Tokyo, 01 March, /AJMEDIA/
Japan sees 1st foreign cruise ship arrival in 3 yrs
TOKYO – A foreign cruise ship docked in Shizuoka Prefecture port Wednesday, becoming the first such vessel to arrive in Japan in around three years due to COVID-19 border control measures that were eased only recently.
The anticipated arrival came after the country reversed its government-mandated suspension of cruises, and now seeks to expand the number of ports that accept foreign cruise ships to 100 by 2025, as well as boost the number of tourists to a pre-pandemic peak of more than 2 million.
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Japan scraps COVID-19 blanket testing of visitors from China
TOKYO – Japan has ended its blanket COVID-19 testing of visitors from mainland China as part of an easing of border controls due to travelers making the journey returning a low rate of positive results since late January.
The switch to sample testing beginning Wednesday comes after Japan tightened its coronavirus border restrictions on visitors from China last December and again in January amid a surge of cases there.
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South Korea’s Yoon says Japan changed from aggressor to partner
SEOUL – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that Japan has transformed into a partner from a “militaristic aggressor in the past,” highlighting his readiness to improve bilateral ties.
In a speech at a government ceremony to commemorate the launch in 1919 of the popular independence movement against Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, Yoon said Japan has become a “partner that shares the same universal values” as South Korea, especially with regard to security and the economy.
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Japan PM vows to take every step to resolve North Korea abduction issue
TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged Wednesday that his government will take every possible measure to pursue the return of all of its citizens who were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.
Kishida’s remarks came during a meeting at his office with family members of the Japanese abductees, who have recently claimed that they would not oppose giving humanitarian aid to North Korea if it would lead to the victims’ return.
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Teacher attacked by knife-wielding teenager in school near Tokyo
SAITAMA, Japan – A knife-wielding teenager trespassed into a junior high school in Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo and attacked a teacher on Wednesday, local police said.
The 17-year-old high school student slashed the teacher’s upper body several times. He was subdued by other teachers at the scene and arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
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2 women dead after car crashes into hospital in western Japan
OSAKA – Two women in their 70s were killed on Wednesday after a car crashed into a hospital in western Japan, local authorities said.
The 71-year-old driver of the car was arrested on the spot.
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2 high-profile Japan robbery suspects charged again for theft
TOKYO – Two men recently deported from the Philippines believed to have remotely coordinated a string of robberies across Japan were served fresh arrest warrants by police on Wednesday on suspicion of theft in connection with scam cases.
The arrests of Yuki Watanabe, 38, and Tomonobu Kojima, 45, come a day after two other men deported from the Philippines were also served new arrest warrants for similar and connected allegations.
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G-20 foreign ministers to meet amid sharp divide over Ukraine
NEW DELHI – Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major economies are scheduled to start a two-day meeting in India on Wednesday, amid a sharp divide between Western nations and the China-Russia camp over the war in Ukraine and other issues.
The meeting in New Delhi comes as the United States, European countries and Japan maintain economic sanctions on Russia over its invasion of its neighbor. China and India are among countries that have not joined the measures.
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Husband of ex-Japan princess Mako registered as lawyer in N.Y.
NEW YORK – Kei Komuro, the husband of Japanese former princess Mako Komuro, has been registered as a lawyer in the U.S. state of New York, a local judicial website showed.
Komuro’s registration, dated Monday according to the New York State Unified Court System, came after he passed the state’s bar examination on his third attempt last July.
