The Japan Times - Japón

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is set to declare states of emergency in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures on Friday as the country resorts to contingency measures to contain a fourth wave of the coronavirus.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin plan to visit Japan and South Korea this month for foreign policy and security talks, three government sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

Average overtime pay in Japan in 2020 fell 12.1% from the previous year, the sharpest drop in 11 years, as the coronavirus pandemic forced many businesses to cut their operating hours, government data showed Tuesday.

U.S. President Joe Biden has promised that re-engaging with the world and prioritizing alliances will top his administration’s diplomatic agenda. During his campaign, Biden fiercely criticized the Trump administration’s disregard for alliances, claiming that it had seriously undermined the status and influence of the United States on the world stage.

The Japanese economy is slowly recovering. In the second quarter of 2020, GDP growth rate was a grim -28%. The third quarter showed a recovery of 23%, but there are still many problems

The Japanese and Mexican foreign ministers agreed Tuesday to coordinate on the steady enforcement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and expand the 11-party free trade agreement’s membership.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has called his pick for defense secretary, retired Central Command chief Gen. Lloyd Austin, a “trailblazing leader” with “deep experience … in critical Pentagon roles.” But there were two words noticeably absent from Biden’s announcement of his choice: “China” and “Indo-Pacific.”

The signing last Sunday of the RCEP, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, is a significant achievement. Eight years of negotiation yielded an agreement whose members account for 2.2 billion people and about 30% of the global economy. By those measures, it is the largest trade deal in history.

Joe Biden’s victory in the U.S. presidential election has been met with a wave of relief across Europe, where many feared that a second term for Donald Trump would have threatened the very survival of the European Union. Biden offers at least the prospect of restoring a more traditional trans-Atlantic relationship. Many assume that the United States will return to leading the liberal international order, with Europeans playing a supporting role through diplomacy and soft power. Batman and Robin are back.