Tokyo to recognise same-sex partnerships from November

 Yahoo – AFP, May 11, 2022 

Japan is the only Group of Seven nation that does not recognise
same-sex unions (AFP/Philip FONG) (Philip FONG) 

Tokyo will begin recognising same-sex partnerships from November after revising current rules, officials said Wednesday, becoming the largest city in Japan to do so. 

Japan is the only nation of the Group of Seven countries that does not recognise same-sex unions, and its constitution stipulates that "marriage shall be only with the mutual consent of both sexes". 

But in recent years, local authorities across the country have made moves to recognise same-sex partnerships, although such recognition does not carry the same rights as marriage under the law. 

"We collected opinions from the public for the past two months and we heard opinions (from same-sex couples) who said they want to be recognised as partners," a Tokyo government spokesman told AFP. 

The metropolitan government plans to ask legislators to approve revising a local ordinance next month, and will then begin accepting applications for the certificates in October and issuing them in November. 

The city is considering offering various services currently only available to married couples to those with the partnership certificate, including applying for city-administered apartments, the spokesman said. 

Tokyo's Shibuya district in 2015 became the first place in Japan to begin issuing symbolic "partnership" certificates to same-sex couples. 

Many areas have followed suit, with activists saying more than 200 municipalities now recognise same-sex partnerships, granting couples rights including the ability to visit a partner in hospital and rent property together. 

In a landmark ruling last year, a court in northern Sapporo said Japan's failure to recognise same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, a verdict hailed by campaigners as a major victory. 

But Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been cautious on the possibility of any legislative changes at the national level to recognise same-sex unions. 

Taiwan is currently the only place in Asia with marriage equality, having taken the unprecedented step of legalising same-sex unions in 2019.

'LGBTQ landmark': Tokyo opens Olympics Pride House

Yahoo – AFP, Kyoko Hasegawa, October 11, 2020

LGBTQ rights campaigners in Japan are hoping that Pride House Tokyo will
help tackle stigma and raise awareness of discrimination 

Tokyo on Sunday opened its first major community hub for LGBTQ people, part of a pre-Olympics project that campaigners hope will tackle stigma and raise awareness of discrimination. 

Pride House Tokyo is based on similar inclusive pop-up sites set up at past Olympics, but will offer a permanent meeting space and information centre, seeking to educate the public about sexual diversity and offer refuge to those suffering harassment or discrimination. 

While Japan has some protections for sexual minorities, it remains the only G7 country that does not recognise same-sex unions, and many couples say they can struggle to rent apartments together and are even barred from hospital visits. 

Those challenges mean spaces like Pride House, set up in coordination with Tokyo 2020 Olympic organisers, are sorely needed in Japan, activists say. 

"Japan, not just in sporting circles but society as a whole -- including schools and workplaces -- is not friendly to LGBTQ people, and it is hard to come out," Gon Matsunaka, who heads the project behind Pride House, told AFP. 

While the centre is being set up under a recent Olympic tradition, the project is officially named "Pride House Tokyo Legacy", and activists hope its influence will extend beyond the Games.

The venue "will be a landmark that could change the landscape for LGBTQ people in Japanese society," Matsunaka said. 

The International Olympic Committee echoed hopes for a lasting legacy. 

"In sport, we are all equal," IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement released Sunday. 

Gon Matsunaka, founder and president of the Pride House Tokyo Consortium,
says the venue will be 'landmark' for LGBTQ people in Japan

"We therefore welcome that Tokyo 2020 has embedded diversity and inclusion in the Olympic Games model," he said, wishing "the Pride House Tokyo success". 

'Unthinkable to come out'  

The first Pride House -- inspired by the tradition of Olympic hospitality centres for national teams -- was launched at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. 

Temporary venues have since appeared at London 2012 and Rio 2016, and at other international sporting events like the Commonwealth Games. 

In 2014, Russian authorities denied a request to open a Pride House at the Sochi Winter Games, the organisation said. Instead, remote spaces were set up internationally for LGBTQ fans to gather. 

Those involved in setting up the Tokyo Pride House include Fumino Sugiyama, a former athlete who was on the national women's fencing team before coming out as a transgender man. 

"When I was fencing, it was unthinkable to come out in the sports community, which was particularly homophobic," said Sugiyama, 39. 

