Kyodo News Digest: July 20, 2025
----------
Voting underway in Japan for upper house race, with focus on majority
TOKYO - Voting got underway on Sunday in Japan's House of Councillors election, with all eyes on whether the ruling coalition can maintain its majority amid public frustration over rising prices and growing support for emerging parties.
The outcome of the election will have a strong bearing on the fate of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's minority government, as failure to retain control of the upper house would make parliamentary deliberations even more difficult and could potentially cost him the premiership.
----------
Ishiba seeks last-minute voter support, raps "irresponsible" politics
TOKYO - Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday made a last-ditch attempt to secure voter support for his struggling ruling party, warning that short-sighted and "irresponsible" politics will decay Japan, in an apparent swipe at opposition forces.
Ishiba made the remark as media polls indicate his Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, the Komeito party, may lose their majority of the House of Councillors in Sunday's election.
----------
Japanese man provided info to intelligence agency: Chinese court
BEIJING - A Japanese businessman, who was convicted earlier this week by a Chinese court for engaging in spying, provided information to an intelligence agency and received rewards, sources familiar with Sino-Japanese relations said Saturday.
On Wednesday, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced the Astellas Pharma Inc. employee in his 60s to three years and six months in prison for espionage activities, but the verdict did not touch on specific details of how he acted illegally in China.
----------
Japan eyes tariff talks in U.S. next week before Aug. 1 deadline
OSAKA - Japan's top tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said Saturday he intends to visit the United States possibly early next week for an eighth round of trade talks, before a 25 percent tariff on Japan comes into effect on Aug. 1.
"I want to continue working to find common ground that both sides can agree on," Akazawa told reporters at the World Exposition in Osaka where he was accompanying U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, his counterpart in the talks.
----------
S. Korea ex-president Yoon indicted for power abuse over martial law
SEOUL - South Korea's former President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on Saturday on additional charges of abuse of power over his declaration of martial law last December.
The special counsel team investigating Yoon, led by special prosecutor Cho Eun Suk, said the former president is accused of violating the voting rights of Cabinet members by summoning only a select few to a meeting where the imposition of martial law was decided.
----------
Ichiro expects to get nervous in Hall of Fame speech
SEATLE - Baseball Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki said Friday he expects to get nervous when he makes a speech in English during the July 27 induction ceremony at Cooperstown, New York.
"I'm the type of person who gets really nervous when speaking in front of people, so I'll definitely get nervous," the former Seattle Mariners icon revealed in an online press conference.
----------
Video: Beat the heat with grilled eel on "doyo-no-ushi-no-hi," or the midsummer day of the ox
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
28 minutes ago
- Japan Today
Japan PM laments 'harsh' election result as upper house control slips
Shigeru Ishiba, Japan's prime minister and president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), speaks to the media at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo, on Sunday,. By Mariko Katsumura and Kantaro Komiya Japan's ruling coalition is certain to lose control of the upper house in Sunday's election, public broadcaster NHK reported, an outcome that further weakens Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's grip on power as a tariff deadline with the United States looms. While the ballot does not directly determine whether Ishiba's administration will fall, it heaps political pressure on the embattled leader who also lost control of the more powerful lower house in October. Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and coalition partner Komeito were certain to fall short of the 50 seats needed to secure the 248-seat upper chamber in an election where half the seats were up for grabs, NHK said early on Monday, with six seats still to call. That comes on top of its worst showing in 15 years in October's lower house election, a vote which has left Ishiba's administration vulnerable to no-confidence motions and calls from within his own party for leadership change. Speaking late on Sunday evening after exit polls closed, Ishiba told NHK he "solemnly" accepted the "harsh result". "We are engaged in extremely critical tariff negotiations with the United must never ruin these negotiations. It is only natural to devote our complete dedication and energy to realizing our national interests," he later told TV Tokyo. Asked whether he intended to stay on as prime minister and party leader, he said "that's right". Japan, the world's fourth largest economy, faces a deadline of August 1 to strike a trade deal with the United States or face punishing tariffs in its largest export market. The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party was set to finish second, vote counts showed. The fringe far-right Sanseito party, birthed on YouTube a few years ago, announced its arrival in mainstream politics with its 'Japanese First' campaign and warnings about a "silent invasion" of foreigners winning broader support. It was set to add at least 13 seats to one elected previously. 'HAMMERED HOME' Opposition parties advocating for tax cuts and welfare spending struck a chord with voters, as rising consumer prices - particularly a jump in the cost of rice - have sowed frustration at the government's response. "The LDP was largely playing defense in this election, being on the wrong side of a key voter issue," said David Boling, a director at consulting firm Eurasia Group. "Polls show that most households want a cut to the consumption tax to address inflation, something that the LDP opposes. Opposition parties seized on it and hammered that message home." The LDP has been urging fiscal restraint, with one eye on a very jittery government bond market, as investors worry about Japan's ability to refinance the world's largest debt pile. Any concessions the LDP must now strike with opposition parties to pass policy will only further elevate those nerves, analysts say. "The ruling party will have to compromise in order to gain the cooperation of the opposition, and the budget will continue to expand," said Yu Uchiyama, a politics professor at the University of Tokyo. "Overseas investors' evaluation of the Japan economy will also be quite harsh." Sanseito, which first emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, is among those advocating fiscal expansion. But it is its tough talk on immigration that has grabbed attention, dragging once-fringe political rhetoric into the mainstream. It remains to be seen whether the party can follow the path of other far-right parties with which it has drawn comparisons, such as Germany's AfD and Reform UK. "I am attending graduate school but there are no Japanese around me. All of them are foreigners," said Yu Nagai, a 25-year-old student who voted for Sanseito earlier on Sunday. "When I look at the way compensation and money are spent on foreigners, I think that Japanese people are a bit disrespected," Nagai said after casting his ballot at a polling station in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward. Japan, the world's oldest society, saw foreign-born residents hit a record of about 3.8 million last year. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Japan Today
28 minutes ago
- Japan Today
China pressed Japanese businessman to admit to spying in plea deal
Chinese authorities pushed a Japanese businessman, recently convicted by a Chinese court, to admit to spying in exchange for a lesser charge under a plea bargain, sources close to diplomatic ties said Sunday. The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court on Wednesday sentenced a man in his 60s working for Astellas Pharma Inc. to three years and six months in prison for espionage. The defendant admitted to the charge, but the verdict did not detail how he acted illegally. Legal experts said the sentence appeared more lenient than those given to other Japanese nationals tried on spying charges in China. In May this year, another Japanese man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for espionage by a Shanghai court. During questioning, authorities told the man and his lawyer what sentence he could expect if he pleaded guilty and explained the legal basis for it, the sources said. A 2018 amendment to China's criminal procedure law introduced a plea leniency system. According to people familiar with Sino-Japanese relations, the man was convicted of providing information to a Japanese intelligence agency and received rewards. The Astellas Pharma employee was detained in March 2023, just ahead of his scheduled return to Japan, was formally arrested in October of that year and was indicted in August 2024. He had served as an executive at the pharmaceutical company's Chinese unit and a senior official of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China. © KYODO
28 minutes ago
Japan's Ruling Bloc Certain to Lose Upper House Majority
News from Japan Politics Jul 21, 2025 05:42 (JST) Tokyo, July 21 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling coalition is certain to lose a majority in Sunday's election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament. The ruling bloc already lost control of the House of Representatives, the lower parliamentary chamber, in last year's election. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
