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      Fumio Kishida, Japan’s Prime Minister, Will Step Down in September

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      News outlets said the prime minister would step aside next month, bowing to pressure within his party, which wants to move on from his unpopular leadership. Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, intends to step down next month, bowing to pressure within his party to move on from his unpopular leadership, news outlets reported.Mr. Kishida has informed officials in his administration of his intention not to run in a governing-party election in September, according to Japanese news outlets, including the national broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News. The winner of that election will become the prime minister.Mr. Kishida, who has been prime minister since 2021, will hold a news conference Wednesday morning, according to a spokesperson for his office.This is a developing story. More

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      U.S. Ambassador to Skip Peace Ceremony in Japan Over Israel’s Omission

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      The American and British ambassadors to Japan said they would not attend an event to mark the atomic bomb strike in Nagasaki because Israel’s ambassador was excluded.The U.S. and British ambassadors to Japan said on Wednesday they would not attend Nagasaki’s annual peace memorial ceremony this week, which marks the day the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city, because Israel had not been invited.Among the invitees to the ceremony on Aug. 9, the 79th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack that laid waste to the city, were dignitaries from more than 150 countries and territories. Since 2022, Russia and Belarus have been left off the list because of their invasion of Ukraine.This year, Israel was omitted as well. The American and British ambassadors said the Nagasaki mayor’s decision not to invite Israel wrongly equated the country’s war against Hamas in Gaza with Russia and Belarus’s actions.“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s self-defense is not morally equivalent,” Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said in an emailed statement.Nagasaki’s mayor, Shiro Suzuki, announced his decision last week, saying it was out of concern over security risks and potential disruption.The move was “not based on political judgment but an intention to conduct the ceremony to console the atomic bomb victims in a peaceful and solemn manner,” Mr. Suzuki said in a news conference.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Japan’s Nikkei Rises as Asian Stocks Rebound from Sell-Off

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      The Nikkei 225, the benchmark index in Japan, rose on Tuesday after a record decline.Investors in Asia reclaimed a measure of calm on Tuesday, after a day of frenzied selling around the world over concerns about a potential U.S. recession.In Japan, where the losses Monday were largest, stocks bounced higher. The Nikkei 225 index rose 11 percent after plunging 12.4 percent the day before. That was the benchmark index’s biggest one-day point decline, larger than the plummet during the Black Monday crash in October 1987.Stocks in South Korea, which were also down more than 10 percent at one point on Monday, regained about 4 percent.The jolt to stock markets started last week in Japan, where worries about the state of the U.S. economy were compounded by concerns about the effects a rapidly strengthening yen would have on corporate profits.On Friday, a report on American jobs showed a considerable slowdown in hiring, prompting a sell-off in U.S. markets. More widespread panic took hold on Monday over fears that the Federal Reserve may have waited too long to start cutting interest rates, threatening the strength of the U.S. economy. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 3 percent, its sharpest daily decline since September 2022.The Fed is expected to start cutting rates, which are at a more-than-two-decade high, later this year.Conditions in Japan have been complicated by a policy shift in the opposite direction. The Bank of Japan last Wednesday increased its key rate to a quarter point. It was only the central bank’s second rate increase since 2007. After years in which policymakers kept interest rates low to try to boost prices and consumption, inflation has risen to levels at which they felt they could begin raising rates.The prospect of higher rates caused the yen to strengthen, a trend that could be good for Japan’s economy over the longer term but will be a drag on corporate profits, especially for big companies that rely on selling abroad. The currency’s rise spooked investors, some of whom feared a stronger yen would spell the end of a more-than-yearlong rally in Japanese stocks that had been driven by a weakened currency.A stronger yen also undercut some global investments made when the currency was cheaper, acting as a catalyst to wider selling across markets already nervous that stock prices had risen too high, too quickly. A popular trade among some investors involved borrowing in yen, and then investing it in markets like the U.S. But as the strength of the dollar this year began to ebb, profits from that trade also started to reverse course.The yen weakened on Tuesday, trading at around 145 to the dollar, compared with 141 the previous day.While the chain reaction of a strengthening Japanese currency and declining stocks seems to have calmed, analysts expect large market fluctuations to carry forward until there is more clarity about the direction of the economy in the United States.Joe Rennison More

