Tokyo, 12 December, /AJMEDIA/
Japan startup aiming to be world’s 1st to reach Moon launches lander
TOKYO – A Japanese startup aiming to be the first private company in the world to reach the Moon launched a lunar lander Sunday aboard a rocket from a U.S. space station in Florida.
Ispace Inc.’s self-developed lander, part of its Hakuto-R exploration program, is scheduled to touch down on the Moon around late April next year, if all goes smoothly.
LDP policy chief takes aim at China’s military pressure on Taiwan
TAIPEI – The policy chief of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Sunday voiced opposition to any attempts by China to force a shift in the status quo, referring to the country’s rising military pressure on Taiwan.
Koichi Hagiuda, chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council, said at a forum in Taipei that maintaining peace and stability over the Taiwan Strait was vital for building a free and open Indo-Pacific.
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Former Japan defense chief Kishi not to run in next election
YAMAGUCHI, Japan – Former Japanese defense chief Nobuo Kishi will not run in the next lower house election, with his eldest son hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps, a source familiar with the matter said Sunday.
Kishi’s decision was disclosed at a meeting of his supporters in the western Japan city of Iwakuni on the same day, according to the source. The 63-year-old is the younger brother of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was killed by a lone gunman in July.
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Ryuichi Sakamoto releases “last” concert amid cancer battle
TOKYO – Japanese composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto released a stream of an audience-less, pre-recorded concert on Sunday that he has said “may be my last” due to his ongoing battle with cancer.
Sakamoto, known for his film scores as well as his work in the 1970s and 1980s with electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra, revealed in June that he is battling stage IV cancer, after previously announcing he had throat cancer in 2014 and rectal cancer in 2021.
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64.5% of Japan firms abroad expect to see profits in 2022: survey
TOKYO – Around 64.5 percent of Japanese companies’ overseas affiliates expect to see operating profits in 2022, bringing them almost on par with levels before the coronavirus pandemic, according to a recent survey.
While the result was almost at 2019’s 65 percent, signs of long-term recovery were less promising, with just 45.4 percent of respondents saying they will expand their business in the next one to two years, down from a pre-COVID-19 48.9 percent, according to the survey by the Japan External Trade Organization.
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U.S. diplomat to visit China to prepare for Blinken’s trip next year
WASHINGTON – Daniel Kritenbrink, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, will travel to China, South Korea and Japan from Sunday partly to prepare for a visit to China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken early next year, the U.S. government said.
During his visit to China, Kritenbrink will follow up on U.S. President Joe Biden’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Indonesia last month to “continue responsibly managing the competition” between the two countries and “to explore potential areas of cooperation,” the State Department said Saturday.
