Tag: Japan
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Japan airport closed by explosion of U.S. bomb likely dating to World War II
TOKYO — A regional airport in southwest Japan was closed on Wednesday after a U.S. bombshell, most likely dropped during World War II to stem “kamikaze” attacks, exploded near its runway, causing nearly 90 flight cancellations. Miyazaki Airport shut its runway after the explosion caused a crater 23 feet wide and nearly 3 feet deep in the middle of the taxiway next to…
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Former defense minister set to lead Japan amid efforts to counter China’s growing power
TOKYO — Shigeru Ishiba is set to become Japan’s next prime minister after the governing Liberal Democratic Party elected him as its new leader on Friday. Ishiba, a former defense minister, will be named prime minister of the U.S. ally on Tuesday when Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his cabinet ministers resign and Ishiba is…
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World’s longest-serving death row inmate acquitted in Japan
TOYKO — A Japanese man said to have spent the world’s longest time on death row was cleared in a retrial of the 1966 murders of four people on Thursday, ending his family’s search for justice for a wrongful conviction. Iwao Hakamata, 88, spent 45 years awaiting execution before a court ordered his release and…
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Japan says Russian patrol aircraft violated its airspace
TOKYO — A Russian military patrol aircraft violated Japanese airspace near Hokkaido’s Rebun Island on three separate occasions on Monday, prompting Japan’s Self-Defense Force to dispatch aircraft in an emergency response and to fire flares. It is the first time Japan’s SDF aircraft has fired flares in “an anti-airspace violation action,” government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi…
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China and Japan end dispute over Fukushima water discharge
BEIJING — China and Japan reached a consensus in August on the discharge of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant, the Chinese foreign ministry said Friday, bringing to an end a diplomatic dispute that had rumbled on for over two years. Beijing called the release “a major nuclear safety issue with cross-border implications,” when Tokyo started…