Lithuanian President: More Defense Spending Needed; Nauseda Stresses Need for Greater Cooperation
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda stressed the need for increased defense capabilities in light of Russia's continued aggression in Ukraine, in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun on Tuesday.
'I think this is important to understand that those countries will never calm down, and they will try to escalate tension to create additional challenges,' he said of Russia and its ally Belarus.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is considering a proposal to raise each member's defense spending target to 5% of its gross domestic product by 2032, and Nauseda said Lithuania will surpass this target next year. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has been strongly urging European countries to increase their defense spending.
Nauseda noted that the risk of an attack by Russia is increasing.
'We have not so much time to prepare ourselves,' he said, adding that even European countries geographically distant from Ukraine should increase their defense spending as soon as possible.
Nauseda said that, as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran strengthen their ties, cooperation between Europe and Japan is becoming even more important.
'They are the threat to all of us, so we have to unite our forces in order to take those threats and to build the wall of resilience … In this geopolitical context, to stick together, it's even more important' than before, he said.
The Japanese government has announced that it will dispatch Defense Ministry officials to Lithuania's Regional Cyber Defense Centre (RCDC) starting later this month, which Nauseda called a 'very good example of our cooperation in this very important field.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Mainichi
an hour ago
- The Mainichi
Machine translator breaks barriers, improves mood at Kyoto Pref. plant with foreign workers
NAGAOKAKYO, Kyoto -- A factory in this west Japan city where more than half of its employees are foreigners has overcome the language barrier by utilizing a chat translator via smartphones and computers, transforming its work environment. The number of foreign workers in Kyoto Prefecture has surpassed 30,000, marking an all-time high. Amid this increase, the language barrier in workplaces has become a significant challenge. According to a national survey, nearly half of businesses cite "difficulty in communication" as their primary issue in employing foreign nationals. Factory where a majority are Vietnamese or Thai workers When this reporter visited the metal processing company Kobayashi Seisakusho in the city of Nagaokakyo, Kyoto Prefecture, in late May, a Thai employee was seen working while glancing at a computer screen. Instructions entered in Japanese by a Japanese colleague on a smartphone were instantly translated into Thai and displayed on the screen. On a Vietnamese employee's smartphone were Vietnamese messages sent to Japanese and Thai colleagues using a work group chat function on their smartphones. The messages, automatically translated into Japanese and Thai, respectively, appeared on the recipients' smartphone screens, facilitating smooth communication. Out of 110 employees at the company, 60 are Vietnamese or Thai. Many of them are technical intern trainees or specified skilled workers whose period of stay in Japan is allowed up to five years in total. Founded in 1955, Kobayashi Seisakusho has been handling the processing of various equipment, including automobile parts, through "high-mix, low-volume production." Initially, the workforce was predominantly Japanese, but as the business expanded, there was a shortage of employees. Despite recruitment efforts through the Hello Work public employment service and newspaper inserts, Japanese applicants dwindled. About a decade ago, the firm began hiring technical intern trainees, leading to an increase in foreign employees. Hiroaki Kobayashi, 46, the company president, appreciates the foreign employees' work ethic, stating, "Everyone is earnest and eager to learn the job." However, language differences had created a wall in communication. Initial struggles in communication There were repeated mistakes due to miscommunication with Japanese employees. Wrong work processes led to delays in delivery deadlines. "If workers cannot communicate smoothly -- such as making sure everyone knows what is urgent and which tasks to prioritize, it significantly impacts workflow," Kobayashi said. Some workers would say "yes" without actually understanding what their Japanese colleagues told them and others would not speak up on important matters due to a lack of Japanese language skills. This was the case not just with Japanese employees but also among foreign workers who spoke different native languages. Kobayashi considered introducing voice translation devices from one company but abandoned the idea as they could not be used unless face-to-face. Japanese employees resorted to communicate through gestures and distributing memos with simple Japanese to prevent the language barrier from affecting work or workplace rules. Amid these challenges, Kobayashi learned about the "Kaminashi Jugyoin" translation system for smartphones and computers at an exhibition held last year at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center. Developed by the Tokyo-based startup Kaminashi Inc., the system allows information and document exchanges among site managers, general affairs departments and employees to be completed through a single service. The translation supports about 20 languages with high accuracy. Voices and thoughts of employees become 'visible' In January this year, Kobayashi Seisakusho introduced this system to all employees' smartphones and workplace computers. When instructions, consultations or other messages are input in the native language of the smartphone owner, the others receive them translated into their native language, such as from Japanese to Vietnamese, Thai to Japanese, and Vietnamese to Thai. When the general affairs department shares information with all employees in Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai workers can understand it in their native languages. The system has led to employees actively communicating and reporting to each other, changing the workplace atmosphere. A 28-year-old Vietnamese worker in his fourth year at the company who is responsible for metal cutting among other tasks smiled and commented in simple Japanese, "I can now communicate with everyone. I understand instructions and reports, and I'm making progress with my tasks." His 29-year-old co-worker from Thailand said in his native language, "It's very convenient. If there is a problem or something I don't understand, I can contact others immediately. I can now ask questions I couldn't before." Although they work in different departments, the two have become friends who communicate and consult with each other via smartphones. Kobayashi said, "The various voices and thoughts of employees have become 'visible.' The workplace atmosphere has changed, leading to improved employee skills." He also explained that by overcoming the language barrier, the company's productivity has increased, and sales have grown. In Kyoto Prefecture, the manufacturing industry has the highest number of foreign workers, at about 9,400 as of the end of October 2024, accounting for 27% of the total. Kobayashi Seisakusho's initiative could become a model case for small- and medium-sized businesses accepting foreign workers. (Japanese original by Satoshi Kubo, Kyoto Bureau)
