Page 3 - Japan Parliament

Japan PM Fumio Kishida to step down in Sept as scandals grow

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a surprise move Wednesday, announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, paving the way for Japan to have a new prime minister. Kishida was elected president of his governing Liberal Democratic Party in 2021 and his three-year term expires in September. His drop out of the race means a new leader who wins the party vote will succeed him as prime minister because the LDP controls both houses of parliament. Kishida, stung by his party's corruption scandals, has suffered dwindling support ratings that have dipped below 20%. He announced he will not run in the September vote, allowing for a fresh leader in an effort to show that his party is changing for the better. Kishida will support a new leader, he said. Local election losses earlier in the year eroded his clout, and LDP lawmakers have voiced the need for a fresh face ahead of the next general election. Since the corruption scandal broke, Kishida has remov

Women politicians' share rises in Japanese politics, but challenges remain

Eight years ago, Yuriko Koike became the first woman to lead Tokyo, beating her male predecessor. She won her third term as governor on Sunday, and one of her closest rivals was a woman. Multiple women competing for a top political office is still rare in Japan, which has a terrible global gender-equality ranking, but Koike's win highlights a gradual rise in powerful female officials and a society more open to gender balance in politics. That said, even if a woman eventually becomes prime minister, politics here is still overwhelmingly dominated by men, and experts see a huge effort needed for equal representation. There are growing expectations for women to play a greater role in politics, said parliamentarian Chinami Nishimura, a senior official with the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. In politics or parliament, which are still largely considered men's work, it is extremely meaningful for women to show their presence and have our voices heard. Nishimura,

Japan should let married women keep their surname, says business lobby

Japan is the only country that still enforces such a rule, according to Keidanren's research, and it has failed to budge despite multiple calls from a UN panel on discrimination against women

Trilateral talks: South Korea, Japan push China on SCS, Taiwan issues

Chinese and Japanese leaders were set to arrive in Seoul and meet with South Korea's president separately on Sunday, a day before they gather for their first trilateral meeting in more than four years. No major announcement is expected from Monday's trilateral South Korea-China-Japan meeting. But just resuming their highest-level, three-way talks is a good sign and suggests the three Asian neighbours are intent on improving their relations. A trilateral leaders' meeting was supposed to take place annually following their inaugural gathering in 2008. But the meeting has stalled since the last one in December 2019 in Chengdu, China because of the COVID-19 pandemic and complex ties among the three countries. After their arrivals in Seoul on Sunday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are to hold bilateral talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to discuss ways to promote cooperation and other issues, according to South Korean officials. Li and ...

Japan PM Kishida unveils a framework for global regulation of generative AI

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida unveiled an international framework for regulation and use of generative AI on Thursday, adding to global efforts on governance for the rapidly advancing technology. Kishida made the announcement in a speech at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Generative AI has the potential to be a vital tool to further enrich the world, Kishida said, according to a transcript of his speech provided in advance. But we must also confront the dark side of AI, such as the risk of disinformation." When Japan chaired the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations last year, it launched a Hiroshima AI process to draw up international guiding principles and a code of conduct for AI developers. Some 49 countries and regions have signed up to the voluntary framework, called the Hiroshima AI Process Friends Group, Kishida said, without naming any. They will work on implementing principles and code of conduct to address the risks

BOJ Guv Kazuo Ueda signals chance of rate hike if yen moves affect prices

The BOJ releases fresh quarterly growth and inflation forecasts at its next meeting in April 25-26. Its board also holds rate-setting meetings in June, July, October and December

Everyone in Japan will be called 'Sato' by 2531 unless marriage law changes

A study led by Hiroshi Yoshida, a professor of economy at Tohoku University, challenges a civil law from the 1800s in Japan that requires married couples to choose a single surname

BOJ survey finds less optimistic manufacturers, but happier service sector

A key Japanese central bank report said Monday that sentiment among big manufacturers has sagged but that optimism is at a three-decade high among large business outside the manufacturing sector. The Bank of Japan's tankan report said sentiment among large manufacturers, which include auto and electronics giants, declined in March for the first time in a year, standing at plus 11, down two points from December. The average market forecast by Japanese news service Kyodo was 9. The index for large-scale non-manufacturers, including the service sector, hit a 33-year high at plus 34 points, up two points from the last report in December. The tankan, carried out every three months, surveys about 9,000 Japanese companies and measures corporate sentiment by subtracting the number of companies saying business conditions are negative from those saying they are positive. The optimism among the non-manufacturing businesses reflects the return of tourism, both overseas and domestic, which had

Bank of Japan ends its negative interest rate policy, first hike in 17 yrs

Japan's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate Tuesday for the first time in 17 years, ending a longstanding policy of negative rates meant to boost the economy. The Bank of Japan's short-term rate was raised to a range of 0 to 0.1% from minus 0.1% at a policy meeting that confirmed expectations of a shift away from ultra-lax monetary policy. The interest rate hike was the first since February 2007. The BOJ had remained cautious about normalizing monetary policy, or ending its negative benchmark borrowing rate, even after data showed inflation at about its target rate of 2% in recent months.

Ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, Japanese High Court rules

The Japanese court said that it expected the Parliament to "institutionalise an appropriate same-sex marriage law" at some point

Japan PM vows no more fundraising parties at hearing over funds scandal

Japan's beleaguered prime minister was set to stand before a political ethics committee on Thursday at Parliament in a bid to showcase his leadership. Fumio Kishida has fought against plummeting support ratings since his governing party's corruption scandal rocked the government. The scandal, considered the biggest in decades, centres on political funds raised through party event tickets bought by individuals, companies and organisations. It led to 10 people lawmakers and their aides being indicted in January. While Kishida himself is not the focus of the scandal and was not even invited to the hearing, the surprise announcement of his personal appearance broke a deadlock between the opposition lawmakers and his governing party on Wednesday when the five implicated attendants refused to go public, holding up a hearing and further tarnishing the party image. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's resistance to have a fully open session fuelled public criticism that Kishida's party i

Japan's H3 rocket reaches planned trajectory after failed debut last year

A new Japanese flagship H3 rocket lifted off from a space station in southwestern Japan on Saturday, successfully reaching a planned trajectory and releasing one of the two payloads in a key second test flight a year after its failed debut launch. The H3 rocket blasted off from a launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center on time Saturday morning, two days after its originally scheduled lift-off which was delayed due to bad weather. The rocket's initial flight has been smooth as planned and it successfully released the first of two small payloads, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said. JAXA will have a news conference later in the day to provide further details. Officials are confirming the status of a second satellite. The launch is closely watched as a test for Japan's space development after H3 failed in its debut flight last March. JAXA and its main contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have been developing H3 as a successor to its current mainstay, H-2A, which

Over 200 dead since Japan's New Year's quakes, seven died in shelters

As of Wednesday, 203 deaths were reported following the 7.6 magnitude quake that slammed the western coastline of Japan on New Year's. Seven of them were at evacuation centers, where rescued people died from injuries and sickness. Such deaths weren't directly caused by the quakes, fires and mudslides. They happened in alleged safety. The pressures and stress of living in a place you aren't used to lead to such deaths, said Shigeru Nishimori, a disaster official at Ishikawa Prefecture, the hardest hit region. Nearly 30,000 people whose homes were destroyed or deemed unsafe were staying at schools and other makeshift facilities. Even minor rain and snow can set off landslides where the ground is loose from the more than 1,000 aftershocks that rattled the region for more than a week. Half-collapsed homes might flatten. Deaths from the New Year's temblor centered on Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture have climbed daily, as rescue teams drew bodies from the rubble. Of the deaths, 91

Survivors found in homes smashed by Japan quake that killed 94 people

A woman was pulled carefully from the rubble 72 hours after a series of powerful quakes started rattling Japan's western coast. Despite rescue efforts, the death toll on Friday grew to at least 94 people, and the number of missing was lowered to 222 after it shot up the previous day. An older man was found alive on Wednesday in a collapsed home in Suzu, one of the hardest-hit cities in Ishikawa Prefecture. His daughter called out, Dad, dad, as a flock of firefighters got him out on a stretcher, praising him for holding on for so long after Monday's 7.6 magnitude earthquake. Others were forced to wait while rescuers searched for loved ones. Ishikawa officials said 55 of those who died were in the city of Wajima and 23 were in Suzu, while the others were reported in five neighbouring towns. More than 460 people have been injured, at least 24 seriously. The Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo found that the sandy coastline in western Japan shifted by up to 250 me

Japan to accept earthquake relief from US only, refuses help from others

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said there were offers for help and messages of condolence from governments including Taiwan and China

Japan vice minister resigns over tax scandal; another setback for Kishida

A Japanese vice finance minister stepped down on Monday, amid criticism from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet, after admitting his company's repeated failures to pay taxes, a further setback to Kishida's unpopular government. Deputy Finance Minister Kenji Kanda, in charge of government bonds and monetary policy, is the third member of Kishida's Cabinet to resign within two months following a Cabinet shuffle in September. Kishida later told reporters that he takes responsibility for the appointment of Kanda. I must apologise to the people that a vice finance minister had to resign soon after he assumed his position," Kishida said. I'm determined to concentrate on our work more seriously, as I believe that's the only way to regain the people's trust. Kanda, a tax accountant-turned-lawmaker, admitted that land and property belonging to his company was seized by the authorities four times between 2013 and 2022 after failures to pay fixed asset taxes, in response to a weekly magazi

Japan's Defence Ministry seeks record 7.7 trn yen budget for FY 2024

The government through the National Security Strategy, vowed to obtain counterstrike capabilities and almost double its annual defense expenditure over five years through fiscal 2027

Japan PM Kishida to visit Fukushima before controversial water release

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he will visit the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant on Sunday before setting a release date for its treated radioactive wastewater, as his government continues working to promote understanding over the controversial plan at home and abroad. The government has reached the final stage where we should make a decision," Kishida told reporters in Washington on Friday after wrapping up his summit with US and South Korean leaders at the American presidential retreat of Camp David. Since the government announced the release plan two years ago, it has faced strong opposition from Japanese fishing organisations, which worry about further damage to the reputation of their seafood as they struggle to recover from the accident. Groups in South Korea and China have also raised concerns, turning it into a political and diplomatic issue. The government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., say the water must be removed to make room for th

US, Japan, S Korea denounce 'dangerous and aggressive actions' by China

The three nations expressed commitment to expanding cooperation trilaterally and raising shared ambition to a new horizon across domains and across the Indo-Pacific and beyond

Biden silent on decision to name special counsel in Hunter Biden probe

President Joe Biden is keeping mum about Attorney General Merrick Garland's decision to name a special counsel in the investigation of his son Hunter Biden. Speaking at a news conference Friday at the conclusion of his Camp David summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Biden demurred when asked about the latest twist in his son's legal issues. The comments were Biden's first on the matter since Garland announced last week he was naming a special counsel into the probe of Hunter Biden's financial dealings. I have no comment on any investigation that's going on, said Biden. That's up to the Justice Department and that's all I have to say. Garland noted the extraordinary circumstances of the matter when he named David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware who had already been probing Hunter Biden's financial dealings, as special counsel after a plea deal over tax evasion and a gun charge collapsed last month. The sudden turn of events