The United States has taken the first step toward upgrading its military operation in Japan to a joint force headquarters, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Sunday in Tokyo.

Born from the trauma of World War II, this bow-wearing cartoon icon became a powerful tool for diplomacy, reinvention, and cultural soft power.

Japan slammed Thursday as "extremely regrettable" US President Donald Trump's sweeping new tariffs, saying they may break WTO rules and the two countries' trade agreement. "We have serious concerns as to consistency with the WTO agreement and Japan-US trade agreement,

BRUSSELS (Kyodo) -- The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea on Thursday voiced "serious concerns" over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs as well as its growing military cooperation with Russia, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this week that Japan would be “on the front lines of any contingency we might face in the western Pacific.”

But the official referred to the AIM-120 air-to-air missile system that the United States and Japan have agreed to accelerate co-producing during U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's visit to Tokyo on Sunday.

The United States, Japan and the Philippines have staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance.

Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp may consider investing in the Alaska LNG project in the United States, Chief Executive Katsuya Nakanishi said on Thursday, adding that careful due diligence would be needed before any decision.

It could offer voluntary restraints on exports, or it could offer to buy more from the U.S. in order to reduce the trade surplus with that country.