"I faced a dilemma between trying to do the sport I love, where I can't be myself, or trying to be myself and having to stop fencing," he said. 

While there are now several openly gay top sportspeople worldwide, from US women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe to British Olympic diver Tom Daley, "not a single top athlete has come out" in Japan, he said. 

The international Olympic Committee has wished Pride House Tokyo
success, saying: 'In sport, we are all equal'

The International Olympic Committee has wished Pride House Tokyo success, saying: 'In sport, we are all equal'

Some local governments, employers and universities in Japan have taken gradual steps in recent years to expand protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens. 

In some cities, local districts recognise same-sex partnerships, and some employers and universities have specific protections against discrimination. 

'Growing number of allies' 

"Society has changed a lot, with a growing number of allies," Sugiyama said. 

"But there remains the fundamental issue of the lack of a legal system to ensure LGBTQ rights in Japan, for example, the right to get married." 

There is no widespread religious stigma against homosexuality in Japan, and some popular celebrities and TV personalities are openly gay. 

And activists have launched several legal challenges recently intended to expand rights for the community, including suits last year accusing the government of discrimination for failing to recognise same-sex unions. 

But success is not guaranteed. 

In 2019, the Supreme Court upheld strict rules on changing gender on legal documents including a requirement that a transgender person have no reproductive capacity, which can effectively force some to undergo sterilsation to change their documents. 

Sugiyama said it would be important for Pride House, in Tokyo's lively Shinjuku area which has a well-known gay district, to stay open beyond the Olympics. 

"LGBTQ people face various issues," he said. "Small and big, 24 hours, 365 days a year."

Yuriko Koike: savvy politician challenging Japan's glass ceiling

Thisismoney– AFP, 5 July 2020

Yuriko Koike has managed a successful career in Japan's male-dominated
political landscape

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike is a conservative political veteran with a commanding media presence who has shown the toughness needed to climb the greasy pole of Japan's male-dominated politics.

The former television anchorwoman, long seen as potentially Japan's first female prime minister, has found herself in the national spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic, appearing daily on TV to brief the megacity's 14 million residents.

Her calm and measured speeches, peppered with catchy slogans, have presented a sharp contrast to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has been viewed as too slow to act or too rigid and opaque in his addresses.

Koike swept easily to a second term but critics say the 67-year-old's first four years as governor were more about grabbing headlines than getting the job done.

Fluent in English, and with conversational Arabic, Koike is a rare internationalist in Japan's navel-gazing politics.

Born in 1952 in Ashiya city in western Japan, Koike attended the region's Kwansei Gakuin University before graduating from Cairo University in Egypt in 1976.

After a stint as a translator, she worked as a television broadcaster, interviewing Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and Palestinian Liberation Organisation chair Yasser Arafat.

She first won an upper house seat in 1992 before switching to the more powerful lower house the following year.

She joined the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in 2002 and became environment minister in 2003.

During Abe's first stint as PM, Koike served as a special advisor before becoming Japan's first female defence minister.

While she rubbed shoulders with top political figures, she enjoyed only lukewarm support inside the LDP and failed in her bid to become party chief.

When she ran in the Tokyo gubernatorial race in 2016, the LDP supported a different, male candidate.

The people of Tokyo, however, embraced her reformist zeal and gave her a landslide victory, making her the first woman governor of the Japanese capital, home to more than a tenth of Japan's entire population.

'Party of Hope' 

The next year, she took a huge gamble in launching a new national "Party of Hope", but support fizzled after a promising start, where it looked like she could present a serious challenge to Abe.

Her decision to stay as governor left the public unsure about who would become PM if her party won the national election and she suffered a heavy defeat at the polls.

Allies turned rivals, Koike and Abe maintained cordial working relations as they jointly prepared for the Tokyo Olympics, which would have been a major political legacy for both of them.

But the coronavirus pandemic forced a one-year delay of the Games after costly preparations.

Koike quickly shifted her focus to the fight against the infection, giving daily media briefings and issuing warnings to Tokyoites that worse was to come.

She repeated catchy anti-virus slogans in her televised addresses to encourage the entire nation to stay home and avoid crowds.

In her re-election bid, Koike comfortably ran an independent, online-only campaign, with senior LDP members opening supporting her bid.

