Kyodo News Digest: June 29, 2025
The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan's final H2A rocket successfully lifts off, ends 24-yr career
TANEGASHIMA, Japan - Japan successfully launched its 50th and final H2A liquid-fuel rocket from a southwestern Japan island on Sunday, drawing the curtain on the series' 24-year career in support of the country's space development program.
The H2A rocket, developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, has been replaced as the country's mainstay space vehicle by the H3 rocket, which offers a lower launch service price.
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Israel envoy to attend Nagasaki A-bomb ceremony after 2024 snub
TOKYO - Israel will attend the peace ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki in August, the country's ambassador has said, after the Middle Eastern nation was not invited last year.
Ambassador of Israel to Japan Gilad Cohen revealed he had received an invitation from the mayor of Nagasaki during a press conference Friday. He said he will show Israel's "respect to the Japanese people" and "mutual understanding of the importance of peace."
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PM Ishiba urges party to unite as crucial upper house vote looms
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday urged senior members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to come together to "continue the coalition government" with a crucial House of Councillors election just weeks away.
His calls come after the LDP saw its worst-ever result in a Tokyo assembly election amid persistent money scandals and voter drift to smaller parties. With the LDP and coalition partner the Komeito party a minority in the House of Representatives, losing the upper house could cost Ishiba his job and reshape the ruling bloc.
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Shinkansen train hits bear, services delayed in northeast Japan
SENDAI - A bullet train hit a bear on Saturday afternoon, causing delays to some services on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line in northeastern Japan, according to JR East.
The train, traveling north from Tokyo, came to a halt past Sendai Station at around 4 p.m. after the driver saw an animal and then heard an abnormal sound forcing him to apply the brakes, JR East said.
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Thai protesters urge PM to resign over call with ex-PM of Cambodia
BANGKOK - Thousands of Thai protesters gathered Saturday, urging Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to resign following a leaked phone conversation in which she appeared to appease former Cambodian leader Hun Sen following a border clash between the two nations last month.
The rally in Bangkok has put Paetongtarn under increasing pressure to step down after one of the parties in her coalition government criticized her remarks and left the alliance last week.
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Japan wrestling with U.S. tariff talks as July deadline looms
WASHINGTON - Japanese and U.S. tariff negotiators agreed Friday to continue talks in pursuit of a deal that will be beneficial to both countries, but significant differences apparently remain in areas such as Washington's treatment of its key Asian ally's automotive industry.
Japan's government said its top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick held talks in Washington, with each side reaffirming its position during "fruitful" discussions on trade expansion, nontariff measures and economic security cooperation.
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Ishiba, LDP may review cash handout plan to accommodate opposition
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a speech during a welcome reception of the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in Yokohama on Wednesday. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's government and his ruling party may revise plans to deliver cash handouts of 20,000 yen to every resident of Japan, senior officials said Thursday, as they must win opposition support after an election defeat. An option has emerged within the government and the Liberal Democratic Party to limit recipients to those most in need, such as children and low-income households, rather than distributing them across the board, according to the officials. The modification of the LDP's pledge for the July 20 House of Councillors election highlights the challenges the ruling coalition faces in advancing its policy agenda, as it now holds minorities in both chambers of parliament. Ishiba's grip on power has weakened significantly, with his party expected to decide in the coming weeks whether to hold a leadership race amid calls for him to resign following the dismal upper house election result. The government and the ruling bloc are likely to draw up a supplementary budget to fund the cash handout program during a parliamentary session this fall, through negotiations with opposition parties, the officials said. Inflation-relief measures were among the priority items for voters in the upper house election. The LDP focused on the cash handout plan, creating a sharp contrast with opposition forces that promised to either reduce or abolish the consumption tax. The LDP's current plan is to distribute 20,000 yen per person. On top of that, children and adults in low-income households exempt from resident tax would get an extra 20,000 yen, bringing their total to 40,000 yen each. Ishiba and the ruling coalition have been cornered into reconsidering their plan after the election, which some opposition lawmakers -- who are pushing to have their demands accepted -- say amounted to a "no" vote on the cash handout program. Yoshihiko Noda, who leads the main opposition force, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said cash handouts and tax cuts should come "as a package." The Japan Innovation Party has been gaining attention as the opposition force is seen working more closely with the ruling camp. But its chief, Hirofumi Yoshimura, has said the party will vote against an extra budget plan if it only delivers 20,000 yen in cash. Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, said a review of the cash handout plan is only "natural," given that many voters favor tax cuts. © KYODO
