Aug 03, 2022 (ABC News (Australia)) - Japan has called on Myanmar's junta to release one of its citizens who was detained in Yangon after filming a demonstration. Meanwhile the country's military rulers are extending the state of emergency by another six months.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and US President Donald Trump held talks at United Nations headquarters in New York in the early hours of September 23 Japan time, demonstrating the strength of the Japan-US alliance and confirming close cooperation on China ahead of an upcoming US-China summit.
Rail services across Chiba Prefecture remained severely disrupted on the morning of September 23, three days after Typhoon No. 25 brought torrential rain to eastern Japan, with extensive suspensions on the Uchibo, Sotobo, Sobu Main and Narita lines expected to continue throughout the final day of the Silver Week holiday. Although some services have resumed and flights at Tokyo's major airports are recovering, damage to railway tracks and embankments is preventing a return to normal operations in several areas.
Typhoon No. 25 has left seven people dead and five missing in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, with rescue operations continuing on September 23 as the extent of devastating landslides and flooding across the Kanto region becomes clearer, while widespread power outages, disrupted rail services and submerged neighborhoods hamper recovery efforts.
The road leading to Otemon Gate at Tokyo's Imperial Palace was flooded on September 22 after heavy rain from a typhoon caused water in the surrounding moat to overflow.
Japan came within two runs of producing one of international cricket's biggest upsets on September 22, pushing reigning T20 world champion India to the final ball before losing a rain-shortened match at Sano International Cricket Ground in Tochigi Prefecture.
China held commemorative events across the country on September 18 to mark the 95th anniversary of the Mukden Incident, the 1931 railway explosion that Japan's Kwantung Army used as a pretext to seize Manchuria and which became a major turning point in the deterioration of relations between Japan and China.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi launched her first cabinet reshuffle since taking office, keeping core economic, foreign-policy and security ministers in place while replacing a broad group of other ministers in an attempt to stabilize her government before a difficult autumn of tax, budget, monetary policy and diplomatic battles.
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force has concluded that a large Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft that lost communication off Tottori Prefecture on September 15 crashed into the sea.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi launched a new Liberal Democratic Party executive team on September 16, retaining most of the party’s senior leadership while pledging to unite the government and ruling party to overcome a difficult political and economic environment.
A Japan Air Self-Defense Force Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft went missing over international waters about 50 kilometers north of Tottori Prefecture on September 15, with floating debris and oil later found in the area where communications were lost.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government entered a decisive political week on September 15 after approving an outline for food-tax relief and household payouts without settling how the package will be funded, keeping fiscal concerns alive just days before the Bank of Japan is expected to decide whether to raise interest rates again.
Japan's government is set to approve tax reform guidelines on September 15 that will reduce the consumption tax on food from the current 8% to 1% for two years starting in April 2027 as part of measures to ease the burden of rising prices.
Genta Koja, a former deputy mayor of Naha who accepts the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko in Nago, won the Okinawa gubernatorial election on September 13, defeating incumbent Governor Denny Tamaki and bringing an end to 12 years of prefectural administrations committed to blocking the project.
