Tokyo, 25 September, /AJMEDIA/
Japan eyes upping defense spending to 40 trillion yen over 5 year
TOKYO – Japan is considering sharply increasing its defense spending to ore than 40 trillion yen ($279 billion) over the next five years, government officials said Saturday.
The amount compares with the 27.47 trillion yen in total specified as defense costs for five years through fiscal 2023 in the country’s Medium Term Defense Program.
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North Korea fires ballistic missile toward Sea of Japan
TOKYO – North Korea on Sunday fired a ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan, Japanese and South Korean authorities said.
The projectile appears to have landed outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters.
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Japan may include Taiwan among nations giving flowers at Abe funeral
TOKYO – Japan is planning to include Taiwan among the names of countries to be read aloud during flower offerings at former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s state funeral next week, government sources said Saturday.
The plan appears to have been made out of consideration for the close ties Abe had built with Taiwan until he was killed by a shooter during a campaign event in early July. If carried out, the sources said Japan is likely to refer to the self-ruled island as Taiwan, not by its official Republic of China name.
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Japan’s coast guard confirms death of sunken tourist boat captain
SAPPORO – A body discovered a week ago on the beach near Japan’s scenic Shiretoko Peninsula was confirmed to be that of the captain of a tourist boat that sank nearby in April, leaving more than 10 people dead, the coast guard said Saturday.
The 19-ton Kazu I, carrying 24 passengers and two crew members, made a distress call and disappeared on April 23 after leaving Utoro port in Shari for sightseeing along the peninsula of the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, despite a forecast for rough weather.
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Japan-China foreign ministers unable to meet on fringes of U.N. forum
NEW YORK – Japan’s foreign minister said Friday he and his Chinese counterpart were unable to hold talks in New York, but that he will continue to seek dialogue as the two countries work to ease tensions over Taiwan, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties next week.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, who had expressed willingness to meet bilaterally with Wang Yi on the fringes of the U.N. General Assembly, told reporters before wrapping up his five-day trip in New York that talks did not materialize due to scheduling conflicts.
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Event marking Japan-China 50th diplomatic anniv. opens in Beijing
BEIJING – A two-day event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-China diplomatic relations next week kicked off Saturday in Beijing, with organizers hoping to attract Chinese people unfamiliar with Japanese culture through programs featuring food, music and animation, among others.
As part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the event at a Beijing shopping mall where 70,000 people visit daily adopted pre-recorded video footage and online exchanges, providing chances for visitors to get glimpses of Japan while the pandemic-induced travel restrictions remain in place.
