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Japan said Tuesday that a Chinese military delegation was on a rare exchange visit, as the Asian neighbors attempt to thaw frosty ties ahead of Donald Trump’s return as U.S. president. Members of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) were visiting their Japanese counterparts and senior Japanese defense officials from Monday through Friday, Japan’s top government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi said. The trip was organized after the Japanese and Chinese defense ministers met in November in Laos on the sidelines of a regional defense gathering, where they agreed to increase exchanges among troops, Hayashi said. Source link

BEIJING – At least two Tibetan Buddhism monastic centers were severely damaged in Tibet, with an unknown number of monks and nuns hurt, according to the few state media reports on the damage to religious sites since last week’s powerful earthquake. The magnitude 6.8 quake reduced to rubble roofs and walls at a monastery and a nunnery about 15 kilometers east of the epicenter in Tingri county, China Tibet Online reported on Sunday. Buddhist monasteries and nunneries are key to Tibet’s cultural identity. Families send at least one male child to a monastery for studies, while monks are a source of blessings and council in communities. Source link

The European Union’s new digital chief, Henna Virkkunen, suggested that the repeated damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea couldn’t be fully accidental, as leaders from the region prepare to gather for a NATO summit devoted to the topic. “It can’t really be by accident if these are happening many times a year,” Virkkunen, the European Commission’s executive vice president for technological sovereignty, security and democracy, said in an interview taped on Monday. There have been three instances of suspected sabotage of underwater power lines, data cables and a gas pipeline over the past 15 months in the Baltic Sea, with ship anchors tearing the infrastructure from the seabed. Source link

Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Corp. plans to shutter its Chinese metal trading business after suspected fraud by one of its copper traders led to a loss of more than $90 million. The company will stop buying and selling refined metals and mineral resources in the Chinese spot market and will no longer provide related services for local companies, according to people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. The change won’t impact Mitsubishi’s imports and exports on behalf of Chinese clients managed from outside the country, they said. Mitsubishi announced a ¥13.8 billion loss “in its Chinese trading business” in its quarterly earnings in November. It confirmed in December, following a Bloomberg report, that the hit — $92 million at the prevailing exchange rate — was due to a Shanghai-based trader, whom it had since dismissed. Source link

The number of corporate bankruptcies with liabilities of ¥10 million or more in Japan last year rose 15.1% from the previous year to 10,006, surpassing 10,000 for the first time in 11 years, Tokyo Shoko Research said Tuesday. The annual figure marked the third consecutive year of increases as rising prices due to the yen’s weakening and labor shortages caused business failures in a wide range of industries. Meanwhile, total liabilities left by failed companies in 2024 decreased 2.4% to ¥2.3 trillion, as there was only one bankruptcy case with liabilities of ¥100 billion or more, involving MSJ Asset Management, formerly Mitsubishi Aircraft, with ¥641.3 billion. More than 70% of the failed companies had liabilities of less than ¥100 million. By industry, business failures increased in eight of the 10 sectors surveyed. The services sector topped the list, with 3,329 bankruptcies, up 13.2% from 2023. The construction and transport industries, both facing serious hiring difficulties due to stricter overtime rules, saw their bankruptcy numbers increase 13.6% and 9.8%, respectively. The number of bankruptcies linked to labor shortages jumped some 80% to 289, hitting a record high since the research firm began compiling such data in 2013. The number of inflation-related bankruptcies, or those caused by businesses being unable to pass on rising costs to prices, grew for the second straight year to 698. Meanwhile, the number of failures of recipients of interest-free, unsecured loans under a program introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic fell to 567 from the previous year’s 635. In December alone, the number of corporate bankruptcies in the country rose 3.9% from a year earlier to 842. Companies struggling to reduce debt and raise prices to reflect higher costs could face tougher management conditions amid rising interest rates. A Tokyo Shoko Research official said that inflation and labor shortages could trigger more bankruptcies in 2025. Source link

Japan tried to be the adult in the room on Tuesday, avoiding making public comments on Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves’ provocative remarks over Nippon Steel’s takeover bid for U.S. Steel, one day after Goncalves described Japan as “evil.” “We are aware of the news reports, but the government would like to refrain from commenting on every single statement made by the management of single companies,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a regular news conference, dodging questions on the matter. But Goncalves’ remarks have nevertheless stunned many in Tokyo. A senior Foreign Ministry official described them as shocking, saying they couldn’t quite understand what Goncalves was talking about. Source link

Los Angeles – With catastrophic wildfires blazing in their home city, the Los Angeles Rams dominated the Minnesota Vikings 27-9 on Monday in Arizona to reach the second round of the NFL playoffs. The NFC wild card game that the Rams had been scheduled to host was moved to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, where the Rams honored first responders who were struggling to get multiple fires under control. The Arizona Cardinals’ home stadium was transformed with the colors and logos of the Rams. The team chartered a convoy of buses to bring fans from Los Angeles, with people turning up at SoFi Stadium before dawn to start the six-hour trip. Source link

At 9:19 p.m. on Monday, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake — measuring a lower 5 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale — struck southern Japan, with the epicenter in the Hyuganada Sea off the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture. Immediately after, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said they would begin a temporary investigation into the possibility of issuing an emergency advisory alert regarding a potential Nankai Trough earthquake, holding an evaluation meeting among experts to assess the situation. When a quake struck a similar area in southern Japan in August of last year, an advisory regarding a possible megaquake along the Nankai Trough was issued for the first time in history, with the notice in place for around a week. Source link

The father of a 30-year-old woman suspected of killing and beheading a man in Sapporo’s Susukino district in 2023 pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges of aiding her in murdering the victim. Osamu Tamura, 61, is on trial to determine whether he was aware of the alleged actions of his daughter, Runa Tamura, when he drove her to and from the hotel where a 62-year-old man was found dead. “There are a few things that are not factually correct,” Osamu Tamura reportedly told the first trial hearing at the Sapporo District Court. Source link

Beijing – An executive of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday urged China to abolish its import restrictions on Japanese fishery products. Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary-general of the LDP, also requested Beijing to secure the safety of Japanese nationals in China. Moriyama made the requests at the first dialogue meeting between Japanese and Chinese ruling parties in six years and three months, which took place in Beijing. Source link