Apr 06 Hagel delivers destroyers to Japan and a strong warning to North Korea and China By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press TOKYO -- U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a two-pronged warning to Asia Pacific nations Sunday, announcing that the U.S. will send two additional ballistic missile destroyers to Japan to counter the North Korean threat, and saying China must better… Continue reading
Mar 31 UN court orders Japan to stop whaling program By Ariel Min Japan has been ordered to immediately halt whaling off Antarctica, after the United Nations’ International Court of Justice voted on Monday, 12 to 4, against Japan’s JARPA II special permits, which are issued for scientific research. Continue reading
Mar 27 Watch Architect with humanitarian focus wins top architecture prize By PBS News Hour This year’s recipient of architecture’s top award — the Pritzker Prize — has designed innovative structures for people suffering from hardship and disaster for more than 20 years. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban helps his profession focus more on serving those… Continue watching
Mar 27 Japanese Court awards retrial for world’s longest-serving death row inmate By Ariel Min Video by The Washington Post A Japanese court Thursday ordered the release and retrial of a prisoner who has been serving on death row for more than 45 years -- the longest-serving death row inmate in the world. Out of… Continue reading
Mar 24 Watch Japan surrenders part of its nuclear stockpile for disposal By PBS News Hour Japan said it would relinquish a large cache of weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium -- enough to build dozens of nuclear weapons -- to the U.S. for disposal, just as a nuclear security summit opens at The Hague. Gwen… Continue watching
Mar 24 Japan to turn over large nuclear stockpile to the U.S. By Mari Yamaguchi & Julie Pace, Associated Press Japan plans to turn over to the United States more than 700 pounds of weapons grade plutonium and a supply of highly-enriched uranium, a victory for President Barack Obama's efforts to secure nuclear materials around the world. Continue reading
Mar 13 Watch Japan considers energy future after Fukushima By PBS News Hour A disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 11, 2011, has greatly affected how Japanese citizens feel about that energy source. Polls suggest that 80 percent of voters now oppose nuclear power in Japan. But walking away… Continue watching
Mar 05 Watch Fishing for data in the radioactive waters off Fukushima By PBS News Hour With help from fisherman and citizen scientists, researchers in Japan and the U.S. are tracking the nucleotides in the ocean creatures who swim in the plume of water tainted with radiation from Fukushima. Their research is part of a long-term… Continue watching
Mar 05 China plans to boost defense spending by 12 percent By Andy Swab The Chinese government announced Wednesday that their defense budget will increase by 12.2 percent, nearly 808 billion yuan, for the 2014 fiscal year. In U.S. dollars, China will be boosting its defense budget from $117 billion to approximately $132 billion,… Continue reading
Mar 05 U.S. ‘not at all concerned’ by Japan’s nuclear stockpiles By Jaywon Choe The United States says it has no reason to be concerned by Japan’s stockpile of weapons-grade plutonium, even as China voices strong objections to the nuclear reserve. Responding to questions from reporters, Joseph Macmanus, the U.S. ambassador to the United… Continue reading