JAPANESE officials said they were committed to nuclear power despite calls from the prime minister for a plant to close.

Japan’s prime minister pushed to reform tax and social security systems today, including raising the sales tax, as the country faces looming problems with its ageing population and bulging national debt.

Japan’s justice minister resigned today after joking that his job was so easy he only ever needed one of two answers to questions from MPs.

The Chinese and Japanese prime ministers held an impromptu meeting in a hallway at a conference in Europe, in the highest-level contact between the countries since a bitter territorial dispute erupted a month ago, both governments confirmed Tuesday.