A major Japanese Buddhist temple has pulled out of a plan to host the Beijing Olympics torch relay, it was reported today, amid speculation that the monks sympathised with Tibetan protesters.

China said today that it was investigating a company whose insecticide-tainted frozen dumplings made 10 people ill in Japan.

Two anti-whaling activists were still on board a Japanese ship today as protesters continued to shadow its hunting fleet.

JAPAN is dropping its plan to kill humpback whales in the seas off Antarctica, the country’s top government spokesman said yesterday.

Japan is dropping its plan to kill humpback whales in the seas off Antarctica, a media report said today.

Japan will press Burma for a full account of the death of a Japanese journalist during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests, officials said today.

Former Foreign Minister Taro Aso declared his candidacy today to replace Japan’s prime minister, running as the conservative choice against dovish former Cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today announced he would resign, ending a troubled year-old government that has suffered a string of damaging scandals and a humiliating electoral defeat.

NORTH Korea remains on a list of states that sponsor terrorism, a senior US diplomat said yesterday.

Nationalist Shinzo Abe, a proponent of a tight alliance with the US and a more assertive military, won election as Japan’s new prime minister today, scoring comfortable majorities in both houses.

The United States accepted a Japanese proposal for the relocation of a US air base on Okinawa today, resolving a dispute that had blocked progress on military realignment talks and caused friction between the two allies.

China today cancelled a planned visit by Japan’s foreign minister, after Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi infuriated Beijing by visiting a contentious war shrine.

Japan’s foreign minister today pledged to smooth ties with China and South Korea after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi enraged the two Asian neighbours and sparked business jitters by visiting a war shrine that critics say glorifies Japan’s militaristic past.

Reaction to North Korea’s demand for civilian reactors before dismantling its nuclear programme ranged from harsh to calm today, though none of the parties to international talks said they expected the negotiating process to break down.

Japan’s upper house of Parliament voted down legislation to split up and sell the country’s postal service today, prompting Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to follow through on a threat to call snap elections that could shake the ruling party’s grip on power.

South Korea today revealed it had offered energy aid to impoverished North Korea as an incentive to encourage it to return to nuclear disarmament talks this month after more than a year of deadlock.

In his first meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi today pledged to provide €78.5m in economic aid to Palestine and vowed that Japan would play an “active role” in the Middle East peace process.

The apparent kidnapping of a Japanese man by a militant group in Iraq will not affect Tokyo’s troop deployment there, Japan’s defence chief said today as officials vowed to make every effort to win his release.

China’s Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing again refused to apologise today to Tokyo for anti-Japan protests in China last month that damaged Japanese diplomatic compounds and businesses.

Japan’s foreign minister was today preparing for an eight-day trip to the US to push Tokyo’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, an issue which has ignited tensions with China.

Chinese textbooks are “extreme” in their interpretation of history, Japan’s foreign minister said today.

China said diplomatic relations with Japan were at a three-decade low and that Tokyo – by refusing to face up to its militaristic past – was to blame.

Japan is disappointed by China’s lack of regret over anti-Japanese protests in Chinese cities and its failure to explain how the rallies escalated into riots that left windows smashed at Japanese diplomatic missions, the top government spokesman said today.

CHINA told Japan bluntly yesterday that it had nothing to apologise for after weeks of anti-Japanese protests, some violent, in cities across the country.

China refused to apologise today for three weekends of violent anti-Japanese demonstrations that damaged Tokyo’s Beijing embassy and a consulate in protests over Japan’s wartime history and campaign for a permanent UN Security Council seat.

Japan’s foreign minister called on China to denounce violent anti-Japanese protests as Chinese nationalists prepared for a third weekend of demonstrations over Tokyo’s wartime aggression and its campaign for a UN Security Council seat.

A ROW between Japan and China intensified yesterday as the Asian powers each demanded protection for their nationals and Beijing insisted Tokyo did not deserve a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today defended a UK campaign to lift a European arms embargo on China and predicted it would be overturned within six months.

The fate of four contested islands in the fertile fishing waters of the Sea of Okhotsk was expected to dominate talks today between Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Japan’s cabinet is likely to decide next week whether to extend its humanitarian mission in Iraq, the country's foreign minister said today.

The Japanese government confirmed today that a decapitated body found in Iraq is that of a Japanese man taken hostage by Islamic militants earlier this week.

The Japanese government convened an emergency session today following a media report that a body believed to be Asian was discovered in Iraq. It was not known whether the body belonged to a Japanese man held hostage by militants who threatened to behead him.