Japan

TOKYO, July 13 (Reuters) - Growing military tension around Taiwan as well as economic and technological rivalry between China and the United States raises the prospect of crisis in the region as the power balance shifts in China's favour, Japan said in its annual defence white paper.

China rejected Japan's conclusions about what it said was normal military activity, calling them irresponsible.

The Japanese defence review, which was approved by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government on Tuesday, points to China as Japan's main national security concern.

TOKYO (AP) — IOC President Thomas Bach appeared in public on Tuesday for the first time since arriving in Tokyo last week and with the pandemic-postponed Olympics opening in just 10 days.

Bach spent his first three days in isolation at the International Olympic Committee’s five-star hotel in central Tokyo, and his movements are limited — like almost everyone entering for the Olympics — for the first 14 days.

His first stop was the headquarters of the organizing committee to deliver a pep talk with the beleaguered games set to go ahead without fans in almost all venues.

TOKYO, July 11 (Reuters) - Japan stands ready to pump more money into the economy to ease the pain of a prolonged pandemic, the top government spokesman said on Sunday, nodding to growing political calls for additional stimulus to prop up growth.

Less than two weeks before hosting the Olympics, Tokyo goes into its fourth COVID-19 state of emergency from Monday through Aug. 22, fuelling fears of extended pain for restaurants hit by shorter hours and a ban on alcohol consumption.

TOKYO, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Japan will start accepting applications for vaccination passports from July 26 for people who have been fully inoculated against COVID-19 to travel internationally, the top government spokesman said Sunday.

Whether to use such certificates for domestic economic activities as business circles request is under consideration by the Japanese government, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on an NHK TV program, adding that people should not be discriminated against or forced unfairly due to whether they have been vaccinated or not.

TOKYO, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Japan's weather agency issued a heavy rain warning for parts of southwestern Japan on Saturday, leading local authorities to direct some 245,000 residents to take immediate action to stay safe as per the highest level 5 alert, local media reported.

TOKYO (AP) — IOC President Thomas Bach arrived in Tokyo on Thursday to find Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihde Suga set to declare a state of emergency, which is likely to result in a ban on fans at the Tokyo Olympics as coronavirus infections spread across the capital.

Bach largely avoided cameras at Tokyo’s Haneda airport and, on a rainy afternoon, went to the International Olympic Committee’s games headquarters in Tokyo, a five-star hotel located in the center of the city. He is reported to need to self-isolate for three days.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan is set to place Tokyo under a state of emergency that would last through the Olympics, fearing an ongoing COVID-19 surge will multiply during the Games.

At a meeting with experts Thursday morning, government officials proposed a plan to issue a state of emergency in Tokyo from next Monday to Aug. 22. The Summer Olympics, already delayed a year by the pandemic, begin July 23 and close Aug. 8.

TOKYO, July 7 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government will launch a databank of infectious diseases later this month to help fight COVID-19, starting with a plan to collect statistics on 10,000 COVID-19 patients by next March, local media reported Wednesday.

To help curb the COVID-19 outbreak, the government will first collect blood and saliva samples along with the treatment records of infected patients, and provide firms and universities access to these records in assistance to their researches on respiratory disease possibly from this autumn, according to project managers.

TOKYO (AP) — Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida told a Japanese court on Wednesday that the company’s former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, had held too much power, failed to listen to others, and stayed on for too long.

Uchida said Wednesday that those were factors that led to financial misconduct charges for Ghosn. He was testifying as a witness for Nissan Motor Co., which as a corporate entity is standing trial on charges of having falsified securities reports in under-reporting Ghosn’s compensation. It does not contest the charges.

ATAMI, Japan (AP) — Rescue workers dug through sludge and debris Monday looking for more than 20 people who may be trapped after a torrent of mud, trees and rocks ripped with a roar through a Japanese seaside resort town, killing at least four people.