https://www.scmp.com/rss/523817/feed The latest news and top stories on the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). A Tokyo, Japan-based governmental aid agency, JICA is dedicated to supporting socio-economic development and promoting international cooperation. Its main areas of focus include technical cooperation, ODA loans and grant aid across infrastructure, health, education and peacebuilding. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Kolette Lim Kolette Lim Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has kicked off his visit to Japan, where he is expected to address strategies with counterpart Sanae Takaichi on enhancing cooperation against a backdrop of economic uncertainty brought on by the Iran war. Both leaders are likely to tread cautiously in discussions to avoid antagonising any superpower, analysts say. The three-day trip, which began on Tuesday, marks Wong’s first official visit to Japan since he became Singapore’s prime minister in May... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3346929/singapores-lawrence-wong-seeks-stronger-ties-japan-amid-global-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3346929/singapores-lawrence-wong-seeks-stronger-ties-japan-amid-global-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Mar 2026 15:15:44 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Despite US President Donald Trump having congratulated Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on her recent election triumph, Tokyo is under pressure to deliver on colossal investments promised in the United States. Ahead of the possible announcement of the first projects this week and Takaichi’s scheduled visit to the White House next month, what exactly has Japan pledged, what uncertainties remain, and what is at stake? What was agreed? In July, Japan agreed to invest US$550 billion through... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3343314/japans-us550-billion-promise-trump-just-signing-bonus-strings-attached?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3343314/japans-us550-billion-promise-trump-just-signing-bonus-strings-attached?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Feb 2026 08:46:42 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Protesters in Pokemon costumes stomped around the United Nations climate conference on Friday to send a message to Japan: end financing of coal and natural gas projects across Southeast Asia and other regions of the Global South. The Stop Japan’s Dirty Energy Plans protest aligned with the first of two thematic days with a focus on energy during the annual climate conference known as Cop30, held this year in Belem on the edge of the Brazilian Amazon. Organisers of the protest said the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3332912/japans-fossil-fuel-activists-tap-pikachu-catch-attention-cop30?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3332912/japans-fossil-fuel-activists-tap-pikachu-catch-attention-cop30?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Nov 2025 06:30:18 +0000 Jeoffrey Maitem Jeoffrey Maitem Vilma Lagnayo woke up on Saturday to a sobering reality – her family home of five years in the quiet coastal town of Manay in southern Philippines was gone. The 56-year-old recalled that minutes before an offshore magnitude 7.4 quake hit at 9.43am on Friday, she was outside her house attending to house chores when the ground began to tremble softly. Within seconds, the shaking turned violent – the walls of their house creaked and then collapsed, windows rattled, and the air filled with the sound... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3328647/southern-philippines-quake-hit-residents-lament-losses-it-really-hurts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3328647/southern-philippines-quake-hit-residents-lament-losses-it-really-hurts?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Oct 2025 11:13:48 +0000 Julian Ryall Julian Ryall What was meant as a symbolic gesture of friendship at an international summit has snowballed into a national panic in Japan, after false reports circulating in Africa and online suggested that new visa schemes would allow large numbers of migrants to settle in the country. In just a few days, a mistranslated phrase, an overzealous government statement and a flurry of social media posts turned a modest cultural exchange programme into a heated immigration controversy. The confusion stemmed from... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3323384/mass-migration-panic-rural-japan-after-symbolic-africa-ties-mistranslated?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3323384/mass-migration-panic-rural-japan-after-symbolic-africa-ties-mistranslated?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Aug 2025 00:00:08 +0000 Anthony Rowley Anthony Rowley Global headlines continue to be dominated by wars, both of the physical kind characterised by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s siege of Gaza, as well as trade wars such as those provoked by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that the resurgence of infrastructure wars has attracted relatively little international attention. And yet Japan’s relaunch of a major land and maritime infrastructure initiative spanning East Asia, Africa, India and the Middle... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3322677/why-japan-should-cooperate-china-infrastructure-not-compete?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3322677/why-japan-should-cooperate-china-infrastructure-not-compete?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Aug 2025 08:30:08 +0000