happyhere comments

"the need for 'strategic' fiscal spending"

Sure let's spend a pile more money the government doesn't have on her pet projects.

No country in Africa has supported the Western sanctions on China or Russia, nor have they supported Israel's war in Gaza or sent weapons to Ukraine. No surprise they are in China making deals to help their own people.

Obviously the 50 African leaders that attended the meeting don't agree with the majority of commentators on this site.

The West had its chance to build those ports and railways but brought in their military instead. As a result they are now being kicked out. Good riddance.

Optics for Japan are terrible on this. The vast majority of the world is against whaling and going after Watson will just shine a spotlight on Japan's continuing whaling activities. Dumb move.

No thank you. I have seen more than enough of him on TV already.

Election coming after the LDP leadership vote. No way they want energy prices going ul.

This is good news. Each country needs to reach a sustainable population. For Japan this is not the bubble peak of 120+ million, around 70 million seems about right.

Where is this extra military budget coming from? Higher taxes or reduced government services. Hands up who wants either... or probably both.

Time to dial down the sabre rattling.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

@BobPns

Been shopping lately? Check the country of origin of any manufactured article.

Best bit of political news I've seen in JT in ages. His actions against the ceremony at Nagasaki were a disgrace to the US and the other boycotting G7 members.

I thought Kishida was supposed to be a dove.

@3RENSHO

Doesn't look like they are raising the spinnaker to me. Judging by the other boat it looks like they just gybed round the gybe mark and the crew is resetting the pole. Well executed!

@Neagari

Let's example

say something costs 1.500.000jpy

guy get invoice for 9.375usd at rate 160

payment received today at rate 144 1.350.000jpy

loss for jpn side is 150.000jpy

Spot the error in the comment above...

hint 1), trade is done in one currency only.

hint 2) when you got an invoice for a certain amount of money you have to pay that amount of money.

Sorry, you are wrong. Let's use your hints.

Hint 1: In the example the US guy bought something in Japan worth 1.5m yen and was invoiced US$9375.

Hint 2: He pays the US$9375 invoice after he has received the goods. By that time it is only worth 1.35m yen. Japanese supplier takes the loss.

This is why having USD as a reserve currency is a huge win for the US and de-dollarization is a big deal.

Taiwan is China

They said it themselves for many years.

Just like Hong Kong and Macau, Taiwan will do fine reunited with the mainland.

Democracy in action with the world looking on.

What was it somebody (maybe Biden? ) said: the battle of our time will be democracy vs autocracy

Time for Americans to wake up.

Let's not forget Taipei claimed to be the capitol of all of hina and this was recognized by the UN. Can't have it both ways.

Japan will work with U.S. for Taiwan Strait peace, top spokesman says

Who is kidding who? Can't make this stuff up.

Japan also became the first international partner of the United States in an initiative aiming to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind by more than 70 percent, to $45 per megawatt-hour, by 2035 for deep water sites far from shore.

China has already achieved $50/megawatt-hour, wonder what will it cost them in 2035?

Still, no worries, Japanese consumers like their high energy bills. Not.

I wish Japan would get over this hang-up of wanting to be a Western country.

G7 or NATO, Japan is the odd man out. Look at any of the group photos.

A whopping 2.7% of Japan's trade is with Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse. Over 50% is within Asia where Japan can and should be taking a much more prominent role. How about going to a BRICS+ meeting Kish?

This is excellent news. Japan is an Asian country and its economic future lies primarily here. That means getting along with China.

Nice to see Japan showing some independence in its foreign policy.

There is hate speech on many social networks. The fact that those Chinese networks are actively taking down those posts, a small minoriy, is very positive and heartening.

But no, the golden rule among the commentators here is: China bad.

"to shore up China's stuttering recovery" stated without any evidence.

Fact check: According to the IMF China's economy grew 5.2% last year and is on track for about the same this year.

G7: 1%

@Ossam regional separation is no longer relevant

Yes it is.

Think Ukraine vs Russia, Israel vs Gaza, Taiwan vs China, NK vs SK for starters

NATO is just itching to expand into the Asia-Pacific.

What is it about the NA in NATO people do not understand?

China, NK and Russia have as much right to use international waterways as anyone else, so prepare to see plenty of joint exercises around Japan, not to mention the waters of the Americas. Did I see a Russian nuclear sub enter Havana harbour?

Both sides can play the escalation game.

As the approval ratings for Kishida's Cabinet have plummeted to their lowest levels since its launch in October 2021, due largely to his handling of a slush funds scandal

Do Kyodo journalists just make this stuff up? What evidence is there for the "due largely to"? As the cliché goes: it's the economy, stupid. For most people prices are rising much faster than incomes, the yen is so weak international travel is out of the question, and so on. Could have something to do with it.

A drop of 90k tons out of 6.6 million is 1.3% which is a trivial amount. The price went up by 10% because farmers energy, fertilizer and other costs have been rocketing up.

This is directly due to Japan's government policies.

Mentioning tourists is ridiculous

The fact that the first thing everyone thought of was china trying to steal it just goes to show that china has come to associate itself with theft, stealing and cheating.

No it just goes to show most commentators on this site are Chinaphobic.

Btw, nickel is not a rare metal as the article claims, 4th most common on the planet. Cobalt is the rare one.

Putin doesn't look desperate to me.

The lame ducks at the G7 about to be kicked out of office do.

The offers keep getting worse for Ukraine the longer this goes on.

@Tom jj

Right you are, nobody except Meloni above 30% in approval ratings and most about to be ejected after the next elections.

Sunak, Schultz, Trudeau, Kishida, Biden (and hopefully Macron) thank you and goodbye.