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Japan Times
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Rallies held on Japan's Constitution Day
Citizens supporting and opposing a revision of Japan's Constitution held their respective events in Tokyo on Constitution Day on Saturday. Those against amending the national charter gathered in a park in Koto Ward, with about 38,000 people attending the rally, according to the organizers. Senior officials from opposition parties called for not allowing the parliament to propose constitutional amendments, while underscoring the need to protect peace and human rights by utilizing the current Constitution. "We haven't created nuclear war for 80 years (since the end of World War II), and we want you to carry on these efforts," said Terumi Tanaka, 93, co-chair of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, also known as Nihon Hidankyo, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year. Shoji Honda, 81, who takes part in the annual rally every year, said, "It's important to build peace under (war-renouncing) Article 9 (of the Constitution)," stressing that the supreme law must not be amended. After the rally, participants marched around the park, holding banners and placards. Opposition party lawmakers attend a rally of people who are against Constitutional amendments on Saturday in Tokyo. | JIJI On the same day, advocates of a constitutional amendment held an open forum in Chiyoda Ward. The event brought together about 21,000 people, including online participants and attendees at 19 locations where it was broadcast, according to the organizers. Amid the challenging international security atmosphere, which includes concern over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, participants adopted a declaration urging the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and others to advance work to revise the Constitution, including Article 9. In a video message sent to the rally, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, also president of the LDP, said that the party will redouble efforts so that the Diet can make a constitutional revision proposal. A 55-year-old corporate worker from Kanagawa Prefecture who joined the event said that he is concerned whether the current Constitution, which has not been revised since it took effect shortly after the end of World War II, is sufficient to protect the citizens of the country. He said he believes that it should be revised in line with the changing times.
Japan Times
21-04-2025
- Japan Times
Tokyo government ordered to find man's birth parents 67 years after mix-up
A Japanese court has ordered the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to conduct an investigation to identify the birth parents of a man who, as a newborn, was mixed up at a hospital nearly 70 years ago, offering him a glimmer of hope of shedding light on the decadeslong mystery. The Tokyo District Court on Monday instructed the Tokyo government to determine the birth parents of Satoshi Egura, 67, based on family registers and other documents. However, the court rejected his claim for damages amounting to ¥16.5 million ($115,880). 'I am very grateful that the court has acknowledged what I was seeking,' Egura said in a news conference after the ruling. 'My feelings for wanting to meet my birth parents have not changed. I hope the Tokyo government will conduct an investigation as soon as possible.' The plaintiff's legal team said it is the first ruling that orders the investigation of children who were mixed up upon birth due to a hospital's negligence. Egura was born around April 10, 1958, at the now-defunct Sumida Maternity Hospital, which used to be operated by the metropolitan government until its closure in 1988. Unaware of the switch, the couple he was handed to raised him as their eldest son. Egura (right) looks on during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday. | JIJI Growing up, the plaintiff was often told that he didn't look like anyone in his family, including his younger brother. He had a strained relationship with his father and left home at the age of 14. His suspicions grew when, in 1997, his mother's blood test cast doubt on his being the offspring of the couple. In 2004, a DNA test confirmed that the couple who raised him are not his biological parents. Believing that a mix-up at the hospital was the only possible explanation, Egura and his parents filed a lawsuit against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government that same year to seek damages. The Tokyo District Court, when hearing the initial suit, acknowledged the mix-up but dismissed the claim for damages. However, the Tokyo High Court later ruled that the maternity hospital was liable for serious negligence and ordered the metropolitan government to pay Egura ¥20 million in compensation. But despite the court ruling in favor of Egura, the Tokyo government repeatedly rejected his request to trace his birth parents on the grounds that too much time had passed and it no longer had the data. In 2021, the plaintiff filed a second lawsuit against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to seek a court order to compel it to investigate his origins. The Tokyo government argued that there was a risk of violating the privacy of the other family involved in the mix-up and that it had no duty to investigate. Egura as a child is seen with the woman who raised him. The face of the person in the background is blurred for privacy reasons. | Satoshi Egura / via JIJI Presiding Judge Naoya Hirai rejected the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's arguments, saying that although individuals subject to the investigation may refuse to cooperate, there is also a possibility that some may wish to uncover the truth. 'While the right to know one's origins is not codified under law in Japan, it can be considered a legal interest under Article 13 of the Constitution, which guarantees respect for the individual, ' he said in his ruling on Monday, adding that the hospital has an obligation to do its utmost given the gravity of the matter. The judge then ordered the metropolitan government to trace the plaintiff's birth parents based on family registry records and, once found, inquire if they are willing to take DNA tests. The plaintiff's legal team commended the judge's wording in the ruling, which 'strongly' urged the Tokyo government to investigate the identity of the plaintiff's birth parents. Egura's mother is currently hospitalized due to dementia while his father died a decade ago. In a statement during the trial, his mother said that she wanted to meet her real child, even from a distance, if possible.
