Japan hails Cambodia-Thailand ceasefire
"We welcome the immediate, unconditional ceasefire agreement between Cambodia and Thailand," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference.
"We will work with other nations to ask for efforts on the part of Cambodia and Thailand to ease tensions, including through the steady implementation of the ceasefire agreement," the top Japanese government spokesman added.
The ceasefire came after a meeting in Malaysia on Monday between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thailand's acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai.
U.S. President Donald Trump had put pressure on both nations to agree to a ceasefire, threatening not to reach tariff deals with them without one.
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Kyodo News
7 minutes ago
- Kyodo News
Kyodo News Digest: Aug. 2, 2025
TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News. ---------- Japan PM Ishiba not to make WWII statement on 80th anniv. of its end TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided not to express his views on World War II on the 80th anniversary of its end on Aug. 15 but may do so later, government sources said Friday. Although Ishiba, believed to be relatively dovish, has already decided not to have a prime minister's statement approved at a Cabinet meeting, he remains eager to offer his perspective and may do so on another occasion, the sources said. ---------- Japan astronaut Yui heads to ISS on SpaceX craft on 2nd space mission CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - A team of astronauts from Japan, Russia and the United States headed to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX craft from Florida on Friday, marking the second space flight for Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui. The Crew-11 mission, also involving two Americans and one Russian, will stay at the ISS for about six months, partly to conduct experiments in hopes of helping future lunar exploration. It is expected to reach the ISS in the early hours of Saturday. ---------- Japanese woman attacked in subway station in China, suspect detained SUZHOU, China - A Japanese woman was assaulted while walking with her child at a subway station in Suzhou, eastern China, sustaining a non-life-threatening injury, the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai and sources familiar with bilateral relations said Friday. Chinese authorities detained a suspect allegedly involved in the Thursday evening incident in Suzhou, the same city in Jiangsu Province where a Japanese mother and child were injured and a Chinese woman was killed in a knife attack in June last year. ---------- Extra Diet session begins, PM faces emboldened opposition after poll TOKYO - Japan's parliament convened Friday for its first session since the ruling coalition's recent major election setback, as the opposition camp seeks to leverage its increased strength to push for the removal of a temporary gasoline tax while Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is on the defensive. During the five-day session, Ishiba will engage in debates with opposition lawmakers over the recently reached Japan-U.S. tariff deal, all the while his standing as ruling party head and prime minister remains precarious amid pressure to resign. ---------- Vietnamese man acquitted of smuggling fake yen banknotes into Japan KUMAMOTO, Japan - A Japanese court ruling that acquitted a Vietnamese former technical intern of smuggling and using over 170 forged 10,000 yen ($66) bills was finalized Friday, after prosecutors did not appeal the verdict. The man, 38, was accused of working with an unknown party from late June to mid-August 2023 to smuggle forged 10,000-yen old banknotes last issued in the 1980s into Japan. ---------- JR East gets OK to raise fares for Yamanote, other lines in March TOKYO - East Japan Railway Co. said Friday it has received government approval to raise fares by an average 7.1 percent from March, the company's first blanket hike since 1987 when it was created from the privatization of the national railway company. The fare hike comes as the operator of Tokyo's busy Yamanote loop line and other train routes seek to secure funds for maintaining its railway services amid a falling population and rising prices. ---------- Japan experienced hottest July for 3rd year, 2.89 C above average TOKYO - Japan logged its hottest July for the third year in a row, with average temperatures 2.89 C above normal, the weather agency said Friday. The average temperature was the highest since comparable records started being kept in 1898, exceeding the previous record set in 2024 by 2.16 degrees. ---------- Japanese man's acquittal of 1986 schoolgirl murder finalized NAGOYA - The acquittal of a Japanese man who served seven years in prison for the 1986 murder of a junior high school student was finalized on Friday after prosecutors waived the right to appeal. The Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court acquitted 60-year-old Shoshi Maekawa over the murder of a teenage girl in Fukui, central Japan, in a retrial last month, dismissing the credibility of the testimony of his acquaintances that led to his initial guilty verdict. ---------- Video: Morioka Sansa dance festival in Iwate Prefecture
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
Attacker wounds another Japanese national in China's Suzhou
An "unknown assailant" attacked and wounded a Japanese national accompanied by a child in the Chinese city of Suzhou, Tokyo's Embassy said Friday, calling on Beijing to prevent such incidents. According to Japan-China diplomatic sources, the victim was a woman. Local authorities have detained the suspected attacker, but the motive and other details of the incident remain unclear. The incident comes a year after a Japanese mother and child were wounded in a knife attack in the same city. A Chinese woman had died trying to stop the assailant. In Thursday's attack, "a Japanese national walking with a child was struck by what appeared to be a rock by an unknown assailant inside a Suzhou, Jiangsu province subway station," Tokyo's Embassy in Beijing said in a statement. A spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry said that "the suspect has been apprehended." The victim was "promptly taken to hospital for treatment, and there is no threat to life." China and Japan are key trading partners, but increased friction over territorial rivalries and military spending has frayed ties in recent years. Japan's brutal occupation of parts of China before and during World War II remains a sore point, with Beijing accusing Tokyo of failing to atone for its past. In June last year, a Japanese mother and child were attacked in Suzhou on the anniversary of the 1931 Mukden incident, known in China as a day of national humiliation. The 1931 explosion of a railway in China was used by Japanese soldiers as a pretext to occupy the city of Mukden, now called Shenyang, and invade the wider region of Manchuria. And in September, a Japanese schoolboy was fatally stabbed in the southern city of Shenzhen. Media reports about the latest attack in Suzhou were censored on the Chinese messaging app WeChat. "The Japanese government has urged the Chinese government to ... severely punish the suspect, prevent similar incidents, and ensure the safety of Japanese nationals," Tokyo's Embassy said Friday. Beijing's Foreign Ministry said "China will continue to take effective steps, to protect the safety of foreigners in China." Thursday's incident occurred at a time when anti-Japanese sentiment is seen as rising in China, fueled by recent films and dramas themed on the past war against Japan. To celebrate the 80th anniversary of China's victory in the war, a military parade is scheduled to be held in Beijing in September.
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
Japan reluctant to recognize Palestinian statehood
The government has shown a reluctance to recognize Palestinian statehood, mainly out of consideration for the United States, a key backer of Israel. Britain, France and Canada, three of the Group of Seven major industrial countries, have announced plans to recognize Palestine as a state in September, an effort to increase pressure on Israel to end its war in Gaza. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, the government's top spokesman, did not give a clear answer at a news conference Friday about whether Japan, also a G7 member, would follow suit. "We will continue to conduct a comprehensive review, including the appropriate timing and methods, with a view to supporting progress for peace," he said. Hayashi also emphasized Tokyo's aim of achieving a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Japan has taken a neutral position on peace in the Middle East. It has worked to support Palestinians, providing assistance in cooperation with Islamic countries in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia and Malaysia. While continuing to supply humanitarian aid for Palestinians, Tokyo is expected yo hold off on any decision to formally recognize Palestine as a state. Japan is seeking to realize a two-state solution through dialogue, and recognizing it as a state could provoke a backlash from Israel. The United States' unwavering support for Israel is also a factor in Japan's position. A senior Foreign Ministry official said that "each country has its own domestic circumstances" on recognizing Palestinian statehood. "There's no reason to follow" Britain and others, another senior ministry official said. "Japan has to think about relations with the United States and Israel."
