“Japan and China will hold their first security talks in more than four years later this month (March 19), a sign of a further thaw in relations that have been badly strained in recent years due to disputes over maritime…
Interview of Professor Ziegler with JBC, Feb. 17, 2015: “Next thing I know, I’m sitting in my office just like you and I are sitting here today — the door’s open, I have office hours. I was eating lunch. In pops…
“Ban Zhongyi, a Chinese journalist living in Japan, still remembers the shock he felt when he first heard the testimonies of former Chinese “comfort women” at a rally in Tokyo in 1992.”
“Japan on Wednesday lodged a protest with China over the launch of English and Japanese versions of a Chinese government website asserting Beijing’s claim to the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
“Thousand-dollar rice cookers and toilet seats that know when you enter the room. That’s what visitors to Japan from China have been buying at Laox Co., sending the Tokyo-based duty-free store chain to its first profit in 14 years and its…
Kayoko Kimura: “Why do so few people in Japan make the link between the wider issue of sexual violence in conflict and the comfort women?… As the 70th anniversary of the end of the war approaches, Japan needs to be reminded that…
“China will publish historical records of Japan’s past militarism as part of its commemoration this year of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, a senior official has said. Yu Zhengsheng, the fourth-highest ranking member of the…
“Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen and his research team have found the wreckage of a massive Japanese World War II battleship off the Philippines near where it sank more than 70 years ago, he said Wednesday. The apparent discovery of…
“Washington said on Monday that there has been no change in U.S. policy, part of an attempt to rectify controversial remarks made by an American diplomat that seemed to position the United States with Japan on historical issues with its…
Fr William Grimm on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan and how the Church’s pacifist messages can start reaching a wider audience -and make an actual difference: “Church communications require substance and relevance to be effective”
Michael Cucek: “…If, after the deployment of all the experience and knowledge of the commission, Abe fails to hit the expected notes and to transcend the Murayama Statement, the letdown felt by those governments, and the damage done to Japan’s…
“The Japanese government has tried to mislead the public by denying involvement in any acts of wartime aggression, former Russian ambassador to Japan told Xinhua in a recent interview.”
“President Park Geun-hye of South Korea urged Japan on Sunday to have the “courage and honesty” to admit to its historical wrongdoings against Koreans and other Asians, including its enslavement of Korean women in military brothels during World War II… Ms. Park…
“China’s civil affairs minister will attend a United Nations-sponsored meeting on disaster risks in Japan next month, making him the first minister from Beijing to visit Japan in three years.”
Or How Even Toilet Seats Get Dragged Into Politics… “The built-in bottom washers and pre-warmed seats of Japan’s luxury toilets faced a storm in a U-bend on Thursday as Chinese state-run media launched a thunderous tirade against them… There were calls…
“History textbooks in Korea and Japan are still riddled with inaccuracies in their descriptions of Korea’s March 1 Independence Movement 96 years ago, the catalysis of Korea’s fight against Japan’s colonial rule (1910-1945)…”
“A top U.S. diplomat expressed hope Friday that an upcoming meeting of the foreign ministers of Japan, South Korea and China could lead to their first trilateral summit despite icy relations in the region.”
“Amnesty International has slammed Japan for its handling of ethnic minorities, for levels of violence against women, and for curbing transparency through a recently imposed secrecy law…”
Analysis by Stratfor Enterprises, LLC, of the evolution of postwar Japan’s intelligence apparatus.
“Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will likely attend a summit meeting in Jakarta to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference, also known as the Bandung Conference, government sources said.”
“Japanese parliamentarian Toshihiro Nikai will bring a 3,000-strong delegation to China in late May this year, Nikai told a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, according to Japanese media. Veteran lawmaker Nikai, 75, is a top executive in Prime Minister Shinzo…
“China and Japan should learn from European countries in reaching out to settle their disputes over wartime grievances, according to German ambassador to China, Michael Clauss, as Beijing prepares to commemorate the end of the second world war later this…
“A national public opinion survey conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II revealed that most respondents held positive views about postwar Japan, with about 80 percent saying Japan had taken…
“Yohei Kono, 78, a former deputy prime minister who retired from politics in 2009, said that when Mr. Abe commemorates the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, he should repeat past expressions of remorse over Japan’s wartime…