Japan offers $930 virus stimulus payment to all residents

Yahoo – AFP, April 17, 2020

Abe said the next two weeks were crucial for containing coronavirus (AFP Photo/STR)

Japan will offer a cash payment of 100,000 yen ($930) to every resident, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Friday, as measures to contain the coronavirus decimate the world's third-top economy.

"We are moving quickly to deliver cash to all people," Abe said in a televised news conference to explain his decision to expand a state of emergency nationwide.

An initial plan to provide three times that amount to households, which have seen incomes slashed because of the coronavirus, was ditched and Abe apologised for the confusion.

Japan has seen relatively few cases and deaths compared to hotspots in Europe and the United States but a recent spike in Tokyo -- which logged a daily record 201 new cases on Friday -- has sparked concern.

Abe initially declared a state of emergency in seven regions of the country but expanded this on Thursday to include the entire country.

He said this decision was taken in a bid to restrict domestic travel during the Golden Week holidays in late April and early May, when many Japanese leave cities to visit family elsewhere.

The state of emergency hands regional governors the power to demand people stay indoors but stops far short of restrictions seen elsewhere as there is no punishment for transgression.

Abe said authorities would reassess the situation on May 6 at the end of the public holiday, saying: "If we can all refrain from going out, we can drastically reduce the number of patients in two weeks."

"The future depends on our behaviour," said the prime minister, saying his goal for everyone to reduce social contact by at least 70 percent was not yet being achieved.

The Japanese economy was heading for recession even before the coronavirus crisis, contracting by 1.8 percent in the final quarter of last year.

Since then, tourism has dropped by as much as 90 percent, industry and trade have ground to a halt and the virus forced the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics that was seen providing a boost to the economy.

Last month, Abe unveiled a package of stimulus measures worth around $1 trillion to protect jobs, bolster the medical sector and ease the pain for working families.

A delivery of two masks to each household also began on Friday, although the move has been greeted with much derision online.

Japan minister becomes first to announce paternity leave

Yahoo – AFP, January 15, 2020

Koizumi said it had been a difficult decision to balance his duties as minister
and his desire to be with his newborn (AFP Photo/STR)

Japan's environment minister said Wednesday he would take two weeks of paternity leave, the first time a cabinet minister has publicly committed to such a move in the country.

Shinjiro Koizumi, a media-savvy 38-year-old married to a former television anchorwoman, told a ministry meeting it had been a difficult decision to balance his duties as minister and his desire to be with his newborn.

"I want to take a total of two weeks off flexibly, making exceptions for important public duties," he said, adding he hoped his decision would help change perceptions and encourage other fathers to follow suit.

He will not take the weeks off consecutively and said he expected to work remotely or have shortened days during the leave period -- which will be spread over three months from his child's birth.

The government's top spokesman backed the move, saying it was "important to create a conducive work-place atmosphere and social acceptance and support for men to ask for and take parental leave."

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that he hoped Koizumi's decision would have a positive impact on attitudes to male parenting.

There are no official records on whether cabinet ministers have previously taken parental leave, but Koizumi is the first to publicly announce he is doing so.

'Paternity harassment' cases

The son of a former Prime Minister, Koizumi was named environment minister in a cabinet reshuffle in September, becoming the third-youngest Japanese minister since the end of World War II.

He has been closely scrutinised as a potential rising star in the government, with his comments and behaviour subject to intense media dissection.

By law, Japan offers comparatively generous parental leave to employed workers.

Both parents can take up to a year off, with additional renewable six-month periods if a nursery place is unavailable.

But only six percent of fathers take parental leave, compared to more than 80 percent of mothers who use their allowance beyond the mandatory eight weeks after birth.

And of those men who take any leave, more than 70 percent are away for less than a fortnight.

Activists say that is the result of pressure from employers and a society that prizes long work hours.

A handful of men have sued their employers alleging they were subject to what is known in Japan as "pata-hara", short for paternity harassment, after taking parental leave.

The issue is a particular concern given Japan's birthrate, which in 2018 was one of the world's lowest -- and far below the rate the country needs to maintain its population.

There are diverse causes for the problem, some of which the government has sought to address by increasing nursery spaces and encouraging women to return to work after having children.

Pope lands in Thailand to kick off two-country Asian tour

Yahoo – AFP, Catherine MARCIANO, November 20, 2019

The pontiff landed at Bangkok's Don Mueang International Airport, on
his third trip to Asia (AFP Photo/Vincenzo PINTO)

Pope Francis arrived in Thailand on Wednesday greeted by cheering faithful, on the first leg of an Asian tour that will sweep in Japan and carry a message of interreligious dialogue and nuclear disarmament.

