• Explosion at U.S. base on Okinawa injures 4 Japanese soldiers

    Explosion at U.S. base on Okinawa injures 4 Japanese soldiers

    Jun 09, 2025 06:43 PM EDT

    TOKYO (AP) — An explosion at a storage site for unexploded ordnance at a U.S. military base on Japan's southern island of Okinawa injured four Japanese soldiers, though the injuries are not life-threatening, officials said Monday. The four soldiers sustained finger injuries while working at a facility that ...

  • Japanese private lunar lander falls silent while attempting moon touchdown

    Japanese private lunar lander falls silent while attempting moon touchdown

    Jun 05, 2025 08:15 PM EDT

    ... decades, governments competed to get to the moon. Only five countries have pulled off successful robotic lunar landings: Russia, the U.S., China, India and Japan. Of those, only the U.S. has landed people on the moon: 12 NASA astronauts from 1969 through 1972. NASA expects to send four ...

  • South Korea's new president vows to pursue talks with North Korea and bolster ties with U.S., Japan

    South Korea's new president vows to pursue talks with North Korea and bolster ties with U.S., Japan

    Jun 04, 2025 02:16 PM EDT

    President Lee Jae-myung said he'll pursue pragmatic diplomacy and boost a trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation based on the South Korea-U.S. alliance. Lee won a snap election Tuesday for a five-year term.

  • Japanese American veteran built bridges between cultures after WWII

    Japanese American veteran built bridges between cultures after WWII

    May 26, 2025 10:30 PM EDT

    On this Memorial Day, we turn to the life and legacy of Yukio Kawamoto. The Japanese-American World War II veteran served his country under almost unthinkable circumstances and then spent a lifetime building bridges between the two cultures he called his own. Amna Nawaz has the story for our ongoing series, Race Matters.

  • During meetings in Japan, WTO chief says global trade is facing a crisis

    During meetings in Japan, WTO chief says global trade is facing a crisis

    May 13, 2025 05:57 PM EDT

    ... take advantage of new trends in trade.” Japan, as “a champion of the multilateral trading system” must help maintain, strengthen and reform the WTO, the Japanese Foreign Ministry cited her as saying. Later Tuesday, the WTO chief met with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and issued a joint statement, saying ...

  • Trump to join his top economic advisers for trade negotiations with Japan at the White House

    Trump to join his top economic advisers for trade negotiations with Japan at the White House

    Apr 16, 2025 02:42 PM EDT

    ... a relationship of trust with them. “I believe we can have good talks toward a win-win relationship that will serve national interest for both Japan and the United States,” he said. Japan has contended that Trump's tariff measures are likely to violate bilateral trade agreements or World Trade ...

  • Japan's chief trade negotiator to visit Washington for tariff talks this week

    Japan's chief trade negotiator to visit Washington for tariff talks this week

    Apr 15, 2025 03:58 PM EDT

    ... tariff measures, Hayashi said. "The government will tackle the challenge and work as one so that we can resolve the issue as soon as possible." Japan is among the first countries to start negotiations with the U.S. "I will carefully think what will best serve Japan's national interest ...

  • Court in Japan orders dissolution of Unification Church

    Court in Japan orders dissolution of Unification Church

    Mar 25, 2025 06:10 PM EDT

    ... the problem has lessened since the group stepped up compliance in 2009. Experts say Japanese followers are asked to pay for sins committed by their ancestors during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, and that the majority of the church’s worldwide funding comes from Japan.

  • Wildfires in Japan force residents to evacuate homes in mountains

    Wildfires in Japan force residents to evacuate homes in mountains

    Mar 24, 2025 05:33 PM EDT

    TOKYO (AP) — Wildfires have hit several regions in western Japan, injuring at least two people, forcing dozens of residents to evacuate and damaging a number of homes as hundreds of firefighters battled the widening blazes in the mountainous areas. The fires in the western towns of Okayama, Imabari and Aso ...

  • WATCH: Trump talks trade with Japan's prime minister

    WATCH: Trump talks trade with Japan's prime minister

    Feb 07, 2025 10:00 PM EDT

    ... think Prime Minister Ishiba certainly sees this is an important and critical opportunity for him to reestablish what were exceptional bonds between President Trump and Japan in the first Trump administration,” said Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Tennessee Republican who served as Trump's ambassador to Japan during his first administration ...