Two patrol planes of Japan's Self-Defense Forces will leave Japan for the Middle East on Saturday to help ensure the safe navigation of commercial vessels.
Defense Minister Taro Kono ordered the dispatch of the aircraft and one destroyer at a meeting with senior ministry and Self-Defense Forces officials.
The foreign ministers of Japan and Indonesia have agreed to expedite preparations to hold a joint meeting of their foreign and defense ministers soon this year.
Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met Indonesia's Retno Marsudi in Jakarta on Friday. The two countries last held a so-called "two-plus-two" meeting in 2015.
BEIRUT--Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn on Jan. 8 maintained his innocence and said he decided to flee Japan because the only alternative was to die there.
In his first public appearance since his arrest in Tokyo in November 2018, Ghosn also blasted a few Nissan executives as well as Tokyo prosecutors.
ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi -- Here kitty, kitty! Visitors to Tashirojima Island here will have no trouble finding the fluffy winter coats of the feline inhabitants.
Often called "cat island," Tashirojima, whose perimeter is 11 kilometers, is home to some 200 cats who live alongside human residents, and are no stranger to tourists from both inside and outside of Japan. On a day in mid-December last year, this cat-loving reporter made a visit to the island and its furry citizens.