Japanese and French defense chiefs agreed in their meeting Thursday in Paris to strengthen bilateral cooperation ahead of the “two-plus-two” talks involving the countries’ foreign ministers, Japanese government officials said.   Tomomi Inada and Jean-Yves Le Drian recognized the importance of an agreement to allow their armed forces to provide supplies and services to each other, Japanese officials said, as….Read more

Infrastructure projects in the Northern Territories under Russian control are projected to slow down in 2017 due to the country’s fiscal straits. The central government plans to invest 70 billion rubles (about 135.5 billion yen) in a 10-year “social and economic development program” for the Kuril Islands (the Northern Territories and Chishima Islands) through 2025, but it has announced that….Read more

TOKYO, Jan. 5, Kyodo — Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday left Japan for France, where he is set to attend “two-plus-two” talks involving the countries’ foreign and defense ministers in which they are likely to discuss China’s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region.   After France, Kishida will travel to the Czech Republic, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of….Read more

TOKYO — The governments of Japan and Russia will expand discussions between senior foreign affairs officials to new areas in what could be a step toward resolving their decades-old territorial dispute and establishing a peace treaty.   The two countries planned a series of 2017 bureau-chief conferences during talks between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin….Read more

Nikkei wrote that Japan and Russia are set to expand the scope of their diplomatic dialogue to include UN affairs and international economic cooperation, in addition to such fields as arms control, nonproliferation, and European affairs. The Japanese side is hopeful that increased diplomatic exchanges with Moscow will help achieve a breakthrough in the Northern Territories dispute. 

Mid-January Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam Mid-January to February Abe may visit U.S. to meet with Donald Trump after his inauguration as president March 20 Abe visits Germany to attend international IT and telecommunications technology trade fair May 26, 27 G7 Summit in Italy July 7, 8 G20 Summit in Germany Sept. 6, 7 Eastern Economic Forum….Read more

TOKYO, Dec. 30, Kyodo — Japan declined calls for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to join Western leaders in condemning Russia earlier this month over the Syrian civil war, fearing doing so would negatively affect his impending summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, diplomatic sources said Friday.   Japan’s dissociation from that action despite its role this year as chair….Read more

MOSCOW (Jiji Press) — Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his New Year’s message issued to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has expressed his hope that the two leaders will continue to cooperate in building a true partnership between their countries.   In the message, which was announced by the presidential office on Friday, Putin said that he is happy to see….Read more

The Hokkaido government has decided to assign a new bureau chief in FY17 to better handle the “joint economic activities” on the four Northern Islands agreed upon by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Vladimir Putin at their summit meeting in December. The government will also be reorganized in anticipation of the expansion of personnel exchanges between Hokkaido and the….Read more

Despite thorough preparations for the recent Japan-Russia summit held in Japan in mid-December, no progress was made in the Northern Territories issue. Sankei Shimbun noted with pessimism, “The summit confirmed that Russia takes a rock-hard stance toward the territorial issue.” On the other hand, Yomiuri Shimbun positively viewed resolutions for concluding a peace treaty expressed by the two leaders as the possible….Read more