Kyodo News Digest: April 15, 2025

Sumo grand champion Hoshoryu (L) performs a ceremonial ring-entering ritual at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on April 14, 2025. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.

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Japan to spend 1.8% of GDP on defense in 2025, 2% target in sight

TOKYO – Japan’s defense spending and related costs for fiscal 2025 are expected to total 9.9 trillion yen ($70 billion), equivalent to 1.8 percent of gross domestic product three years earlier, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Tuesday, as the country endeavors to reach 2 percent by fiscal 2027.

Nakatani told a press conference that the government will allocate around 8.5 trillion yen for its defense budget and about 1.5 trillion yen for related outlays in its initial budget for the current fiscal year starting this month.

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Japan ruling parties mull utility subsidies to offset higher bills

TOKYO – Senior members of Japan’s ruling parties agreed Tuesday to consider reinstating subsidies to reduce summer electricity and gas bills, as households continue to grapple with the pain of surging prices.

Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Hiroshi Moriyama said after holding talks with his Komeito party counterpart Makoto Nishida that using reserve funds for the current fiscal year could be an option to fund the subsidies.

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Trump suggests he may grant tariff relief to automakers

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Monday he could grant relief to automakers reeling from his hefty tariffs to help them rearrange their supply chains.

“I’m looking at something to help some of the car companies, where they’re switching to parts that were made in Canada, Mexico and other places, and they need a little bit of time, because they’re going to make them here,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office.

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Japan defense vessels to visit China-funded naval base in Cambodia

TOKYO – Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels will visit a China-funded naval base in Cambodia from this weekend, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Tuesday, as Tokyo aims to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific amid Beijing’s growing military clout in the region.

Nakatani told a press conference that the ships are slated to make a port call at Ream Naval Base in southwestern Cambodia on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand from Saturday to April 22.

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Richard Armitage, former U.S. deputy secretary of state, dies at 79

WASHINGTON – Richard Armitage, a former U.S. deputy secretary of state known as a longtime Asia hand who had close connections with Japan, has died at the age of 79, his consulting firm said Monday.

Armitage, who served in the No. 2 post at the State Department between 2001 and 2005 under President George W. Bush, died of a pulmonary embolism on Sunday, the firm said.

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Japan gov’t mourns death of former U.S. official Armitage

TOKYO – The Japanese government on Tuesday mourned the death of Richard Armitage, a former U.S. deputy secretary of state who laid the groundwork for the countries’ robust security alliance.

“We are deeply saddened by the death,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference. “He made huge contributions in setting the stage for the strong Japan-U.S. alliance we have today,” the top government spokesman said.

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China, Vietnam agree to boost trade amid tariff war with U.S.

HANOI – Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vietnamese leader To Lam agreed during their meeting in Hanoi on Monday that their countries will boost trade and investment, according to Vietnamese state media, amid the escalating trade war with the United States.

Xi, who is on a three-nation Southeast Asian tour through Friday that will also take him to Malaysia and Cambodia, said China and Vietnam should oppose “unilateral bullying,” hegemonism and protectionism, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, in reference to steep tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

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Olympic badminton medalist Shida complains of fan stalking in China

TOKYO – Japan’s Paris Olympics badminton medalist Chiharu Shida said Monday she has been stalked in China by at least one local fan for the past year and a half.

Shida, who won the women’s doubles Olympic bronze with Nami Matsuyama in France last summer, said the latest incidents saw her the victim of a stalker at a hotel and when eating out with her playing partner.

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