Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition cruised to a big election win on Sunday, but feeble turnout could weaken his claim of a mandate for policies including reflationary steps to revive the economy.
Waving banners and banging tambourines, hundreds of Japanese took to the streets of Tokyo to protest a strict new state-secrets law which took effect on Wednesday that critics charge will help conceal government misdeeds and limit press freedom.
Japan's main opposition party, its image still tarnished two years after losing power, isn't even pretending to have a shot at ousting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition in a Dec. 14 election. It does hope to give him a black eye, though.
Japan's highest-ranking military officer on Friday urged an early start to a "crisis management" mechanism with China amid conflicting claims to a group of tiny East China Sea islands.
Japanese voters, puzzled as to why Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is calling an election now and unimpressed by opposition alternatives, may shun a Dec. 14 election in record numbers.
From a military rules-of-the-road agreement with Washington to $20 billion in loans for Southeast Asia, Beijing has set aside the tensions of recent years to present a softer side to the world in the last week.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to play a constructive role in ensuring that a shaky ceasefire in Ukraine holds.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday his government was making final arrangements to hold a bilateral summit with China in Beijing next week.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday he was not thinking of calling a snap election for parliament's lower house, amid some speculation that he might do so by the end of the year.
China and Japan agreed on Friday to work on improving ties and signaled willingness to put a bitter row over disputed islands on the back burner, paving the way for their leaders to meet at an Asian-Pacific summit next week.
China's official Xinhua news agency on Monday poured cold water on the idea that the leaders of China and Japan could have formal talks on the sidelines of next week's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
Japan's main opposition party vowed on Tuesday to pursue Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over a string of cabinet funding scandals that have dented his popularity ratings, and attacked his signature "Abenomics" economic revival recipe as a failure.
Public approval of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government slumped after the resignation of two high-profile cabinet ministers last week, according to a poll published on Sunday, adding more pressure on Abe as he struggles to turn around the Japanese economy.
China has sent coastguard vessels to disputed waters in the East China Sea after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe angered Beijing by sending a ritual offering to a Tokyo shrine that honors the dead from Japan's wars.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine on Friday, a move that might complicate his push for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to improve frayed ties between the world's second- and third-biggest economies.
The number of times Japanese fighter jets scrambled to ward off Russian military aircraft more than doubled in the last six months, amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is keen to ease.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to help women juggle work and family are hitting a roadblock: opposition to building new daycare centers from residents who fear noise from children playing will spoil their quiet neighborhoods.
The indictment of a Japanese journalist in South Korea for defamation of its president was "extremely regrettable", Japan said on Thursday, but added that the door for dialogue between the two countries' leaders should stay open.
Expectations are growing in Japan that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for an ice-breaking chat next month, while an aide signaled Abe may postpone visits to a shrine for war dead that have infuriated Beijing in the past.
With a telegenic presence, powerful ruling party mentors and a talent for avoiding making political enemies, Japan's new trade and industry minister, Yuko Obuchi, may have what it takes to become the country's first female prime minister.
North Korea has told Japan it would not pass on findings from an investigation into the fate of Japanese people abducted by North Koran agents and proposed that Japan sends representatives for talks, Japan's prime minister said on Tuesday.
