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TOKYO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The flight of suspected Chinese surveillance balloons has shown that Japan and Taiwan need to share "critical" intelligence about possible aerial threats, a senior defence policymaker for Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party said. Japan said on Tuesday it suspected Chinese spy balloons had flown over Japan at least three times, most recently in 2021. The change will add unmanned aircraft to those," Minoru Kihara, one of the lawmakers, told reporters after the briefing. Japan on Wednesday said it had warned China that violations of its airspace by surveillance balloons were unacceptable. China said the balloon was a civilian weather-monitoring aircraft and it accused the United States of sending its balloons into Chinese airspace.
Kazuo Ueda, a 71-year-old university professor who has kept a low profile despite strong credentials as a monetary policy expert, ticked some important boxes. While he was not even on the list of dark horse candidates floated by the media, Ueda was well known in global central bank circles. The bank's preferred choices were incumbent deputy governor Amamiya, as well as former deputies Hiroshi Nakaso and Hirohide Yamaguchi, given their deep knowledge on monetary policy. Matsuno said he hoped the BOJ works closely with the government and guides monetary policy flexibly, when asked whether Ueda's appointment could lead to a retreat from Abenomics. While he warned of the rising cost of the BOJ's yield control policy, Ueda has called for the need to keep monetary policy loose to ensure Japan stably achieves the bank's 2% inflation target.
In fact, it has spent an average of 1.3 trillion yen per trading day since the band widened: nearly 50 trillion yen in total, per Refinitiv data, and still counting. The central bank already owns over half of Japan’s sovereign bonds and is sure to suffer large losses when their prices fall, which they eventually must. The central bank chief must also work to put the country’s vast stack of inert money back to work. Kuroda effectively put the central bank at the service of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” stimulus programme. Fumio Kishida, the current leader, is having popularity problems and will want the central bank to support his aggressive agenda, which includes hiking defence spending, promoting innovative startups and redistributing wealth.
[1/2] Semiconductor chips are seen on a circuit board of a computer in this illustration picture taken February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/IllustrationTOKYO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Japan may opt for milder restrictions on chip production machinery sales in China than those implemented by the United States even though they agree on export curbs, an influential Japanese ruling party lawmaker told Reuters on Wednesday. "The United States is being strict, but there is a question of whether we have to exactly match that. Amari said he had been briefed by the Japanese government on the deal, which only the United states has so far publicly acknowledged. Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Tim Kelly and Mayu Sakoda; Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Japan PM Kishida rebukes aide over same-sex couple outburst
  + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
"His comments are outrageous and completely incompatible with the administration's policies," Kishida said in remarks aired by public broadcaster NHK. Kisihida said he may dismiss Arai, who later apologized for "misleading" comments made after Kishida had said in parliament that same-sex marriage needed careful consideration because of its potential impact on the family structure. Arai's comments are an embarrassment for Kishida as he prepares to host other leaders from Group of Seven nations in May. In a survey published by NHK in July 2021, two months before Kishida became prime minister, 57% of 1,508 respondents said they supported the legal recognition of same-sex unions. In November, a Tokyo court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage, but also said a lack of legal protection for same-sex families violated their human rights.
Russia's sole aircraft carrier has been sidelined for years and may not see action again. A Russian lawmaker has proposed trying buying China's Liaoning aircraft carrier as a replacement. Liaoning began life as a Soviet carrier, but China acquired it in a shady sale in the late 1990s. Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning during a drill in the western Pacific in April 2018. A 40-year-old aircraft carrier in the Black Sea won't provide much value.
TOKYO — Japanese prosecutors are expected to formally charge the suspect in the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with murder on Friday, his lawyer said. Later that month, Yamagami was sent to an Osaka detention center and given a five-month mental evaluation, which ended Tuesday. One of his lawyers, Masaaki Furukawa, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he expects prosecutors to charge Yamagami with murder and gun control law violations. Police say Yamagami told them that he killed Abe, one of Japan’s most influential and divisive politicians, because of Abe’s apparent links to a religious group that he hated. Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s popularity has plunged over his handling of the church controversy and for insisting on holding a rare, controversial state funeral for Abe.
TOKYO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Japanese prosecutors on Friday indicted the man suspected of killing former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Yomiuri newspaper reported. Nara District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Tetsuya Yamagami, 42, on murder charges as well as for violating gun laws after concluding a roughly six-month psychiatric evaluation, the newspaper reported. The Unification Church was founded in South Korea in 1954 and famous for its mass weddings, relying on its Japan followers as a key source of income. The approval rate for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government had fallen to record laws amid revelations about connections between the church and many LDP lawmakers. In November, Japan launched a probe into the church that could threaten its legal status following the assassination of Abe.
Freed arms dealer Viktor Bout appeared to reverse his position on whether he'd fight in Ukraine. After being freed in exchange for Brittney Griner last December, Bout said he'd "readily volunteer." It was a strong about-face from comments Bout made to Russian state TV only a month ago. Bout was freed from US jail on December 9, in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, in a high-profile prisoner swap engineered by the Biden administration. Bout attracted the nickname of "The Merchant of Death" over his prominent arms dealing operation in the 1990s, as Insider previously reported.
