Taro Aso

Japan will begin to pay 100,000 yen (about $ 930) in financial aid to each citizen in May, Tarō Asō, the country's deputy prime minister and finance minister, told a news conference in Tokyo.

The aim is to help all families, regardless of income, in dealing with the damage the coronavirus epidemic has caused to the country's economy.

Japan's gaffe-prone deputy prime minister Taro Aso yesterday retracted comments in which he cited Adolf Hitler, but insisted he did not mean to praise the Nazi leader.

Aso used Hitler -- responsible for the death of millions of Jews and others during World War II -- in a bizarre reference about the importance of leaving a legacy in politics.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved the new cabinet in which 14 ministers out of 19 were replaced. The ministers that keep their posts are the closest associates of the head of state. They are Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso, Secretary General of the Cabinet Yoshihide Sugga and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshi Seko. Reports BGNES. 

At least two people have been killed and 18 others are missing in huge floods that are surging through southern Japan, with authorities warning hundreds of thousands of people to flee.

Unprecedented torrential rain has caused rivers to burst their banks, sweeping away roads and houses, and destroying schools.

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Sept. 1 it would be beneficial for this week's meeting of the Group of 20 major economies to discuss what is going on in China's economy.

China is Japan's biggest trading partner. China's stock markets have lost nearly 40 percent of their value since mid-June as an economic slowdown rattles investors. 

Japan will announce a $100 billion plan to invest in roads, bridges, railways and other building projects in Asia, a report said May 19, weeks after China outlined its vision for a new infrastructure development bank in the region.

Japan's parliament on Dec. 24 re-elected Shinzo Abe as prime minister with an overwhelming majority following the conservative leader's mid-December election triumph.

The powerful lower house voted for the 60-year-old Abe with 328 votes against 73 for acting opposition leader Katsuya Okada.