🇯🇵Fmr Foreign Minister Kono Taro and LDP Acting Secretary General Inoue are the latest in the flurry of 🇯🇵lawmakers visiting Taiwan b/w Diet sessions. Fmr Justice Minister Suzuki and LDP deputy secretary general Hagiuda also went and met with Prez Lai 🇨🇳is pissed but 🇯🇵 lawmakers don’t seem to care

Uzbekistan leader expressed “steadfast support for Japan to become a permanent UNSC member during his meeting with Japanese PM Takaichi. No other said such explicit support I read this as a subtle dig at China since China envoy to UN said Japan is “totally unqualified” because of the Taiwan remark

The English media in Asia and Western media are reporting this incident as a criminal case. This approach overlooks the noticeable sentiment within Taiwanese social media saying that this is an act of terror orchestrated by the 🇨🇳govt to stir up anxiety among the public and undermine trust in TW govt

If an explosion happened in a tunnel in Beijing on December 17 and there are social media posts about losing their friends and families in the incident but no mainstream media reports on the casualties and the relevant social media posts disappear, did it explosion actually happen?

Japan will likely have no pandas once the only two left returns to China early 2026. People stand in line for hours to see them. But Asahi Shimbun polls show that 70% of respondents don’t think there is need to urge Chinese govt send pandas. Some emotions are stronger than the loss of pandas.

Video of a 🇨🇳 tourist scolding a 🇹🇼tourist in Haneda Airport is viral on X. One repost has 1.4 million views… In the video, 🇨🇳said “Taiwan belongs to China, know the politics before you travel” the 🇨🇳 also said the 🇹🇼was speaking dog language when 🇹🇼explained to police in Japanese Bravo wolf warrior🙄

Japanese PM held a press conference Dec 17 and there are two main takeaways for me: (1) the Takaichi government does not have time for a snap election (2) Takaichi’s stance on the Taiwan remarks remains, she is not retracting it, but the government is open to dialogue with China

When asked by reporter on whether Japan is a “peace-loving country” China’s MOFA spokesperson once again played the history card: Nanjing Massacre, 731, comfort women, saying that Japan is distorting the truth, playing victim and trying to feign sympathy from the intl community. Got anything new? 🥱

China’s FM Wang Yi visited Jordan (Dec 15-16) and met with the Foreign Minister Super chummy, they discussed cooperation in economy, trade, infrastructure, energy, defense, tech innovation, AI, green energy, tourism, media, edu, student exchange Oh and agreed Taiwan belongs to China

Taiwan’s MOFA announced that more than 20 nearly 30 Japanese lawmakers are scheduled to visit Taiwan after the end of the Diet to early next year. Hagiuda will bring Hachioji delegation (Dec 21-23) Former Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki (Dec 22-24) Sanseito is also set to send a delegation to TW.

Japan‘s finance minister said during a Diet session that 3300 billion yen in cash has been brought into Japan from overseas, 600 billion yen came from🇨🇳 Many Chinese are buying real estate in Japan with full cash but are not allowed to transfer more than $50k/yr w/o govt approval Sounds legit

On Dec 16, Japan’s Cabinet Office revealed that in 2024FY, foreign individuals & corporations acquired a total of 3,498 plots of land/buildings near facilities deemed important for national security China accounted for nearly 50% with 1,674 acquisitions Exploiting loophole is an understatement

No, I don’t think the problem with overtourism or anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan is about xenophobia, it is a accumulation of feeling disrespected and feeling their lives are being disrupted. Not just Chinese, many foreigners visiting Japan lack respect for the culture and people’s way of life

In Japanese local politics when an incumbent is voted out of office with a no-confidence motion because of scandals like パワハラ, academic fraud, various love hotel trips with a married secretary, etc… they often run in for reelection to fill their own post. The Hyogo Gov won, the Ito Mayor didn’t

With Jimmy Lai facing a life sentence for counts of colluding with foreign forces and the last opposition party in Hong Kong disbanding, the curtain falls on democracy in Hong Kong...

