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Japan Today
2 days ago
- Japan Today
In Japan, bobtail cats are considered good luck and Nagasaki is filled with them
By MAYUKO ONO and MARI YAMAGUCHI In Japan, bobtail cats are considered good luck and Nagasaki is the place to find them. They are known as omagari neko (bent-tail cats) or kagi neko (hook cats) and have their own society of admirers and even a dedicated Shinto shrine. Their tails come in varieties including hook-shaped at the tip, curved or in a bun, explained Kazuya Hideshima, a worker at Omagari Neko Shrine and member of the Nagasaki Cat Society. Past findings have indicated bobtails accounted for nearly 80% of the cats in Nagasaki, twice the occurrence of anywhere else in Japan. Japanese cats are believed to have come from China in the 6th century with Buddhist monks, serving as rat hunters to protect religious scriptures on ships. Nagasaki bobtails have their roots in the Dutch East Indies when the city was the only foreign port during Japan's closed era in the 17th to 19th centuries. They hunted rats to protect shipments on their way from Southeast Asia to Japan, according to Nagasaki cultural officials. Soshin Yamamoto, a veterinarian and cat specialist, said the large population of bobtails in Nagasaki is likely the result of a genetic mutation that reproduced in a relatively isolated environment when the nation was shut up tight. 'Having bobtails is no problem for most cats living a normal life, as long as they live near humans and aren't jumping and running around like wild cats in a forest,' he said. Nagasaki residents hope the cats bring in tourists and help business. Natsuno Kani, a 50-year-old tourist from Tokyo who recently visited the bobtail shrine, said she knew Nagasaki was famous for bent-tail cats. But Abigail Tarraso, an artist from Spain based in Takeo City in neighboring Saga Prefecture, was unfamiliar with the species, which is not as popular in Spain. 'Today is the first time in Nagasaki that I have ever heard of this,' said Cindy Bi, an American who is also an artist. 'I am excited to look around for them. Maybe we will see a few." © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
5 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
Gov't to use radioactive soil from Fukushima on flowerbeds outside PM's office
By MARI YAMAGUCHI The Japanese government said on Tuesday it plans to use some of the soil removed from near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on flower beds outside Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's office and in the grounds of public building to show it is safe to reuse. The soil was removed as part of decontamination work following the 2011 nuclear disaster and has since been in interim storage. Some of it has since been reached levels safe enough for reuse, officials say. Using the soil at Ishiba's office in Tokyo is aimed at reassuring the public it is safe. The government said that it plans to reuse the soil for flower beds and other purposes within the grounds of government agencies. The plan is based on guidelines set by the Environment Ministry in March and endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Fukushima disaster resulted in large amounts of radioactive materials to spew out from the plant, polluting surrounding areas. Japan is stuck with large volumes of the dirt, chopped trees and other debris collected during intensive decontamination work. It has 14 million cubic meters of dirt and other materials — enough to fill 11 baseball stadiums — stored at a sprawling outdoor facility straddling the towns of Futaba and Okuma, near the Fukushima plant. The government is aiming to find disposal sites for the soil by 2045, with officials suggesting low risk material could be used to build roads and in other public works projects across the country. The Environment Ministry said that the soil will be used as foundation material and safely covered with top soil thick enough to keep radiation at negligible levels. But there is much public unease. The government has already been forced to discontinue a plan to experiment using some of the soil in flower beds at several public parks in and around Tokyo following protests. The IAEA is providing assistance with the Fukushima decommissioning process, which requires removing more than 880 tons of melted fuel debris. In 2023 Japan began discharging treated radioactive wastewater from the plant into the sea to reduce the risk of accidental leaks and to make space to build facilities needed for melted fuel removal. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
16-05-2025
- General
- Japan Today
Remains of 1 of 2 crew whose training plane crashed recovered
