Under pressure to revive the U.S. economy in his bid for reelection, U.S. President George H.W. Bush asked for help from then Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa at their meeting in 1992, according to diplomatic records declassified Dec. 20
Yoko Kamikawa, who became Japan's first female foreign minister in around two decades in early September, marked her diplomatic debut at the United Nations, but hopes for an improvement in ties with China were dampened during her trip to New York.
China is expected to soon decide whether to formally arrest a Japanese businessman who has been detained in Beijing since March on suspicion of espionage, sources familiar with the bilateral relationship says.
Japan and China on Saturday quietly marked the 45th anniversary of the signing of a bilateral treaty of peace and friendship, with no official celebratory events amid tensions over Tokyo's plan to release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.