Latest Japan government News

FILE - In this July 11, 2019, file photo, a protester with a banner walks to attend a rally denouncing the Japanese government's decision on their exports to South Korea in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. The modern legacy of a dark chapter in Japan’s history, when hundreds of thousands of people were brought from the Korean Peninsula and other Asian nations to work in logging, in mines, on farms and in factories as forced labor, lives on in the companies that came to dominate the Japanese economy after World War II. Many of those companies are still facing demands for compensation that they say were settled by treaty decades ago. The sign reads

Japan's legacy of forced labor haunts ties with neighbors

Aug. 9, 2020 10:24 PM EDT

TOKYO (AP) — For years, Yeom Chan-soon was haunted by the cracking sound of a leather belt eating into the flesh of a fellow Korean mine worker being punished for trying to escape from forced labor in Japan. That dark chapter in Japan’s history, when hundreds of thousands of people were brought...

A man and his daughter pray for the victims of U.S. atomic bombing at the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park in Nagasaki, southern Japan, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020. Nagasaki marked the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing on Sunday. (Takuto Kaneko/Kyodo News via AP)

Nagasaki urges nuke ban on 75th anniversary of US A-bombing

Aug. 9, 2020 1:40 AM EDT

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese city of Nagasaki on Sunday marked its 75th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing, with the mayor and dwindling survivors urging world leaders including their own to do more for a nuclear weapons ban. At 11:02 a.m., the moment the B-29 bomber Bockscar dropped a 4.5-ton...

In this satellite image provided by 2020 Maxar Technologies on Friday, Aug. 7, 2020, an aerial view of the MV Wakashio, a bulk carrier ship that recently ran aground off the southeast coast of Mauritius. The prime minister of Mauritius says the government is appealing to France for help with a brewing environmental disaster after a ship that ran aground almost two weeks ago off the Indian Ocean island nation began leaking oil. Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said Friday that the leak “represents a danger for Mauritius

Mauritius declares emergency as stranded ship spills fuel

Aug. 8, 2020 5:30 AM EDT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius has declared a “state of environmental emergency” after a Japanese-owned ship that ran aground offshore days ago began spilling tons of fuel. Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced the development late Friday as satellite images...

Visitors observe a minute of silence for the victims of the atomic bombing, at 8:15am, the time atomic bomb exploded over the city, at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park during the ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the bombing Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020, in Hiroshima, western Japan. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Survivors mark 75th anniversary of world’s 1st atomic attack

Aug. 6, 2020 8:32 AM EDT

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Survivors of the world’s first atomic bombing gathered in diminished numbers near an iconic, blasted dome Thursday to mark the attack’s 75th anniversary, many of them urging the world, and their own government, to do more to ban nuclear weapons. An upsurge of...

A woman's temperature is measured before riding a passenger jeepney to help curb the spread of COVID19 as drivers at the Tandang Sora terminal were recently allowed back on the road after months of not being able to work on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020 in Quezon city, Philippines. Coronavirus infections in the Philippines continues to surge Sunday as medical groups declared the country was waging a losing battle against the contagion and asked the president to reimpose a lockdown in the capital. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

The Latest: Italy's tally of new virus cases down to 239

Aug. 2, 2020 2:20 PM EDT

MILAN — The number of new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Italy nudged lower to 239 in the last 24 hours, while all eight deaths were recorded in Lombardy, the epicenter of the country's epidemic. That brings the total number of cases in Italy to 248,070 and deaths to 35,154, according to Health...

Two employees of the Ryugyong Health Complex disinfect the hands and check the fever of people coming to the complex to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, July 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

The Latest: SKorea holds leader of church with virus cluster

Jul. 31, 2020 11:57 PM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean prosecutors have arrested the elderly leader of a secretive religious sect as part of an investigation into allegations the church hampered the government’s anti-corfonavirus response after thousands of worshipers were infected in February and March. Prosecutors are...

FILE - In this May 28, 2008, file photo, Taiwan's former President Lee Teng-hui speaks during an exclusive interview with The Associated Press at his home in Taipei, Taiwan. Local media are reporting that ex-Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, who oversaw the island’s transition to full democracy, has died. Lee was 97 and had largely dropped out of public life in his later years. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File)

Former president who brought direct elections to Taiwan dies

Jul. 30, 2020 11:36 PM EDT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, who brought direct elections and other democratic changes to the self-governed island despite missile launches and other fierce saber-rattling by China, has died. He was 97. Taipei Veterans General Hospital said Lee died Thursday evening after...

People wearing face masks to help protect against the spread of the new coronavirus walk outside Flinders Street Station in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, July 23, 2020. There were few bare faces among rush-hour commuters in Australia’s second-largest city on Thursday morning as Melbourne residents were largely complying with a new law making face coverings compulsory. (James Ross/AAP Image via AP)

The Latest: Masks now required for all of Australian state

Jul. 29, 2020 10:22 PM EDT

MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s coronavirus hot spot of Victoria state is making mask wearing compulsory statewide after reporting a new daily high of 723 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Masks have been compulsory in the state capital of Melbourne and a neighboring semi-rural district for the past...

Vietnamese COVID-19 patients in protective gear, holding Vietnamese flags and carrying a portrait of the national leader Ho Chi Minh, arrive at the Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. The 129 patients who were working in Equatorial Guinea are brought home in a repatriation flight for treatment of the coronavirus. (Tran Huy Hung/VNA via AP)

Asia Today: China, SKorea, Japan see upticks in virus cases

Jul. 29, 2020 9:07 AM EDT

BEIJING (AP) — China reported more than 100 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday as the country continues to battle an outbreak in Xinjiang. The 101 new cases was China's highest daily increase in weeks. The northwestern region of Xinjiang accounted for 89, with another eight in the northeastern province of...

In this undated photo provided by The Korea Botanical Garden, statues of a man kneeling in front of a girl symbolizing victims of sexual slavery by Japan's World War II military at the Korea Botanical Garden in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The statue has become the latest subject of diplomatic sensitivity between the countries, with Tokyo's top government spokesman questioning whether the figure represents Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (The Korea Botanical Garden via AP)

New statues stoke sensitivity between South Korea, Japan

Jul. 28, 2020 6:29 AM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A pair of new statues in South Korea of a man kneeling in front of a girl symbolizing a victim of sexual slavery by Japan’s wartime military is the latest subject of diplomatic sensitivity between the countries, with Tokyo’s government spokesperson questioning...

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