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      US and Japan Strengthen Military Ties

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      The two governments said the moves were a response to growing aggression by China, whose rapid military buildup has many leaders worried.The top diplomatic and defense officials from the United States and Japan announced on Sunday that their nations would take concrete steps to bolster their military alliance because of the growing threat from China in the region.Those steps include establishing joint forces that would answer to the American commander in the Indo-Pacific, according to a statement issued by the two governments’ top officials and the committee that they oversaw. They also call for increasing co-production of air-to-air missiles and air defense interceptor missiles.The statement framed these changes in the alliance relationship mainly as a response to aggressive moves by China in East Asia. The statement focused on China’s actions in the East China Sea, South China Sea and beyond while also mentioning hostile activity by Russia and North Korea.The governments reaffirmed the importance of the mutual-defense clause in their treaty because of the “increasingly severe security environment caused by recent moves of regional actors,” they said.One of the top issues cited was the East China Sea, which Japan and China both claim part of. The American and Japanese senior officials said their governments reiterated their strong opposition to China’s “intensifying attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion.”The U.S. secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, and the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, were in Tokyo on Sunday to meet with their Japanese counterparts in what is commonly called a 2+2 dialogue.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Robots Get a Fleshy Face (and a Smile) in New Research

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      Researchers at the University of Tokyo published findings on a method of attaching artificial skin to robot faces to protect machinery and mimic human expressiveness.Japanese researchers used living skin cells to make a flexible 3-D facial mold for a robot.via Shoji TakeuchiEngineers in Japan are trying to get robots to imitate that particularly human expression — the smile.They have created a face mask from human skin cells and attached it to robots with a novel technique that conceals the binding and is flexible enough to turn down into a grimace or up into a squishy smile.The effect is something between Hannibal Lecter’s terrifying mask and the Claymation figure Gumby.But scientists say the prototypes pave the way for more sophisticated robots, with an outward layer both elastic and durable enough to protect the machine while making it appear more human.Beyond expressiveness, the “skin equivalent,” as the researchers call it, which is made from living skin cells in a lab, can scar and burn and also self-heal, according to a study published June 25 in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.“Human-like faces and expressions improve communication and empathy in human-robot interactions, making robots more effective in health care, service and companionship roles,” Shoji Takeuchi, a professor at the University of Tokyo and the study’s lead researcher, said in an email.The research comes as robots are becoming more ubiquitous on factory floors.There were 3.9 million industrial robots working on auto and electronics assembly lines and other work settings in 2022, according to the International Federation of Robotics.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Kaz Hosaka, 65, Dies; Led Two Poodles to Westminster Glory

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      He began handling dogs in his native Japan and then became a poodle specialist, leading Spice and Sage to Best in Show victories.Kaz Hosaka, a prominent Japanese-born dog handler who guided two miniature poodles to Best in Show victories at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show — the second one just last month — died on Sunday in Langhorne, Pa. He was 65.His wife, Roxanne Wolf, said the cause was a traumatic brain injury as a result of a fall.Mr. Hosaka was a masterly handler for more than 40 years. Edge, a lifestyle magazine, recently said he was “to the poodle world what Michael Jordan is to basketball. Smooth, clever, elegant and nearly unbeatable.”In a profile in The New York Times in 2009, he was described as “an artist who tends his poodles’ poufs as if they were bonsai trees from his native Japan.”Mr. Hosaka radiated intensity, from the backstage grooming area to the green carpeted show rings, said David Frei, a former voice of the televised Westminster show and the club’s former communications director.“When he’d walk in someone’s ring, other handlers would say, ‘Oh,’” Mr. Frei said in an interview, “and judges would say that must be a pretty good dog if he’s handling it.”Mr. Hosaka was a poodle specialist who handled all three size varieties: miniatures, toys and standards. He showed the winningest toy poodle in breed history, Ch. Smash JP Win a Victory, also known as Vikki, to 108 Bests in Show and to the ranking of No. 1 dog in the country in 2007. The tiny exemplar of canine topiary also won the toy group at Westminster in 2007 and 2008, although she lost in the Best in Show competition each year.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Akira Endo, Scholar of Statins That Reduce Heart Disease, Dies at 90