TOKYO, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday floated the possibility of calling a snap election before a tax increase aimed at funding the country's defence budget comes into place "sometime after 2024". The government is set to implement tax increases to cover a shortfall of 1 trillion yen in the defence budget, despite stiff opposition from within the ruling coalition amid Kishida's sagging popularity. "We will be asking the general public to take on the (tax) burden for an appropriate period of time, starting from sometime after 2024 up to 2027. The next national election is due by 2025, unless Kishida calls for a snap election. Kishida revealed a new national security plan in mid-December and has pledged to double defence outlay to 2% of Japan's GDP by 2027.
[1/2] Japan's Reconstruction Minister Kenya Akiba visits at Yasukuni Shrine on the 77th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War Two, in Tokyo, Japan August 15, 2022. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Japanese reconstruction minister Kenya Akiba tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday, becoming the fourth minister to leave the cabinet created by Kishida in August. Three other ministers have quit in close succession due to scandals, some involving funding and ties with the Unification Church. "It was a difficult decision to make, but I tendered my resignation to the prime minister as I felt I must not hamper the debates in parliament," he added. Akiba will be replaced by former reconstruction minister Hiromichi Watanabe, Kyodo News reported on Tuesday.
TOKYO, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is battling low approval ratings, will replace a government minister for the fourth time since he created his current cabinet in August, public broadcaster NHK reported on Monday. Discussions on a replacement for Kenya Akiba, minister responsible for overseeing the reconstruction of areas hit by Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, are still underway, the broadcaster said. NHK initially reported that Akiba will be replaced by former financial services agency minister Tatsuya Ito, but later corrected that report to say a successor has not been picked. That's all I can say," Kishida said on Monday when asked whether he planned to replace Akiba. Kishida also plans to replace Mio Sugita, his Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs, Kyodo reported on Monday citing multiple unidentified government sources.
TOKYO, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will replace reconstruction minister Kenya Akiba with former financial services agency minister Tatsuya Ito, public broadcaster NHK reported on Monday. Akiba would be the fourth minister to be let go from the cabinet of Kishida, whose approval ratings have remained low after the killing of former premier Shinzo Abe revealed close connections between ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and the church, which critics say is a cult. Reporting by Rocky Swift Editing by Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Japan lawmaker says TSMC is considering second plant in Japan
  + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
TOKYO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - A senior Japanese lawmaker said on Friday that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (2330.TW), the world's largest contract chip maker, is considering building a second plant in Japan in addition to an $8.6 billion dollar facility now under construction. "I believe TSMC is looking into further investments in Japan. TSMC said in an emailed statement that it did not rule out any possibility for Japan but there were no concrete plans at the moment. The Taiwanese company is building a chip plant in southern Japan, with Sony Group Corp (6758.T) and auto parts maker Denso Corp (6902.T) each taking a minority stake. "Technological innovation is fierce in the semiconductor industry," Seki said.
The draft annual tax-code revision seen by Reuters is expected to be approved by Kishida's cabinet on Friday. read moreUnder his flagship initiative aimed at redistributing income, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has sought to shift Japan's 2,000 trillion yen ($14.52 trillion) in household assets away from savings and into investment. As part of this initiative, the government will make permanent a programme that offers tax breaks for households' stock investments. "It will be implemented at "an appropriate time" from 2024 onwards," LDP tax panel head Yoichi Miyazawa told reporters on Thursday. Tobacco tax will be also raised in stages by 3 yen per cigarette, the draft showed.
Meeting Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi in Taipei on Friday, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said she expected greater defence cooperation with Japan. "Japan is making a late start, it is like we are 200 metres behind in a 400-metre sprint," he added. China defence spending overtook Japan's at the turn of the century, and now has a military budget more than four times larger. Japan says it wants ship-launched U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles made by Raytheon Technologies (RTX.N) to be part of its new deterrent force. To pay for the military build-up, Kishida's ruling bloc earlier on Friday said it will raise tobacco, corporate and disaster-reconstruction income taxes.
He has since given high-profile interviews to state media and on Monday appeared on stage at a political event as he joined an ultranationalist party. Viktor Bout on a plane in Abu Dhabi before departing for Russia on Thursday. Russian media also showed him walking off a plane in Moscow, where relatives waiting with flowers embraced him. AFP - Getty ImagesSince his return home, Bout has given a pair of interviews to Maria Butina on the state-run TV channel RT. Like Butina, who was elected to the State Duma last year, Bout spared no time kicking off a potential political career.
Dec 12 (Reuters) - Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer freed on Thursday after 14 years in U.S. custody in exchange for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, has joined the Kremlin-loyal ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), its leader said on Monday. In a video posted on Telegram, LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky, standing on a stage beside Bout, said: "I want to thank Viktor Anatolievich (Bout) for the decision he has made and welcome him into the ranks of the best political party in today's Russia." Despite its name, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) has since its founding in 1991 espoused a hardline, ultranationalist ideology, demanding Russia reconquer the countries of the former Soviet Union. Its founder and long-time leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky gained a reputation as a political showman for his outrageous stunts and eccentric behaviour before his death in April. It has a history of recruiting controversial personalities into Russian politics.