Asahi Shimbun
3 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Hopes and fears build as Junglia Okinawa's opening nears
Construction on Junglia Okinawa as seen from The Asahi Shimbun's corporate plane ahead of its July opening on May 3 in Nakijin, Okinawa Prefecture (Tatsuya Shimada) NAHA—With a hefty price tag totaling 70 billion yen ($483 million), Junglia Okinawa's roller coaster-esque journey is barreling toward another summit as the theme park's much-anticipated July 25 opening nears. The construction of a theme park in the northern part of the prefecture is a clear departure from Okinawa's state-led economic promotion measures after the prefecture reverted from U.S. to Japanese rule in 1972. Junglia is one of the southernmost prefecture's largest private-sector projects ever, but it is not the first. Sour memories are resurfacing in some residents who remember another tourism endeavor that backfired even as expectations rise for the new park. When finished, Junglia will operate in Yanbaru, the name for the main island's northern half in the region's dialect. The mountainous area is about 90 minutes from the prefectural capital by car. The park, which will reportedly offer more than 20 attractions, is replacing what was a roughly 60-hectare golf course stretching across Nago and Nakijin. A dinosaur-themed ride and hot air balloon experience are among the attractions with an onsite spa as well. FAILED UNIVERSAL STUDIOS PROJECT No major undertaking is ever free from complications. Before Junglia, the operator of Universal Studios Japan in Osaka announced it was opening a park in the northern part of Okinawa's main island 10 years ago. The central government strongly backed USJ LLC's project, with then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga saying a new theme park was the key component of the government's economic promotion measures for the prefecture. However, the project plans were withdrawn about a year later after USJ's management was reshuffled. Dreams of building a theme park in the area would lie dormant until 2018 when marketing firm Katana Inc. and other companies announced a new plan and set it in motion. The only remaining tie to USJ was Tsuyoshi Morioka, who played a key role in reviving Universal Studios Japan and went on to found Katana after going independent. PURPOSEFULLY LOCAL The local business community has high hopes for Junglia. Unlike other extensive projects, the park's operator Japan Entertainment Inc. is based in the prefecture and was specifically founded in June 2018 as part of Katana's efforts for the theme park and larger goal of revitalizing Okinawa. Local ownership may provide Okinawa with a better chance to rebound from the unintended 'zaru keizai' (sieve economy) conundrum. The situation is the unfortunate outcome of the government introducing subsidies in an effort to eliminate the financial disparity between the island prefecture and the mainland; Okinawa was ruled by the U.S. military for 27 years following the end of World War II while Honshu experienced rapid economic growth during the same period. Mainland companies winning contracts for the high-percentage subsidies ultimately made it difficult for locals to benefit from the projects tied to them, something Junglia seeks to avoid. "It is also a project intended to boost the economy in Okinawa and its northern area," Morioka said during a news conference held in January. Japan Entertainment has emphasized the importance of hiring locals, saying it will employ a total of about 1,300 full- and part-time workers by the time the park opens. Junglia's shareholders also include leading Okinawan corporations such as Orion Breweries Ltd., headquartered in Tomigusuku, and Naha-based department store operator Ryubo Holdings Co. "It is a private sector-led project of an unprecedented scale,' said Denichiro Ishimine, Okinawa Electric Power Co. adviser and former head of a council for Okinawa-based economic associations. 'Located at the gateway to Asia, Okinawa has high international competitiveness for its nature and traditional culture originating from the Ryukyu Kingdom era, and the project can help improve the quality of tourism in Okinawa." Counterbalancing this sentiment are voices of concern over tourist congestion. Because Junglia is being built between the prefecture's expressway and the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Motobu, which is already popular with tourists, it is feared that chronic traffic snarls, noise and other negative impacts could worsen the living environment. While Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said during a prefectural assembly session that the prefectural government intends to make maximum use of Junglia's opening to create jobs and develop infrastructure around the site, he added, "We hope that the park operator will continue providing information to local residents and having conversations with them." POST-EXPO FALLOUT Some area residents still hold bitter memories of what came after the economic boom driven by the 1975 Okinawa Ocean Expo. The expo was held three years after Okinawa's return to Japan as part of the central government's First Okinawa Promotion and Development Plan. Today, the aquarium stands on the expo's former grounds. Yasukichi Miyagi, 81, a mango farmer in Nakijin near Junglia, owned a construction business at the time. He worked as a subcontractor for a company outside the prefecture while the expo venue, roads and other facilities were being built. This work required he purchase a small fleet of heavy machinery and hire enough people to fill orders. But the number of expo visitors fell short of the expected 4.5 million during its half-year run, and many companies that made major investments went bankrupt. Miyagi's firm escaped bankruptcy but he had to cut staff and equipment to barely break even. Since then, the village's population has decreased by about 40 percent from approximately 15,000 in 1950. Although Miyagi has a sense of crisis that the village could eventually disappear, Junglia is something positive to talk about. That said, it remains uncertain how the large-scale tourism project will affect the community and if those in charge can prevent history from repeating itself. "I wonder if it will really work," he mumbled. 'INEVITABLE CHALLENGE' REMAINS According to Moritake Tomikawa, a former vice governor of Okinawa Prefecture who is now a professor emeritus of economics at Okinawa International University, the addition of Junglia could be a way to solve problems such as depopulation and low-income levels. This applies not just in comparing the prefecture to the mainland, but the island's regions where the north lags economically behind the south. Despite the potential windfall, making the prefecture's economy solely dependent on tourism is still an unstable venture because it is easily influenced by external factors—the COVID-19 pandemic being the most devastating example. The prefectural government previously promoted manufacturing without much success and Okinawa's industrial structure remains weak. "As we move forward to achieving Okinawa's economic independence, it is an inevitable challenge to develop another industry on par with tourism," Tomikawa said.
