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Japan denies friction with US by Kyoko Hasegawa Mon Nov 2, 1:57 am ET TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's centre-left government on Monday denied US ties were being strained by a row over an American airbase, amid confusion over whether its foreign minister will travel to Washington this week. The US State Department on Saturday said Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada would meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday, but within hours dropped mention of the meeting from Clinton's schedule. In Japan, media reports suggested Okada was still seeking a meeting late this week, ahead of a Tokyo visit...

Japan's new First Lady Miyuki Hatoyama: 'I went to Venus in a UFO' Richard Lloyd Parry in Tokyo Japan’s new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, faces formidable foreign policy challenges in dealing with an expansionist China, a nuclear armed North Korea and a sinister Russia. But he need have no concerns about establishing friendly relations with the planet Venus — his own wife is a friend of the Venusians, having travelled there in a UFO in the 1970s. The distinctions of 66-year-old Miyuki Hatoyama do not end there. As well a being a musical actress, cookery writer, clothesmaker and television personality,...