The Kanji of the Year this year is 熊 (bear) 🐻🐻🐻 Peeps are prob very unsettled by the bear sightings this year. Every year, a kanji character is chosen to represent the social mood of this year, aka “Kanji of the Year.” It is announced 12/12 every year using calligraphy at Kiyomizu-dera.

Headlines and reporting like this is a sweeping oversimplification of the machinery behind US foreign policy. 🙄 Last time I checked, the US government is not just the President and the govt spokesperson, there’s also the State Department (US Amb to Japan), the Department of War, and Congress, etc

Some scholars are claiming the U.S. has been silence and not supporting Japan. Not 100% true imo. Sure, Trump has not said anything, but the State Dept, the US ambassador to Japan, and the Secretary of War have all expressed criticism towards China’s recent radar lock Do they not count? Hello?

China’s MOFA Spokesperson posted a video of mountains in China covered completely in solar panels Pretty disturbing to look at, but is chopping out mountains full of trees to plant large amounts of solar panels really better for the environment? How much CO2 did making these solar panels emit?

The leader of Komeito spoke with the Chinese Ambassador to Japan multiple times trying to ease the tension between Japan and China. Komeito is out of luck. The party is no longer part of the ruling coalition and it is a much less influential now with less seats than the DPFP In both houses.

Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi is quite proactive when It comes to being in a tug-of-war with China. After China’s Wang Yi met with the German Foreign Minister and said Japan is not reflecting on its history of aggression, Koizumi met with the German Ambassador to Japan.

China‘s MOFA spokesperson said Japan’s explanation of the radar incident is contradictory and asks is “Japan deliberately trying to mislead the intl community?” China is running a smear campaign against Japan and it does not seem to be going well…prob should think about its own reputation first

China so far reached out to Russia, UK, France, and Germany for support in its spat with Japan. But Pyongyang has been surprisingly quiet and there isn’t any record of a meeting with China or a statement or anything. Maybe once the Party Congress is over?

It is sad to think that because of Japan-China tension, Japan will likely not have pandas anymore once Japan returns the only two pandas in back to China next Feb

Beijing is writing a letter. To ASEAN: “Japan is reviving militarism.” To the U.S.: “Japan is dragging you into war.” To Europe: “Japan is threatening us militarily.” To domestic Chinese audiences: “Japan is weak and dependent.”

Yes. cats for regional revitalization

Why single use? Might as well make it a permanent possession of the coveted red passport if there’s important things to do in Russia that requires a visit in-person.

Something interesting is happening on 🇯🇵X: After the 🇨🇳military released audio as “proof” that China told Japan about the excise in advance, “English with Chinese accent” started trending, saying the audio is fake bcuz the Japanese side was speaking English with a Chinese accent not a Japanese accent

There’s a complete ecosystem in place (with the help of Japanese professionals) that helps rich Chinese immigrate to Japan (can bring family too) 5 buildings in Osaka have registered 677 shell companies with no biz operation or contribution to Japan economy. A systematic exploitation of loopholes

The news about a 17-year old Chinese national stabbed a conbini worker and a Japanese national suffered domestic violence from her Chinese partner really isn’t helping the case between Japan-China relations right now People living abroad, know that everything you do reflects on your home country

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with his German counterpart in Beijing. During the meeting, Wang expressed that Japan has not reflected enough on its history 🇨🇳govt has distorted its history and fanned its nationalism way out of proportion, but there is some truth to 🇯🇵’s lack of reflection

A hotline exists between Japan and China since 2023 but tis more symbolic than practical. Japan tried calling several times (Radar lock in Dec, China aircraft in Japan airspace in Aug) but China never picked up Any response needs to go up the chain of command & carefully crafted, rarely immediate

China locked radar onto Japan’s ASDF aircraft twice and said Japan is the one who disrupted China’s drill and harassed the exercise. thats gaslighting on a diplomatic level Japan has ramped up its rhetoric, calling the radar lock a “unnecessarily dangerous“act and said the claim was “baseless”

Radar lock-ons are super dangerous because it could be seen as a prelude to open fire. When ROK navy destroyer locked onto Japan patrol aircraft in 2018, defense exchange stood still for more than three years, and this was between non hostile states. The rubber band continues to be stretched…

Yea always double factcheck this firsthand govt source I doubt that the Revolutionary Communist League (中核派), a radical group associated that has a history linked to bombings and assaults, should be generalized as the Japanese Public (日本民衆)

French President Macron is visiting China (Dec 3) and Japan is real worried that France, the Chair of G7 next year, might invite China to join. Japan is against inviting China, citing China’s divergence from G7 values such as democracy and rule of law.

