japan

Japan Poised For First Female Leader Amid Party Strife

Japan Poised For First Female Leader Amid Party Strife

Sanae Takaichi has been elected leader of Japan’s ruling conservative party, placing the 64-year-old on track to become the nation’s first female prime minister. Known for her strong right-wing views, Takaichi is a former government minister, TV host, and heavy metal drummer—a mix that has made her one of Japan’s most recognizable and polarizing political figures.

She now faces the dual challenge of reviving a struggling economy and addressing the pressures of households grappling with inflation and stagnant wages, while navigating complex international relationships, including pending trade arrangements with the United States.

Takaichi inherits a party fractured by scandal and …

Japan PM Ishiba Resigns Following Election Setbacks

Japan PM Ishiba Resigns Following Election Setbacks

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishib announced his resignation on Sunday, less than a year after taking office, following two bruising election defeats that cost his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) its long-held dominance.

The decision comes a day before the LDP was due to meet to consider a leadership vote that could have forced him out. Instead, Ishiba pre-empted the challenge by stepping aside, saying the timing was right after securing a trade deal with Washington.

“Now that a conclusion has been reached in the negotiations concerning the US tariff measures, I believe this is precisely the appropriate time,” the 68-year-old …

North Korea's Nuclear Program What Is Kim Up To

North Korea’s Nuclear Program: What Is Kim Up To?

Over the years, moments of tension with North Korea have always come and gone, but a cursory look at the situation right now on the Korean peninsula would show that the situation is the most volatile it has ever been in the past decade, with signs that things could deteriorate even further. The question that has been on everyone’s lips is, ‘what is Kim Jong-un up to?’ The answer to this question isn’t as farfetched as you might imagine. In fact, it is relatively straightforward.

Anytime North Korea appears to go on a missile test, the rest of the world …

Fresh Worry As North Korea Fires Suspected Rocket Launchers

North Korea Shoots Ballistic Missiles Over Japan

North Korea in another controversial move has reportedly fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in about five years which has also prompting Tokyo to activate its missile alert system and issue a rare warning for residents to take shelter.

The latest launch which the United States has branded as “reckless and dangerous” — comes in a record year of sanctions-busting weapons tests by North Korea, which had recently revised its laws to declare itself an “irreversible” nuclear power.

Read Also: North Korea Fires Warning As US, South Korea Commence Drills

The last time that the  Pyongyang …

Japan Demands Africa's Seat On The UN Security Council

Japan Demands Africa’s Seat On The UN Security Council

Japan has pledged to employ its position on the Security Council of the international organisation to advocate for an African seat at the UN—saying that the African country has been mistreated even up till now.

‘Japan reiterates its determination to redress the historical injustice against Africa of not being represented through a permanent membership on the Security Council,’ Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Tunis, Tunisia on Sunday.’

‘In order for the UN to work effectively for peace and stability, there is an urgent need to strengthen the UN as a whole …

US House Speaker Pelosi Arrives Japan Following Taiwan Trip

US House Speaker Pelosi Arrives Japan Following Taiwan Trip

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, arrived in Japan for the final stop on her Asian tour, following a visit to Taiwan that has infuriated China.

In footage obtained by Africa Daily News, New York the politician was seen disembarking from her plane at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, before greeting the US ambassador and other officials with hugs and handshakes.

In an apparent reaction, Beijing had on Wednesday launched large-scale military drills in the waters around Taiwan after Pelosi this week became the highest-profile elected US official to set foot on the self-ruled …

Virus Blow For Japan's Sumo As Wrestler Tests Positive

Virus Blow For Japan’s Sumo As Wrestler Tests Positive

Japan’s sumo association on Friday confirmed its first coronavirus case, in a new blow for the ancient sport, which has already been forced to move one tournament behind closed doors and postpone others.One low-ranking wrestler who had a fever last week has tested positive for the virus, the association said, declining to name the man or give details of his stable.

The association said no other wrestlers or officials had symptoms and those who belong to the infected wrestler’s stable will stay home or at the stable and follow advice from health officials.

The outbreak in Japan has been …

Coronavirus Doctor's Note- Can You Catch Coronavirus Twice

Doctor’s Note: Can You Catch Coronavirus Twice?

There are fears that it may be possible to catch the coronavirus more than once, after a woman in her 40s in Osaka, Japan, tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time at the end of February. Studies and research are still going on to determine if this may be the case. So far, we do not have a definitive conclusion.

Before understanding whether or not the coronavirus can be caught twice, it is worth knowing how we build immunity to a virus in the first place.

When a pathogen (a foreign infection such as a virus or bacteria) enters

IOC Set For Crisis Talks As Fears Grow For Tokyo Olympics

IOC Set For Crisis Talks As Fears Grow For Tokyo Olympics

The International Olympic Committee will hold high-level talks on Tuesday, as doubts grow over the Tokyo Games and with some in Japan urging officials not to risk lives by pressing ahead during the coronavirus emergency.

While countries across Europe have gone into full lockdown after the continent was declared the new epicentre of the deadly virus by the World Health Organization, no decision is expected yet on a possible postponement, or indeed cancellation, of this summer’s Olympics.

The IOC’s executive board will meet via conference call to prepare an “information exchange” ahead of a series of talks with athletes’ representatives, …

North Korea Fires Projectiles For Second Time In Week

North Korea Fires Projectiles For Second Time In Week

Nuclear-armed North Korea on Monday fired what Japan said appeared to be ballistic missiles, the second such weapons test in a week amid a prolonged hiatus in disarmament talks with the United States.

Analysts say the North has been continuing to refine its weapons capabilities in the more than a year since a summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump broke down in Hanoi.

Pyongyang is under multiple sets of sanctions over its weapons programmes from the United Nations Security Council, US, South Korea and others.

The North “appeared to have carried out joint firing drills involving …

Aba - Generating Billions, Groaning Under Decay

Aba: Generating Billions, Groaning Under Decay

Aba, popularly known as Enyimba City, the commercial city of Abia State and industrial hub of the entire South-East and Nigeria, is variously described as the Japan of Africa. But despite the commercial activities in the city, which rakes in millions of naira on a daily basis, the state of infrastructure in the God’s Own State is very poor, to put it mildly.

It is no longer news that almost all kinds of commodities, including shoes, bags, leather wears, clothing etc, are manufactured in Aba, just as there are many small and medium enterprises, and all kinds of engineering fabrication. …

Typhoon Hagibis killed more than 100 people and caused widespread flooding in October

Japan Suffers Worst Economic Slump In Five Years

Japan has suffered its worst quarterly GDP contraction in more than five years, with a tax hike and a deadly typhoon taking a toll on the world’s third-largest economy.

The nation’s gross domestic product in the three months to December shrank 1.6 percent from the previous quarter, even before the novel coronavirus outbreak in China hit Japan, according to official data published on Monday.

The quarter was marked by a rise in consumption tax from eight percent to 10 percent, as well as Typhoon Hagibis, which killed more than 100 people and caused widespread flooding.

Economists were braced for a …