Japan

TOKYO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Japan and Germany have agreed to work towards a military logistics pact, a Japanese government official said on Thursday, as Tokyo and Berlin tighten security relations on the back of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and China's growing military might.

The official made the comment during an online media briefing following a meeting of the two countries' foreign and defence ministers in Germany.

TOKYO (AP) — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday stressed his country’s increased defense cooperation with Japan and other democracies in the Indo-Pacific region faced with security challenges such as Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s rise.

Steinmeier, after holding talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, told a joint news conference that Germany and other countries “committed to freedom and democracy are standing up together and sending signals that they want to stick to the international rules-based order.”

TOKYO, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Japan spent a record 6.3499 trillion yen (about 42.8 billion U.S. dollars) on multiple interventions in the currency market this month, Finance Ministry data showed Monday, as the country takes steps to prop up its currency.

After the yen neared 152 to the dollar, sources have confirmed Japan intervened on Oct. 21, although market observers here believed such operations will have a limited impact.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Cabinet approved Friday a hefty economic package including 29 trillion yen ($200 billion) in government spending to counter the blow to household budgets from inflation, signaling that the greater concern of its policymakers is that the economy will stall, not overheat.

While central banks around the world are raising interest rates aggressively to try to tame decades-high inflation, with its own inflation rate near 3%, Japan has stuck mainly to using fiscal measures, or government spending, to counter that challenge.

TOKYO (AP) — Officials from the United States and its Asian allies Japan and South Korea suspect North Korea is preparing for a nuclear test, and vice foreign ministers from the three countries said Wednesday their joint response would be “decisive.”

Cho Hyundong, South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister, said the trio is bolstering their defense cooperation to deter the growing possibility of North Korea’s use of nuclear weapons since the adoption in September of legislation spelling out scenarios where it would use nukes, including preemptively.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s economy minister said he submitted his resignation on Monday over ties to the Unification Church after facing mounting criticism in a widening controversy involving dozens of governing party lawmakers.

Daishiro Yamagiwa’s resignation is a further blow to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government, which has been rocked by his party’s close ties to the controversial South Korean-based church following the assassination of former leader Shinzo Abe in July.

TOKYO, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Japan's industry minister on Tuesday said restarting Japan's idled nuclear reactors would help prop up the economy as the yen's recent weakness is further inflating energy imports.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told a press conference that pressure to sell the yen for the U.S. dollar could be eased as the rebooting of each reactor would mean 1 million tons less of liquified natural gas would need to be imported to resource-poor Japan.

"This would become a countermeasure against yen depreciation," Nishimura said.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ordered an investigation Monday into the Unification Church in an apparent move to calm the public outrage over his governing party’s cozy ties with the controversial group, which were revealed in the wake of Shinzo Abe’s assassination.

TOKYO (AP) — For decades North Korea has threatened to turn enemy cities into a “sea of fire,” even as it doggedly worked on building a nuclear weapons program that could back up its belligerent words.

Now, as North Korea conducts another torrid run of powerful weapons tests — and threatens pre-emptive nuclear strikes on Washington and Seoul — it may be taking inspiration from the fiery rhetoric of the leader of a nuclear-armed member of the U.N. Security Council: Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mixed Wednesday as traders braced for updates on inflation, retail sales and corporate earnings.

The British pound weakened against the U.S. dollar after the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, confirmed the bank will not extend beyond Friday an emergency debt-buying plan introduced last month to stabilize financial markets.