Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is seeking to secure her grip on power in a national election on Sunday, with polls suggesting a big win for her conservative party. Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, could capture around 300 seats. (REUTERS) Here are some key developments to…
Japanese voters were casting ballots on Sunday in an election expected to hand Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi a resounding win, although record snowfall blanketing parts of the country could keep some voters at home. The conservative coalition of Takaichi, the nation’s first female leader, is predicted to win around 300 of the 465 seats in…
Japan’s representative to Hong Kong has said his consulate is making “steady progress” in developing ties with the city, while noting the absence of top local officials at a celebration of the emperor’s birthday amid tensions between Tokyo and Beijing. Jun Miura, the country’s consul general to the city, on Thursday expressed his thanks for…
Hong Kong travellers continue to favour Japan as a holiday destination despite ongoing geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Tokyo, thanks to unaffected flight routes and a weaker yen, local industry operators have said. Travel agencies also identified mainland China as the top destination for Hong Kong travel groups, as they gathered at an exhibition on…
BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday banned exports of dual-use goods that can serve military purposes to Japan, a move that comes at time of heightened tensions between the two countries over Taiwan, a self-ruled island Beijing claims as its sovereign territory. The Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement that exports of such items,…
Twice as many mainland Chinese visitors arrived in Hong Kong on New Year’s Day compared with the same day in 2025, with one lawmaker attributing the surge to a three-day holiday across the border this year. Alan Chan Chung-yee, a legislator and chief operating officer of Miramar Group, also said on Friday that deteriorating relations…
HONG KONG (AP) — The Chinese military said Monday said it was dispatching air, navy and rocket troops to conduct joint military drills around Taiwan, a move it called a “stern warning” against separatist and “external interference” forces. The drills came after Beijing expressed anger at U.S. arms sales to the territory and a st…
Japan’s cabinet has approved a record defence budget plan exceeding 9 trillion yen ($85.9 billion) for the coming year, aiming to fortify its strike-back capability and coastal defence with cruise missiles and unmanned arsenals amid rising regional tensions. The draft budget for fiscal 2026, beginning April, is up 9.4 per cent from 2025 and marks…
China’s military mouthpiece aimed its rhetoric at Japan’s space ambitions and its new intelligence unit on Thursday, accusing Tokyo of embarking on a space arms race and undermining regional security. The criticism in two articles in the PLA Daily is the latest salvo in a diplomatic dust-up over the past month that has involved near-daily…
TOKYO (AP) — Popular twin pandas at a Tokyo zoo are set to return to their homeland in China in late January, officials said Monday, leaving Japan without a panda for the first time in about half a century. Prospects for their replacement are not favorable either as ties between the two countries have deteriorated….