Mari Yamaguchi

Read the latest stories and analysis from Mari Yamaguchi.

Shigeru Yokota, right, and his wife Sakie, center, parents of a daughter, Megumi who was abducted by North Korean agents in 1977, are surrounded by reporters following their meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Friday, July 4, 2014. (AP Photo/Issei Kato, Pool)

New N. Korea probe seen as abductees’ last chance

Mari Yamaguchi · July 4, 2014 3:31 pm

The stories of 12 Japanese abducted by North Korea

Mari Yamaguchi · July 1, 2014 12:23 am

FILE - In this Thursday, June 26, 2014, a protester wears a hand-shaped mask reading: "Stop Wars" during a rally in front of the Japanese prime minister's official residence in Tokyo. Japan's ruling party and its coalition partner were near agreement Friday, June 27 on a major shift in the country's restrictive defensive policy that would allow the military to help defend other nations. The planned change is part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to allow Japan to play a more assertive role in international security amid China's growing military presence and rising regional tensions. The banner at right reads: "We will never let Japan go to war." (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

Japan ruling bloc near agreement on security shift

Mari Yamaguchi · June 27, 2014 2:11 pm

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Tokyo assemblyman apologizes over sexist heckling

Mari Yamaguchi · June 23, 2014 12:53 pm

FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009 file photo, former comfort women who served the Japanese Army as sexual slaves during World War II, shout a slogan in a rally before Korean Liberation Day of Aug. 15, which marks the end of Japanese colonial rule in 1945, in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. Japanese lawmakers met behind closed doors Friday to hear results of a probe into a study that was the basis of Japan's 1993 apology over its use of wartime sex slaves - a review that South Korea and China have slammed as an attempt to discredit historical evidence of such abuses. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

Review confirms basis of Japan’s sex slave apology

Mari Yamaguchi · June 21, 2014 4:10 am

Australia's Defense Minister David Johnston, left, and his Japanese counterpart Itsunori Onodera, right, shake hands during a meeting in Tokyo, Wednesday, June 11, 2014. Japan and Australia plan to move ahead with plans to develop a stealth submarine technology this week, as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushes to give his country a more assertive global military role. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan, Australia eye sub deal, closer defense ties

Mari Yamaguchi · June 11, 2014 9:44 am

Actor George Takei, left, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, center, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife Akie Abe toast during a reception at Kennedy's official residence Thursday, June 5, 2014, in Tokyo. Takei said he needed courage and anger to come out as gay and to join the equal rights movement for sexual minorities in the U.S., and he hopes his Japanese counterparts will do the same to make their society more equal. Takei, 77, is in Japan to attend embassy-organized events marking Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month in the U.S. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, Pool)

George Takei sees gay pride beginning in Japan

Mari Yamaguchi · June 5, 2014 3:12 pm

Supporter Yang Chingja, second left, hands to a government official part of hundreds of pages of documents that experts say contain proof of coercion in the military-led âcomfort womenâ sex slavery system during World War II, as former South Korean victims, Kim Bok-dong, 88, bottom left, and Lee Yong-soo, 85, center on wheelchair, and Indonesian victim Mince, 86, far back center wearing a white cap next to Yang, look on. The group demanded Prime Minister Shinzo Abe face Japanâs wartime atrocity and formally apologize. Historians who helped compile the 529 pieces of official records, collected from in and outside Japan, show clear evidence of coercion by the Japanese military and government in recruiting and running the system. (AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi)

Ex-sex slaves demand Japan PM acknowledge past

Mari Yamaguchi · June 2, 2014 4:09 pm

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers his keynote speech on Friday, May 30, 2014 in Singapore. Abe is in Singapore to attend the 13th Asia Security Summit. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Abe vows greater Japanese security role in Asia

Mari Yamaguchi · May 30, 2014 1:55 pm

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, speaks to the media about a three-day talks with North Korea in Stockholm at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo Thursday, May 29, 2014. North Korea has agreed to open a new investigation into the fate of Japanese citizens whom it abducted in the 1970s and 1980s, Japan and North Korea said Thursday. Abe said the agreement was just a first step toward resolving the kidnapping issue that has long kept the nations at odds. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, CREDIT MANDATORY

North Korea to investigate abductions of Japanese

Mari Yamaguchi · May 29, 2014 1:13 pm

Japan pop group AKB48 cancels events after attack

Mari Yamaguchi · May 27, 2014 3:32 am

Japan court rejects startup of 2 nuclear reactors

Mari Yamaguchi · May 21, 2014 3:54 pm