Japan

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What a merger between Nissan and Honda could mean for the automakers and the industry

BANGKOK (AP) — Japanese automakers Nissan Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. confirmed Wednesday that they are discussing closer collaboration but denied reports they have decided on a merger.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-nissan-honda-merger-evs-56199be5bf5b99b0c739acfb1a9244dd?

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Nissan-Honda merger

Honda and Nissan have formally agreed to hold talks over the next six months on a possible merger, a deal that would create the world’s third-largest automaker and give them more resources to compete with a growing threat from Chinese carmakers. A third, smaller Japanese automaker, Mitsubishi, which is already in an alliance with Nissan, will also participate in the talks. The combined company, should it be created, would trail only Toyota and Volkswagen in global sales. “Today marks a pivotal moment,” Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida said in a statement announcing the negotiations. “Together, we can create a unique way for (customers) to enjoy cars that neither company could achieve alone.” The deal could lead to even more mergers in the auto industry, said Adam Jonas, auto analyst with Morgan Stanley, in a note last week, when news of the talks emerged.

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What a merger between Nissan and Honda means for the industry Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan will attempt to merge and create the world’s third-largest automaker by sales as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels. The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses. Read more.

Why this matters: The ascent of Chinese automakers is rattling the industry at a time when manufacturers are struggling to shift from fossil fuel-driven vehicles to electrics. Relatively inexpensive EVs from China’s BYD, Great Wall and Nio are eating into the market shares of U.S. and Japanese car companies in China and elsewhere. Japanese automakers have lagged behind big rivals in EVs and are now trying to cut costs and make up for lost time.   All the global automakers are facing potential shocks if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on threats to raise or impose tariffs on imports of foreign products, even from allies like Japan and neighboring countries like Canada and Mexico.    Analysts say there is an “affordability shift” taking place across the industry, led by people who feel they cannot afford to pay nearly $50,000 for a new vehicle. In America, a vital market for companies like Nissan, Honda and Toyota, that’s forcing automakers to consider lower pricing, which will eat further into industry profits.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ US to require passenger vehicles to sound alarms if rear passengers don’t fasten their seat belts   EPA grants California authority to ban sales of new gas cars by 2035. Action faces reversal by Trump   Electric car sales are slowing in the US and Europe as both fans and skeptics share concerns

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Japan sinkhole

A sinkhole that suddenly opened on a road near Tokyo has captured international attention as attempts to rescue an elderly truck driver drag on. On Tuesday, part of an intersection in Saitama prefecture, about 18 miles north of Japan's capital, swallowed a three-ton truck and its driver, a 74-year-old man. The rescue mission is now in its fourth day. Authorities believe that corroded sewer pipes may have caused the earth to fall in. Leaking wastewater may have further eroded the soil, widening the chasm, they said. Japanese authorities have asked hundreds of residents to evacuate as the sinkhole has grown more than 40 meters wide, or about 130 feet.

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Court in Japan orders the dissolution of the Unification Church

TOKYO (AP) — The Unification Church in Japan was ordered dissolved by a court Tuesday after a government request spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-unification-church-dissolution-d5e1fdf3cb671d6ffeb45d75620ef8b2?

ps:Wow just like that they can dissolve a church?? So can that happen in the US? I'd say that if this admin gets its way and can dissolve the constitution they'll be able to do whatever they want with nobody able to stop them!!!!

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Emergency reserves, high prices, rationing. How did Japan’s rice crisis get this far?

Rice is essential to Japanese culture, tradition and politics. People take pride in the oval-shaped sticky Japonica grain which is still a staple even though total consumption has fallen over the decades. But prices have soared since last summer as supplies have fallen short of demand. Read More.

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Japan conducts first missile test on its own territory as part of military buildup to deter China

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s military test-fired a missile on Japanese territory for the first time Tuesday, as the country accelerates its military buildup to deter China.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-missile-test-143f17458a6be541997bc5f9e0b817e7?

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Japanese court convicts a US Marine in sexual assault, sentencing him to 7 years in prison

A Japanese court has found a U.S. Marine guilty of sexually assaulting a woman on Okinawa and sentenced him to seven years in prison, in a case that has triggered anger and safety concerns on Japan's southern island, which has a heavy American troop presence. Read More.

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Japan’s Ishiba says he’ll stay in office to tackle inflation and US tariffs despite election loss

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Monday he will stay in office to tackle challenges such as rising prices and high U.S. tariffs after a weekend election defeat left his coalition with a minority in both parliamentary chambers and triggered calls for his resignation.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-politics-election-ishiba-parliament-vote-ldp-0abc031590660859c3ea0a5da9d83310?

