Japan - The African Mirror

Jul

2021

Two feared dead, 20 missing in landslides in Japan

AT least two people are feared dead after landslides triggered by heavy rains hit the central Japanese city of Atami, where about 20 people were still missing, public broadcaster NHK said. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who convened an emergency task force to tackle the crisis, asked people in the affected areas to remain on alert. "There may be more heavy rainfalls and we need to be taking the highest caution," Suga said in televised remarks. The floods are a reminder of the natural disasters - including earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunami - that plague Japan, where the capital Tokyo is to…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

FACTBOX: China, climate and vaccines – what the G7 agreed this weekend

WORLD

THE Group of Seven rich nations promised to tackle China's growing influence, fight climate change, get more COVID-19 jabs to poor countries and keep up their economic stimulus programmes at their first summit since Joe Biden became U.S. president. Following is a summary of the main points agreed by the leaders of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada at their three-day meeting at a beachside hotel in southwest England which ended yesterday. CLIMATE CHANGE - The G7 said it would meet a long-overdue funding pledge of $100 billion a year by rich countries to help poorer…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Japan’s ruling party invites more women to meetings, as long as they don’t talk

WORLD

JU-MIN PARK and CHANG-RAN KIM Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, long seen as a homogeneous redoubt of elderly men, now wants more women at its key meetings - provided they don't do the talking. The party, in power for most of the time since 1955, has proposed allowing five female lawmakers to join its board meetings as observers in a response to criticism that its board is dominated by men. Two of the party's 12-member board are women, while only three of its 25-member general council are women. The proposal comes after sexist comments from former Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Olympics-Undaunted by pandemic, S.Sudan athletes in Japan fix eyes on the prize

SPORT

KIYOSHI TAKENAKA AFTER the coronavirus forced a delay in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, athletes from South Sudan who are training in Japan seized the opportunity for more practice, which they have vowed to keep up, despite mounting uncertainty over this year's event. Four track athletes and a coach from South Sudan, the world's youngest country, and one of its poorest, arrived in November 2019 in Maebashi, a city 100 km (62 miles) northwest of Tokyo, to exploit Japan's better training conditions. Forced to extend their stay after the summer games were postponed by a year, they find infections are still…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenyan star earns Golden Crown in Japan

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO HARAMBEE Stars striker Michael Olunga was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) 2020 of the Japanese J1-League after concluding 34 league games for his side Kashiwa Reysol. Kashiwa Reysol finished 7th in the J1-league after Olunga helped the side to promotion from the J2-league. The Kenyan international netted 28 goals in 2020 to capture the Golden Boot, and in doing so became the 7th player in league history to win both MVP and Golden Boot in the same season. Olunga thanked his family and friends who helped him build his career “Glad to be named the Most Valuable…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Japan’s Suga to formally take up PM job, announce cabinet

WORLD

ELAINE LIES and LINDA SIEG JAPANESE ruling party president Yoshihide Suga was poised to become the nation's next prime minister on Wednesday, pulling together a "continuity" cabinet, about half of which will not change from the current makeup, local media reported. Suga, a longtime aide and chief cabinet secretary under outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on Monday won a landslide victory to take over the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He pledged to carry on many of Abe's programmes, including his signature "Abenomics" economic strategy. He faces numerous challenges, including tackling COVID-19 while reviving a battered economy and dealing with a…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Pandemic sharpens ‘battle for the soul’ of United Nations between U.S. and China

WORLD

MICHELLE NICHOLS LONG-simmering tensions between the United States and China have hit boiling point at the United Nations over the coronavirus pandemic, spotlighting Beijing's bid for greater multilateral influence in a challenge to Washington's traditional leadership. Chinese President Xi Jinping has accelerated his U.N. power play as President Donald Trump's disregard for international cooperation led to the United States quitting global deals on climate and Iran and leaving the U.N. Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization, diplomats say. "There's definitely, in my mind, a battle for the soul of the U.N. going on," said a senior European diplomat,…