The pontiff landed just after midday (0500 GMT) at Bangkok's Don Mueang International Airport, where he stepped off the plane and was met by his missionary cousin Sister Ana Rosa, who has lived in Thailand for decades.

"I am happy to see you and that you are able to be my translator," he told her, as dozens waved Thai and Vatican flags.

The welcome party included Thailand's deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak and children in traditional ethnic minority dress, one of whom Francis stopped to hug.

This will be the pope's third trip to Asia -- and his 32nd abroad -- taking him to two Buddhist-majority countries with minority Catholic populations both evangelised by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century.

Map showing the route and dates of Pope Francis' Asia visit, 

Nov 19-26 (AFP Photo/Laurence CHU)

Francis is the first pontiff in nearly four decades to visit Thailand where the nearly 400,000-strong Catholic community makes up a little more than 0.5 percent of the population.

The last visit from a pontiff came in 1984 by Pope John Paul II.

Before his departure, Francis praised the Southeast Asian country as a "multi-ethnic nation", and hoped his trip would strengthen the Catholic community's bonds of friendship with "many Buddhist brothers and sisters".

"I trust that my visit will help to highlight the importance of inter-religious dialogue, mutual understanding and fraternal cooperation," the Pope said in the video marking his November 20-23 visit.

'Sawadee!'

Francis' visit has stirred excitement among Thailand's Catholic community, who made a strong show of force on Wednesday waiting for his motorcade near the Vatican City embassy in Bangkok.

A costumed mascot and children yelling 'Sawadee Pa! (Hello Father)' 

greeted Pope Francis in Bangkok (AFP Photo/Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)

They included a costumed mascot made to resemble Francis and children yelling "Sawadee Pa! (Hello Father)".

Sister Ana Rosa told AFP she did not have time to catch up with her cousin after his arrival as the 82-year-old pontiff was resting following the long overnight flight from Rome.

"I am happy for all the Thai people" to witness his visit, she said.

On Thursday, he will meet with the 20th Supreme Patriarch Somdej Phra Maha Muneewong -- the head of Thailand's Buddhist clergy.

He will also have meetings with Thailand's prime minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha and King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

His day will end with a holy mass at the national stadium, where tens of thousands are expected to attend from many walks of life, including ethnic Karen Christians from northern Thailand, Vietnamese Catholic refugees living in Bangkok, and faithful from all over Southeast Asia.

Pope Francis is the first pontiff in nearly four decades 

to visit Thailand (AFP Photo/Vincenzo PINTO)

On Friday, the pope's day will be filled meeting with priests and bishops of Thailand, and it will end with a youth-oriented mass at a cathedral.

On Saturday, the pontiff will fly to Japan where he will visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two cities devastated when the US dropped atomic bombs at the end of World War II in 1945.

More than 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima, while the port city of Nagasaki suffered a death toll of 74,000.

The pope, who years ago had hoped to be a missionary in Japan, has made strong calls for the ban of the "immoral" use of nuclear weapons.

Since Francis' election six years ago, he has made two trips to Asia, visiting the Philippines and Sri Lanka in 2014, followed by Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2017.

Related Article:

Pope to visit Hiroshima on anti-nuclear weapon mission

Pope Francis had hoped years ago to be a missionary in Japan, a country

the pontiff is to visit this week as he seeks a ban on nuclear weapons

(AFP Photo/Vincenzo PINTO)

Pope to visit Hiroshima on anti-nuclear weapon mission

Yahoo – AFP, Catherine MARCIANO with Ursula HYZY in Tokyo, November 18, 2019

Pope Francis had hoped years ago to be a missionary in Japan, a country
the pontiff is to visit this week as he seeks a ban on nuclear weapons
(AFP Photo/Vincenzo PINTO)

Pope Francis, who years ago hoped to be a missionary in Japan, travels to the sites of the world's only atomic attacks this week seeking a ban on nuclear weapons.

The Argentine pontiff, 82, flies to Asia on Tuesday, where he will first visit Thailand and then Japan, including the two cities destroyed by devastating US nuclear attacks during the Second World War.

