Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's sudden resignation after only a year in office has thrown Japan into political turmoil, raising doubts about how the country will handle economic and regional challenges, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
Doing business with Japan does not mean that India can't have ties with China. That is what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tried his best to convey on the expanding Indo-Japanese relationship on Wednesday.
Myanmar's growing rapport with Japan, Western nations and India could influence Sino-Myanmar relations and put pressure on China's "strategic space" in the southeast Asian nation, Chinese state media said on Sunday.
Fearing the "inevitable" global recession following the US financial meltdown, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said the magnitude of the turmoil was increasing in "seriousness" and wanted the international community to make "concerted efforts" to tackle the crisis.
Nakagawa, a close ally of Aso, who denied being drunk, said he will quit after Parliament approves a supplementary budget probably in April.
This time also, Dr Singh will thank Japan for keeping silent and going along with the consensus at the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting that relaxed its guidelines to allow India to enter the global nuclear energy trade. In recent years, Japan and India's relations have been either cordial or warm except for two years, from 1998 to 2000, after India tested its nuclear weapons
India and Japan have made "substantative progress" in their negotiations on the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), says Prime Minister Taro Aso but the pact is unlikely to be signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Tokyo.
"During the talks, we confirmed that we will never tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea," visiting South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said after talks with Japanese Prime MinisterTaro Aso in Tokyo. Lee and Aso agreed to press Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme and urged China, North Korea's closest ally, to play a greater role in persuading it to disarm.
The dialogue is intended to enhance all-round cooperation and contribute to greater regional peace and stability.
Japan's former defence minister Yuriko Koike, a former newsreader who is fluent in Arabic, has made a bold bid for power on Monday by launching an attempt to become Japan's first woman prime minister.
During his talks and public speeches, Mukherjee urged Japan to look at India's "impeccable" non-proliferation record and back the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement at the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting.
Japan said it also understood India's need for using nuclear power to meet its energy deficit.
India will not raise the issue of retrieving the ashes believed to be that of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ongoing visit to Japan as there is no 'political consensus' on the issue, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Relations between India and Japan seem to be at an all-time high, with the two countries making a concerted attempt to interact at various levels -- economic, political and strategic.
The loan being extended on concessionary terms will have an interest rate of 1.3 per cent with repayment period of 30 years including a grace period of 10 years.
During the two-day Summit in St Petersburg attended by the world's top leaders including US President Barack Obama and host Vladimir Putin, Singh declared that India has been affected by currency volatility in the past few weeks and was taking steps to finance the current account deficit in an environment that is seen to be friendly for stable foreign capital flows.
Japan is not making any preparations to postpone the 2020 Olympics, the government's top spokesman said on Wednesday, stressing Tokyo's resolve to host the event as scheduled despite the global spread of coronavirus.
A Japanese delegation will soon visit India to study the opportunities
An official close to the organising committee, who is involved in drafting the scenarios, said they have been asked to make a simulation in case of a postponement.
India and Japan on Friday decided to more than treble their currency swap arrangement from $15 billion to 50 billion in a move seen as sending an important signal for the rupee.
Bibhu Prasad Routray explains why the US is supporting Japan's resolve to release 'treated' radioactive waste water into the Pacific Ocean. And what role China plays in the US decision.
Istanbul were spared a grilling on Wednesday over protests which have rocked Turkey when the three candidates to host the 2020 Olympics presented their cases to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Sterling fell to a 31-year low against the dollar on Monday as a sell-off stemming from Britain's decision to quit the European Union gathered pace, with the euro also pressured as Brexit clouded the future of the rest of the bloc.
Prime Ministers Modi and Abe enjoyed a close and empathetic relationship and this certainly gave a sustained momentum to the India-Japan strategic partnership. It is necessary for India to reach out and engage with his successor as early as possible, advises former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
'There shall be no change in India-Japan ties,' predicts Rajaram Panda.
Sterling was last at $1.4450, having carved out a massive range of $1.4000 to $1.5022.
India and Japan are natural partners at sea, and Narendra Modi's recent visit underlined the need to keep the association going
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