Japan

TOKYO, Apr 18 (NNN-NHK) – Toyota Motor Corp. said, it is recalling 135,305 units of its Prius hybrid car in Japan, due to a risk of doors opening during driving.

Three cases of complaints related to the rear door handle glitch have been reported so far, while no accident has been confirmed, according to the automaker’s recall filing with Japan’s transport ministry yesterday.

TOKYO, Apr 2 (NNN-NHK) – An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 struck off Japan’s northern prefecture of Iwate early today, according to the country’s weather agency.

The temblor occurred at 04:24 a.m. local time, at a depth of 80 km, measuring lower 5 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale, which peaks at 7, said the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

The epicentre was located off Iwate prefecture’s northern coast, at a latitude of 40.1 degrees north, and a longitude of 141.7 degrees east.

No tsunami warnings have been issued.

TOKYO, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Approval ratings for Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has sunken to a record low in the wake of its slush fund scandal, according to the latest opinion poll.

Public support rate for the LDP dropped to 14.6 pct, down 3.7 percentage points from the previous month, Japanese news agency Jiji Press said in its latest survey.

It marked the lowest rate since the monthly poll started in 1960, excluding periods when the LDP was an opposition party, showed the January survey released on Thursday.

YOKOSUKA, Japan, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The United States and Japan are looking to make a deal for Japanese shipyards to regularly overhaul and maintain U.S. Navy warships so they can stay in Asian waters ready for any potential conflict, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said on Friday.

"China watches what ships are coming in and out. It is not like this is a secret, they know what's happening. So therefore, they take an evaluation of your deterrence," Emanuel told reporters at the Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo.

TOKYO, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The largest faction of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), at the center of the enduring slush fund scandal, has decided to dissolve itself, local media reported on Friday.

The decision of the faction formerly led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, or Seiwaken, was learned from multiple sources close to the matter, said Japan's national daily Sankei Shimbun.

TOKYO (AP) — As Japan’s space agency prepares for its first moon landing early Saturday, it’s aiming to hit a very small target.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, a lightweight spacecraft about the size of a passenger vehicle, is using “pinpoint landing” technology that promises far greater control than any previous moon landing.

While most previous probes have used landing zones some 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide, SLIM is aiming at a target of just 100 meters (330 feet).

TOKYO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Japan aims to become the fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon when it attempts a precision landing on Friday, in what would be a boost for a space programme that has suffered a wave of setbacks and been eclipsed by rival China.

Dubbed the "moon sniper", the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) probe is attempting to land within 100 metres (328 feet) of its target, a technology JAXA says is unprecedented and essential in the search for moon water and human habitability.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan signed a deal with the United States on Thursday to purchase up to 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of its ongoing military buildup in response to increased regional threats.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government has pledged to double its annual defense spending to around 10 trillion yen ($68 billion) by 2027, which would make Japan the world’s third-biggest military spender after the United States and China.

TOKYO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Japan's automaker Daihatsu Motor Co. on Wednesday said it plans to recall two mini-vehicles with a door defect.

The recall, which would potentially involve about 320,000 units, was announced a day after Japan's transport ministry instructed the company to consider recalling the Cast model sold under the Daihatsu brand and the Pixis Joy sold under the marque of its parent Toyota Motor Corp. following the scandal that the company had rigged safety tests for most of its models.

TOKYO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Two passenger planes made contact on the ground at New Chitose Airport in Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido on Tuesday evening, with no reports of injuries so far.

At around 5:30 p.m. local time, a Korean Air aircraft and a Cathay Pacific plane "came into contact with each other," according to national broadcaster NHK, citing the operator Hokkaido Airports Co., Ltd. as saying.