TOKYO - For several months, Japan has been moving in a more nationalist and conservative direction. The shift has been fuelled by economic challenges at home and growing regional tensions with China.
The country's new ultra-conservative prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is expected to accelerate this agenda, with plans to tighten immigration policies and strengthen Japan's defence posture.
Source: FRANCE 24 English
A 45-year-old man was arrested early July 20 after allegedly crashing a passenger car into a convenience store in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and walking around the parking lot carrying a kitchen knife and a golf club.
A covert network of shuttle tankers is carrying crude through the increasingly dangerous Strait of Hormuz as renewed fighting between the United States and Iran disrupts shipping and raises concerns over how Japan will secure the oil it needs.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has criticized moves by Japanese and Ukrainian companies to cooperate on drone technology, warning that such ties would be regarded by Moscow as a "clear hostile act."
The rainy season ended in the Kanto-Koshin and Tokai regions on July 20 as strengthening high pressure brought intense heat across Japan, with temperatures forecast to reach 38 C in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, and Kofu.
Severe heat spread across Japan on July 20 as a Pacific high-pressure system covered much of the country, pushing the temperature in central Tokyo to 35 degrees Celsius for the first time this year.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi entered the week of July 20 with her government facing a shortened but politically important stretch before the extended Diet session ends, as debate continued over Bank of Japan independence, domestic investment policy, the revised Imperial House Law and the ruling coalition’s unfinished legislative agenda.
Japan's revised Imperial House Law was enacted after clearing the House of Councillors with majority support, allowing female members to retain royal status after marriage and male-line descendants of former imperial family branches to enter the Imperial Household through adoption.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi closed the Diet session on July 17 under pressure from both parliament and financial markets, as lawmakers enacted a revised Imperial House Law while the government moved to clarify that monetary policy tools remain under the sole authority of the Bank of Japan.
A bill to revise the Imperial House Law was approved by an Upper House special committee on July 16, paving the way for its expected enactment on July 17.
A protest against Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was held in Tokyo's Shibuya district on July 16 as public concern grew over a bill that would impose criminal penalties for damaging the Japanese flag.
Tokyo's Koto Ward will distribute portable emergency toilets to all residents to help households prepare for disasters and prevent health problems when regular sanitation systems become unusable.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi entered the final stretch of the Diet session on July 16 facing a concentrated test of her leadership, with Imperial House legislation moving through upper house deliberations, opposition parties preparing for intensive questioning, and bond-market pressure continuing to complicate the government’s growth strategy.
Japan has become an unexpected base of operations for Russian intelligence agents since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with spies allegedly using the country to procure and smuggle high-tech equipment and other goods to Russia, The New York Times reported on July 12.
