House byline
Politics correspondent
Akari Kato is a house byline for InfoHandle’s Politics desk.
Opposition lawmaker Hiroshi Suzuki filed a no-confidence motion against Agriculture Minister Tetsushi Yanagisawa on Tuesday after Yanagisawa joked that road budgets could pave his driveway, a gaffe opposition parties are using to slow the LDP’s budget committee calendar.
A Kishida faction brokered enough lower-house votes to pass revised rules on overseas defense equipment plants, clearing Diet debate that ties Japan's security exports to allied factory investments ahead of Ishiba's policy address.
LDP President Sanae Takaichi and Komeito chief Keiichi Ishii scheduled Monday coalition talks as Finance Minister Kato warned on yen moves and bond markets priced fiscal expansion risk.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Motegi held separate phone calls with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and ICC President Tomoko Akane after Washington blacklisted the entire court, leaving Tokyo to balance alliance ties with its support for international justice.
Okinawa lawmakers adopted a resolution urging revisions to the U.S. forces agreement after a Marine was accused in a Naha killing, while demonstrators marched in Tokyo and the III Marine Expeditionary Force kept a curfew in place.
Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki demanded a written timeline from III Marine Expeditionary Force commanders on lifting a base curfew imposed after a Naha homicide arrest, saying prefectural police still lack clarity on night training schedules.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reprimanded Agriculture Minister Kazuo Yana but told him to stay after remarks about withholding road funds from unfriendly mayors.
The III Marine Expeditionary Force is pausing all Okinawa operations for two days from Wednesday and imposing a 30-day curfew after a U.S. Marine was arrested on suspicion of killing a local woman in Naha.
Liberal Democratic Party security planners are debating whether December’s strategy rewrite should commit Japan to studying nuclear-powered submarines.
III Marine Expeditionary Force halted Okinawa operations for 48 hours and ordered a monthlong midnight curfew after Okinawa police arrested a U.S. Marine on suspicion of killing a Naha woman, prompting Governor Koja to demand stronger base discipline.
Constitutional Democratic Party staff finalized Diet questions on how Takaichi’s food-tax rebate would reach part-time workers and pensioners before Thursday’s party-leader round.
Opening a 69-day extraordinary Diet session, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called China an important neighbor and promised dialogue, but said Tokyo would keep pressing Beijing on Taiwan, the East China Sea, and the safety of Japanese nationals in China.
Nippon Ishin no Kai reopened its push to shrink the House of Representatives as the extraordinary Diet session convened with a crowded legislative calendar.
Police arrested a U.S. Marine at a Naha hotel after a woman was found dead, prompting Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to protest to Washington over base conduct rules.
A Friday report to Economic Security Minister Kimi Onoda urges Cabinet Office inspections and penalties for unapproved purchases near remote border islands and drone-vulnerable sites.
Constitutional Democratic Party lawmakers pressed the ruling coalition to publish a defence spending baseline before the fiscal 2027 budget draft, citing NATO-style targets and yen weakness on imported kit.
From Thursday the permanent-residency charge jumps to 200,000 yen, the centrepiece of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s push to slow record foreign resident growth and add income and language tests next year.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwama will travel to Kuala Lumpur this month as Japan prepares to hand ASEAN chairmanship duties to Malaysia while balancing defense supplement debate at home.
Permanent-residence applications accepted from Thursday face a 200,000-yen permission fee—twenty times the old rate—while September filings stay on the 10,000-yen schedule.
Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi argued Tokyo cannot refuse to debate nuclear deterrence options before year-end revisions to Japan’s core security documents, even as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi avoided pledging to keep the three non-nuclear principles intact.
Japan’s Defense Ministry tabled FY2026 supplementary budget lines for standoff missile production and stockpile storage ahead of the October 5 extraordinary Diet session, linking outlays to allied drill schedules disclosed last week.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi opened a closed-door session of a 17-member expert group tasked with strengthening Japan’s intelligence gathering and counter-espionage laws.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Japan exercised its UN right of reply after Russia's foreign minister linked Tokyo's Security Council bid to militarism and revanchism.
Komeito leaders pressed the LDP on Monday to spell out how a proposed consumption-tax grocery offset would be funded and timed before the October 5 extraordinary Diet session, warning that vague credits will not calm household budgets.
The Constitutional Democratic Party submitted a lower-house seat reapportionment bill as the Oct. 5 extraordinary Diet session countdown began, forcing debate alongside Takaichi’s food-tax agenda.
The Extraordinary Diet opens October 5 for a scheduled 69 days to December 12, carrying a temporary cut to the consumption tax on food and a lower-house seat reduction bill — with the committee gavel on the slush-fund file still an open contest between the LDP and CDPJ.
The Cabinet has set the framework for an October extraordinary Diet session, with the supplementary budget and its defence spending at the top of the order paper — and a committee timetable that will decide the bill's final shape.
Ambassador Wu Jianghao used a 1,600-guest reception at the Hotel New Otani to call the bilateral political foundation “seriously damaged” and Taiwan the “core of China's core interests” — the same day Xi Jinping pressed the Taiwan question with President Donald Trump in Washington.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry summoned China’s ambassador in Tokyo for formal protest talks Thursday after the Japan Coast Guard reported a laser-directed incident near the Senkaku Islands, as Akari Kato’s politics desk tracks whether Diet security committees schedule hearings before October campaigning.
Liberal Democratic Party executives tabled a Chiba typhoon supplemental budget package for Diet debate as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi landed from UN General Assembly week, tying prefectural recovery bids to party tax panels before opposition parties demand standalone disaster votes.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and President Donald Trump said they agreed to deepen the U.S.-Japan alliance after talks in New York, with Tokyo highlighting extended deterrence and supply-chain security ahead of a Trump-Xi summit.