Japan

TOKYO/BEIJING, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The government in Tokyo is investigating a report that China has set up covert police stations inside Japan, amid similar checks by authorities in European countries, the United States and Canada.

Safeguard Defenders, an Asia-focused rights group based in Spain, has published two reports since September alleging that Chinese authorities have established 102 overseas police stations in 53 countries, including Japan.

China has dismissed the allegations and on Thursday its foreign ministry denied that such police stations existed.

TOKYO, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Japanese lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Wednesday resigned following allegations of underreporting political funds, marking the latest in a string of such scandals that have hammered public support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Informed sources said that following suspicions being raised, Kentaro Sonoura, a fifth-term lower house member was questioned by prosecutors of his own volition about underreporting around 40 million yen (302,940 U.S. dollars) raised through fundraising parties.

TOKYO, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese public has raised pressure on the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida over the country's expansion in defense spending and tension-provoking security policies, a Kyodo News poll showed Sunday.

About 64.9 percent of Japanese people disapprove of Japan's recently announced plan to raise taxes to finance a substantial increase in defense spending, according to the opinion poll.

TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan on Friday unveiled its biggest military build-up since World War Two with a $320 billion plan that will buy missiles capable of striking China and ready it for sustained conflict, as regional tensions and Russia's Ukraine invasion stoke war fears.

The sweeping, five-year plan, once unthinkable in pacifist Japan, will make the country the world's third-biggest military spender after the United States and China, based on current budgets.

TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan confirmed a major nuclear power policy shift on Friday to tackle an energy crisis more than a decade after the 2011 Fukushima disaster prompted it to idle most of its reactors.

Public opinion has been hostile towards nuclear energy since a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, but the mood has shifted due to soaring energy costs amid the prolonged war in Ukraine and repeated power crunches in both summer and winter.

TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan on Friday unveiled its biggest military build-up since World War Two with a $320 billion plan that will buy missiles capable of striking China and ready it for sustained conflict, as regional tensions and Russia's Ukraine invasion stoke war fears.

The sweeping, five-year plan, once unthinkable in pacifist Japan, will make the country the world's third-biggest military spender after the United States and China, based on current budgets.

TOKYO, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index closed at its lowest in more than a month on Friday, dragged down by Wall Street's drop overnight, as interest rate hikes by major central banks raised concerns over an economic slowdown.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 524.58 points, or 1.87 percent, from Thursday to close the day at 27,527.12, marking its lowest closing level since Nov. 10.

The broader Topix index finished 23.69 points, or 1.20 percent, lower at 1,950.21.

TOKYO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Japan's Meiji Holdings Co (2269.T) said on Tuesday its drug subsidiary had started a Phase III trial of an mRNA-based vaccine for COVID-19.

Meiji Seika Pharma had started the late-stage trial among 780 subjects in Japan, with the test period running from November to April 2024, Meiji said in a statement.

The trial will test the effectiveness of the vaccine, developed by U.S.-based Arcturus Therapeutics Inc, in comparison with the mRNA shot developed by Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE).

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Japan and the Netherlands have agreed in principle to join the United States in tightening controls over the export of advanced chip-making machinery to China, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

In October, the Biden administration published a series of curbs aimed at stopping the export of chip-making technology and certain chips made through U.S. equipment anywhere in the world to China.

TOKYO/LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Japan, Britain and Italy are merging their next-generation jet fighter projects in a ground-breaking partnership spanning Europe and Asia that is Japan's first major industrial defence collaboration beyond the United States since World War Two.