Taiwan Names Japan's Former Defense Chief as Cabinet Consultant
Taiwan named a former head of the Japanese defense forces as an adviser, according to officials in the archipelago's government, a move coming as the two governments deal with China's increasing assertiveness.
Shigeru Iwasaki, the chief of staff of Japan's Self-Defense Forces from 2012 through 2014, was named a consultant to Taiwan's cabinet, said the two officials who asked not to be identified discussing the sensitive issue.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Japan, China trade barbs over fighter jet manoeuvres
Beijing condemned on Thursday what it called "dangerous behaviour" by a Japanese military plane over the Pacific after Tokyo said Chinese fighter jets flew unusually close to its aircraft at the weekend. The Japanese government had complained to China over the incident, in which no Japanese military personnel were reported injured. A Chinese J-15 fighter jet from the Shandong aircraft carrier followed a Japanese P-3C patrol plane for 40 minutes on Saturday, according to the Japanese defence ministry. Two J-15 jets then did the same for 80 minutes on Sunday. "During these long periods, the jets flew unusually close to the P-3C, and they flew within 45 metres" of the patrol plane on both days, an official from the Japanese ministry told AFP. Also on Sunday, Chinese jets cut across airspace around 900 metres (3,000 feet) ahead of a P-3C Japanese patrol plane at the same altitude -- a distance a P-3C can reach within a few seconds at cruising speed, Tokyo said. "We do not believe that this approach was made by mistake," the Japanese military's chief of staff Yoshihide Yoshida told reporters on Thursday. "Given it happened for 40 minutes and 80 minutes, for two days in a row, our understanding is that it was done on purpose," he said. Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian hit back at the Japanese description of the events. "The root cause of the risk to maritime and air security was the close reconnaissance of China's normal military activities by a Japanese warplane," he said. "The Chinese side urges the Japanese side to stop this kind of dangerous behaviour." - 'Abnormal approaches' - The incident followed the sighting in recent days of two Chinese aircraft carriers sailing in the Pacific simultaneously for the first time. Japan said this week the aircraft carriers' activity -- described by China as "routine training" -- showed the expanding geographic scope of Beijing's military. Yoshida said on Thursday loosening Japan's surveillance, information-gathering or countermeasures against intrusion "would encourage attempts to change the status quo by force". Tokyo's top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi earlier told reporters in regard to the fighter jet incident that "such abnormal approaches can lead to an accidental collision, so we have expressed serious concerns" to the Chinese side. US ambassador to Japan George Glass said on social media platform X that the manoeuvres by a Chinese fighter "put Japanese crewmembers' lives in peril". "Whether it's harassing Philippine ships, attacking Vietnamese fishermen, or firing flares at Australian aircraft, Beijing knows only reckless aggression. Not so much a charm offensive as offensive harm," Glass said. Similar incidents were last reported in May and June 2014, when Chinese Su-27 fighter jets flew within 30 metres (100 feet) of Japanese military planes in the East China Sea. Japan summoned the Chinese ambassador at the time, while the two sides traded accusations of blame. Daisuke Kawai, director of the University of Tokyo's economic security and policy innovation programme, told AFP this week that the timing of the aircraft carrier movements could be linked to US-China economic tensions. "Beijing calculated that the United States would be less willing or able to respond militarily at this precise moment, seeing it as an opportune time to demonstrate its expanding military capabilities," he said. kh-tmo-mjw/kaf/pbt
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rice prices Japan's hot political issue, on and off the farm
All is calm at Satoshi Yamazaki's rice farm, with its freshly planted rows of vivid-green seedlings, but a row over the cost of the staple in Japan is threatening to deal the government a blow at the ballot box. Shortages of the grain caused by a supply chain snarl-up have seen prices almost double in a year, fuelling frustration over inflation -- and voters could let their anger be known in upper house elections due next month. To help ease the pain for consumers and restaurants, the government started tapping emergency stockpiles in March, having only previously done so during disasters. Yamazaki, who grows about 10 percent of his rice organically using ducks to eat pests, said he understands high prices are "troubling" for ordinary people. But he stressed that thin profits are a concern for many of those who produce it. "There's a gap between shop prices and what farmers sell rice for to traders and the like," he told AFP in the northern Niigata region. "Not all the money paid at shops becomes our income," said Yamazaki, a 42-year-old father of seven. A mosaic of factors lies behind the shortages, including an intensely hot and dry summer two years ago that damaged harvests nationwide. Since then some traders have been hoarding rice in a bid to boost their profits down the line, experts say. The issue was made worse by panic-buying last year prompted by a government warning about a potential "megaquake" that did not strike. - 'Old' rice - Meanwhile, the rising price of imported food has boosted the popularity of domestic rice, while record numbers of tourists are also blamed for a spike in consumption. Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi has pledged to cut prices quicker by selling stockpiled rice directly to retailers -- attracting long queues to some shops. It appears to be working: the average retail price has edged down for a second week to 4,223 yen ($29) for five kilograms (11 pounds), down from a high of 4,285 yen in May. That hasn't stopped opposition politicians -- with an eye on the elections -- and online critics branding the reserve rice "old", with some likening it to animal feed. But analysts also blame Japan's decades-old policy of cutting rice-farming land. The policy was introduced to support prices that were being hit by falling demand brought about by changes in the Japanese diet. Under the 1971 policy, farmers were told to reduce the amount of space used to grow the grain in favour of other crops. That saw the amount of land used for rice paddies -- not including for livestock feed -- plunge below 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) in 2024, from a peak of 3.3 million hectares in 1960. While the policy was officially abolished in 2018, it has continued in a form of incentives pushing farmers towards other commodities like soybeans. Adding to the crisis is Japan's ageing population. Many rice farmers are old and their children have no interest in taking over. Eighty percent of rice farmers are part-time with less than two hectares of fields but they account for only 20 percent of production, said agronomy expert Kazunuki Oizumi, professor emeritus of Miyagi University. Their main revenue comes from other jobs or pensions, he added. - Agriculture 'destroyed' - Toru Wakui, chairman of a large-scale farm in the northern Akita region who has for decades fought against the acreage reduction, said Japan should "seek an increase in rice production and exports to foreign markets". "If you only think about the domestic market while increasing output, of course prices will fall," he told AFP. "We need to look for markets abroad." "The 55 years of acreage reduction destroyed Japan's agriculture," said Wakui, 76, who urged Koizumi in a letter last month to "declare an expansion in rice production". He also said Japan should consider a scheme to help young people start agriculture businesses without the burden of initial investment in fields and machinery, by involving other sectors including banks and trading companies. Public support for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's government has tumbled to its lowest level since he took office in October, which local media say was partly caused by the surge in inflation and soaring rice costs. He has told parliament that increasing production is "an option" to temper prices, but said food security and the livelihood of producers was also important. For the farmer Yamazaki, "wanting cheap rice with high quality" is a pipe dream. "We farmers are a little baffled by the limelight that suddenly shifted to us," he said. "But I think it's a good opportunity for the public to think about how rice is produced." kh/kaf/dan
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump's Auto Tariffs Strike at the Heart of Japan's Economy
(Bloomberg) -- US President Donald Trump's tariffs threaten to batter Japan's vital auto industry and derail the country's long-standing efforts to engineer a sustainable economic recovery. Shuttered NY College Has Alumni Fighting Over Its Future Trump's Military Parade Has Washington Bracing for Tanks and Weaponry NYC Renters Brace for Price Hikes After Broker-Fee Ban NY Long Island Rail Service Resumes After Grand Central Fire Do World's Fairs Still Matter? With the 25% US tariff now in place on cars and auto parts, Japan's major automakers — including Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Mazda Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp. — are bracing for a collective hit of more than $19 billion this fiscal year alone. And it's not just the household names feeling the pain. Northwest of Tokyo in Gunma Prefecture, where Subaru operates its main factory, the effects are already being felt. With costs rising, Yoshiyuki Nakajima, president of Shoda Seisakusho Co. — a supplier to Subaru — warned that his firm will be forced to slash profit margins if the tariffs persist. Worst case, layoffs will be unavoidable. 'We'll have no choice,' he said. That sentiment is emblematic of the broader turmoil rippling across Japan's industrial heartlands, where a dense web of small and mid-size suppliers form the backbone of the automotive sector — the country's largest source of exports and a key provider of jobs and investment. Two-thirds of Japan's workforce is employed by firms with fewer than 1,000 people, and many of those jobs are tied, directly and indirectly, to the auto industry. The trade shock hits just as Japan is starting to see signs of a 'virtuous cycle' — a loop of rising wages, stronger spending and higher prices that policymakers hope will lift the economy out of its decades-long stagnation. Now, with auto companies reconsidering wage hikes and pulling back on growth plans, the momentum that Japan has worked hard to build is at risk of stalling. Around 64% of polled economists see the tariffs sparking a recession in the world's fourth-largest economy. Even before the levies, companies like Shoda Seisakusho were struggling to keep up with the global shift to electric vehicles. Nakajima has had to cut staff at two factories in China and freeze new investments. He now sees pay increases for his 200 workers next year as challenging. With the US tariffs added to the mix, the outlook is grim. 'I often say that there's no bright future for us if we simply continue running our business in the same way,' Nakajima said. The Japanese government is scrambling to contain the fallout. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who's preparing for a national election next month, needs to show he can defend Japan's economic interests. His chief trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa is expected to travel to North America for the sixth time to try and win concessions ahead of the G-7 summit in Canada on June 15, where Ishiba may meet with Trump face-to-face. Analysts see Tokyo's best scenario in the negotiations as getting the auto tariffs down to 10%, which would ease, but not eliminate, the pain. Typically the cost of tariffs gets spread out — about one third falls on suppliers, another third on carmakers and a final third on consumers, according to Tatsuo Yoshida, senior auto analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. He estimates a 10% tariff could be manageable over time, with gradual price increases of 2% to 3% a year and by updating car models to keep buyers interested. But as levies get higher, the strain becomes more close to 25% would likely leave at least a couple of Japan's automakers on the ropes and in need of assistance, Yoshida said. 