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TOKYO (AP) — Japan's leader will likely seek reassurances that President-elect Donald Trump remains committed to the U.S.-Japan security alliance when the two meet in New York on Thursday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to meet the incoming president on Thursday. It will be Trump's first meeting with a world leader since his election last week. Statements made by Trump during the campaign have caused consternation in many world capitals, including Tokyo. Trump said he would demand that allies such as Japan and South Korea contribute more to the cost of basing U.S. troops in their countries.

A woman with revisionist views of World War II history was named Japan’s defense minister in a Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, a move that could unsettle relations with Asian neighbors with bitter memories of wartime atrocities. Tomomi Inada, who had served as reform minister and most recently held one of the top posts in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, will replace Gen Nakatani as defense minister. She’s the second female to fill the post. […] Inada, a lawyer-turned-lawmaker and one of Abe’s favorite cronies, is a regular at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which honors war dead including convicted war criminals, a...

An influential political lobby in Japan will do its utmost to capitalize on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s election victory and push for the constitution to be revised to allow a more active military, the group’s chairman said Wednesday. […] Tadae Takubo, chairman of Nippon Kaigi, or Japan Conference, said the war-renouncing constitution that makes Japan’s defense “defective” needs to be corrected. […] Founded in 1997, Nippon Kaigi has strived to revise the constitution to restore traditional gender roles, increase imperial worshiping and put public interest before individuals. The group is believed to be behind Abe’s comeback in 2012 and has...

In Japan's Upper House election, NHK projects Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's governing coalition will reach and could surpass the benchmark he set before the election, a majority of the contested seats or 61. NHK's decision desk also says the governing coalition, and 2 smaller parties in favor of changing the Constitution may reach a key number. The main ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its partner Komeito are projected to walk away with between 67 and 76 seats. That, combined with their uncontested seats, would mean they keep their majority in the chamber as a whole. NHK decision desk is also...

Donald Trump would consider allowing Japan and South Korea to build their own nuclear arsenals instead of depending on the U.S. for their protection against North Korea and China, he said in an interview with The New York Times published Saturday. “There’ll be a point at which we’re just not going to be able to do it anymore,” Trump said, pointing at what he calls a “severely depleted” military. “We have nuclear arsenals which are in very terrible shape,” he said. “They don’t even know if they work.” “If the United States keeps on its path, its current path of...

Japan will build India's first bullet train under a sweeping tally of agreements made following talks in New Delhi Saturday, deepening a partnership Prime Minister Narendra Modi said would "shape the course of Asia". The Indian premier spoke warmly of his friendship with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the power of their political alliance, after agreeing deals on the $15 bn high-speed train, defence technology and civil nuclear cooperation. Both Modi and Abe are right-wing nationalists and economic reformers who have forged an unusually close relationship since the Indian leader came to power last year, partly to counter China's...

A Japanese parliamentary committee approved legislation that would expand the role of Japan’s military Wednesday after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc forced the vote in the face of vocal protests from opposition lawmakers and citizens. Opposition lawmakers tried to stop the committee vote as hundreds of citizens protested outside. The unpopular legislation was crafted after Abe’s Cabinet adopted a new security policy last year that reinterpreted a part of Japan’s post-World War II constitution that only permitted the nation’s military to use force for its self-defense. The bills in question would allow Japan to also defend aggression against its...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered condolences Wednesday for Americans killed in World War II in the first address by a Japanese leader to a joint meeting of Congress, but stopped short of apologizing for wartime atrocities. Abe came to Capitol Hill after a morning visit to a Washington memorial to more than 400,000 American service members who died in the conflict. His remarks to a packed chamber a day after meeting President Barack Obama were warmly received by lawmakers. "My dear friends, on behalf of Japan and the Japanese people, I offer with profound respect my eternal...

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sidestepped a question on whether he would apologize for the sexual enslavement of women by Japan’s army during World War II. Abe instead said he was “deeply pained” by the suffering of “comfort women.” He was using a euphemism for tens of thousands of Asian women who were forced to serve Japanese troops. …

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will address a joint meeting of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on April 29, becoming the first Japanese leader to do so. Abe will spend eight days on a state visit expected to focus on joint responses to growing Chinese assertiveness in Asia, including his moves to loosen restraints on Japan's pacifist postwar constitution. In announcing the invitation to the Japanese leader, U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner said Abe's speech would be an opportunity for Americans to hear from a close ally about ways to expand cooperation on economic and security...

