VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — Japan is “seriously concerned” about Beijing’s increasingly muscular claims in the South China Sea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Asian leaders Wednesday. Beijing insists it has sovereign rights to almost all of the strategically vital waters, where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims. It also has a simmering territorial row with Tokyo over disputed islands in the East China Sea. “I am seriously concerned with the continuing […]
Tag: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Japan’s first lady visits Pearl Harbor
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has visited Pearl Harbor, bombed by Japanese planes nearly 75 years ago in an attack that brought the United States into World War II. It was not clear exactly when Akie Abe made the visit. But she posted 11 pictures on her official Facebook page, apparently early Monday. “I offered flowers and my prayers at the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor,” she wrote. […]
Japan emperor to address nation after abdication reports
by Kelly OLSEN TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Emperor Akihito is set to make a rare address to the nation on Monday in remarks widely expected to signal that the 82-year old monarch wishes to abdicate — something that hasn’t happened in two centuries. Speculation about the emperor’s future emerged last month with reports he had told confidantes that advancing age was making it harder to perform his ceremonial duties and that he would like […]
Japan says N. Korea missile test ‘outrageous act’
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday condemned a North Korean test missile that landed 250 kilometres (155 miles) off Japan’s coast as an “outrageous act” which threatened his country. “It’s a serious threat against our country’s security,” Abe told reporters. “This is an outrageous act that cannot be tolerated.” Defence minister Gen Nakatani said the missile landed in the Sea of Japan off the north coast in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone […]
New Tokyo governor says defying party secured win
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Tokyo’s new governor Yuriko Koike on Monday credited her landslide victory to having stood up to the powers that be in Japan’s ruling party who didn’t want her to run. Koike, 64, was elected Tokyo’s first female governor in the Sunday vote, winning more than 2.9 million votes, far outpacing the nearly 1.8 million ballots cast for closest challenger Hiroya Masuda. Masuda, a former governor of Iwate prefecture in northern Japan, […]
Japan’s Abe claims victory in parliamentary vote
by Shingo ITO TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe claimed victory Sunday for his ruling coalition in parliamentary elections, which came despite lukewarm public support for his economic policies and wariness over amending the country’s pacifist constitution. Abe, in power since late 2012, has yet to achieve a strong recovery in the world’s third-largest economy through unconventional measures centered on massive easy money and other steps — so-called Abenomics. Voters have also […]
Japan voters seen boosting Abe in parliament vote
by Hiroshi HIYAMA TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese voters are suspicious of the government’s economic policies and don’t trust controversial plans to change the pacifist constitution — but they are still expected to hand Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s coalition victory in parliamentary elections. Analysts predict the ageing and conservative electorate will back Abe as the only viable choice faced with an opposition widely criticised as ineffectual. “The others are horrible,” said Tokyo resident Akira Hachinohe, […]
Obama to make history with Hiroshima journey
by Shingo Ito HIROSHIMA, United States (AFP) — President Barack Obama is set make history on Friday as he travels to Hiroshima — becoming the first sitting US leader to visit the site that ushered in the destructive power of the nuclear age. The trip comes more than seven decades after the world was first shown the potential keys to its own destruction when an American plane, the Enola Gay, dropped its payload, dubbed “Little […]
Japan restarts nuclear reactor amid protests
(Reuters) — Japan switched on a nuclear reactor for the first time in nearly two years on Tuesday (August 11) despite strong protests nationwide. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to reassure a nervous public that tougher standards mean the sector is now safe after the Fukushima disaster in 2011 but opinion polls show a majority of the public oppose the move after the nuclear crisis triggered by the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. […]
Japan’s security fears grow as neighbors build up arms
By Kiyoshi Takenaka TOKYO Mon Aug 4, 2014 9:33pm EDT (Reuters) – Japan finds itself surrounded by a worsening security environment as North Korea pushes forward with missile development and China and Russia step up military activity in the region, Japan’s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry’s annual white paper comes after intermittent testing by North Korea of ballistic missiles in defiance of a U.N. ban, and a record number of scrambles by Japanese […]
President Aquino arrives in Japan, meets with Prime Minister Abe
PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Tuesday at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Tokyo, Japan to discuss various issues aimed at further developing the bilateral relations between the two countries. Prime Minister Abe said it is his great pleasure to see President Aquino for the fourth time following their last meeting in December 2013, when the latter participated in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Japan Summit, also held […]