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      The Japanese biochemist found in the 1970s that cholesterol-lowering drugs lowered the LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, level in the blood.Akira Endo, a Japanese biochemist whose research on fungi helped to lay the groundwork for widely prescribed drugs that lower a type of cholesterol that contributes to heart disease, died on June 5. He was 90.Chiba Kazuhiro, the president of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, where Dr. Endo was a professor emeritus, confirmed the death in a statement. The statement did not give a cause or say where he died.Cholesterol, mostly made in the liver, has important functions in the body. It is also a major contributor to coronary artery disease, a leading cause of death in the United States, Japan and many other countries.In the early 1970s, Dr. Endo grew fungi in an effort to find a natural substance that could block a crucial enzyme that is part of the production of cholesterol. Some scientists worried that doing so might threaten cholesterol’s positive functions.But by 1980, Dr. Endo’s team had found that a cholesterol-lowering drug, or statin, lowered the LDL, or “bad” cholesterol level, in the blood. And by 1987, after other researchers in the field had published additional research on statins, Merck was manufacturing the first licensed statin.Such drugs have proven effective in reducing the risk for cardiovascular disease, and millions of people in the United States and beyond now take them for high levels of LDL.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Biden calls Japan and India ‘xenophobic’: ‘They don’t want immigrants’

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      Joe Biden has called Japan and India “xenophobic” countries that do not welcome immigrants, lumping the two with adversaries China and Russia as he tried to explain their economic circumstances and contrasted the four with the US on immigration.The remarks, at a campaign fundraising event Wednesday evening, came just three weeks after the White House hosted Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, for a lavish official visit, during which the two leaders celebrated what Biden called an “unbreakable alliance,” particularly on global security matters.The White House welcomed Indian PM Narenda Modi for a state visit last summer.Japan is a critical US ally. And India, one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, is a vital partner in the Indo-Pacific.At a hotel fundraiser where the donor audience was largely Asian American, Biden said the upcoming US election was about “freedom, America and democracy” and that the nation’s economy was thriving “because of you and many others”.“Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” Biden said. “Look, think about it. Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants.”The president added: “Immigrants are what makes us strong. Not a joke. That’s not hyperbole, because we have an influx of workers who want to be here and want to contribute.”There was no immediate reaction from either the Japanese or Indian governments. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Biden was making a broader point about the US posture on immigration.“Our allies and partners know well in tangible ways how President Biden values them, their friendship, their cooperation and the capabilities that they bring across the spectrum on a range of issues, not just security related,” Kirby said Thursday morning when asked about Biden’s “xenophobic” remarks. “They understand how much he completely and utterly values the idea of alliances and partnerships.”Biden’s comments came at the start of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and he was introduced at the fundraiser by Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, one of two senators of Asian American descent. She is a national co-chair for his reelection campaign.Japan has acknowledged issues with its shrinking population, and the number of babies born in the country in 2023 fell for the eighth straight year, according to data released in February. Kishida has called the low birth rate in Japan “the biggest crisis Japan faces” and the country has long been known for a more closed-door stance on immigration, although Kishida’s government has, in recent years, shifted its policies to make it easier for foreign workers to come to Japan.Meanwhile, India’s population has swelled to become the world’s largest, with the United Nations saying it was on track to reach 1.425 billion. Its population also skews younger.Earlier this year, India enacted a new citizenship law that fast-tracks naturalization for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who have come to India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.But it excludes Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations.It’s the first time that India has set religious criteria for citizenship. More