Japan Times
31-03-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
In Tokyo, Pentagon chief provides assurances that Japan-U.S. alliance remains robust
The U.S. and Japan emphasized that security ties remain robust — despite rising concerns about the alliance's durability and looming tariffs under President Donald Trump — as the countries' defense chiefs held their first in-person talks Sunday in Tokyo. Saying that 'phase one' of a plan to upgrade the U.S. military's command in the country was underway, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth described Japan as an 'indispensable partner' in confronting China and sought to dispel lingering unease in Tokyo over Trump's penchant for a transactional approach when dealing with allies. "President Trump has also made it very clear, and we reiterate, we are going to put America first,' Hegseth said following his meeting with Defense Minister Gen Nakatani. 'But 'America First' does not mean America alone.' Trump and his picks for key administration posts have unnerved Tokyo with decisions to slap Japan with tariffs and comments that it should pay more for hosting U.S. troops while boosting its own defense spending. Asked if he had broached the issue of cost-sharing or defense spending with Nakatani, Hegseth said that while the two sides "did not talk specific numbers," he believed Japan would "make the correct determination of what capabilities are needed" — a hint that the Trump administration could ask Tokyo to instead purchase more U.S. weapons. "They have been a model ally and we have no doubt that will continue,' he said. 'But we also both recognize everybody needs to do more." Nakatani, for his part, said he had told Hegseth that military spending should be "implemented based on Japan's own judgment' and that 'what matters most is the content' of budgets, not the final figures. The Japanese defense chief also said he had 'gained the U.S. side's understanding' after explaining that Tokyo 'has continuously been working on a drastic strengthening' of its defense capabilities. While those issues could slow growing momentum for improved defense ties further down the road, Hegseth used Sunday's meeting to highlight a key unifying factor for the allies: their mutual desire to counter China's increasingly assertive military stance in the region. 'America and Japan stand firmly together in the face of aggressive and coercive actions by the communist Chinese,' Hegseth told a news conference following the talks. Defense Minister Gen Nakatani welcomes U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday. | JIJI The U.S. 'is committed to sustaining robust, ready and credible deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait,' he said, noting that Japan 'would be on the front lines of any contingency we might face in the western Pacific.' The Chinese military has been increasingly active near Japan in recent years — sometimes even entering territorial waters and airspace. Last year, a Chinese military plane entered Japanese airspace for the first time and one of the Asian powerhouse's navy survey ships entered Japanese territorial waters just days later. But Beijing's moves near self-ruled Taiwan — which China views as a renegade province that must be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary — has been one of Japan's top concerns. Tokyo has repeatedly said that any move on the island would also represent an existential crisis for Japan. The U.S. and Japan have found common cause in seeking to rein in China, a stance that has pushed forward long-sought shifts in defense policy in both Washington and Tokyo. One crucial change for the alliance will be the planned expansion of U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ). Last July, then-President Joe Biden announced a major revamp of the U.S. military command in Japan to deepen coordination with the Self-Defense Forces. Hegseth said that the Pentagon 'has started phase one' of upgrading USFJ 'to a joint force headquarters,' which he said would improve the U.S. military's ability to coordinate operations with Japan's own permanent Joint Operations Command, known colloquially as JJOC, which was established last week. Japanese defense officials said Nakatani briefed Hegseth on the new command, which will centrally oversee the SDF's three branches, allowing for the smoother integration of operations across domains to prepare for and respond to possible emergencies. The USFJ upgrade will eventually place a combined operational commander in Japan, who will be a counterpart of the JJOC head. For the time being, however, the JJOC counterpart will remain the head of the U.S. military's Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii — more than 6,000 kilometers away. Hegseth's assurances over the upgrade came just days after U.S. and local media reports said the plan could be totally halted or watered down. Boosting the two countries' military presence in Japan's far-flung Nansei Islands and improving the militaries' responsiveness through 'more sophisticated and realistic bilateral training and exercises,' as well as deeper defense equipment and technical cooperation, were also discussed during the talks, according to Nakatani. The Japanese defense minister said that the two sides would boost the 'codevelopment, coproduction and co-sustainment' of defense equipment, with a focus on maintaining a stable supply of missiles. Under the allies' Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition and Sustainment (DICAS) forum, a group created last year to identify areas for closer industrial cooperation, Nakatani said Japan would 'expedite efforts' to start coproduction of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAM), while also conveying Tokyo's intention to pursue the possibility of coproducing SM-6 surface-to-air missiles. But the bright spots for the alliance that emerged from Sunday's meeting risk being overshadowed by Trump's announcement Wednesday that 25% tariffs on all automobile and auto part imports would be imposed from midnight on April 3. Japan is considering 'all possible options' in response, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said, but a refusal by the Trump administration to exempt Tokyo from this measure and other tariffs has pushed the top U.S. ally in Asia into crisis mode. Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (right) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo ahead of their talks Sunday. | Pool / via AFP-JIJI The tough measures also come after Trump complained earlier this month that the U.S.-Japan security alliance was unfair. "I love Japan. We have a great relationship with Japan, but we have an interesting deal with Japan that we have to protect them, but they don't have to protect us," he said at the time. Japanese officials have disputed this characterization. Under the bilateral security treaty, more than 50,000 U.S. troops are based in Japan, which is also home to the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet. The U.S. presence has grown increasingly important to Washington and Tokyo, analysts say, amid not only Chinese military assertiveness but North Korea's nuclear saber-rattling and Russian moves in the region. But turbulence could still hit the U.S.-Japan relationship going forward — despite Hegseth's pronouncements — as two key Trump administration nominees have taken aim at Japan's defense budget and its spending for American troops in the country. Elbridge Colby, Trump's nominee to be the Pentagon's top policy official, said earlier this month that Japan — which is aiming to spend 2% of gross domestic product on defense by fiscal 2027 — must boost its defense budget even further, to 'at least 3% of GDP on defense as soon as possible.' Meanwhile, Trump's pick to be the next ambassador to Japan, George Glass, said this month that he will "undoubtedly" need to press Japan to contribute more money for hosting U.S. troops, while also having 'tough conversations' about the allies' economic relationship. Sunday's defense talks came a day after Hegseth and Nakatani visited Ioto, the far-flung Japanese island known widely as Iwo Jima, for an event honoring those who died in bloody fighting there 80 years ago during World War II. Hegseth, who is on the final leg of his first trip to Asia as defense chief after stops in Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines, was also continuing to grapple with a growing scandal over leaked details about U.S. military strikes on Yemen earlier this month. The U.S. defense chief has been under fire for sharing the sensitive details over a commercial messaging app in which Trump's national security adviser mistakenly added a journalist to a group chat. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Hegseth had brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, fueling more criticism of his fitness for the defense secretary post.
Japan Times
24-03-2025
- Climate
- Japan Times
Cherry blossom season kicks off in Tokyo after warm weekend
Tokyo's cherry blossom season kicked off Monday, five days earlier than last year, as the Meteorological Agency declared a cherry tree at Yasukuni Shrine has bloomed. The Somei-Yoshino variety, known for its pale pink blossoms, serves as the official indicator for the agency's announcement. Data is gathered from 58 preselected trees nationwide, with Tokyo's declaration hinging on a single specimen at the shrine in Chiyoda Ward. At approximately 2 p.m. Monday, the agency announced the famous tree was officially in bloom. The agency designates a tree as having blossomed once five or six flowers have opened on its branches. Full bloom is declared when about 80% of the tree's flowers have opened. Warm weather over the last week is believed to have spurred the blooming, according to the Japan Weather Association. Peak viewing time is predicted to be in about a week — potentially sooner if the warm conditions persist. On Sunday, the agency declared Somei-Yoshino trees in Kochi and Kumamoto prefectures had also started blooming. Kochi matched last year's date, while Kumamoto's blooms came three days earlier. Compared with average years, both cities bloomed just one day later than usual. People take photos of cherry blossoms at Yasukuni Shrine on Monday. The Meteorological Agency uses the Somei-Yoshino variety, known for its pale pink blossoms, as its official indicator of sakura season. | JIJI
Japan Times
11-03-2025
- Automotive
- Japan Times
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida to step down
Nissan announced on Tuesday that CEO Makoto Uchida will step down at the end of this month. Current Chief Planning Officer Ivan Espinosa will be assuming the role starting in April in a bid to turn around the struggling Yokohama-based automaker. Speculation was running high in recent weeks that Uchida would be taking responsibility for the failure of a proposed merger with Honda as well as poor earnings. Uchida, 58, became Nissan CEO in 2019 and has led efforts to get the automaker back on its feet, but the initiatives have so far failed. Ivan Espinosa | Nissan / via JIJI The company is expected to post an ¥80 billion ($536 million) loss for the fiscal year ending March. In the first half of this fiscal year, Nissan's net profit fell about 90% mainly due to sluggish sales in North America and China while introducing a plan to cut 9,000 jobs. Uchida recently sought a merger with Honda so that the two could combine forces in order to develop new products connected to automobiles, autonomous cars and electric vehicles. However, the two automakers gave up on the merger, which would have created the world's No. 3 vehicle manufacturing group, last month, just weeks after talks formally started.
