Japan ranks low in gender equality among developed nations. The first woman to lead the country is an ultraconservative who cites Margaret Thatcher as a role model. She also loves heavy metal.

Japan's government is in the final stages of assembling a stimulus package worth 21.3 trillion yen ($135.38 billion) to help households cope with persistent inflation, a draft seen by Reuters showed,

Japan’s diplomatic rift with China has expanded into a sweeping economic and cultural freeze with Beijing halting Japanese seafood imports, suspending film releases, warning citizens against travel to Japan & signalling broader retaliation unless Tokyo retracts PM Sanae Takaichi’s recent remarks on Taiwan.

The impact is especially pronounced in Japan, which the United Nations has classified as a " super-aged" society —meaning at least 20 percent of the population is over 65. In Japan, that figure is close to 30 percent. Newsweek reached out by email to Japan 's Foreign Ministry with a request for comment.

China increasingly adept at using social media, including those banned at home, to shape opinion, says analyst. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

By John Geddie TOKYO (Reuters) -Hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi was voted in by parliament as Japan's first female prime minister on Tuesday, emulating her hero, Britain's late leader Margaret Thatcher,

Japan's parliament elected Sanae Takaichi as the country's first female prime minister Tuesday, after her party struck a coalition deal expected to pull her governing bloc further to the right.

China has reportedly reimposed a total ban on Japanese seafood imports, just weeks after the countries celebrated the first shipment of Hokkaido scallops in over two years.

If Japan’s hawkish new prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, has her way, Japan’s security evolution will quicken. The country’s military build-up is a response to increasingly aggressive neighbours in China and North Korea and to an ever more unreliable ally in America.

Last year, while in the running for the premiership, Sanae Takaichi called the Bank of Japan’s rate hikes “stupid”. Speaking in parliament last month, the newly appointed prime minister also said that while “specific monetary policy means” were the responsibility of the central bank, monetary and fiscal policy goals were the responsibility of the