Tag: Japan

The Beijing bullies are now giving Japan the same treatment they have given to Korea over the THAAD deployment:

Wang’s experience appears to be tied to the latest fallout from an escalating spat between China and Japan over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments suggesting Tokyo would deploy its self-defense forces in the event of a Beijing attack on Taiwan.

China, which regards the self-ruled island as part of its territory, was infuriated and repeatedly called on Takaichi to withdraw her remarks. Beijing’s response covered economic measures, which have since increasingly spilled over to the realm of cultural events, including the freezing of Japanese movie releases on Chinese screens.

An informal tally by Chinese internet users shows that at least 20 Japanese concerts, live performances and fan meetings across major cities have been canceled or postponed since Takaichi’s remarks.

This has caused growing concern among Chinese consumers of Japanese pop culture that content will be limited or even face a full-fledged ban, reminiscent of the hallyu, or Korean wave, ban that started in 2016 in response to the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but Japan needs to stand tall and not give in to these bullies.

It looks like PM Takaichi plans to bring Japan’s corporate tendency to work extremely long hours to the government:

“I’ll abandon work-life balance.”

That was Japan’s new far-right Prime Minister’s victory speech vow.

Sanae Takaichi was talking about how she’d lead her own party. Not reform the nation’s notoriously long work weeks.

But the comments still let loose a pretty big backlash.

Sounds like overkill, right? Well, when you look at what followed in her first few weeks in office, probably not.

Weeks later, Takaichi summoned her team for a meeting. With a casual 3 a.m. calltime. She also urged her labor minister to relax the rules on overtime work.

So this is about more than just talking points. And there’s another reason it’s hitting a nerve.

Behind Japan’s legendary work ethic lurks a dark secret.

For decades, the country has been plagued by people driven to an early death by the stress of their never-ending jobs.

New York Post

You can read more at the link, but she held the cabinet meeting at 3:00 AM in preparation for a 9:00 AM address to Parliament.

This is literally internatonal political version of the bully running to the teacher that they are being bullied because someone decided to standup to them bullying their classmate:

China has taken its growing dispute with Japan to the United Nations, accusing Tokyo of threatening “an armed intervention” over Taiwan and vowing to defend itself in its strongest language yet in the two-week-old dispute.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi committed “a grave violation of international law” and diplomatic norms when she said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo, China’s U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong wrote in a letter on Friday to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Reuters

You can read more at the link.

I think the Japanese Navy in response should sail right through so called Japanese territorial waters in the South China Sea in response to this:

The Chinese coast guard entered waters Japan claims as its territorial limit around the Senkaku Islands over the weekend, less than 10 days after Japan’s prime minister warned Tokyo would use military force if China attacked Taiwan. Four Chinese vessels crossed into the 12-mile zone east of the Senkakus around 10:15 a.m. Sunday, according to a Japan coast guard statement released the same day. The uninhabited Senkakus — five islets and three rocky outcrops — lie about 105 miles east of Taiwan and 254 miles west of Okinawa. They are administered by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is actually smart of PM Takaichi to have a half American cabinet member lead the crackdown on illegal immigration and crime by foreigners so the usual suspects cannot claim racism:

Economic security minister Kimi Onoda, tapped to lead the government’s policies on foreign nationals, says she is committed to strictly enforcing regulations related to non-Japanese workers and land acquisitions by foreign nationals.

In a joint interview with media organizations including The Japan Times on Monday, Onoda, a first-time Cabinet member who has been named “minister in charge of a society of well-ordered and harmonious coexistence with foreign nationals,” stressed the importance of cracking down on foreign nationals who do not follow rules in order to alleviate public concerns.

“There shouldn’t be a situation where law-abiding foreign residents find it harder to live here,” she said, noting that she has foreign roots as well. Born in Chicago, Illinois, she has an American father and a Japanese mother.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link.

This is just another example of the growing arms race in Northeast Asia due to the rise and territorial expansionism of China:

The Pentagon’s No. 3 official has heaped praise on South Korea for being the first U.S. treaty ally outside of NATO to hike defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product — a move expected to impact Japan’s own spending plans.

“South Korea has now committed to spending 3.5% of its GDP on defense as soon as possible,” U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby wrote Friday on X. “It is America’s first non-NATO treaty ally to commit to the standard set by President (Donald) Trump at the Hague Summit.” (………)

Still, South Korea’s agreement to hike spending to the 3.5% level will reverberate in Tokyo.

At his first meeting with new Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi late last month, Hegseth said “there were never any demands” from Washington that Tokyo further hike its defense spending.

But media reports in June said Colby had asked Japan to raise its defense spending to 3.5% of GDP, a request that prompted Tokyo to call off annual “two-plus-two” security talks involving the allies’ top diplomats and defense chiefs.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has committed to have Tokyo shoulder more of the security burden in its alliance with Washington by emphasizing a plan to have Japan reach a defense spending target of 2% of GDP by the end of this fiscal year, effectively moving a planned hike ahead by two years.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link.