Shinzo Abe

This month 75 years ago, the people of Nanking, China's ancient capital city, were in the midst of one of the worst atrocities in history, the infamous Rape of Nanking. The truth of what actually happened is at the center of a bitter dispute between China and Japan that continues to play out in present-day relations. Many Chinese see Japan's election last month of ultraconservative nationalist Shinzo Abe as prime minister as just the latest in a string of insults. And it was recently reported that Japan is considering rolling back its 1993 apology regarding "comfort women," the thousands of women the Japanese army sexually enslaved during World War II. In 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army, captured Nanking on Dec. 13. No one knows the exact toll the Japanese soldiers exacted on its citizens, but a postwar Allied investigation put the numbers at more than 200,000 killed and at least 20,000 women and girls raped in the six weeks after the city fell.

WASHINGTON - As Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives for a Friday summit with President Obama, trade will be at the top of the diplomatic agenda along with security concerns, including new threats from North Korea and an escalating territorial dispute over islands near Japan. On almost every major issue, political and economic, China's shadow will hover over the talks. Abe, who took office in December as Japan's seventh prime minister in six years, will almost certainly push for strong U.S. backing in Japan's tense standoff with China over the Senkaku islets in the East China Sea, which the Japanese administer but which are also claimed by the Chinese, who call them Diaoyu.

In a vote that heralded a break from the ambitious nationalist policies of Japan's outgoing leader, Yasuo Fukuda was chosen Sunday as head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party. Fukuda's selection virtually ensures that he will be elected prime minister on Tuesday by the lower house of parliament, which his party controls. The party veteran defeated the hawkish former Foreign Minister Taro Aso, 330 votes to 197, in a poll of LDP lawmakers and top regional organizers.

WASHINGTON - In unveiling a new stimulus plan, Japan's central bank for the first time set an ambitious inflation target aimed at breaking the nation out of its long deflationary trap and economic stagnation. But many analysts and investors were disappointed with Tuesday's action. They said the moves by the Bank of Japan, in response to relentless nagging by Japan's new prime minister to be more aggressive, fell far short of what was needed to put the world's third-largest economy on a path of sustained growth - offering little hope that Japan would provide a boost to the fragile global economy any time soon.

Japan's ruling party concluded another rocky week in office Sunday by losing a high-profile mayoral race and winning a regional governor's election by a closer-than-expected margin, a rebuke from voters for an administration increasingly seen as clumsy and adrift. The setback came as Liberal Democratic Party politicians continued the loose-lipped habits that have given Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's 4-month-old government a reputation for lacking discipline.

Japanese voters delivered a stinging slap to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nationalist obsessions Sunday, punishing his government for focusing on the grand ambition of a more assertive Japan while allowing the day-to-day management of the economy to descend into scandal and disarray.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced today that he would quit his office, saying he lacked the necessary support to pursue the agenda that drove his political career. Abe, 52, had vowed as recently as Monday to carry on as prime minister, despite the crushing defeat delivered to his governing Liberal Democratic Party in elections for the upper house of parliament in July.

Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has announced plans to revise his country's famous pacifist constitutional provision, Article 9, which renounces "war as a sovereign right of the nation. " On the surface, Abe's proposal may seem merely symbolic, suggesting that he simply wants to add an explicit recognition of the country's right to military self- defense. Since Japan has long maintained "self-defense" forces, the predictable expressions of concern in foreign capitals may seem overblown.

Conservative Shinzo Abe trounced two opponents to win the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, receiving 66% of the votes. Attention now turns to Tuesday, when parliament is expected to appoint him prime minister. Abe, who turns 52 today, would be Japan's youngest premier and the first born after World War II.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to make Japan a decisive force on the international stage while promoting hard work and patriotism at home. Abe, in his first speech before parliament since winning the premiership Tuesday, also promised to drive ahead with revising the pacifist constitution. "I aim for a country that is trusted, revered and...asserts its leadership," he said.

