Latest news with #Moriyama
Asahi Shimbun
2 days ago
- Business
- Asahi Shimbun
Still no inkling on when beef exports to China will resume
Hiroshi Moriyama, center, the secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, greets Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Osaka on July 11. (Yoshinori Mizuno) Although Japan and China have cleared hurdles for a resumption of Japanese beef exports after a 24-year hiatus, it remains unclear when shipments will start. The two countries finally activated a key animal health and quarantine agreement on July 11. They ratified the accord in 2019. Officials in Tokyo noted that Beijing could yet again delay negotiations for political reasons. Thus, the latest development will only remove one major hurdle to the resumption of exports that have been stopped since 2001 following an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), popularly known as mad cow disease. Hiroshi Moriyama, the secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, met on July 11 in Osaka with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, who said the animal quarantine agreement would go into effect that day. Moriyama also heads a multi-partisan group of lawmakers focused on Japan-China relations and after his meeting with He played up the agreement in a speech for an LDP candidate running in the July 20 Upper House election. '(The quarantine agreement) will lead to the resumption of exports to China for the first time in 24 years,' Moriyama said. Government sources said the LDP and prime minister's office had been pushing for diplomatic results that could help the party in the Upper House election campaign. China in late June agreed to resume seafood imports from Japan, except for 10 prefectures including Fukushima. It slapped a ban on imports in August 2023 after Japan began releasing tons of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean. On July 11, Beijing approved the registration of three Japanese companies for exporting seafood to China. Government sources also said He provided an optimistic appraisal to Moriyama about future loans of giant pandas to Japan. China's push to improve ties with Japan is clearly linked with the increasing confrontation orchestrated by U.S. President Donald Trump with his tariff trade wars. A former ambassador to China speculated that Beijing was attempting to pull Japan away from the U.S. orbit because of uncertainties surrounding the direction of U.S. policy toward China. But with surveys showing the LDP facing a drubbing in the Upper House election, China might have to recalibrate its policy toward Japan if the ruling coalition loses its majority in the Upper House and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is forced to resign. And with this year marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, China is planning to hold a range of events to mark its victory over Japan, which inevitably will be used for propaganda purposes. That could unleash another round of anti-Japan sentiment lingering from the country's military aggression in China in the years leading up to and during the war. (This article was written by Nen Satomi and Haruka Suzuki in Tokyo and Ryo Inoue in Beijing.)
3 days ago
- Business
China to Resume Japanese Beef Imports
News from Japan Politics Jul 11, 2025 17:10 (JST) Osaka, July 11 (Jiji Press)--China has completed procedures to implement a bilateral agreement needed for its resumption of Japanese beef imports, Japanese ruling party executive Hiroshi Moriyama said Friday. The secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party made the comment in a lecture in the western Japan city of Osaka. Earlier in the day, Moriyama held talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, who is visiting Japan for China's "national day" event on Friday at the World Exposition in Osaka. Moriyama is also head of a suprapartisan group of Japanese lawmakers promoting Japan-China friendship. China banned Japanese beef imports after the outbreak of mad cow disease, formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, in Japan, in 2001. In 2019, the Japanese and Chinese governments signed the animal health and quarantine agreement, but the Chinese side's procedures to put this into effect had been suspended. At their meeting in Peru in November last year, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to resume Japanese beef imports. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Yomiuri Shimbun
3 days ago
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
China Set to Resume Importing Japanese Beef; Move Would Implement Agreement Reached in 2019
A Japan-China agreement necessary to resume China's imports of Japanese beef is expected to take effect soon, according to sources. Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Hiroshi Moriyama and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met in Osaka for about 30 minutes on Friday. Lifeng is believed to have explained the completion of China's domestic procedures to put the agreement into effect. The Japanese side intended to hasten the completion of the procedures in order to resume beef exports to China at the earliest possible date. China suspended imports of Japanese beef following an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Japan in September 2001. In November 2019, Japan and China signed a treaty on cooperation in animal health and quarantine, which stipulates bilateral cooperation on quarantine and other matters to strengthen control of animal diseases such as BSE and foot-and-mouth disease and to promote safe trade. Although the agreement was signed to resume imports, China kept the agreement in abeyance for more than 5½ years, and imports have been suspended for about 24 years. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba requested the resumption of imports during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November. In December, the two countries' foreign ministers agreed to resume talks on imports. After the agreement comes into effect, consultations on safety and quarantine are expected to be necessary, and Japan is expected to push for an early start of those talks. Moriyama expressed his desire to 'pave the way for exporting wagyu beef to China as soon as possible' at a meeting held by an LDP candidate for the upcoming House of Councillors election in Kagoshima on Thursday. Moriyama is believed to have asked the Chinese vice premier for a fresh loan of giant pandas. Four pandas bred in Japan have been sent to China from Wakayama Prefecture, and two pandas at the Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo are scheduled to be sent to China in February. He, a close aide to Xi, was visiting Japan to participate in China's 'National Day' scheduled on Friday at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo and met with Moriyama, who is chairman of the Japan-China Parliamentary Friendship Association.