Despite both countries having less than 0.6 percent Catholic populations, Francis is thirsty for interreligious dialogue with them.

He will arrive in Thailand on Wednesday before flying on to Japan on Saturday, where he will stay until November 26.

Sunday is set to be a marathon day with visits to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, where at least 74,000 people and 140,000 people respectively were killed by the atomic bombs attacks.

The August 6, 1945 bombing of Hiroshima and of Nagasaki three days later contributed to Japan's surrender and the end of the Second World War on August 15, months after Nazi Germany capitulated.

Father Yoshio Kajiyama, director of the Jesuit social centre in Tokyo, was born in Hiroshima shortly after the war and is eagerly awaiting the pope's anti-nuclear speech.

"My grandfather died the day of the bomb in Hiroshima, I never knew him. Four days later my aunt died when she was 15 years old," said the 64-year-old.

"If you grow up in Hiroshima, you can't forget the bomb."

No nukes message

The pope will make "as vigorous an appeal as possible in favour of concerted measures to completely eliminate nuclear weapons," Vatican number two Cardinal Pietro Parolin told the United Nations in September.

"Using atomic energy to wage war is immoral," the head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics told Japanese television in September.

A previous member of Japan's diplomatic mission to the Vatican, Shigeru Tokuyasu, said he hopes the visit will pull the world back from "the globalisation of indifference" over nuclear weapons.

But, said Tokuyasu, the pope should avoid discussing the politically sensitive issue of nuclear energy.

Francis is als to meet victims of the devastating 2011 earthquake that struck northeastern Japan and the subsequent tsunami that between them killed 18,500 people and sparked the nuclear power catastrophe at Fukushima.

Fear of nuclear war

Francis is used to railing against countries that make money from weapons and has already voiced his fear of a nuclear war.

In January last year, he printed cards with a photo of a Nagasaki bomb victim, inscribing the words "the fruit of war" above his signature.

The 1945 photo, captured by American photographer Joe O'Donnell, showed a small boy standing ramrod straight carrying his dead younger brother on his back while waiting for his turn at a cremation site.

The late pope John Paul II visited Japan in 1981, where at Hiroshima's peace monument he pointed to war as "the work of man".

In August, the city of Hiroshima called on Japan to sign the UN treaty calling for a ban on nuclear weapons, something that all the world's nuclear powers have refused to do.

Japan, with its pacifist post-war constitution, adhered in 1967 to the principle of "not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on its territory," despite counting on the US nuclear umbrella for protection.

Multiethnic Thailand

Before arriving in Thailand on Wednesday, the pope praised the "multiethnic nation" which "has worked to promote harmony and peaceful coexistence, not only among its habitants but throughout Southeast Asia."

In a video message to the Thai people, the pope said he hoped to "strengthen ties of friendship" with Buddhists.

SinceFrancis' election six years ago, he has made two trips to Asia, visiting the Philippines and Sri Lanka in 2014, followed by Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2017.

On Thursday in Bangkok, the pontiff is to pay a visit to supreme patriarch Somdej Phra Maha Muneewong at a Buddhist temple.

Japan scraps cherry blossom party amid Abe cronyism criticism

Yahoo – AFP, November 13, 2019

The annual cherry blossom party has drawn an increasingly large
number of guests (AFP Photo/Toru YAMANAKA)

The Japanese government said Wednesday it would scrap next year's annual cherry blossom party after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came under fire amid claims he invited too many of his own supporters.

The publicly funded event has taken place in a Tokyo park since 1952 to honour people for their achievements, with the great and the good of Japanese political life mingling under the world-famous cherry blossom trees.

But opposition politicians have taken aim at Abe, claiming he brought along 850 supporters from his local constituency for the festival reportedly costing around 55 million yen ($504,000) from the public purse.

In a surprise announcement, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the government had "listened to various opinions" and as a result decided to shelve next year's party.

Suga also pledged the government would "clarify the criteria for inviting guests and make the invitation process transparent."

The number of guests invited to the event is steadily increasing and so is the budget.

Local news agency Kyodo News said about 18,000 people took part this year -- up from between 7,000 and 10,000 from before Abe came to power in 2012.

The 55 million yen spent last year is also nearly double the budget from 2014, Kyodo added.

Japan's cherry blossom ("sakura") season is eagerly anticipated by locals and visitors alike.

