Koizumi repeats pledge to visit Yasukuni

Koizumi repeats pledge to visit Yasukuni

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi answers opposition questions during a session of the House of Coucillors Budget Committee on May 30. Koizumi repeated he will visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, a monument to Japan's war dead, as premier despite concerns expressed by Japan's Asian neighbors.

Ex-posts minister Noda to marry NCP lawmaker Tsuruho

Ex-posts minister Noda to marry NCP lawmaker Tsuruho

TOKYO, Japan - Yosuke Tsuruho (L), a House of Coucillors lawmaker in the New Conservative Party, and Seiko Noda, former posts and telecommunications minister of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, pose for photographers in Tokyo on May 2 after announcing their engagement at a press conference. Noda, 40, became the youngest minister in postwar Japan at the age of 37 in the cabinet of the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi in 1998.

Writer, ex-lawmaker Nosaka dies at 85

Writer, ex-lawmaker Nosaka dies at 85

File photo shows award-winning writer and former House of Coucillors lawmaker Akiyuki Nosaka attending an upper house question-and-answer session in 1983. Nosaka died at a Tokyo hospital on Dec. 9, 2015, at 85. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Writer, ex-lawmaker Nosaka dies at 85

Writer, ex-lawmaker Nosaka dies at 85

File photo shows award-winning writer and former House of Coucillors lawmaker Akiyuki Nosaka singing on stage in December 1974. Nosaka died at a Tokyo hospital on Dec. 9, 2015, at 85. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Extra budget for FY2020

Extra budget for FY2020

Japan's parliament enacts a 25.69 trillion yen extra budget for fiscal 2020 to finance a package of anti-coronavirus measures as the House of Coucillors approves it at a plenary session in Tokyo on April 30, 2020. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Extra budget for FY2020

Extra budget for FY2020

Japan's parliament enacts a 25.69 trillion yen extra budget for fiscal 2020 to finance a package of anti-coronavirus measures as the House of Coucillors approves it at a plenary session in Tokyo on April 30, 2020. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japan upper house election

Japan upper house election

Japanese Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe (R) is interviewed by a TV reporter at the party's election operations center in Tokyo on July 21, 2019, following the House of Coucillors election. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japan upper house election

Japan upper house election

Japanese Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe is interviewed by a TV reporter at the party's election operations center in Tokyo on July 21, 2019, following the House of Coucillors election. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Koizumi repeats pledge to visit Yasukuni

Koizumi repeats pledge to visit Yasukuni

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi answers opposition questions during a session of the House of Coucillors Budget Committee on May 30. Koizumi repeated he will visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, a monument to Japan's war dead, as premier despite concerns expressed by Japan's Asian neighbors.

Ex-posts minister Noda to marry NCP lawmaker Tsuruho

Ex-posts minister Noda to marry NCP lawmaker Tsuruho

TOKYO, Japan - Yosuke Tsuruho (L), a House of Coucillors lawmaker in the New Conservative Party, and Seiko Noda, former posts and telecommunications minister of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, pose for photographers in Tokyo on May 2 after announcing their engagement at a press conference. Noda, 40, became the youngest minister in postwar Japan at the age of 37 in the cabinet of the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi in 1998.