Tag: Japan

China bans some Japanese food imports over Fukushima water release

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s customs authority on Friday said it would ban food imports from 10 Japanese prefectures over Tokyo’s plan to release treated nuclear wastewater into the ocean. Japan’s planned, decades-long discharge of accumulated water from the devastated Fukushima nuclear facility has been approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as meeting global standards. The release is expected to begin this summer but is opposed by some regional neighbours, with Beijing vocally […]

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IAEA chief in Japan ahead of Fukushima water release

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi arrived in Japan on Tuesday to present a review of Tokyo’s plans to release treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head will meet Japan’s prime minister and foreign minister in Tokyo on Tuesday before heading to Fukushima on Wednesday to visit the devastated plant. Several of the nuclear facility’s reactors went into meltdown after cooling […]

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Fire injures four in Tokyo building

TOKYO, July 3, 2023 (AFP) – Four people were injured in a blast and a blaze in a central Tokyo building, the city’s fire department said, with footage showing flames and smoke emerging from a second-floor business. The fire started in a building in a restaurant area of the bustling Shimbashi district around 3:20 pm (0620 GMT). “The sound of an explosion was also heard. A total of 32 fire trucks are at the scene,” […]

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Two killed in shooting at Japan army training range

TOKYO, June 14, 2023 (AFP) – Two soldiers were killed and a third wounded when a fellow recruit opened fire at a training range in central Japan on Wednesday, the military said. “During a live-bullet exercise as part of new personnel training, one Self-Defense Forces candidate fired at three personnel,” the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) said in a statement. “The death of another person has been confirmed of the three who were shot at,” the […]

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Japan PM unveils $25 bn plan to tackle birthrate crisis

TOKYO, June 1, 2023 (AFP) – Japan’s prime minister unveiled a $25 billion plan on Thursday to expand support for young people and families in a bid to help raise the country’s plummeting birthrate. Larger direct subsidies for those with children and more financial help for education and prenatal care are on the cards, along with the promotion of flexible work styles and paternity leave. Fumio Kishida said he was proposing “policies to tackle the […]

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‘Unfortunate’ that Chinese counterpart declined talks: Austin

By W.G. Dunlop, Sara HUSSEIN Agence France-Presse TOKYO, June 1, 2023 (AFP) — Beijing’s decision to decline a meeting between US and Chinese defense chiefs is “unfortunate”, particularly given recent “provocative” Chinese behavior, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday. The comments come days after Washington accused Beijing of an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” near a US surveillance aircraft. Washington had invited China’s Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu to hold talks with Austin on the […]

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North Korea announces ‘satellite’ launch: Japan

TOKYO, Japan, May 29, 2023 (AFP) — Japan said Monday it is preparing for North Korea to launch in the coming weeks what Pyongyang has described as a satellite, but Tokyo believes may be a ballistic missile. Pyongyang has informed Japan’s coastguard that a rocket will be launched between May 31 and June 11 and will fall in waters near the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and east of Luzon Island in the Philippines, a […]

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Suspect held after four killed in Japan gun and knife attack

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese police on Friday detained a suspect who had been holed up in a building after allegedly killing four people including two police officers in a gun and knife attack, an official told AFP. The man was taken into custody outside the farm property near the city of Nakano in Nagano region, with police confirming a fourth fatality overnight — an elderly woman who was found injured at the scene and […]

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Japan says scrambled jets after Russian planes seen off coasts

TOKYO, May 25, 2023 (AFP) – Japan scrambled fighter jets Thursday after Russian “intelligence-gathering” aircraft were detected off its coasts along the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Japan, the country’s Joint Staff said. One Russian aircraft travelled from Japan’s north down along part of its west coast, while the other took a similar route along the opposite coast and returned the same way, the Joint Staff said in a brief statement. “In response, fighters of […]

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Three killed, including two police, in Japan gun and knife attack

TOKYO, May 25, 2023 (AFP) – A woman and two male police officers were killed in a shooting and stabbing attack at a farm in central Japan on Thursday, media reported. A suspect, believed to be a farmer in his 30s, was holed up inside a building after the incident, which also left a fourth person injured, the reports said. Residents were urged by authorities to stay indoors in the semi-rural area around the city […]

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Biden invites Japan, S. Korea leaders to US for talks

HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 21, 2023 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden on Sunday invited the leaders of Japan and South Korea to formal three-way talks in Washington, a senior US administration official said. The leaders met briefly on the sidelines of the G7 summit, to which host Japan invited South Korea as long-frosty ties between the neighbours thaw. Tokyo and Seoul, both key US allies, have long been at odds over issues related to Japan’s […]

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Japan, South Korea leaders in historic Hiroshima visit

HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 21, 2023 (AFP) – Japan and South Korea’s leaders made a historic visit Sunday to a memorial for Koreans killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as long-frosty ties between the neighbours warm. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol, joined by their wives, laid white bouquets at the stone memorial and bowed side-by-side at the site. The visit came on the sidelines of the G7 […]

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