The season is traditionally celebrated with "hanami", or viewing parties, in cherry blossom hotspots, with picnics organised beneath the trees.

In general, blooms begin as early as March in the southern island of Kyushu and appear as late as May in northernmost Hokkaido.

In Asia, Trump finds more than ever he's among friends

MSN – AFP, 25 May 2019 

US President Donald Trump arrives for lunch with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe at the Kasumigaseki Country Club golf course outside Tokyo in November 2017

In Europe, Donald Trump's relationships with leaders range from lukewarm to hostile. But in Asia, more than ever, the US president is finding that he's among friends.

At a time that Trump is ramping up pressure on China, he has built warm relationships elsewhere in Asia and has recently seen surprise electoral triumphs by key partners.

Japan is rolling out the red carpet for Trump, who will become the first foreign leader to meet newly enthroned Emperor Naruhito. Trump will bond with conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over sumo wrestling and, weather permitting, their latest rounds of golf.

Trump's trip comes on the heels of India's election in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist who has enthusiastically built ties with Washington, won an unexpectedly strong new mandate, as well as Australia's polls, where Prime Minister Scott Morrison stunned pundits by beating back a challenge from the Labor Party, whose promises included a "more considered" approach to China.

Trump will return to Japan in June for the Group of 20 summit in Osaka and also visit South Korea, where President Moon Jae-in, despite coming from the opposite end of the political spectrum, laid the groundwork for one of Trump's signature foreign policy initiatives -- direct negotiations with North Korea.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greet Prime Minister 

Shinzo Abe at the White House in April 2019 on one of the Japanese leader's many visits

The diplomacy comes amid an intense trade war between the United States and China that has no end in sight, with Trump blacklisting Chinese tech titan Huawei and demanding an end to allegedly rampant theft of US technology.

"Why would Kim Jong Un insult me by calling me 'old,' when I would NEVER call him 'short and fat?' Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!"

On Nov. 11, 2017, Trump tweeted a reply to North Korea's insults that described him as a "destroyer."

Envisioning a long-term US struggle against China, the Trump administration has said it is working on a comprehensive policy to counter the rising Asian power, akin to the Cold War doctrine of containing the Soviet Union.

Asian model for managing Trump

Toshihiro Nakayama, a professor at Keio University in Tokyo, said the Japanese were fully aware of the controversial nature of Trump, who is facing rising calls for impeachment from Democrats.

But the United States, which stations some 50,000 troops in Japan under a defense alliance, is by far the most important ally for Tokyo -- as well as an often difficult partner on trade.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison won a surprise re-election victory after campaign 

promises that mirrored US President Donald Trump on immigration and climate

"There's a consensus that if the American people chose Mr Trump, it's not our job to criticize it; it's our job to manage the relationship," said Nakayama, also a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International scholars in Washington.

French President Emmanuel Macron "initially tried to embrace him with style and nuance and it didn't succeed. So the Japanese government and people say that if you're going to embrace Mr Trump, you have to totally embrace him," Nakayama said.

Trump came of political age talking tough on trade in the 1980s, when Japan loomed large in the US imagination as a competitor. But Abe has courted Trump assiduously since the mogul's stunning election in 2016, gifting him gold-plated golf clubs and flying halfway around the world to celebrate his wife Melania's birthday.

Patrick Buchan, a longtime Australian official who directs the US Alliances Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Abe served as a global model on how to woo Trump -- making the relationship personal and resolving concerns through private channels.

"The Europeans, in my opinion, completely mishandled the Trump phenomenon. By responding to his public rhetoric or his Twitter tirades, you only created a vicious circle," Buchan said.

"I think it is partly, if you want, the Asian way of not engaging in megaphone diplomacy," he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers a victory speech after leading

his Bharatiya Janata Party to an unexpectedly sweeping re-election

Common cause on China

To be sure, Trump's ties with allies in the region have also hit rocky patches. Shortly after Trump's election, he reportedly exploded and hung up the phone on Australia's then prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, when he heard of a deal on moving refugees from Australia to America.

And in India, accounts that Trump likes to mimic Modi's accent have sparked outrage.

But on strategy in Asia, leaders have found common ground. China has longstanding claims on territory administered by both Japan and India, while Australia has also voiced worries about Beijing's trading practices.

