happyhere comments

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.

Where is Kishida getting this money from for the next 10 years?

Is it in the budget?

He won't even be around much longer.

＠Ken: If you want to live in a communist country please by all means go there and stay there

Fact check :

Russia is not a communist country.

Strangerland: Russia is the desperate party here?

I don't think so. Russia occupies and controls the islands.

They also supply a lot of energy from Sakhalin to Japan who is a major investor in the project. Any peep out of Japan and that investment is toast.

Peanuts.

A big reason tourists love Japan is the incredible infrastructure they use to get around. This costs way more than the fare they pay. Let them contribute like everyone who lives here.

First step: cancel this ridiculous duty free purchasing from retail stores. Why on earth should tourists pay less than locals?

The title is wrong: they didn't spend yen they bought yen, reducing their USD reserves.

Quite a lot of that going now, its called de-dollarization.

Less than 2% of China's EV exports go to the US. Reducing this to 0% won't affect China at all.

Election grandstanding.

What a photo. At least two of these three guys will be gone next year. Add in Kishida and it will be three out of four.

Don't think Xi is particularly worried.

Camped along that stretch of beach back in the 70s. Truly idyllic, you could walk out into the surf and dig up clams for dinner with your fingers. Beautiful country, Mexico.

Smart move by the BoJ. USD is overvalued so sell it and buy yen.

Did the same myself. Lots of countries are dumping the dollar.

The US population increased by 1.8 million people last year alone, so of course the housing crisis gets worse. Stabilize or reduce the population and the problem will be solved. No housing crisis here in Japan.

Outrageous government interference in sports. Kumagai is completely right.

@ossan

ok it is not in the constitution but it is Japanese law. From wiki:

*the Three Principles on Arms Exports adopted by the National Diet of Japan in 1967 dealing with situations in which arms could not be exported from Japan. The three principles were that arms exports were not allowed to go to*

...

3. Countries involved in or likely to be involved in international conflicts

The US is involved in three international conflicts right now.

Isabelle

The US isn't at war with anyone.

Surely you are joking.

Why do you think they need to buy Japanese patriot missiles then?

The democrats once stood for ordinary working americans, who no longer get their fair share of the pie. The fact that many of these people have moved to Trump shows just how hopelessly out of touch the Democrat elite has become. Much as I dislike Trump, his re-election should finally get the Democrats to clean house.

When did the Japanese people vote to change the constitution to allow exporting these weapons?

@carpslidy

Yes, the LDP will surely keep winning as long as the opposition consists of petty egotistical politicians more interested in aggrandizing themselves by making new parties than in combining to build a better Japan.

If you want to unite the opposition stop making new parties.

Three leaders whose popularity rating hovers between 20 and 30%. By the end of 2024 they will be yesterday's men.