US president Donald Trump and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe appear to have cemented a strong alliance with the help of golf under the Florida sun and North Korea's reported ballistic missile launch.

President Donald Trump has reassured Japan's leader that the US will defend its close ally after meeting him with a hug at the White House.

Shinzo Abe’s courtship of Vladimir Putin has so far yielded little for Japan, writes Brahma Chellaney.

Japan's leader has said he will visit Pearl Harbour with US president Barack Obama at the end of this month.

Public support for Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has fallen after the passage of controversial national security bills,

Prime minister Shinzo Abe has stayed away from a contentious shrine that honours war criminals among other casualties as Japan marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe says Japan inflicted “immeasurable damage and suffering” during World War II and he reaffirmed previous official apologies for his country’s role in the conflict.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has expressed “profound grief” for all who died in the Second World War in a statement marking the 70th anniversary of the country’s surrender.

Japan’s lower house of parliament has approved legislation that would allow an expanded role for the nation’s military in a vote boycotted by the opposition.

South Korea has expressed deep regret that Japan’s leader did not repeat his predecessors’ apologies for the country’s aggression during the Second World War.