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Tokyo, Oct. 23 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese and South Korean governments have been unable to identify five sets of remains found at an undersea mine in western Japan where a fatal flooding accident occurred during World War II, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Friday. The accident took place at the Chosei coal mine in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, on Feb. 3, 1942, killing 136 people from the K...
Tokyo, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government has announced a plan to provide Malaysia's navy with a counterdrone system under its official security assistance framework to provide defense equipment free of charge to like-minded countries. Under the plan, announced Tuesday, the government will spend 1,650 million yen on the system, marking its third provision of OSA to Malaysia. F...
Tokyo, Oct. 17 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made a ritual "masakaki" tree stand offering to war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Saturday, the start of its autumn festival. She offered the masakaki in her capacity as prime minister. Takaichi is expected to skip a visit to the Shinto shrine during the three-day festival, which runs through Monday. She did not vi...
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Saturday sent a ritual offering to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, regarded by Japan’s neighbours as a symbol of the country’s past militarism, at the start of its three-day autumn festival. Takaichi, known as a conservative who routinely visited the Shinto shrine before becoming prime minister a year ago, was unlikely to visit the shrine during the festival, a source close to her said, amid strained relations with China and relatively stable ties with South Korea. The...
Japan is increasingly turning to foreign companies to accelerate its military modernisation, drawing on overseas technology, expertise and production capacity to plug defence gaps that could prove critical in a potential regional conflict involving China. The push has gathered momentum over the past week, with Tokyo confirming a contract for Ukrainian interceptor drones and a multinational fighter consortium preparing to expand its design operations in Japan. French defence giant Thales is also...
Okinawa Governor Genta Koja said on Friday he accepts the deployment of US military MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft at the Futenma air station, reversing the southern Japan prefecture’s long-standing opposition to their presence. Previous prefectural governments, under governors critical of US bases, had opposed the deployment of the tilt-rotor aircraft since before they were first stationed at the base in 2012, citing safety concerns. Koja assumed the post of Okinawa governor late last...
Kyoto, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)--Kyoto District Court on Friday found a 59-year-old gang member not guilty of the 2013 murder of the president of "gyoza" dumpling restaurant chain Ohsho Food Service Corp. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for the defendant, Yukio Tanaka, a high-ranking member of an affiliate of Kudokai, a legally designated dangerous yakuza group. According to the indic...
Tokyo, Oct. 13 (Jiji Press)--Japanese police said Tuesday that they have arrested a 34-year-old Vietnamese woman on suspicion of money laundering in voice phishing cases. According to the National Police Agency, Nguyen Thi Huaon has been charged with violating the organized crime punishment law. Huaon is suspected of laundering 30 million yen stolen through voice phishing in March 2025. ...
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday that officials were reviewing the off-base code of conduct for US troops in Japan following the alleged killing of an Okinawan woman by a US marine. Crimes including rapes, assaults, hit-and-runs and drunk driving by US military personnel have long triggered protests on the southern Japanese island, which has for years urged other regions in the country to share the burden of hosting US troops. “We plan to hold discussions including...
Tokyo, Oct. 12 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi has strongly condemned the pro-Iran Houthi militant group in Yemen for attacking international airports in Saudi Arabia. Among the series of attacks since last week, Saturday's attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed 12 people and injured more than 300. In a statement issued on Sunday, Motegi of...
Assembly on the island, where tens of thousands of US soldiers are stationed, seeks change after Marine arrested.
Tokyo, Oct. 8 (Jiji Press)--The Russian Prosecutor General's Office said Thursday that it has requested Dutch authorities to hand over Tomoko Akane, president of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, who has been convicted in Russia. In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for his country's invasion of Ukraine. In retaliation, Rus...
Japan and the United States will rehearse moving anti-ship missiles, air defences and communications networks onto islands near Taiwan this month in an expanded military exercise that analysts say could complicate Beijing’s planning for a Taiwan or East China Sea conflict. Keen Sword 27, which runs from October 19 to 29, will involve about 45,000 Japanese personnel, 6,100 vehicles, 40 ships and 260 aircraft, up from about 33,000 personnel, 30 ships and 250 aircraft in 2024. About 12,000 US...
Japan is expected to float the idea of acquiring a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines in revised security documents to be released later this year, with analysts suggesting that Tokyo’s initial aim is to promote discussion of the issue and overcome the public’s concerns. Analysts acknowledge there will inevitably be pushback from some sectors of Japan – the only nation to have suffered a nuclear attack – but say there is a growing recognition that regional rivalries are worsening and Japan...
