Tokyo, 12 July, /AJMEDIA/
Japan honors ex-PM Abe with highest decoration, wake held in Tokyo
TOKYO – The Japanese government on Monday honored former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was gunned down Friday in the western city of Nara, with the Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, the nation’s highest decoration.
A wake was held later Monday for Abe, the longest-serving leader, at Zojoji Temple in Tokyo, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other lawmakers attending. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who is on a visit to Japan, also attended the ceremony, a Treasury official said.
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Suspect had hostility against late ex-Japan PM Abe’s grandfather
NARA, Japan – The suspect in former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s fatal shooting told police he believed Abe’s grandfather had brought into Japan a religious group he harbored a grudge against, investigative sources said Monday.
Police suspect Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, had believed unreliable information on the internet prompted him to turn his hostility toward former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi against his grandson, who was shot dead during a stump speech on Friday, the sources said.
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Japan, U.S. finance ministers to focus on Russian oil cap
TOKYO – Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet Tuesday in Tokyo, focusing on a cap on the price of Russian oil in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
With the price cap likely to limit revenue for the Russian military, Suzuki and Yellen will also discuss steps to curb a surge in energy and food prices propelled by the war in Ukraine, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
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FOCUS: Asia experts seek Japan’s lead in rules-based order after Kishida win
TOKYO – Asian security experts have welcomed the victory by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s ruling coalition in Sunday’s House of Councillors election, saying Japan’s political stability and leadership are vital for shoring up a rules-based international order being challenged by countries such as China and Russia.
Citing Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, China’s increased assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and North Korea’s nuclear and missile development, the experts expressed support for, or at least did not oppose, Kishida’s calls for boosting Japan’s defense capabilities and amending the Constitution, including adding a reference to the Self-Defense Forces in the war-renouncing Article 9.
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U.S. top East Asia diplomat to travel to Japan to mourn Abe’s death
WASHINGTON – Daniel Kritenbrink, the State Department’s top diplomat for East Asia, will travel to Tokyo this week to offer his condolences over the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and to affirm the strong bilateral ties between the two countries, the U.S. government said Monday.
The trip, which will also take him to Cambodia, comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an initially unscheduled stop in Tokyo to express his condolences following Abe’s fatal shooting during a stump speech on Friday in the western Japanese city of Nara.
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U.N. cross-border aid relied on by millions of Syrians expires
NEW YORK – A U.N. mechanism facilitating the transit of cross-border aid into northwestern Syria has expired, potentially leaving millions without deliveries of food, medicine, clean water and other humanitarian aid.
The mechanism, which expired Sunday, was first authorized by the U.N. Security Council in 2014. However, it did not get the needed extension as the council failed to adopt a resolution authorizing it amid divisions between the West and Russia over the latter’s invasion of Ukraine.
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China warns Japan’s PM Kishida about pacifist Constitution amendment
BEIJING – China on Monday warned the government of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida about amendment of the country’s pacifist Constitution, a day after his ruling Liberal Democratic Party won a sweeping victory in the House of Councillors election.
Earlier Monday, Kishida pledged to push forward efforts toward swiftly proposing the controversial revision of the nation’s U.S.-drafted Constitution including the war-renouncing article, while China has claimed the move would lead to Japan’s remilitarization.
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Japan enters 7th coronavirus wave, but no limits needed: panel head
TOKYO – Japan “has no doubt entered” a seventh wave of coronavirus infections though there is currently no need for new movement restrictions, the head of a government COVID-19 experts panel told reporters on Monday.
Shigeru Omi said the latest increase reflects the arrival of “a new wave” and is likely fueled by the spread of the BA.5 subvariant of the Omicron variant, which is said to be highly transmissible.
