Japan on Tuesday (April 21, 2026) endorsed scrapping a ban on lethal weapons exports, a major change of its postwar pacifist policy as the country seeks to build up its arms industry and deepen cooperation with defense partners.

The approval by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet of the new guideline clears a final set of hurdles for Japan’s postwar arms sales.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday (February 9, 2026) that Japan would steadfastly protect its territory, territorial waters and airspace, pledging to bolster the country’s defences and intelligence capacity.

“No one will come to the aid of a nation that lacks the resolve to defend itself with its own hands. We will steadfastly protect our nation’s peace and independence, our territory, territorial waters, airspace, and the lives and safety of our citizens,” Ms. Takaichi told a news conference after winning a landslide election victory.

“We will also enhance intelligence capabilities. We will strengthen our national intelligence analysis capabilities, prevent crises, and establish a system to strategically protect our national interests,” Ms. Takaichi said.

She said she plans to build a national intelligence bureau and introduce a bill to set up a committee to review national security risk of foreign investments in Japan.

Ms. Takaichi also reiterated that she plans to revise national security policy documents to reflect the changing security environment.

Japan’s government said on Monday (February 2, 2026) that it has successfully retrieved rare-earth-rich ‍seabed mud for the first time from depths of around 6 km (4 miles) during a test mission.

A ‌Japanese scientific drill ship departed on January 12 for the remote Minamitori Island to explore rare-earth-rich mud deposits, part of Tokyo’s effort to reduce its reliance on China for critical minerals as Beijing chokes off supplies.

The month-long mission by the test vessel Chikyu near Minamitori Island, about 1,900 km (1,200 miles) southeast of Tokyo, marks the world’s first attempt to continuously lift rare-earth-bearing seabed mud from such depths to a ship.

After arriving at the site on January 17, the vessel began recovery operations on January 30 and confirmed the first successful retrieval of rare-earth mud on February 1, according to the Cabinet Office’s national platform for innovative ‌ocean development.

Recovery operations had been completed at three ‌locations by Monday (February 2), said Ayumi Yoshimatsu, a spokesperson for the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science ‍and Technology (JAMSTEC), which operates the vessel.

Analysis of the recovered material, including its volume and mineral content, will be ‍conducted after the ship returns to Shimizu port in central Japan on February 15, Yoshimatsu said.

The mud is believed to contain dysprosium and neodymium, used in electric vehicle motor magnets, as well as gadolinium and terbium, which are used in a range of high-tech products.

“Barring major issues, Japan plans to proceed with a full-scale mining trial in February 2027,” she added.

China last month banned exports of dual-use items that can be used for military purposes to Japan, including rare earths, amid a diplomatic dispute.

Japanese components manufacturer TDK said on Monday (February 2) that it is being affected by Chinese export restrictions on rare earths and is taking steps to diversify its procurement sources.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s party is ‍likely to score a ​landslide victory in next week’s lower ‌house election, a ​survey by the Asahi newspaper showed.

A strong showing in Sunday’s (February 8, 2026) election would solidify Ms. Takaichi’s grip on her party and give her a mandate for ​her expansionary fiscal policy, which ⁠could heighten concerns about Japan’s finances and push bond yields higher.

Ms. Takaichi’s Liberal ​Democratic Party ⁠is likely to well exceed a majority of 233 seats out of 465 seats up ‌for grabs in the lower ‌house, according to Asahi’s poll released on ‍Sunday (February 1, 2026). That would be an increase from 198 seats now.

Together ‍with LDP’s coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party or Ishin, the ruling alliance will likely reach 300 seats, the poll showed.

The largest opposition party, the Centrist Reform Alliance, is ⁠struggling and could lose half its 167 seats, ​the Asahi said.

Ms. Takaichi’s ruling coalition ⁠currently holds a slim majority in the powerful lower house but has a minority in the upper house.

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is considering calling a general election in the coming weeks to capitalise on strong public support for her government, media reports said on Saturday (January 10, 2026).

Ms. Takaichi was appointed Japan’s first woman prime minister in October, and her cabinet is enjoying an approval rating of around 70%.

But her ruling bloc only has a slim majority in the powerful lower house of parliament, hindering its ability to push through her ambitious policy agenda.

She is considering dissolving the lower house at the start of a parliament session on January 23, the Yomiuri and Mainichi daily newspapers reported, citing unnamed government sources.

That would mean an election would be “highly likely to be held in early to mid-February”, the Yomiuri said.

Some in Ms. Takaichi’s administration hold the “persistent view that it should move to dissolve parliament early while support ratings remain high, in order to solidify its foundation,” the Mainichi said, without citing sources.

Ms. Takaichi became Japan’s fifth premier in as many years when she was elected, initially as the head of a minority government.

Her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner the Japan Innovation Party regained their lower-house majority in November after three lawmakers joined the LDP.

The ruling bloc remains a minority in the upper house.

Ms. Takaichi hopes a bigger majority will help her implement her agenda of more “proactive” fiscal spending and stronger intelligence capacities, the Yomiuri said.

It may also help Ms. Takaichi break the deadlock in a spat with China, according to the newspaper.

Ties have deteriorated since Ms. Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if China ever launched an attack on Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims.

Beijing has announced a broad ban on the export to Japan of “dual-use” goods with potential military applications, and has reportedly been choking off exports of rare-earth products crucial for making everything from electric cars to missiles.

Last month, Takaichi said she was “always open” to dialogue with China.

North Korea said on Sunday (December 21, 2025) that Japan’s nuclear ambitions “must be prevented at any cost”, after a Tokyo official reportedly suggested the country should possess atomic weapons.