A visibly upset Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to "never forgive terrorists" after the Islamic State (ISIS) released a video purportedly showing the beheading of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto. "I am extremely angry about these heinous and despicable terrorist acts. We will never forgive terrorists," Abe told reporters in Tokyo on Sunday morning (local time), according to the AFP news agency. "We will cooperate with the international community to make them atone for their crimes," he declared. The ISIS claim was made in a video released online that included no mention of a Jordanian pilot also being held...

Japan's Prime Minister vowed Tuesday to save the lives of two Japanese hostages, one a freelance journalist and the other a soldier for hire, threatened with beheading in an online video purportedly released by the Islamic State terror group. In the video, identified as being made by the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm and posted on militant websites associated with the extremist group, a militant threatened to kill the men unless a $200 million ransom was paid within 72 hours. If confirmed to be from Islamic State, better known as ISIS, the video would mark the first public demand...

China’s central bank unexpectedly slashed interest rates on Friday to re-energize the world’s No. 2 economy, joining a growing list of major economies that are trying to encourage growth in the face of a global slowdown. On top of the rate cut, Chinese authorities promised to inject credit into the financial system if needed. Meanwhile, the president of the European Central Bank said Friday he was ready to step up stimulus for the 18-country eurozone economy, whose performance continues to disappoint. And Japan’s government this week delayed a tax increase after the country slipped back into recession. News of China’s...

Japan reported Monday that its economy contracted at a real annual rate of 1.6 percent in July-September, in a second straight quarterly decline that returned the country to recession. A 24.1 percent plunge in private residential investment from a year earlier failed to offset a modest recovery in exports and a 1.5 percent increase in household spending. Most economists had forecast that the world’s third-biggest economy would expand at about a 2 percent pace. The negative growth figure was much lower than expected and makes it very likely Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will delay implementation of a sales tax hike...

Japan’s trade and justice ministers resigned Monday after accusations they misused campaign funds in the biggest setback so far for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s conservative administration. The two ministers were among five women Abe named to his Cabinet in a reshuffle early last month. Their resignations may help to control the damage to his relatively high popularity ratings, but are a blow to efforts to promote women in politics and business as part of economic revival policies. […] Two other female Cabinet members known as Abe’s close allies on the right have been criticized for suspected ties with racist groups....

Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has signalled a rare attempt to mend fences with China when he appointed two MPs considered friendly towards Beijing to two senior posts in his governing Liberal Democratic party (LDP). […] In his first cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, Abe also increased the number of female ministers to five—equaling a record set by his LDP predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, in 2001—as part of his program to increase the number of women in the workforce, a key part of his long-term growth strategy. His decision to appoint Sadakazu Tanigaki as LDP’s secretary general, and veteran MP Toshihiro Nikai...

Japan said on Wednesday that Tokyo would “strongly protest” against Russia’s military exercises on disputed Pacific islands also claimed by Japan, a row over which has strained relations between the two nations since the end of World War Two. The exercises on the islands are a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to court resource-rich Russia and keep the door open to dialogue with Moscow, despite the Ukraine crisis. The dispute over the islands, which Russia seized from Japan in the waning days of World War Two, has also prevented the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty....

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a decision to reinterpret the Japanese constitution, allowing Tokyo to militarily support partners that are under attack.

Postwar constitution bans use of force in international disputes, which Shinzo Abe says inhibits country's ability to protect itself. Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is to defy public opinion and announce a dramatic shift in the country's defence policy that would make it easier for its troops to fight in overseas conflicts. Abe's cabinet is expected to adopt a resolution on Tuesday that would end Japan's long-standing ban on exercising collective self-defence, or coming to the aid of an ally under attack even if Japan itself is not threatened. Japan's postwar constitution prohibits the use of force to settle international...

Japan marked the 67th anniversary of its postwar constitution Saturday with growing debate over whether to revise the war-renouncing charter in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push for an expanded role for the military. The ruling conservative party has long advocated revision but been unable to sway public opinion. Now Abe is proposing that the government reinterpret the constitution to give the military more prominence without having to win public approval for the revisions. …