WSJ‘s [exclusive] about Trump told Takaichi to ”lower the volume on Taiwan“ during their call was DENIED by the 🇯🇵 govt spokesperson, saying it was NOT TRUE and no such advice was given. This is not a good look Trad media shouldn’t be a source of misinformation or support a govt‘s narrative 🚩

Huang Kuo-chang, the President of Taiwan’s opposition party TPP, is leading a youth delegation to visit Japan. The delegation was received by Keiji Furuya, Chairman of the Japan–Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship League. Furuya also serves as the LDP Election Strategy Committee chair.

Apparently hundreds of Chinese protested in front of the PM’s office against Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan. The irony that they are using freedoms in Japan that their own government denies them.

Trump looks to play a mediating role amid ongoing China-Japan tension. Trump called Xi on Nov 24 and called Takaichi on Nov 25. China first, then Japan... The order shows his priorities: calm Beijing first, reassure Tokyo later.

Just in case anyone thought Takaichi’s remark on Taiwan was all talk, 🇯🇵 Defense Minister Koizumi visited Yonaguni island on Nov23 (110 from Taiwan) and talked about plans to deploy a surface-to-air missile there. China’s MOFA lashed out, saying it “stokes military confrontation.”

Nope Japanese PM Takaichi and Chinese Premier Li did not engage at G20 over the weekend. They stood nearby each other during a photo session but did not speak to each other. The Japan’s side was open to communication but the Chinese side wasnt.

12 flight routes from Japan to China has been cancelled. Chinese tourists now flooding to South Korea as the top travel destination. Congrats to Korea for the tourism boom, meanwhile Japan doesn't seem to be particularly devastated about the drop in number of Chinese tourists. 🙃

Takaichi said on Nov21 🇯🇵’s policy of seeking a “mutually beneficial strategic relationship” and a “constructive and stable relationship” with 🇨🇳 “remains unchanged.” “What is a survival threatening scenario would be judged by the govt based on what actually occur.” No retraction Just diplomacy

China’s MOFA spokesperson reiterated on Nov 20 that there will be no plans for Chinese Premier Li and Japanese PM Takaichi to meet at G20 this weekend in Johannesburg.

The news on the impact current Japan-China relations have on Japan’s tourism is concerning. Some cited 5 people and then draws the conclusions that most tourists are “shrugging off” the travel advisories and then others are all citing data by ONE analyst (~500k ✈️ cancelled) with no 2nd source 🙄

China’s attack on Japan has now elevated to the global stage. Fu Cong, China's envoy to the UN said at UNGA's annual mtg on SC reform. "Takaichi’s remarks are an affront to intl justice, damage world order…Japan totally unqualified to have permanent seat in SC.” Ofc, 🇨🇳is most peace loving 🇷🇺🇰🇵too

How exactly does China’s Consul General in Osaka expect to get any high-lvl diplomatic work done when both the Mayor of Osaka and the Gov of Osaka has expressed it would be hard to show up to events Xue attends? Gov also called for a biz model that can sustained itself even if 🇨🇳tourists fall to 0

Yoshimura, Gov of 大阪/the co-leader of Ishin, a coalition partner of the LDP, said on Nov 18 that 🇨🇳Consul General in Osaka Xue JIan should be declared persona non grata and indicated deportation should be considered. He also said he will not attend any event hosted by Xue unless Xue apologizes.

The Japanese envoy sent to China returned to Japan on evening of 18th. 毎日新聞 reported“the two sides’ positions remain parallel” and that sounds about right. No concessions from either side as expected. Now the focus is on whether Takaichi and 🇨🇳Premier Li will meet on margins of G20.