TAIPEI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Japan needs to increase its military spending in the face of the "grim reality" of the threat from China and North Korea, a senior member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party said on Sunday during a visit to Taiwan. Although Chinese-claimed and democratically-governed Taiwan and Japan do not have formal diplomatic ties, they have close unofficial relations and both share concerns about China, especially its increased military activities near the two. Hagiuda pointed to China's massive increase in military spending, as well as North Korean missile tests, as reasons for Japan to raise its defence budget. Japan hosts major U.S. military bases, including on Okinawa, a short flight from Taiwan, which would be crucial for any U.S. support during a Chinese attack. Addressing a think-tank in Taiwan last December, the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan and the United States could not stand by if China attacked Taiwan, and Beijing needs to understand this.
New Japan law targets Unification Church fundraising abuses
  + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com   time to read: +3 min
Hideyuki Teshigawara, general manager of reform promotion headquarters of the Japan branch of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, bows at the beginning of a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2022. Japan's parliament on Saturday enacted a law to restrict malicious donation solicitations by religious and other groups, which mainly targets the Unification Church, whose fundraising tactics and cozy ties with the governing party caused public outrage. A revised national security strategy, which is expected to be released later this month, would allow Japan to develop a preemptive strike capability and deploy long-range missiles. "Our ongoing project will involve a major change to our national security and finance policies," Kishida said. The suspect who fatally shot Abe at an outdoor campaign rally in July told police he targeted the former prime minister because of his links to the Unification Church.
[1/2] Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen gives a speech on National Day in Taipei, Taiwan, October 10, 2022. REUTERS/Ann WangTAIPEI, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen pledged on Saturday to deepen security cooperation with Japan to ensure freedom in the Indo-Pacific, during a meeting with a senior member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Meeting in the presidential office in Taipei, Tsai thanked Koichi Hagiuda, the LDP's policy chief, for Japan's support over issues like maintaining security in the sensitive Taiwan Strait. "We have seen in recent years Taiwan-Japan relations have become ever closer," she said. Japan has watched with growing concern China's belligerence towards Taiwan as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims over the island.
TOKYO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Japan should avoid rushing into raising capital gains tax as doing so could send a wrong message to markets when Japan is encouraging financial investment, a senior government official said on Sunday. "Strengthening taxation could send a wrong signal that runs counter to our aim of expanding investment," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara said in a programme on broadcaster FNN, referring to capital gains tax. The tax has been contentious since Prime Minister Fumio Kishida swept to power last year pledging to review what is seen an unfair tax that favours the rich earning hefty financial investment income. In Japan, differences between the income tax and capital gains tax rates causes what is known as the wall of 100 million yen, at which the effective tax rate on financial investment income starts to decline. "We must do what we should do regardless of whether there are funding sources or not," Kihara said.
TOKYO, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Japan, Britain and Italy will announce a groundbreaking agreement as early as next week to jointly develop a new advanced jet fighter, two sources with knowledge of the plan told Reuters. The push to merge the British led Tempest jet fighter project with Japan's F-X fighter programme was first reported by Reuters in July. It will be the first time that Japan has collaborated with countries beyond the United States on a major defence equipment project. The announcement will come before Japan releases a new national security strategy and military procurement plan around mid December, the sources said. Reporting by Tim Kelly Editing by Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Japan PM Kishida's approval hits new low after ministers resign
  + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +1 min
TOKYO, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's public support slipped to a new low in a poll published on Sunday, as a series of cabinet resignations has compounded anger over the ruling party's ties to a controversial religious group. Support for Kishida's cabinet fell to 33.1% from 37.6% a month ago in the Kyodo news poll, his lowest in the agency's surveys since he took office in October 2021. Exacerbating the government's problems, scandals have forced three cabinet members from office since last month. The Kyodo poll found 62.4% of respondents disapproving of how Kishida had handled the resignations of Economic Revitalisation Minister Daishiro Yamagiwa, Justice Minister Yasuhiro Hanashi and Internal Affairs Minister Minoru Terada. Kishida's approval failed to get a boost from a $200 billion economic support package to ease inflationary pains fuelled by the yen's plunge to 32-year-lows.
Japan and Britain hope to agree by the end of the year to merge their next-generation Tempest and F-X fighter programmes, sources said in July. Those talks, aimed at a joint project to field a plane in the mid-2030s, remain on track, according to four other people familiar with the discussions. Japan ended a ban on military exports in 2014 in a bid to promote overseas sales. An export boom, however, failed to materialize because Japan only allowed sales of non-lethal gear such as surveillance and rescue equipment. LDP lawmakers, Onodera said, are also discussing a joint U.S-Japan command structure that could be formed for national emergencies.
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