Pyongyang’s reaction came after the unnamed official in the Prime Minister’s office was quoted by Kyodo News on Thursday (December 18, 2025) as saying, “I think we should possess nuclear weapons.”

The official was reported to have been involved in devising Japan’s security policy.

The Kyodo report also quoted the source as saying: “In the end, we can only rely on ourselves” when explaining the necessity.

Pyongyang said the remarks showed Tokyo was “openly revealing their ambition to possess nuclear weapons, going beyond the red line”.

“Japan’s attempt to go nuclear must be prevented at any cost as it will bring mankind a great disaster,” the director of the Institute for Japan Studies under the North’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by official Korean Central News Agency on Sunday (December 21, 2025).

“This is not a misstatement or a reckless assertion, but clearly reflects Japan’s long-cherished ambition for nuclear weaponisation,” said the North Korean official, who was not named.

The official added that if Japan acquired nuclear weapons, “Asian countries will suffer a horrible nuclear disaster and mankind will face a great disaster”.

The statement did not address Pyongyang’s own nuclear programme, which includes an atomic test first carried out in 2006 in violation of UN resolutions.

North Korea is believed to possess dozens of nuclear warheads and has repeatedly vowed to keep them despite a raft of international sanctions, saying it needs them to deter perceived military threats from the United States and its allies.

In an address to the United Nations in September, Pyongyang’s vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong said his country would never surrender its nuclear weapons.

“We will never give up nuclear which is our state law, national policy and sovereign power as well as the right to existence. Under any circumstances, we will never walk away from this position,” he said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has also said he is open to talks with Washington, provided Pyongyang is allowed to keep its nuclear arsenal.

China’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday (November 27, 2025) that Japan will have to pay a “painful price” if it steps out of line over Taiwan, responding to Japanese plans to deploy missiles on an island some 100 kilometers from Taiwan’s coast.

The remarks come amid the countries’ worst diplomatic crisis in years, after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that this month a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.

Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Sunday (November 23, 2025) said that plans were “steadily moving forward” to deploy a medium-range surface-to-air missile unit at a military base on Yonaguni, an island about 110 kilometers off Taiwan’s east coast.

Asked about the deployment, which China’s Foreign Ministry has already criticised, the Japanese Defence Ministry said how to “resolve the Taiwan question” was a Chinese matter and nothing to do with Japan, which controlled Taiwan from 1895 until the end of World War II in 1945.

“Not only has Japan failed to deeply reflect on its grave crimes of aggression and colonial rule in Taiwan, it has instead, in defiance of world opinion, entertained the delusion of military intervention in the Taiwan Strait,” spokesperson Jiang Bin told a regular news briefing.

“The People’s Liberation Army has powerful capabilities and reliable means to defeat any invading enemy. If the Japanese side dares to cross the line even half a step and bring trouble upon itself, it will inevitably pay a painful price,” Mr. Jiang added.

Taiwan’s democratically elected Government rejects Beijing’s territorial claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te this week unveiled plans to spend an extra $40 billion on defence over the coming eight years, which China criticised as a waste of money that would only plunge Taiwan into disaster.

Asked about that criticism, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh said on Thursday (November 27, 2025) that China’s defence spending was far greater than Taiwan’s.

“If they could place importance on cross-strait peace, this money could also be used to improve the mainland’s economy and people’s livelihoods,” Mr. Liang said.

“The two sides of the strait would not then be like this, at daggers drawn; that would be good for everyone.”

China’s military operates almost daily in the waters and skies around Taiwan in what the Government in Taipei says is part of Beijing’s harassment and pressure campaign against it.

Firefighters were battling an out-of-control fire on Wednesday (November 19, 2025) morning that has burned through a neighbourhood in southwestern Japan and forced more than 170 people to evacuate.

At least 170 homes have been damaged and a man in his 70s was unaccounted for, Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

The fire started during strong winds on Tuesday (November 18) evening near a fishing port in the city of Oita and spread to a forest. Oita is on the southern island of Kyushu.

One resident told Kyodo News Agency she quickly fled without many of her belongings because the fire “spread in the blink of an eye.”

Japan announced on Friday (November 7, 2025) that its seafood exports have resumed for the first time since China imposed a ban over the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant more than two years ago.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters that six metric tonnes of scallops harvested in Hokkaido were shipped to China on Wednesday (November 5, 2025), the first shipment to that country since Beijing banned Japanese seafood in August 2023.

Beijing announced in June that it would ease the ban and prepare for the resumption of imports, following repeated negotiations between the two sides.

The ban was a major blow to Japan’s seafood industry, especially scallop and seafood cucumber exports. China was the biggest overseas market for Japanese seafood.

Also Read: Seafood exports remain flat in 2024-25 at $7.45 billion

“The government takes the development as a positive move,” Mr. Kihara said as he called on China to continue to re-register pending applications for Japanese seafood exporters.

A ban remains in place for seafood from Fukushima and nine nearby Prefectures, which China imposed immediately after the plant’s meltdowns.

Mr. Kihara said Japan will also continue to urge Beijing to lift the remaining bans and resume importing Japanese beef.

The Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered triple meltdowns following a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, causing leaks of massive radioactive wastewater that need to be stored in tanks.

The utility won Japanese government approval and support from the International Atomic Energy Agency for the gradual release of the water into the sea after treatment and dilution. Japanese officials said the wastewater would be much safer than international standards, and the IAEA’s comprehensive report later confirmed that the discharges meet global safety standards.