'Like with General Motors during the global financial crisis, Japan's carmakers are just too big to fail,' Yoshida said. The numbers behind the auto industry show why all this matters. The sector employs 5.6 million people — or about 8.3% of Japan's work force — and generates around 10% of gross domestic product, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. It's a pacesetter for wage trends in Japan, and plays an outsize role in trade. Automobiles and their parts account for a third of Japan's exports to the US, the nation's largest export market and the biggest contributor to Tokyo's trade surplus with Washington — the very imbalance that Trump has long fixated on. Out of the some 9 million vehicles built in Japan annually, 1.5 million are shipped to the US. Subaru is especially vulnerable, with 71% of its sales coming from there, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Subaru has said it will face a $2.5 billion hit from the tariffs in the fiscal year ending March 2026. One option is to shift some production to the US, where locally built cars are taxed less. But that creates problems for the many suppliers that depend on domestic manufacturing. Chief Executive Officer Atsushi Osaki signaled a shift may be necessary. Subaru 'will continue developing our products in Japan, but it's inevitable for us to expand our capacity in US,' he said last month. Over at Daido Steel Co. in Aichi Prefecture, which makes magnets used in hybrid engines and employs about 12,000 workers, concern is rising. Although it doesn't export directly to the US, the firm supplies Honda and indirectly all major automakers in Japan, so the impact of Trump's tariffs will be significant. 'It comes down to how carmakers respond,' said Mikine Kishi, general manager of Daido Steel's corporate planning department. 'If they decide they're not going to manufacture in Japan anymore, or that they'll lower total production volumes, that would have an extremely big impact on our business.' Some carmakers have already started to adjust. Honda has postponed its $11 billion EV supply chain expansion in Canada and is moving production of the hybrid Civic model from Japan to the US. Subaru is reviewing all of its investments, including the development of EVs. Nissan Motor Co. has halted US orders for SUVs built in Mexico, and Mazda is stopping exports to Canada of a model manufactured at its Alabama joint venture with Toyota. Toyota, the world's No. 1 automaker, hasn't shifted production yet, but CEO Koji Sato said the company is consider building out its production footprint in the US in the medium to long term. The calculation is different for small firms. For Hasegawa Yuuki Co., which employs about 50 people in Gunma, where it makes plastic parts for Honda, Subaru and Nissan, a 15% tariff is the dividing line between manageable and severe pain, according to President Noriyuki Hasegawa. The company is already losing 5% of its business after Honda shifted its production to Alabama. 'I don't hold much hope for the talks,' Hasegawa said. 'Japan doesn't have much negotiating ammunition.' Hasegawa is trying to shift focus to new sectors like furniture storage. 'Our car-related business is certain to take a hit so I think we have to consider making products for things besides cars,' he said. 'We're going to need one or two other pillars to make up the loss.' For others, the strategy is survival. At Ogami Co., another Gunma plastic parts maker for Subaru and others, President Hiroaki Ogami says he's hitting the brakes on capital investment, while wage hikes next year look difficult. Larger firms may be able to weather the storm by expanding abroad, but smaller players like Ogami don't have that kind of capital and manpower flexibility. The company has a factory in the Philippines, but tariffs apply there, too. The charges could squeeze already thin profit margins of less than 10%, Ogami said. Japan's central bank is watching the situation closely. The Bank of Japan has long said stable growth and inflation depend on steady wage gains. Roughly speaking, that means wage gains of 3% to ensure price growth of 2%. For over a decade, the BOJ tried to engineer that outcome with massive stimulus, buying more government bonds and other assets than the size of the economy. Core inflation has now held above 2% for about three years, allowing the BOJ to begin normalizing policy and start raising interest rates. But it remains cautious. Japan's economy already shrank in the first quarter, partly because consumer spending is still weak, despite wages rising over 2%. Another contraction would tip the country into technical recession. BOJ officials have made their concerns clear. In a summary of opinions at their April-May meeting, board members mentioned tariffs 27 times. One warned about the disruptions to supply chains, slower growth and negative impact on wages. Just this week, Ishiba said his No. 1 pledge in next month's upper house election would be to raise wages by at least 50% over the next 15 years. That implies annual wage growth of around 2.75%, a tall order if Trump's tariffs stay in place. Like many in the auto sector, Ogami said he'll be watching tariff news closely, wondering if the new wave of protectionism will last beyond Trump's term in office. His company has made it through the setbacks of the global financial crisis, the 2011 tsunami, earthquake and nuclear disaster and the pandemic, but he's not so sure this time round. 'It's not like we can just say, 'Let's just put up with it for four years,'' Ogami said. 'If things continue like this, we won't be able to survive. We need to come up with something.' --With assistance from Yasufumi Saito and Shadab Nazmi. 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