This month 75 years ago, the people of Nanking, China's ancient capital city, were in the midst of one of the worst atrocities in history, the infamous Rape of Nanking. The truth of what actually happened is at the center of a bitter dispute between China and Japan that continues to play out in present-day relations. Many Chinese see Japan's election last month of ultraconservative nationalist Shinzo Abe as prime minister as just the latest in a string of insults. And it was recently reported that Japan is considering rolling back its 1993 apology regarding "comfort women," the thousands of women the Japanese army sexually enslaved during World War II. In 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army, captured Nanking on Dec. 13. No one knows the exact toll the Japanese soldiers exacted on its citizens, but a postwar Allied investigation put the numbers at more than 200,000 killed and at least 20,000 women and girls raped in the six weeks after the city fell.

Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has announced plans to revise his country's famous pacifist constitutional provision, Article 9, which renounces "war as a sovereign right of the nation. " On the surface, Abe's proposal may seem merely symbolic, suggesting that he simply wants to add an explicit recognition of the country's right to military self- defense. Since Japan has long maintained "self-defense" forces, the predictable expressions of concern in foreign capitals may seem overblown.

Japan's conservative former ruling party made a dramatic comeback in elections Sunday, riding a wave of anxiety about rising China and economic stagnation. The resounding victory of the Liberal Democratic Party will put Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister, back in power, where he is likely to pursue a tougher stance toward China and prevent the nation from abandoning nuclear energy, despite last year's disaster at Fukshima. Exit polls by major Japanese broadcasters gave the Liberal Democratic Party 296 seats in Japan's 480-seat lower house, while its ally, the New Komeito Party, was projected to win 32. That would give them the two-thirds majority needed to overrule the upper house, perhaps breaking the deadlocks that have long stymied Japanese governments.

TOKYO - The conservative party that dominated postwar Japan was returned to power, after a three-year absence, in a landslide election victory Sunday that will result in hawkish Shinzo Abe returning as prime minister. Abe, 58, who served in the post once before, is likely to pursue a tougher stance toward China and prevent his nation from abandoning nuclear energy. The Liberal Democratic Party was projected by national broadcaster NHK to win 294 out of 480 seats in Japan's lower house, while an ally, the New Komeito Party, had a projected 31. That would give them the two-thirds majority needed to overrule the upper house, perhaps breaking deadlocks that have long stymied Japanese governments.

Elections on Sunday are expected to return former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe to power, a hawk by the standards of restrained Japan. The nation's apparent rightward swing has spurred concerns that a victorious Abe might attempt one of his most controversial quests: undoing Japan's constitutional ban on waging war. Predictions that Abe and his right-wing party will win are a result of the Japanese right profiting politically from disillusionment with...

For the second time in a year, a struggling Japanese prime minister has unexpectedly quit, leaving the country politically adrift as it struggles to deal with a deadlocked parliament and worsening economy. Yasuo Fukuda, 72, appeared to blindside his party Monday, saying he would resign as soon as a new leader was picked. He blamed what he saw as an obstructionist opposition party for his departure, but offered no clear explanation for his timing. "I have decided to step down so as not to create a political vacuum," he told a hastily called news conference.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized for the first time over his former defense minister who said the U.S. nuclear attacks on Japan "couldn't be helped." Abe also promised survivors expanded medical support for those still suffering the effects of the 1945 atomic blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, officials and media reports said. Hiroshima marks the anniversary of the world's first nuclear attack today.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he is ready to resign if parliament fails to extend a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan. The renewal of the legislation allowing the refueling mission is expected to be one of the main topics of debate in an extraordinary session of parliament that convenes today.

In a vote that heralded a break from the ambitious nationalist policies of Japan's outgoing leader, Yasuo Fukuda was chosen Sunday as head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party. Fukuda's selection virtually ensures that he will be elected prime minister on Tuesday by the lower house of parliament, which his party controls. The party veteran defeated the hawkish former Foreign Minister Taro Aso, 330 votes to 197, in a poll of LDP lawmakers and top regional organizers.