage over the Abeno Harukas building in Osaka, previously Japan’s tallest building. The JP Tower and its surrounding facilities have an […]
Toyota ad rapped as ‘irresponsible’ to the environment
LONDON, Nov 22, 2023 (AFP) – Britain’s advertising watchdog on Wednesday said it had banned an advert for a Toyota 4×4 vehicle because it promoted “irresponsible behaviour” towards the environment. The paid-for post on Facebook and poster ad for the Japanese firm’s Hilux sports utility vehicle showed a line of SUVs driving off road in a cloud of dust before joining a tarmacked road. A complaint was made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that […]
North Korea notifies Japan of satellite launch as early as Wednesday
TOKYO, Nov 21, 2023 (AFP) – North Korea has issued formal notice of a satellite launch as early as Wednesday, Japan said, with Pyongyang’s third attempt to put a military eye in the sky coming after it likely received technical help from Russia in exchange for arms transfers. The Japanese coast guard posted a notification on its website Tuesday of a launch window between November 22 and December 1, and Seoul’s Ministry of Oceans and […]
Japan PM voices ‘serious concerns’ to Xi on Chinese military activity, Russia collaboration
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 17, 2023 (AFP) – Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday that he expressed to President Xi Jinping his “serious concerns” about Chinese military activity in the region while demanding that a ban on seafood imports be revoked. “I… expressed our serious concerns over China’s increasing military activity near Japan, including its collaboration with Russia,” Kishida said after meeting Xi for the first time in a year. “At the same time, I […]
Man arrested after car crashes near Israeli embassy in Tokyo: media
TOKYO, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – A Japanese man was arrested on Thursday after crashing a car through a barrier near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo, police said. Mor Eliyahu, a spokeswoman for the Israeli embassy, told AFP that the incident “is suspected to be a targeted vehicle ramming attack, and it is currently under investigation by local police”. But police made no comment on the possible motives of the local unemployed man who drove […]
Japanese economy shrinks 0.5 percent in third quarter
By Tomohiro OSAKI TOKYO, Nov 15, 2023 (AFP) – Japan’s economy contracted by a worse-than-expected 0.5 percent in the third quarter, government data showed Wednesday, in a further blow to struggling Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The shrinking of the world’s number three economy, following two consecutive quarters of growth, was worse than the market consensus of a 0.1 percent contraction. Private demand, including private residential and corporate investment, was down 0.6 percent. Exports grew just […]
Japan to spend $13 bn to boost domestic chip production
TOKYO, Nov 10, 2023 (AFP) – Japan’s government said on Friday that it plans to spend 2 trillion yen ($13 billion) to boost domestic production of strategically important semiconductors and generative AI technology. The planned outlays will include 700 billion yen ($4.6 billion) to support the construction of a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) plant in Kumamoto, the firm’s second plant in the southern Japanese region, trade ministry official Motoki Kurita told AFP. TSMC controls […]





