Tarō Kōno

Japan's leadership race kicked off on Thursday with a record nine candidates, including the surfing son of a former prime minister and an arch-nationalist, vying to be the first woman premier.

Japan does not currently have a specific answer to Bulgaria's idea of ​​producing Japanese cars. June Saito, the spokesman for the first diplomat of the Asian country, said at a media briefing.

Bulgaria hopes a Japanese carmaker will invest in it. Japan's investments in Bulgaria have been the focus of talks between Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva and Japan's first diplomat Taro Kono.

Japan's Foreign Minister visits Bulgaria at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister Zaharieva. This is the first visit at this level in 12 years.

At the invitation of the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva, the Foreign Minister of Japan Tarō Kōno will arrive on an official visit to Bulgaria on August 12 and 13, the Foreign Ministry said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva met in Tokyo today with her Japanese counterpart Tarō Kōno, the Foreign Ministry press office said. They discussed how to strengthen the bilateral political dialogue and the opportunities for increasing Bulgarian exports, attracting Japanese investments, technologies and tourists.

Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev met with Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Hoshihigo Seko, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, to host a joint business forum with Japan's Foreign Trade Organization.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono has said he will pay an official visit to Turkey on Dec. 28.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Dec. 28 paid an official visit to Turkey

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said stronger pressure would be needed on North Korea after its latest missile launch, which flew over Japanese territory early on Tuesday, Reuters reports.