Tokyo, 2 November, /AJMEDIA/
Ex-Japan PM Aso to visit S. Korea from Nov. 2 over wartime labor issue
TOKYO – Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is planning to visit South Korea for two days from Wednesday, government and ruling party sources said, as the two countries grapple with wartime labor issues amid signs of improving ties.
Aso, vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, is hoping talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will yield solutions to labor compensation issues, which have complicated bilateral ties, the sources said Tuesday.
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U.S. commits to “steady” presence in Okinawa as F-15 jets retired
WASHINGTON – The United States on Tuesday vowed to ensure a “steady-state” military presence in Japan’s southern island prefecture of Okinawa, as it withdraws its F-15 fighter jets based at the U.S. Kadena Air Base and replaces them with a “rotational” force.
The move comes at a time when China is becoming increasingly assertive in the Indo-Pacific, including toward Taiwan. Four key Republican lawmakers warned in a letter to the Pentagon that the development could send the “wrong signal” to both Beijing as well as U.S. allies in the region.
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Tokyo gov’t begins recognizing same-sex partnerships
TOKYO – The Tokyo metropolitan government’s revised ordinance recognizing the partnerships of sexual minorities took effect Tuesday, joining several other prefectural governments in equally treating sexual minority couples in administrative and other public services.
Japan does not legally recognize same-sex marriage, but couples who obtain a certificate under the so-called Tokyo Partnership Oath System will be able to, for instance, apply for municipal housing and include their children’s names on their partnership certificates.
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Japan court rules July election vote gap unconstitutional
SENDAI – The Sendai High Court ruled Tuesday that the disparity of up to 3.03-fold in July’s upper house election was unconstitutional but stopped short of nullifying the poll results in five northeastern Japan constituencies as sought by plaintiffs.
The ruling is the eighth to be handed down among 16 lawsuits filed across the country at 14 high courts and their branches by groups of lawyers, claiming the vote weight disparity in the House of Councillors race violated the Constitution’s requirement for fair elections.
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Japan PM Kishida, German president vow close cooperation over Ukraine
TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier agreed Tuesday to closely coordinate their responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, vowing to maintain stern sanctions on the energy-rich nation.
Kishida and Steinmeier told a joint press conference after their meeting in Tokyo that they also confirmed Japan and Germany will join hands to deal with various global challenges as the incoming and current chairs of the Group of Seven industrialized countries.
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South Korea police chief admits “insufficient” Halloween crowd control
SEOUL – South Korea’s police agency chief on Tuesday acknowledged that insufficient measures were taken by the police ahead of the Halloween crowd surge in Seoul, despite several emergency calls made prior to the crush.
Yoon Hee Keun, commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, told a briefing that the calls made to the police were about the seriousness of the situation in the area where crowds had surpassed expectations.
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400 people celebrate Japan-China 50th diplomatic anniv. at embassy
BEIJING – About 400 people celebrated the 50th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-China diplomatic ties this year at a reception held at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on Tuesday.
Japanese Ambassador to China Hideo Tarumi said in his speech bilateral relations have “repeatedly improved and worsened like the motions of a rollercoaster” but that “no one in the two countries wants to experience the thrill.”
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Toyota’s profit declines further in 1st-half despite weak yen
TOKYO – Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday its net profit in the six months ended September fell 23.2 percent to 1.17 trillion yen ($7.9 billion) from a year earlier, with its earnings situation getting even worse after the first quarter, as soaring material costs outweighed the positive impact of a weaker yen.
Sales of the world’s largest automaker, which posted a 17.9 percent fall in net profit in the first three months, rose 14.4 percent to a record 17.71 trillion yen in the April-September period. However, its operating profit dropped 34.7 percent to 1.14 trillion yen as the auto industry grapples with a protracted global semiconductor shortage.