By MARI YAMAGUCHI Japanese defense officials said Friday they recovered the remains of one of two crew members who were missing since their military training aircraft crashed earlier this week. The air force T-4 aircraft carrying two service members crashed into a reservoir Wednesday, minutes after taking off from Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture. On Friday, after two days of searching, rescuers recovered 'what appears to be the body of a crew member' and transported it to Komaki base for examination, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters. The air force grounded all remaining 196 of the training planes and began their emergency inspection on Thursday. The crash is the latest in a series of defense aircraft accidents in recent years and comes at a time when Japan is accelerating a military buildup to deter China's growing influence in the region. Japan has doubled its defense spending, raising concern that funding for weapons may be prioritized over safety measures. The crashed plane was 36 years old and wasn't fitted with a voice recorder or a flight data recorder. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
06-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Today
Threatened by Trump tariffs, Japan walks delicate tightrope between U.S. and China
By MARI YAMAGUCHI and DIDI TANG Just as Japan's top trade negotiator traveled to Washington for another round of tariff talks last week, a bipartisan delegation bearing the name of 'Japan-China Friendship' wrapped up a visit to Beijing. A week earlier, the head of the junior party in Japan's ruling coalition was in Beijing delivering a letter from Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Details of the letter are unknown, but the two sides discussed U.S. tariffs in addition to bilateral issues. Among all U.S. allies being wooed by Beijing in its tariff stare-down with Washington, Japan stands out. It is a peculiar case not only for its staunch commitment to its alliance with the United States but also for its complicated and uneasy history with the neighboring Asian giant — particularly the war history from the 20th century that still casts a shadow over the politics of today. 'On one hand, they are neighbors and they are important economic partners. There's a lot that connects Japan and China,' said Matthew Goodman, director of the Greenberg Center for Geoeconomics at the Council on Foreign Relations. 'But on the other hand, I think there are limits to how far they're going to lean into China.' While Japan won't walk away from its alliance with the United States, the linchpin of the Asian country's diplomacy and security policies, 'it's also true that the tariffs and uncertainty that Trump has created for Japan is really shaking things up in Tokyo,' Goodman said. Last month, President Donald Trump announced a 24% tariff on Japanese goods in a sweeping plan to levy duties on about 90 countries. The White House has since paused the tariffs but a 10% baseline duty on all countries except China, allowing time for negotiations. Still, Trump's 25% tax on aluminum, steel and auto exports have gone into effect for Japan. The tariff moves, as well as Trump's 'America First' agenda, have cast doubts among the Japanese if the United States is still a dependable ally, while China is rallying support from tariff-threatened countries — including Japan. When Tetsuo Saito led Japan's Komeito Party delegation to Beijing in late April, China hinted at difficulty in its tariff dispute with the United States, signaling its willingness to improve ties with Tokyo. An unnamed senior Chinese official said his country was "in trouble' when discussing Trump's 145% tariff on Chinese products, according to Japanese reports. Saito's visit was soon followed by that of the bipartisan delegation of Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union. Zhao Leji, Beijing's top legislator, told the delegation that China's National People's Congress would be 'willing to carry out various forms of dialogue and exchanges." Beijing did not lift a ban on Japan's seafood imports as the Japanese delegates hoped, but it signaled positive signs on its assessment of the safety of the discharges of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Beijing banned Japan's seafood products in 2023, citing those concerns. Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have long been rocky. In the past several years, they squabbled not only over the seafood ban but also long-standing territorial disputes over the Senkaku, or Diaoyu, islands in the East China Sea, Beijing's growing military assertiveness and violence against Japanese nationals in China — an issue complicated by the nations' uneasy history. Tokyo's closer ties with Washington during Joe Biden's presidency also upset Beijing, which saw it as part of the U.S. strategy to contain China and has lectured Tokyo to 'face squarely and reflect on the history of aggression.' An imperial power in Asia for centuries, China fell behind Japan in the 19th century when Japan began to embrace Western industrialization and grew into a formidable economic and military power. It invaded China in the 1930s and controlled the northeastern territory known as Manchuria. War atrocities, including the Nanking Massacre and the use of chemical and biological weapons and human medical experiments in Manchuria, have left deep scars in China. They have yet to be healed, though Japan's conservative politicians today still attempt to deny the aggression. Ishiba, elected Japan's prime minister in October, has a more neutral view on his country's wartime history than the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his two successors. Weeks after taking office, Ishiba held talks with Xi on the sidelines of a leaders' summit. Chinese scholars, however, see Tokyo's recent engagements with Beijing as a pragmatic move to hedge against U.S. protectionism and not a long-term strategy for stability with China. The odds are low for Japan to move into China's orbit, Goodman said. 