Biden says US 'pivot' to Asia cannot be derailedUS Vice President Joe Biden said Friday there should be no doubt about US commitment to its strategic shift to Asia as he started the final leg of a regional tour dominated by security concerns.
06 December 2013
Japan, SE Asia in talks to expand currency swapJapan and Southeast Asian countries are in talks over expanding currency swap arrangements to help cushion their economies in financial emergencies, an official said Thursday, ahead of a Japan-ASEAN summit next week.
06 December 2013
Tokyo to launch $53.8 bn stimulus packageTokyo will announce a spending package worth almost $54 billion on Thursday, media reports said, in a bid to offset a tax hike that comes into effect next year and which critics fear will derail Japan's economic recovery.
05 December 2013
Japan Tobacco and Philip Morris buy 40% of Russian distributorJapan Tobacco (JT) and Philip Morris will each buy a 20 percent stake in Russian distributor Megapolis for a total of more than $1.5 billion, as the rivals move to tap the world's second-biggest cigarette market.
Biden calls for tough choice to strike Pacific trade dealThousands of ageing farmers took to the streets of Tokyo Tuesday, underscoring opposition in Japan to an ambitious free trade deal, as US Vice President Joe Biden called on countries to make "tough choices".
Japan director turns to crowdfunding for anti-nuclear filmJapanese film director Takafumi Ota had a problem. He needed studio financing for a film that was harshly critical of the nuclear industry in the aftermath of Fukushima, but no one was interested in funding his project the traditional way.
01 December 2013
Japan's top drugmaker appoints first foreign bossJapan's top drugmaker said Saturday it had picked a GlaxoSmithKline executive as its next president in a rare example of overseas head-hunting by a major Japanese firm.
01 December 2013
Japan 'human zoo' defamed indigenous Taiwanese: courtA Japanese court has ordered public broadcaster NHK to pay $10,000 in damages to an indigenous Taiwanese woman for defaming her by using the term "human zoo" in a programme, officials said Friday.
29 November 2013
China media urges countermeasures against Japan planesChina's state media called Friday for "timely countermeasures without hesitation" if Japan violates the country's newly declared air zone, after Beijing sent fighter jets to patrol the area following defiant military overflights by Tokyo.
29 November 2013
Japan's Abe appoints first ever female PM aideJapan's Shinzo Abe on Friday named the country's first ever female aide to the prime minister, just weeks after Caroline Kennedy arrived as the first woman US ambassador to Tokyo.
29 November 2013
Japanese switched at birth would like to 'roll back clock'A 60-year-old Japanese man switched at birth says he would like to "roll back the clock", days after winning a lawsuit against the hospital that mistakenly cast him into a life of poverty.
Tamagotchi virtual pets to return to Europe, N. AmericaTamagotchi, the egg-shaped virtual pet beloved of schoolchildren in the 1990s, is making a comeback and is set to hit the shelves of European shops in time for Christmas.
28 November 2013
China 'monitored' US B-52 air zone flights: ministryChina "monitored" US B-52 bomber flights in its newly-declared air defence identification zone, the defence ministry said Wednesday, in an assertion of its authority that stopped short of threatening direct action.
27 November 2013
Japan's Panasonic to sell chip plants to Israeli firm: reportJapan's Panasonic is nearing a deal to sell three domestic semiconductor plants to an Israeli company as it presses ahead with a move to cut money-losing operations, a report said Wednesday.
27 November 2013
Japanese airlines say will obey China's air zone rulesJapanese airlines on Tuesday said they would follow rules set by China when it declared an air control zone over the East China Sea, even as Tokyo said they should ignore them.
26 November 2013
China creates air defence zone over Japan-controlled islandsBeijing on Saturday announced it was setting up an "air defence identification zone" over an area that includes islands controlled by Japan but claimed by China, in a move that could inflame the bitter territorial row.