Japan Today
27 minutes ago
- Japan Today
S Korea's Lee intends to retain 'comfort women' pact with Japan: report
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a ceremony to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, in Seoul, South Korea, on Aug. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said he intended to stick to existing agreements with Japan tied to its colonial rule of the Korean peninsula, including one on the treatment of Korean women forced to work in its military brothels. The legacy of Japan's colonization from 1910 to 1945 is politically sensitive for both countries, with many surviving "comfort women", a Japanese euphemism for the sex abuse victims, still demanding Tokyo's formal apology and compensation. Lee, whose liberal Democratic Party has opposed the deal, made the comments in an interview with Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper published on Thursday ahead of his Tokyo summit this week with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. "For South Korean people, that agreement by the previous administration is very difficult to accept, but it is a promise as a nation, so it is undesirable to overturn it," Lee told the paper, referring to the 2015 pact. In that agreement, struck with South Korea's then-conservative government, Japan apologized to the victims and gave 1 billion yen ($6.8 million) to a fund to help them. The governments agreed the issue would be "irreversibly resolved" if both fulfilled their obligations. The issues around comfort women and forced labor during wartime have regularly been a source of friction between Japan and neighbors South Korea and China. Lee said the victims were a "heartbreaking issue" for South Koreans and urged Japan to acknowledge the truth and continue to talk to them, the paper added. Japan was a "very important country" and he wanted to strengthen economic and security ties with Tokyo, Lee said, as he reiterated the importance of three-way ties with Japan and the United States, the paper said. After the Tokyo summit, Lee will head to Washington to meet U.S. President Donald Trump. Lee's interview touched on security issues, particularly the shared concern with Japan over the nuclear and missile programs of their neighbor North Korea. Both countries have stepped up security cooperation with key ally the United States in recent years to counter North Korea's threats. Lee said his administration would lay the groundwork to ultimately dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program, through talks with Pyongyang and close cooperation with Washington. "(Our) policy direction is the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Lee's office quoted him as saying in the interview. "Phase 1 is a freeze on nuclear weapons and missiles, Phase 2 is reduction, and Phase 3 is denuclearization." North Korea has so far dismissed Lee's peace overtures as "gibberish" and a "pipe dream." © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Japan Today
27 minutes ago
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Africa could become 'renewable superpower,' says U.N. chief Guterres
Angolan President Joao Lourenco (L) greets U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (R) during the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama. Africa has everything it takes to become a "renewable superpower," U.N. head Antonio Guterres said Thursday, as he called for greater investment in green energy across the resource-rich continent. Guterres spoke at a three-day development conference in Japan attended by African leaders, where Tokyo is offering itself as an alternative to China as African nations reel from a debt crisis exacerbated by Western aid cuts, conflict and climate change. "We must mobilize finance and technology, so that Africa's natural wealth benefits African people, we must build a thriving renewables and manufacturing base across the continent," Guterres said at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). "Green power in Africa lowers energy costs, diversifies supply chains and accelerates decarbonization for everyone." China has invested heavily in Africa over the past decade, with its companies there signing deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars to finance shipping ports, railways, roads and other projects under Beijing's Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative. But new lending is drying up, and developing countries are grappling with a "tidal wave" of debt to both China and international private creditors, the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, said in May. African countries have also seen Western aid slashed, in particular due to President Donald Trump's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Guterres warned in his speech in the Japanese port city of Yokohama that "debt must not drown development" and that Africa needed increased concessional finance and greater lending capacity from multilateral development banks. He also urged greater investment in climate solutions. "Africa has everything it takes to become a renewable superpower, from solar and wind to the critical minerals that power new technology," he said. Attendees at TICAD included Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Kenyan President William Ruto. Ruto said on social media platform X that Kenya was in talks with Japanese automaker Toyota for the provision of 5,000 "e-mobility vehicles" as part of the country's "commitment to clean energy." In his opening address at the forum on Wednesday, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced a plan to train 30,000 people in artificial intelligence in Africa over three years and to study the idea of a Japan-Africa Economic Partnership. Before the meeting kicked off, Ishiba also announced a vision for a distribution network that links African and Indian Ocean nations. Both Tinubu and Ramaphosa, speaking on X, said they wanted a shift from aid to investment partnerships. © 2025 AFP
