Naoto Kan

• Japan PM Yoshihiko Noda heads to India to boost economic ties

  Noda's predecessor Naoto Kan met Singh in October last year and stressed the warm ties linking two of Asia's biggest democracies.

• Race to choose new Japan PM begins

  Japan's ruling party is to kick off a two-day campaign on Saturday to choose a new leader for the disaster-hit nation, with trade and industry minister Banri Kaieda emerging as a strong contender.

• Japan: PM resigns amid plunging popularity

  Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced Friday he was resigning after almost 15 months in office, amid plunging approval ratings over his government's handling of the tsunami disaster and nuclear crisis.

• Japan PM wants less reliance on nuclear power

  Japan's prime minister said Wednesday he wants his country to learn from its ongoing crisis and become less reliant on nuclear energy.

• Japan's PM survives no-confidence motion

  Prime Minister Naoto Kan survived a no-confidence motion on Thursday over his response to Japan's massive tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis, but said he is willing to resign once the country's recovery takes hold.Kan won by a margin of 293-152 in the 480-seat lower house. The remaining members were absent or abstained from the vote.Before the sess...

• Japan plans global nuclear safety meet

  Japan intends to host a global meeting on nuclear safety with UN atomic energy watchdog IAEA late next year, Prime Minister Naoto Kan told Group of Eight leaders today.         "Japan would like to open an international summit on nuclear safety in cooperation with the IAEA late next year in Japan," Kan said d...

• Japan PM on defensive over disaster leadership

  Japan's unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan pleaded for public "understanding" today after a poll showed three-quarters of people questioned his leadership and handling of the post-disaster crisis.In a weekend telephone survey by Kyodo news agency, 76 per cent of 1,010 respondents believed Kan was "not exercising leadership" in dealing with the Marc...

• Japan plans disaster budget, building 100K homes

  Japan's government proposed a special $50 billion (4 trillion yen) budget to help finance reconstruction efforts Friday and plans to build 100,000 temporary homes for survivors of last month's devastating earthquake and tsunami.The twin disasters destroyed roads, ports, farms and homes and crippled a nuclear power plant that forced tens of thousand...

• Japan PM upset with mishandling of nuclear plant crisis

  Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan Tuesday slammed Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) for its improper handling of the quake-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant at which two explosions led to leaking of radioactive substances into the atmosphere.According to Kyodo news agency, one of its reporters overheard Kan saying to the company's executi...

• Worst crisis since World War 2: Japanese PM

  Japan reeled from a rapidly unfolding disaster of epic scale on Sunday, pummeled by the death toll, destruction and homelessness caused by the earthquake and tsunami and new hazards from damaged nuclear reactors that were leaking radiation. The Prime Minister called it Japan's worst crisis since World War II.Japan's $5 trillion economy, the third l...

• Japan PM says won't resign over foreign donations

  Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Friday he will not resign after acknowledging that his campaign office had unknowingly received illegal donations from a foreign supporter -- days after his foreign minister stepped down for a similar reason.Kan explained during a parliamentary committee session that because the donor had a Japanese name, he d...

• Japanese PM: Quake caused 'major damage'

  Japan's Prime Minister said Friday's 8.9-magnitude quake caused "major damage" in northeastern Japan, but that nuclear power facilities in the area were not damaged and there was no radiation leakage.Friday's offshore quake triggered a tsunami that hit Japan's eastern coast, sweeping away buildings and cars. TV footage also showed fires burning in ...

• Prime Ministers of China, Japan meet over island row

  The prime ministers of Japan and China met informally at a regional summit on Saturday amid a diplomatic row that has plunged the two countries' relations to a five-year low.Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he was able to talk briefly with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit, but noted that a full bilateral mee...

• Major setback for Japan's ruling party in midterm vote

  Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Sunday that he will not resign, even as vote tallies increasingly indicated that his Democratic Party was heading for a major political setback in a midterm election widely seen as a referendum on the struggling nine-month-old government.With many districts reporting at least 80 percent of the vote counted in ...