The Japanese government on Thursday has desperately being looking into all and every possible channels available to it in a bid to negotiate with Islamic State (IS) militants on the release of two Japanese nationals being held to ransom, before a 72-hour deadline imposed by the group expires.
Japan's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it is working to verify a video that was purportedly made by the Islamic State (IS) group and showed one of its members threatening to kill two Japanese hostages unless a ransom is paid.
Japan PM Abe kicks off week-long Middle East Tour
The passing year has witnessed continued chill in Japan's relations with major neighboring countries, mainly China, South Korea and Russia, a trend rarely seen in the country's post-war history.
Banri Kaieda, leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), decided on Monday to quit over the party's failure in Sunday's general election.
Japan's largely unpopular and highly controversial Special Secrecy Law came into effect Wednesday granting the government wider powers to declare and designate state secrets and impose harsher penalties on those charged with leaking them.
As official campaign for Japan's general election on Dec. 14 is going to kick off quickly, major political parties here have unveiled their manifestos for the upcoming poll, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies dubbed Abenomics being targeted by opposition camp which eyes to terminate Abe's administration.
Japan's DPJ unveils Japan's main opposition party unveiled Monday its manifesto for the upcoming general election, with focus being put on challenging "Abenomics" and retracting a cabinet bill granted exercise of rights to collective self-defense.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Finance Minister Taro Aso has agreed to delay a planned sales tax hike and make the postponed tax change unconditional on certain economic situation, local report quoted government officials as saying Tuesday.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to announce the postponement of the planned sales tax hike and call a lower house election on Dec. 14 on Tuesday, local media reported citing ruling coalition official as saying.
Japan's gross domestic product shrank an annualized 1.6 percent in the third quart of 2014, said a government data released Monday, marking the second straight quarter of economy retreat.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is mulling to dissolve the House of Representatives, or the lower house in the bicameral Diet, and call an election by the end of this year in efforts to address sales tax hike issue, according to local reports Tuesday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday held their first meeting since the duo took office in a sign of thawing ties between the world's second and third largest economies.
The icy relations between China and Japan now appear to have finally entered the thawing season, with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meeting here Monday for the first time.
Asia is holding its breath now, as the icy China-Japan relations could possibly see signs of thawing in the upcoming informal leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Since the world-recognized "Kono Statement" was released by the then Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono in 1993, offering an official apology to Japan's wartime sex slavery victims, known euphemistically as " comfort women," the statement has been seen a beacon that shed a gleam of light in the darkness for countless victims.
The recently reshuffled Cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has had its very foundations rocked Monday, following the doubly-whammy of two of the five female ministers he ushered into his inner coterie one month ago both stepping down the day due to money scandals.
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