Tag Archives: Japan

USA Today reports: Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co.’s influential chairman Carlos Ghosn was fired and arrested Monday after an internal probe found he underreported his salary and for other financial violations, including the personal use of company assets, the firm and Japanese state media said. Nissan said in a statement that Ghosn would be dismissed after an internal probe based …

Axios reports: President Trump raised a bid from GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson to build a casino in Japan during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, according to a report from ProPublica‘s Justin Elliott. Abe and his aides were “incredulous” that Trump “would be so brazen,” according to a source briefed on the conversation. The project is a top …

Human Rights Watch reports: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has passed a bill that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, Human Rights Watch said. The act, enacted on October 5, 2018, also commits the city government to conducting public education about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. Tokyo authorities were inspired to draft the bill …

The Japan Mainichi reports: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is set to propose the first ordinance bill including a stipulation to prohibit discrimination against LGBT and other sexual minorities to the metropolitan assembly on Sept. 19. The bill is prospectively named “the ordinance aiming to realize the idea of respect for human rights in the Olympic Charter.” The Olympic Charter, established …

The Guardian reports: Japan has launched a controversial bid to end the ban on commercial whaling, claiming that populations of certain types of whale have recovered sufficiently to allow the resumption of “sustainable” hunting. Representatives of Japan’s 70-strong delegation at this week’s International Whaling Commission [IWC] meeting in Florianópolis, Brazil, argued that the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling was intended …

CBS News reports: President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are meeting at the White House and holding a joint press conference Thursday, as the date of the U.S.-North Korea summit fast approaches. Speaking to reporters alongside Abe on Thursday, Trump said that the Tuesday summit is still subject to change. “I think I’m very well prepared,” Trump said …

NPR reports: Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his government “cannot accept” new U.S. tariffs on imported automobiles, as is reportedly being considered as a possible next move by the White House. President Trump last week launched an investigation into whether auto imports posed a national security risk to the U.S., a justification that might be used to raise the …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will hold a joint press conference Wednesday amid Abe’s visit to Trump’s golf club in Florida. The pair of leaders will likely address efforts to deter North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. Earlier Wednesday, the president confirmed CIA Director and Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo met directly with …

CNN reports: Japanese national broadcaster NHK issued an on-air apology Tuesday after issuing an alert incorrectly claiming that North Korea had launched a ballistic missile. The message, received by phone users with the NHK app installed on their devices, read: “NHK news alert. North Korea likely to have launched missile. The government J alert: evacuate inside the building or underground.” …

Raw Story reports: Addressing how he first became acquainted with Japanese Prime Minister Abe — who Trump referred to by his first name, Shinzo — Trump made the off-hand comment, appearing to go off-script from his prepared remarks. “So my relationship with Shinzo got off to quite a rocky start because I never ran for office, and here I am,” …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump embarked on the longest trip of his presidency Friday — a five-country, 10-day tour of Asia designed to strengthen diplomatic and economic partnerships while contending with North Korea’s nuclear threat. The president heads overseas during a time of what some experts see as a decline of U.S. influence in the region and they suggest …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that “all options are on the table” in terms of a U.S. response to North Korea’s launch of a missile over Japan. In a terse, written statement Tuesday, Trump said that with the missile launch North Korea has “signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, …

Newsweek reports: Toxic waste produced by one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters will be dumped into the sea, according to the head of the Japanese company tasked with cleaning up the radioactive mess, despite protests from local fishermen. Takashi Kawamura, chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), told foreign media that nearly 777,000 tons of water tainted with tritium, …

The Japan Times reports: Thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people paraded through Tokyo’s Shibuya district on Sunday to express hope that Japan will further embrace gender equality and diversity. The LGBT parade was the finale to the annual Tokyo Rainbow Pride festival, and this year’s theme was “Change.” “I believed that nothing would change. But, little by little, …

Reuters reports: North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, ahead of a summit between U.S. and Chinese leaders who are set to discuss Pyongyang’s increasingly defiant arms programme. The missile flew about 60 km (40 miles) from its launch site at Sinpo, a port city on North Korea’s …

NBC News reports: North Korea fired four banned ballistic missiles into Japanese waters on Monday, an act that officials in Seoul and Tokyo said represented a grave threat to their countries’ security. The missiles were launched at about 7:36 a.m. Monday (5:36 p.m. Sunday ET) off North Korea’s eastern coast, and traveled about 620 miles, a South Korean military official …

The New York Times reports: North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward the sea off its eastern coast on Sunday, in what South Korea called the North’s first attempt to test President Trump’s policy on the isolated country. The projectile took off at 7:55 a.m. from Banghyon, a town near North Korea’s northwestern border with China, and flew 310 miles …

The New York Times reports: The Japanese public pays careful attention to the words and deeds of Caroline Kennedy, the United States ambassador to Japan and one of the State Department’s best-known diplomats. But Ms. Kennedy generated an unusual buzz in Tokyo this week by doing something that is almost certainly not in her job description: wearing a Santa suit …

An early report from the Associated Press: An earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 7.3 has struck off the coast of Fukushima prefecture in Japan. A tsunami warning for waves of up to three meters (10 feet) has been issued. The Japan Meteorological Agency says the quake struck around 6 a.m at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). Fukushima prefecture …

As always, Trump is being advised by the “best people.” The Telegraph reports: Donald Trump has savaged Japan, one of America’s closest allies, stating that if the US is attacked, all Japan would do is “sit home and watch Sony television”. He expressed his frustration that the US is bound by treaty to defend the Asian nation but that if …