'They have for a long time had to manage an important but challenging relationship with China," he said. 'And that is, again, a long-standing problem for Japan, going back centuries or millennia.' While Japan might welcome the friendlier tone from Beijing, it is trying to stabilize Japan-U.S. relations under Trump's 'America First' agenda, and it is hoping to settle the tariff dispute without confronting Washington, with an eye on preventing Beijing from exploiting any fallout in Japan-U.S. relations. Japan was among the first countries to hold tariff talks with Washington. During the first round in mid-April, Trump inserted himself into the discussions, a sign of the high stakes for the United States to reach a deal with Japan. The Trump administration reportedly pushed for Japan to buy more U.S.-made cars and open its market to U.S. beef, rice and potatoes. After the second round of negotiation in Washington last week, Ryosei Akazawa, the country's chief tariff negotiator, said he pushed Japan's request that the U.S. drop tariffs and was continuing efforts toward an agreement acceptable to both sides. He said Japan's auto industry was already hurting from the 25% tariff and that he needed to be 'thorough but fast.' Asked about China, Akazawa said only that his country keeps watching the U.S.-China tariff development 'with great interest." He noted Japan's deep trade ties with China. While China and Japan are working to mend ties, the two are also competing in the Southeast Asia region, where Trump has threatened high tariffs as well. The region is deeply integrated into China's supply chain but under pressure from the West to diversify and reduce its reliance on China. With younger and growing populations as compared to East Asia, the region is considered an important growth center. Japan, as a major postwar development aid contributor, has gradually regained trust in the region, which also was scarred by Japan's World War II past. On Wednesday, Ishiba returned from Vietnam and the Philippines after agreeing with their leaders to further strengthen security and economic ties. During the visit, Ishiba stressed Japan's commitment to maintaining and strengthening a multilateral free-trade system in each country. Ishiba also had telephone talks with his Malaysian and Singaporean counterparts earlier this month about U.S. tariffs. Just weeks earlier, Xi was in Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, also stressing free trade and seeking stronger supply chains. At a recent discussion at the Washington-based think tank Hudson Institute, Itsunori Onodera, Japan's governing party policy chief, warned of 'very unstable' feelings among many Asian countries faced with high tariffs from the United States. 'There's a danger they might become more distant and become closer to China,' Onodera said. 'This is not something that Japan wants, either.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Japan and China accuse each other of violating airspace around disputed East China Sea islands
By MARI YAMAGUCHI Japan and China are accusing each other of violating the airspace around the Japanese-controlled East China Sea islands that Beijing also claims. Japan's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that it has protested to Beijing after a Chinese helicopter that took off from one of China's four coast guard boats had entered Japan's territorial waters around the Senkaku island, violating the Japanese airspace around them for about 15 minutes on Saturday. In response to the airspace intrusion, Japan's Self-Defense Force scrambled fighter jets, the Defense Ministry said. China routinely sends coast guard vessels and aircraft into waters and airspace surrounding the islands, which China calls the Diaoyu, to harass Japanese vessels in the area and force Japan to scramble jets in response. The latest territorial flap comes as Japan and China were appearing to have warm ties as both countries seek to mitigate damages from the U.S. tariff war. The Japanese Foreign Ministry said it lodged a 'very severe protest" through the Chinese embassy in Japan, claiming that China Coast Guard actions infringed Japan's sovereignty and urging the Chinese government to ensure preventive measures. China also said in a statement that it took a similar step and protested to Japan over a Japanese civilian aircraft violating its airspace around the islands, saying it was 'strongly dissatisfied' about Japanese violation of China's sovereignty. Japanese officials are investigating a possible connection between the Chinese coast guard helicopter's airspace intrusion and the small Japanese civilian aircraft flying in the area around the same time. Saturday's intrusion was the first by China since a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft violated the Japanese airspace off the southern prefecture of Nagasaki. Chinese aircraft have also violated the Japanese airspace around the Senkaku twice in the past. Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu in Taipei contributed to this report. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
