Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Saturday 4/15/2023 by Sara HUSSEIN / Tomohiro OSAKIJapanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida resumed campaigning on Saturday after being evacuated unharmed from the scene of an apparent “smoke bomb” blast. The incident in western Japan’s Wakayama came less than a year after the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, which traumatised the country and forced a security shake-up for public officials. Kishida was in the city to deliver remarks in […]
Tag: Japan
Japan PM safe after ‘smoke bomb’ at speech: Japanese media
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Saturday 4/15/2023 Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated from a port in Wakayama after a blast was heard, but he was unharmed in the incident, local media reported Saturday. Several reports, including by Kyodo news agency, said an apparent “smoke bomb” had been thrown but there were no immediate signs of injuries or damage at the scene. A person was detained at the site in western Japan’s Wakayama where […]
ALERT: Japan PM evacuated after blast at speech in Wakayama: Japanese media
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Saturday 4/15/2023 Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was rushed from a speech after a blast was heard and smoke filled the area on Saturday, local media reported. The prime minister was safe, and a person was detained at the scene at a port in Wakayama in western Japan, national broadcaster NHK and other media said. This is a developing story…
How Japan’s big plans for a ‘hydrogen society’ fell flat
by Etienne BALMER Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — It was once touted as a miracle solution to Japan’s energy problems: creating a “hydrogen society” by sharply ramping up use of the fuel for vehicles, industry and housing. But the country’s plan to expand its hydrogen market and slash greenhouse emissions has suffered delays and criticism over the fuel’s green credentials. As G7 climate ministers meet this weekend in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo, […]
US starts week of courting Asian partners after Taiwan flare-up
by Shaun TANDON Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss growing military ties with the Philippines on Tuesday before heading to Vietnam and Japan days after a new flare-up of tensions with China over Taiwan. The Philippines, Vietnam and Japan all have longstanding territorial disputes with China that have grown more intense in recent years as Beijing flexes its muscle. Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will […]
Blinken to visit Vietnam, Japan as Asia tensions flare
Washington, United States | AFP | Monday 4/10/2023 Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Vietnam later this week in the latest bid to build relations with a growing US partner as tensions flare with China over Taiwan, the State Department said Monday. Blinken will visit Hanoi on his way to a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting this weekend in the Japanese mountain resort of Karuizawa. Blinken will “discuss our shared vision of a […]
New BoJ chief says no major rate hike on horizon
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Monday 4/10/2023 Japan’s new central bank chief said Monday no major rate hikes were on the horizon, and that a long-standing loose monetary policy remained “appropriate”. Kazuo Ueda took over this month from Haruhiko Kuroda, the bank’s longest-serving governor and architect of a monetary policy intended to help boost the world’s third-largest economy. Ueda, 71, takes the reins with the central bank under pressure to join international peers that have […]
Japan govt survey finds 1.5 million living as recluses
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Nearly 1.5 million working-age people in Japan are social recluses, according to a new government survey, with a fifth citing the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason for their withdrawal. The poll is Japan’s first official comprehensive probe into the prevalence of “hikikomori”, or “shut-ins” — a phenomenon affecting a broad swathe of society, from teens to the elderly. Reasons for retreating from the country’s notoriously conformist and work-focused society range […]
Russia says fired anti-ship missiles at mock target in Sea of Japan
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday that its navy had fired test anti-ship missiles at mock targets in the Sea of Japan during military exercises. Russia’s Pacific Fleet drills came a week after Tokyo’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Ukraine. “In the waters of the Sea of Japan, missile boats of the Pacific Fleet fired Moskit cruise missiles at a mock enemy sea target,” the ministry said on Telegram early on Tuesday. […]
US, Japan reach deal on critical EV battery minerals
by Beiyi SEOW Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States and Japan have reached an agreement on trade in minerals that are key to electric vehicle batteries, US trade officials said late Monday, a move to reinforce supply chains in a sector dominated by China. Rare earth elements and minerals such as lithium are becoming increasingly important in clean energy technologies, but the United States is set to face gaps in such […]
Japan inflation slows to 3.1% in February
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s consumer prices rose 3.1 percent in February from a year earlier, government data showed Friday, slowing from the four-decade highs seen in previous months. The figure, which excludes volatile fresh food, met market expectations and comes after the government introduced relief measures for soaring energy bills. It is the first deceleration in over a year and marks a drop from January, when consumer prices jumped 4.2 percent on-year — the […]
New ‘glass-like’ orchid species discovered in Japan
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Thursday 3/23/2023 A new species of orchid with delicate, glass-like blooms has been discovered by Japanese scientists, who found the pink and white plant hiding in plain sight. Despite its presence in Japan’s parks and gardens, it took researchers at Kobe University a decade to confirm that the plant — dubbed the “Spiranthes hachijoensis” — was a previously unknown species. “It was a surprise to discover a new species of spiranthes, […]





