Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has made a speech in favor of free trade in the Asia-Pacific region to an online summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Suga told APEC leaders on Friday that an increase in free trade, investment and connectivity based on international rules will help to protect a free and open region.
Japan's Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has conveyed to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison hope for a stronger bilateral partnership to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Morrison arrived in Japan on Tuesday for a two-day stay. He met Suga at the prime minister's office in Tokyo.
A typhoon is now barreling toward Japan. Weather officials say it is just south of the country and is set to take a northeasterly path along the Pacific coast.
Meteorological Agency officials say Typhoon Chan-hom is unlikely to make landfall but is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain across wide areas.
Japan's Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have agreed to work closer together to strengthen their bilateral alliance and realize a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Motegi and Pompeo met in person over lunch in Tokyo on Tuesday ahead of four-way talks with the foreign ministers of Australia and India later in the day.
People along the Japanese Pacific coast are bracing for powerful winds and downpours. Severe Tropical Storm Dolphin is set to close in on eastern and northern Japan on Thursday or Friday.
The storm is currently in waters south of Tokyo and heading northeast.
Severe Tropical Storm Dolphin is now heading toward Japan and could affect eastern and northern Japan on Thursday or Friday. Weather officials are warning that the country's Pacific coast could be in store for powerful winds and heavy downpours.
The Meteorological Agency says the storm was 230 kilometers south-southwest of Hachijojima Island at noon Wednesday. It was moving northeast at about 20 kilometers per hour.
The season's first Pacific saury catch has arrived at a port in Hokkaido, northern Japan. But the volume was only about 1 percent of that for same time last year.
Four of 12 boats that set sail from the port in the town of Akkeshi on August 15 returned with the catch on Sunday. The remaining eight did not catch anything.
A Japanese research team has detected shifts at the boundary of tectonic plates off the Pacific coast of Japan. The phenomenon, known as slow slip, is being studied for possible links to mega-quakes.
Researchers from the University of Tokyo and the Japan Coast Guard say they have confirmed that the events occurred at seven locations more than 50 kilometers off the coast.