Naha, Okinawa Pref., Oct. 7 (Jiji Press)--The U.S. military in Okinawa Prefecture has said that all U.S. troops stationed in the southernmost Japan prefecture will observe a 48-hour operational pause from noon Wednesday, following the alleged murder of a local woman by a Marine, who was arrested Sunday. The personnel are prohibited from leaving their bases in the prefecture and consuming al...
The US military in Okinawa will impose a curfew from midnight to 5am for a month starting Friday following the arrest of a marine on suspicion of robbing and murdering a local woman, its regional coordinator said on Tuesday. All US military personnel on Okinawa will also observe a 48-hour operational pause from noon on Wednesday, during which there will be “no off-base liberty, including a complete prohibition of alcohol consumption on or off base”, said Lieutenant General Benjamin Watson,...
Washington, Oct. 6 (Jiji Press)--U.S. television network CBS has reported that a U.S. Marine's alleged murder in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa has "sparked public outrage" in the Asian country. Other U.S. news organizations also reported on the situation, expressing concern over a renewed backlash against the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, which bears a disproportionate b...
Tokyo, Oct. 6 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tuesday that he will meet with Okinawa Governor Genta Koja on Wednesday, following the arrest of a U.S. Marine on suspicion of robbery and murder in the southern Japan prefecture. Koizumi and Koja are expected to discuss measures to prevent a recurrence, planning to ask the U.S. side to take necessary steps. Devi...
The alleged murder of an Okinawan woman by a US marine has put newly elected Governor Genta Koja under intense pressure, raising questions about whether the incident could deepen opposition against the American military presence just as Okinawa assumes greater importance in Japan’s regional security strategy. Koja only took office on September 30 after campaigning on economic issues rather than the dispute over American troops based in the prefecture, which has dominated local politics for...
The murder of 39-year-old Anna Yagi is the latest in a string of crimes involving US personnel on Okinawa.
Naha, Okinawa Pref., Oct. 5 (Jiji Press)--A woman found dead in a hotel room in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, had marks on her neck suggesting she was strangled with a cord-like object, people familiar with the investigation said Monday. U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, who was arrested by the Okinawa prefectural police on Sunday on suspicion of robbery and murder...
Tokyo, Oct. 5 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Monday that her government has strongly protested to the U.S. side over the arrest of a U.S. Marine in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, on suspicion of murder and robbery. The government also pressed the United States for cooperation in the investigation, a review of discipline involving U.S. military personnel, and ...
Naha, Okinawa Pref., Oct. 5 (Jiji Press)--Okinawa Governor Genta Koja said Monday he will travel to Tokyo this week to directly lodge a protest to the Japanese government following the arrest of a U.S. Marine in Okinawa on suspicion of murder and robbery. During the planned visit to the capital, Koja, who took office at the end of last month, is expected to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Ta...
Naha, Okinawa Pref., Oct. 5 (Jiji Press)--About 100 people gathered near the Okinawa prefectural government building Sunday, in protest after a U.S. Marine was arrested in a murder-robbery case in the southernmost Japan prefecture. Many participants voiced anger at the case and many other crimes committed by those linked to U.S. military bases in Okinawa, with one of them saying, "How much ...
Ambassador vows cooperation as Japan protests after a US marine’s arrest in connection to Okinawa murder case.
Japan's government lodged a formal protest with the US, demanding that military officials take action.
Naha, Okinawa Pref., Oct. 4 (Jiji Press)--Okinawa Prefectural Police on Sunday arrested a U.S. Marine for allegedly killing a 39-year-old woman in a hotel room in Naha, the capital of the southernmost Japan prefecture, and stealing her belongings. The 20-year-old serviceman, Devin Jacob Ballard, who is stationed at the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air base in Ginowan, Okinawa, has denied the ...
The US is set to deploy one of its signature anti-ship missile systems to the Japanese island closest to Taiwan, an unprecedented move that comes as tensions in the region between Beijing and Tokyo continue to simmer. The ground-based US uncrewed missile platform known as the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) will be deployed on Yonaguni Island in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture during biennial joint exercises this month, according to the regional bureau of the Japanese...
Kumamoto, Oct. 3 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese Defense Ministry's Kyushu Defense Bureau on Saturday displayed to local residents for the first time the long-range Type-25 surface-to-ship guided missile system at the Ground Self-Defense Force's Camp Kengun in the southwestern Japan city of Kumamoto. The display included launchers and ammunition transport vehicles for the long-range missiles, wh...
Tokyo, Oct. 2 (Jiji Press)--The Japan-Philippines acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, or ACSA, signed this year will be applied for the first time at an upcoming bilateral drill, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Friday. At the six-day Doshin-Bayanihan 6-26 exercise set to kick off Sunday in the Philippines, the country's Air Force will provide Japan's Air Self-Defense ...