1. A senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official has arrived in China amid a row over comments Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae made in relation to Taiwan. The director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Kanai Masaaki, arrived in Beijing on Monday afternoon. It is believed Kanai intends to explain that Takaichi’s remark a bout a possible Taiwan emergency did not deviate from the Japanese government’s position regarding Taiwan.
2. Japanese and South Korean government sources have told NHK that Seoul notified Tokyo of its intention to call off a joint maritime drill scheduled for this month. The two countries were planning a search and rescue exercise of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force and the South Korean Navy. But the sources say the South Korean side informed Japan this month that it will cancel the exercise. It is not clear why.
3. Japan’s Environment Ministry says 88 people were attacked by bears across nation in October alone, with seven of the victims dying. That’s the worst figure for any month in the past decade. The ministry also says that from April to the end of October, 12 people were killed and 184 were injured. Casualties were reported in 21 of the country’s 47 prefectures. Akita topped the list at 56, followed by 34 in Iwate, 20 in Fukushima, 15 in Nagano and 13 Niigata.