Japan Today
4 hours ago
- Japan Today
Anthropic looking to power European tech with hiring push
As the AI race heats up, so does the race to find talent in the sector, which is currently dominated by US and Chinese companies By Tom BARFIELD American AI giant Anthropic aims to boost the European tech ecosystem as it expands on the continent, product chief Mike Krieger told AFP at the Vivatech trade fair in Paris. The OpenAI competitor wants to be "the engine behind some of the largest startups of tomorrow... (and) many of them can and should come from Europe", Krieger said. Tech industry and political leaders have often lamented Europe's failure to capitalise on its research and education strength to build heavyweight local companies -- with many young founders instead leaving to set up shop across the Atlantic. Krieger's praise for the region's "really strong talent pipeline" chimed with an air of continental tech optimism at Vivatech. French AI startup Mistral on Wednesday announced a multibillion-dollar tie-up to bring high-powered computing resources from chip behemoth Nvidia to the region. The semiconductor firm will "increase the amount of AI computing capacity in Europe by a factor of 10" within two years, Nvidia boss Jensen Huang told an audience at the southern Paris convention centre. Among 100 planned continental hires, Anthropic is building up its technical and research strength in Europe, where it has offices in Dublin and non-EU capital London, Krieger said. Beyond the startups he hopes to boost, many long-standing European companies "have a really strong appetite for transforming themselves with AI", he added, citing luxury giant LVMH, which had a large footprint at Vivatech. Mistral -- founded only in 2023 and far smaller than American industry leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic -- is nevertheless "definitely in the conversation" in the industry, Krieger said. The French firm recently followed in the footsteps of the U.S. companies by releasing a so-called "reasoning" model able to take on more complex tasks. "I talk to customers all the time that are maybe using (Anthropic's AI) Claude for some of the long-horizon agentic tasks, but then they've also fine-tuned Mistral for one of their data processing tasks, and I think they can co-exist in that way," Krieger said. So-called "agentic" AI models -- including the most recent versions of Claude -- work as autonomous or semi-autonomous agents that are able to do work over longer horizons with less human supervision, including by interacting with tools like web browsers and email. Capabilities displayed by the latest releases have raised fears among some researchers, such as University of Montreal professor and "AI godfather" Yoshua Bengio, that independently acting AI could soon pose a risk to humanity. Bengio last week launched a non-profit, LawZero, to develop "safe-by-design" AI -- originally a key founding promise of OpenAI and Anthropic. "A huge part of why I joined Anthropic was because of how seriously they were taking that question" of AI safety, said Krieger, a Brazilian software engineer who co-founded Instagram, which he left in 2018. Anthropic is still working on measures designed to restrict their AI models' potential to do harm, he added. But it has yet to release details of its "level 4" AI safety protections foreseen for still more powerful models, after activating ASL (AI Safety Level) 3 to corral the capabilities of May's Claude Opus 4 release. Developing ASL 4 is "an active part of the work of the company", Krieger said, without giving a potential release date. With Claude 4 Opus, "we've deployed the mitigations kind of proactively... safe doesn't have to mean slow, but it does mean having to be thoughtful and proactive ahead of time" to make sure safety protections don't impair performance, he added. Looking to upcoming releases from Anthropic, Krieger said the company's models were on track to match chief executive Dario Amodei's prediction that Anthropic would offer customers access to a "country of geniuses in a data centre" by 2026 or 2027 -- within limits. Anthropic's latest AI models are "genius-level at some very specific things", he said. "In the coming year... it will continue to spike in particular aspects of things, and still need a lot of human-in-the-loop coordination," he forecast. © 2025 AFP
