JAPAN: Trump-Takaichi Meeting & more – 30th Oct 2025

Konnichiwa from BA! This is the Rorshok Japan Update from the 30th of October twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Japan.

Kicking off this edition, on Tuesday the 28th, Sanae Takaichi, the newly appointed Prime Minister, hosted US President Donald Trump in Japan. He was Takaichi’s first foreign guest as prime minister, and greeted Trump at Tokyo’s State Guest House. She presented gifts, including a Hideki Matsuyama-signed golf bag, a gold-leaf golf ball, and matching Japan is back caps. Takaichi also announced Japan’s plan to donate 250 cherry trees to the US for its 250th anniversary.

A few people online criticized Takaichi, saying that her inexperience with diplomatic protocol during the ceremony made her look awkward or even like an undignified, giddy girl next to a serious politician. However, most supported Takaichi, saying that her demeanor wasn’t unprofessional, and that expecting her to be quiet and demure was sexist.

That wasn’t Takaichi’s only meeting of note. She went to Kuala Lumpur for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting that began on Sunday the 26th. Takaichi spoke with the Philippine President and agreed to work together in defense, economic, and food security projects under the Japan-Philippines Reciprocal Access Agreement.

Takaichi later met with Malaysian and Australian leaders to talk about security concerns regarding China’s increased military activity at sea.

In an update to a story from previous shows, the trial of Tetsuya Yamagami, accused of assassinating former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in twenty twenty-two, began on Tuesday the 28th at Nara District Court, western Japan. Yamagami admitted to all the charges, so the trial will focus on how long his sentence should be and whether he should be shown mercy. The verdict is scheduled for the 21st of January twenty twenty-six.

Yamagami targeted Abe because his grandfather helped bring the Unification Church, which originated in Korea, to Japan. After his father died and his mother joined the church, she made enormous donations that drove their family into poverty. He said the church took advantage of his mother. However, the prosecution argued that there was no reason to target Abe, who wasn’t part of the church.

The case pushed government officials to investigate the Unification Church’s fundraising tactics. They have since issued a dissolution order that the church appealed.

That’s not the only update. As part of the government’s plan to help deal with the recent surge in bear attacks, which have killed three people and injured fifty-three since April, it asked the Ground Self-Defense Force or GSDF for help.

On Thursday the 30th, the GSDF held a bear-capturing drill at its camp in Akita Prefecture, northern Japan. GSDF personnel, prefectural officials, and local hunters practiced setting traps and confirmed coordination procedures. Participants also learned how to respond safely when encountering bears. Akita authorities and the GSDF also discussed working together more closely to prevent further incidents.

In financial news, the stock index Nikkei 225 surpassed the 50,000 mark for the first time on Monday the 27th, and then hit another record on Wednesday the 29th when it went over 51,000.

The first rise was due to many in the market expecting major spending under the new prime minister, who has many proposed policies to grow the economy. The second increase happened right after Trump made a lot of positive comments about relations with Japan and China just one day after his meeting with Takaichi.

Speaking of financial change, six major political parties, including the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and opposition groups, agreed on Wednesday the 29th to get rid of the long-standing twenty-five yen-per-liter gasoline tax, which is about seventy-three US cents per gallon, to ease fuel costs.

The government originally introduced the tax in nineteen seventy-four as a temporary measure, but it became permanent in twenty ten. Removing the gas tax will cause an estimated one trillion yen or about six billion dollar revenue loss, which has some people talking about ways to replace those funds.

On the educational side of things, the education ministry reported over 350,000 elementary and junior high students were chronically absent in fiscal twenty twenty-four, a new record and the twelfth year in a row that the number of absent students has gone up.

The ministry said that one of the main reasons for chronic absenteeism is probably that many people started thinking that skipping school isn’t such a big deal ever since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report also showed record highs in bullying and school violence, and 413 student suicides. The ministry said they’re looking into stronger mental health and safety measures.

Meanwhile, scientists are happy to have successfully launched a new unmanned cargo spacecraft, the HTV-X, aboard an H3 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan on Sunday the 26th. About fourteen minutes after liftoff, the rocket placed the HTV-X into orbit.

The new transporter can carry fifty percent more cargo to the International Space Station (or ISS) than the old transporter, which Japan used until twenty twenty. It also has a solar array and can carry more fuel, so it can help support future lunar missions. The HTV-X will likely reach the ISS in about four days, where astronaut Yui Kimiya will use a robotic arm to capture it.

In imperial news, Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako hosted an autumn garden party at Tokyo’s Akasaka Imperial Garden on Tuesday the 28th. About 1,500 guests attended, including Princess Aiko and other imperial family members.

The imperial couple spoke with famous attendees like Yutaka Take, a popular horse jockey, and Kazuo Yamagishi, a famous lacquerware artist. The couple also met Fujisaburo Ishino, the former chairman of the Japanese Federation of the Deaf, and talked about the Deaflympics that will be held in Japan for the first time next month.

In other news, police found a potentially unexploded bomb, most likely leftover from World War II, on Monday the 27th at a construction site near JR Takanawa Gateway Station in central Tokyo. The object is fifty centimeters or twenty inches long and thirty centimeters or a foot wide, and was buried about a meter (three feet) underground. A member of the Self-Defense Force went to the site, checked the object, and said it wasn’t at risk of exploding. Police then safely removed it.

The discovery followed a similar incident last week on Thursday the 23rd, when construction workers found another suspected unexploded bomb at a school demolition site in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward that the police safely removed.

On that note about safety, an eight-year-old boy in Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, had a very close call on Wednesday the 29th after being hit and dragged by a train while crossing an unmanned railway crossing on his way to school. The third grader managed to crawl out from beneath the train with only minor injuries.

Many online said it was a miracle he made it out okay, but it also raised questions about how this happened in the first place. Crossings have barriers to prevent this kind of accident, but many rural areas don’t have proper fencing. It’s likely that the child, being too young to know any better, went around the barrier without fully realizing the danger. Luckily he made it out okay!

Closing this edition with some entertainment news, the thirty-eighth Tokyo International Film Festival opened on Monday the 27th in Tokyo’s Hibiya district, featuring actors and directors from Japan and abroad on the red carpet. The event’s opening film, Climbing for Life, stars veteran actress Sayuri Yoshinaga as a character inspired by a famous mountaineer.

The festival chose fifteen films from 108 countries out of 2,000 entries for the competition. Two of the fifteen films were from Japan. The festival will screen a total of 184 films, and announce the winner on the final day, the 5th of November.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Did you know that we talk about many places besides Japan? We’ve got nine country updates! We also have three non-sovereign shows, about the Ocean, the Arctic and Multilateral organizations. Interested? Check out the link in the show notes. Got any feedback? You know how to contact us.

Mata Ne!