Modi -- who will meet Trump alongside Abe in Osaka -- has sided unabashedly with the United States despite India's historic resistance to alliances, building a defense relationship but stopping short of accepting any joint military operations.

Modi "has been willing to take the relationship with the US further than any of his predecessors," said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia program at the Wilson Center.

But Kugelman warned that trade disputes could cloud the relationship. Trump is ending key trading preferences for India and forced the energy-hungry economy to stop buying from Iran and Venezuela.

Still, "I think Modi recognizes that India's national interests are tightly aligned with the US on issues like China's increasing presence in Asia and the terrorism threat in South Asia," Kugelman said.

Japan's new imperial couple face heavy burden of tradition

Yahoo – AFP, Kyoko HASEGAWA, April 30, 2019

Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito and his wife Masako, who has explained she
sacrificed her career to 'make myself useful in this new path' (AFP Photo/
Imperial Household Agency of Japan)

Tokyo (AFP) - Japan's new emperor Crown Prince Naruhito faces the delicate task of balancing tradition within the world's oldest monarchy and his own modern values, including protecting his family from the palace's rigid rules.

The 59-year-old has not been shy about criticising the sometimes stifling lifestyle imposed on royals, particularly as his wife Masako has struggled to adapt to imperial life.

And like his popular father Akihito, he has warned of the need to remember World War II "correctly," without downplaying Japan's early 20th-century militarism.

Born on February 23, 1960, Naruhito was the first Japanese prince to grow up under the same roof as his parents and siblings -- royal children were previously raised by nannies and teachers.

He studied for two years at Oxford University in the 1980s after graduating with a history degree in Japan, and reportedly adorned his residence with a poster of American actress Brooke Shields.

In Britain, he was able to shed some of the strictures of royal life in Japan, mingling with other students as well as the British royal family, and he has spoken fondly of that period.

In 1993, he wed Masako Owada, who became empress when Naruhito assumed the Chrysanthemum throne.

The daughter of a diplomatic family and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Masako left behind a promising diplomatic career of her own to marry into the royal family.

'New royal duties'

Naruhito promised to "protect her at any cost" as she made the transition, and Masako explained she had sacrificed her career to "make myself useful in this new path".

But she struggled to adjust to cloistered life inside the family, punctuated by occasional and highly choreographed public appearances.

She also came under enormous pressure to bear a son because Japan's imperial succession excludes women. This scrutiny only intensified after she gave birth to her daughter Princess Aiko in 2001 -- the couple's only child.

In 2004, Naruhito accused palace minders of stifling his wife's personality, in unprecedented public remarks.

"To me, Masako seems worn out in her efforts to adjust herself to life as a royal over the past 10 years... It is also true that there was something that amounted to a denial of Masako's former career," he said.

He described Masako as "anguished that she was hardly allowed to visit foreign countries although she left her job as a diplomat".

The same year, the palace disclosed that Masako had been undergoing treatment for stress-induced "adjustment disorder" for almost her entire marriage.

Naruhito later apologised for his remarks, but he has called for "new royal duties" to fit modern times.

The pressure on Masako eased somewhat when her sister-in-law gave birth in 2006 to a son, the now 12-year-old Prince Hisahito.

'Close to the people'

Naruhito has also followed his father's lead by hitting back against revisionism on Japan's role in World War II, with remarks seen by some as a rebuke of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nationalism.

"Today when memories of war are set to fade, I reckon it is important to look back on our past with modesty and pass down correctly the miserable experience and the historic path Japan took from the generation who know the war to the generation who don't," he said in 2015.

Naruhito and Masako are expected to pursue the role of comforters-in-chief crafted by the current imperial couple, who have won public support for their appearances alongside the victims of natural disasters.

They "will probably follow the current style of standing side-by-side with the public -- visiting disaster-hit areas and praying for peace while mourning the war dead", said Hideya Kawanishi, an associate professor at Nagoya University and Japanese history expert.

In February, Naruhito said he hoped as emperor to "be always close to the people and share the joys as well as the sorrows".

But the couple "will not be able to do the same amount of activities" as the former imperial couple because of Masako's health, Kawanishi told AFP.

In a statement released on her birthday in December, Masako pledged to do her best despite feeling "insecure" about becoming empress.

In the candid statement, she said she was recovering and could "perform more duties than before", crediting the "powerful support" of the public.

Doctors have warned however that she will need to continue treatment and is susceptible to fatigue.