Mari Yamaguchi

Read the latest stories and analysis from Mari Yamaguchi.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a press conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Thursday, May 15, 2014. Citing threats from China and North Korea, a government-appointed panel is urging Japan to reinterpret its pacifist constitution to allow the use of military force to defend other countries. The recommendation, submitted Thursday to Prime Minister Abe, sets the stage for his push to allow the military to play a greater role in international security. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Japanese panel urges greater military role

Mari Yamaguchi · May 15, 2014 7:53 pm

Hundreds of people march vowing to protect the constitution in Tokyo, Saturday, May 3, 2014. Japan marked the 67th anniversary of its postwar constitution Saturday with growing debate over whether to revise the war-renouncing charter in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push for an expanded role for the military. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan split over revision to pacifist constitution

Mari Yamaguchi · May 4, 2014 2:25 am

Workers build under ground frozen wall by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture on Mar. 10, 2014, nearly three years after the plant was paralyzed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in 2011. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara,pool)

Experts question ice wall at Japan nuclear plant

Mari Yamaguchi · May 2, 2014 10:38 am

FILE - In this March 19, 2013 file photo, Justin Bieber performs during a concert at Bercy Arena in Paris. Bieber has apologized to those he offended by visiting Japan's Yasukuni war shrine the week of April 20, 2014, saying he was misled to see it as only a place of prayer. The Shinto shrine in Tokyo honors 2.5 million war dead, including 14 convicted war criminals. China and South Korea in particular see Yasukuni as a symbol of Japan's past militarism and see visits to it as a lack of understanding or remorse over wartime history. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

Justin Bieber apologizes for Japan war shrine trip

Mari Yamaguchi · April 23, 2014 2:05 pm

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walks on his way to meet a delegation of US representatives at the premier's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, April 21, 2014. Japan's Prime Minister Abe has sent a religious offering to a Tokyo shrine that honors the dead including executed war criminals, a center of tension with Japan's neighbors. Abe's offering Monday at the Yasukuni Shrine marks the April 21-23 spring festival, one of the shrine's key annual events. But the move suggests he will not visit Yasukuni ahead of President Barack Obama's visit beginning Wednesday. (AP Photo/Franck Robicon, Pool)

Japan PM sends offering to war shrine

Mari Yamaguchi · April 21, 2014 11:13 am

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 15, 2014 file photo, Japan's Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during the 26th whale meat tasting event in Tokyo. Japan will target fewer whales when the Pacific hunt begins next week and will limit next season's Antarctic whaling to observation. The decisions came Friday, April 18, after the International Court of Justice ordered Japan last month to suspend Antarctic whaling. The court said the program was commercial, not scientific as Japan had contended. Hayashi said Friday that the Pacific catch target was being slashed to about 210 from the current 380. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

Energy and Environment

Japan to hunt fewer whales in Pacific this season

Mari Yamaguchi · April 18, 2014 12:41 pm

Supporters of whaling eat meat of whale during a meeting of the 26th support whaling event in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 15, 2014. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Japan pro-whaling lobby vows to continue hunts

Mari Yamaguchi · April 15, 2014 1:54 pm

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Australian Customs Service shows what the Australian government says is the slain carcasses of a minke whale and her calf being hauled aboard the Japanese harpoon ship Yushin Maru 2 in Antarctic waters. The international court ruling against Japanese whaling last week may have given the government a convenient political out. In a March 31 ruling, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ordered Japan to stop granting permits for its Antarctic whaling program, which allowed an annual cull of about 1,000 whales. (AP Photo/Australian Customs Service, File) NO SALES, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

AP Analysis: Japan anti-whaling ruling saves face

Mari Yamaguchi · April 12, 2014 9:39 am

Japanese Cabinet minister visits Tokyo war shrine

Mari Yamaguchi · April 12, 2014 8:56 am

FILE - In this Thursday, March 27, 2014, packs of whale meat to be sold hang at a whale meat specialty store at Tokyo's Ameyoko shopping district. Japan's whaling in the Antarctic is at a crossroads after the International Court of Justice ordered it halted this week, saying it's not really science. The ruling upheld the argument that Japan's research whaling is a guise for commercial whaling. It cannot be appealed, but Japan has some other options to consider. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

Will world court ruling end Japan’s whaling?

Mari Yamaguchi · April 1, 2014 3:44 pm

New ministry workers bow during a welcome ceremony for them at Defense Ministry in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 1, 2014. Japan relaxed a decades-old ban on military-related exports Tuesday in a bid to expand joint arms development with allies and equipment sales to Southeast Asia and elsewhere. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan OKs easing of military-related exports

Mari Yamaguchi · April 1, 2014 9:52 am

Japan frees world’s longest-held death row inmate

Mari Yamaguchi · March 27, 2014 3:14 pm