Straits Times
06-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Pandas on Japanese lawmakers' wish list as China's vice-premier plans visit to Osaka World Expo
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Four pandas had been returned to China from Japan in June. Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng plans to visit Japan for a World Exposition event in Osaka on July 11 , with Japanese lawmakers looking to request a new lease of giant pandas to promote bilateral ties, diplomatic sources said on J uly 6 . July 11 marks China's national day at the expo. During Mr He's stay in Japan, he is expected to meet with Mr Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who leads a cross-party group of China-friendly Japanese lawmakers. Mr Moriyama, a close aide to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, is also likely to call for the resumption of China's imports of Japanese beef, which have been suspended since 2001 due to an outbreak of mad cow disease. In contrast, China in June lifted its ban on Japanese seafood imports . The restriction was imposed in August 2023 after Japan began releasing treated radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. Mr Moriyama's request for the panda lease would come as the return of four pandas to China from Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, in June left only two in the country – a pair displayed at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo whose lease contract will expire in Februar y 2026 . KYODO NEWS
Straits Times
26-06-2025
- Straits Times
Japanese police arrest 2 school teachers for taking and sharing indecent photos of girls
TOKYO - The Aichi prefectural police on June 24 arrested two schoolteachers in Nagoya and Yokohama on suspicion of taking indecent photos of girls and sharing them on social media. The two suspects are Mr Yuji Moriyama, 42, a teacher at Nagoya municipal Kosaka Elementary School in Tenpaku Ward, Nagoya, and Mr Fumiya Kosemura, 37, also a teacher at Yokohama municipal Hongodai Elementary School in Totsuka Ward, Yokohama. The police arrested them on suspicion of violating a law against photographing sexual postures. According to the police's announcement, Mr Moriyama took photos of a schoolgirl in her underwear in a facility in Aichi Prefecture around September 2024 , and Mr Kosemura did the same in a facility in Kanagawa Prefecture around January 2025 . Then they allegedly shared the indecent photo images with members of an online chat group. The two suspects admitted to the allegations, the police said. Mr Moriyama is the administrator of the social media chat group. The police confirmed that he possessed about 70 photos and videos which depict girls changing clothes and images inside girls' skirts. The Aichi prefectural police were investigating the case on the presumption that the chat group comprises schoolteachers whose hobby is photo and video voyeurism. The criminal acts were detected in March 2025 when another schoolteacher was arrested on suspicion that he put body fluid on a backpack which a girl held at a train station platform in Nagoya. Through investigation of the man, who was arrested on suspicion of property destruction, the Aichi prefectural police discovered the existence of the online chat group and had been investigating it. About 10 in chat group On June 25 , it was found that nearly 10 people have participated in the group sharing the indecent photos and videos, according to investigation sources. The Aichi prefectural police analysed the contents posted in the group chat and judged that all the members could be schoolteachers. The police were checking how the group was formed. According to the sources, analyses by the prefectural police of confiscated smartphones found that members of the group told one another their impressions of the photos and videos which they posted. One response said, 'This is so good,' and another said, 'I can't help staring at them.' The postings were made under fictitious names, and other details, such as names of the schools, were not disclosed. But there were postings such as 'Closing ceremony is held today' and 'It's tomorrow in my school.' THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