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Bugs are popular pets in nature-loving Japan, buzzing with lessons about ecology and species

TOKYO (AP) — The pet of choice in Japan, as much as cuddly kitties and playful puppies, is the humble bug.

https://apnews.com/article/insects-japan-nature-pets-children-bugs-65ec4c660437f84670de5c2fc07a41a0?

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Japan’s prime minister resigns after his party suffered a historic defeat in a summer election

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced Sunday that he will resign, following growing calls from within his party to take responsibility for a historic defeat in July’s parliamentary election.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-ishiba-resign-prime-minister-1d54d217a04391d7916e7c163b4cda2f?

Japan’s Prince Hisahito is the first male royal to reach adulthood in 40 years. He may be the last

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prince Hisahito is the first male royal to reach adulthood in 40 years. Many people in Japan worry he could be the last.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-prince-imperial-family-succession-2a445dea7bbfa16e94e96f4f9b217e01?

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Japan's most sacred Shinto shrine has been rebuilt every 20 years for more than a millennium Each generation, Ise Jingu, Japan’s most revered Shinto shrine, is knocked down and rebuilt from scratch, a massive, $390 million demolition and construction job that takes about nine years. It requires the country’s finest carpenters, woodcutters and craftsmen to pour their hearts into the smallest of details on an edifice that is doomed from the minute they begin working. Read more.

Why this matters: The buildings at Ise will only stand for about a decade before the process starts all over again, but as the priests consecrate the construction, the builders shout: “A building for a thousand years! Ten thousand years! A million years and forever!”    This is the 63rd cycle of reconstruction. The first was documented in 690, during Empress Jitō’s reign.   All 125 shrine buildings will be knocked down and identical structures — as well as more than 1,500 garments and other ritual objects — will be rebuilt using techniques that have been painstakingly passed down over generations.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Photos show historic Japanese shrine that is torn down and rebuilt every 20 years Takeaways from AP’s report on Japan’s most sacred shrine, rebuilt every 20 years for a millennium AP Photos: Japanese bathe in icy water at a Tokyo shrine to purify their souls

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Japan’s parliament elects Sanae Takaichi as nation’s first female prime minister

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s parliament on Tuesday elected ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi as the country’s first female prime minister, and she underlined her commitment to boosting Japanese defense as she prepared to host visiting U.S. President Donald Trump next week.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-first-female-prime-minister-vote-trump-24b4a5e2a2b777139de66e38665ced0d?

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Japan’s leader says Trump called her as dispute with China rumbles on Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who recently triggered China’s fury with a comment suggesting a Chinese move against Taiwan could prompt a Japanese military response, said Tuesday that she received a call from President Donald Trump right after he spoke with China’s leader. Read more.

What to know: Takaichi, a hard-line conservative, said Trump expressed his friendship to her in a call he made to her Tuesday after a phone conversation with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “President Trump told me that he and I are extremely good friends and that I should call him any time,” Takaichi said. She did not say whether they discussed her Taiwan comment.   Only weeks into the job, Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister, infuriated China by suggesting Japan could respond militarily if China were to try to seize control of Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing says must come under its rule.    China responded with anger and by putting economic pressure on Japan. On Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Takaichi “crossed a red line.” He said China would “resolutely respond” to Japan’s actions and that all countries have the responsibility to “prevent the resurgence of Japanese militarism.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ China’s pressure on Japan is a familiar tactic that could last for some time   Taiwan puts $40 billion toward building a defense dome and buying US weapons   WATCH: Japan’s tourism industry could face losses from China travel boycott

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Japanese authorities have approved restarting the world's largest nuclear plant for the first time since the Fukushima disaster nearly 15 years ago. The decision is part of the country's effort to reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels.

Lawmakers yesterday passed a bill that allows the Tokyo Electric Power Company to bring one of seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant back online as early as next month. The plant was one of 54 nuclear power stations that Japan shut down after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami, with waves reaching over 100 feet, triggered a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant (see animation) in 2011. Nearly 20,000 people died from the natural disasters—about 2,000 from the meltdown, which marked the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986. Japan has since restarted 14 of 33 operable nuclear reactors.

Roughly 69% of Japan’s electricity is generated from imported fossil fuels, which cost the country around $68B last year. 

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Japan will hold an early election next month as Takaichi aims to capitalize on her popularity

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dissolved the lower house of parliament on Friday, paving the way for an early election on Feb. 8.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-politics-takaichi-parliament-dissolution-election-74e9b32eb12a6f9823242255b92150b2?

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Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi looks to translate her election gains into a new conservative shift

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s gamble that her personal popularity would lead to big election gains for her struggling party paid off hugely.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-sanae-takaichi-election-conservative-941151002423badb521de38be6c6daf3?