Japan

Jan. 8 (Asia Today) — Japanese defense and security experts meeting in Tokyo on Thursday called for sustained security cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea as tensions between China and Japan sharpen over Taiwan.

Masayuki Masuda, director of the China Center at the National Institute for Defense Studies, a research institute affiliated with Japan’s Defense Ministry, said the priority is to keep deepening trilateral cooperation.

“What is important now is to continue deepening security cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea,” Masuda said during a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

His comments came ahead of an expected South Korea-Japan summit in Japan, with Masuda answering a question from Asia Today about the role Seoul should play as Beijing and Tokyo clash more openly over Taiwan.

Masuda said trilateral cooperation should not be viewed as limited to the Taiwan Strait, pointing instead to a broader security environment that also includes North Korea.

“The situation on the Korean Peninsula, such as the enhancement of North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities, must also be considered,” he said, describing cooperation as a structural necessity rather than a one-off response aimed at a specific country.

Masuda also said trilateral defense cooperation has already progressed, citing recent discussions among the three countries’ defense leaders and what he described as shared concern about China’s military behavior.

At the same time, he rejected the idea that Japan is pressing South Korea to make specific choices because of strained China-Japan ties, saying the focus should remain on what is needed within Japan-South Korea relations and cooperation that includes the United States.

John Chuan Tiong Lim, a researcher at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Advanced Studies on Asia, also spoke during the session and pointed to U.S. policy as increasingly centered on Taiwan’s defense.

Lim said Washington’s public messaging can differ from its policy actions, adding that a Chinese attempt to take Taiwan by force would fundamentally alter the region’s security landscape.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China addresses attendees on behalf of Xi Jinping, President of China on day one of the BRICS summit at Sandton Convention Center in August 2023. China is opening an anti-dumping investigation into Japan over a key chemical used in manufacturing semiconductors, the Ministry of Commerce announced Wednesday. File Photo by Jemal Countess/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 7 (UPI) — China is opening an anti-dumping investigation into Japan over a key chemical used in manufacturing semiconductors, the Ministry of Commerce announced Wednesday.

The investigation is set to last a year as China probes whether Japan has been selling the chemical dichlorosilane at an unfairly low price — dumping — harming its domestic producers.

Dichlorosaline is commonly used to manufacture computer chips.

The investigation stems from a complaint by the Chinese company Sunfar that submitted evidence showing a 31% decrease in prices on the chemical from Japan despite an increase in imports between 2022 and 2024.

A review of the complaint found that it met the criteria for further investigation under Chinese laws and rules set out by the World Trade Organization.

“The investigating authority will conduct the investigation in accordance with the law, fully safeguard the rights of all interested parties and make an objective and impartial ruling based on the investigation results,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

The ensuing investigation will dig into dichlorosilane imports from Japan from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.

Japan is home to the three leading producers of dichlorosilane, making it the top exporter of the chemical.

China’s top dichlorosilane producer has the fourth-largest market share of the chemical in the world. It relies heavily on imports from Japan, with Japanese products making up about 72% of China’s domestic market between 2022 and 2024.

On Tuesday, China banned the export of products to Japan’s military. Japan has warned China about pursuing control over Taiwan as China believes Taiwan to be part of its territory.

Wednesday’s announcement continues the escalating tension between the countries.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to a state visit in Beijing, signalling China’s desire to reinforce relations with South Korea amid regional turbulence.

South Korea’s national security adviser, Wi Sung-lac, told reporters on Friday that Lee will meet Xi in Beijing on Monday before travelling to Shanghai to visit the historic site of South Korea’s provisional government during Japan’s 35-year colonial rule.

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Wi said the leaders are expected to discuss “practical cooperation” in areas including supply-chain investment, tourism, and responses to transnational crime, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Lee is also expected to persuade China to take a “constructive” role in achieving “a breakthrough in resolving issues on the Korean Peninsula”, Wi added.

It will be the second meeting between Xi and Lee in just two months, in what analysts have described as an unusually short interval, reflecting Beijing’s interest in bolstering ties before the next meeting between the leaders of South Korea and Japan takes place.

Relations between China and Japan remain at a low point after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could provoke a military response from Tokyo.

On Friday, Wi reaffirmed South Korea’s position on Taiwan, saying the country does “respect the one China policy and act in accordance with that position”. The position acknowledges Beijing’s view that Taiwan remains part of its sovereign territory, while allowing for separate ties with the self-governing island.

Kang Jun-young, a professor of political economics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said “China wants to emphasise South Korea’s importance slightly more than before.

“China appears to have strategically decided that it would be better to have [Lee] visit China before South Korea holds a summit with Japan again,” Kang told the Reuters news agency.

For its part, the Lee administration has stressed its goal of “restoring” ties with China, which remains South Korea’s largest trading partner. At the same time, it has said Lee’s approach of “practical diplomacy” aims to maintain strong ties with Japan and the United States, South Korea’s most important ally.

Under Lee’s predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, Seoul leaned closer to Washington and Tokyo and increased criticism of China’s stance on Taiwan.

Lee, in contrast, has said he will not take sides in the dispute between China and Japan, a position he maintains as tensions around the Taiwan Strait rise following Beijing’s recent large-scale military drills near Taiwan.

Security alliances, regional strategy

The two leaders may also address contentious issues such as efforts to modernise the South Korea-US alliance, which some see as a counterbalance to China’s dominance in the Asia Pacific region, according to Shin Beom-chul, a former South Korean vice defence minister and senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute.

Currently, roughly 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea to deter threats from North Korea. US officials have signalled plans to make those forces more flexible in responding to other regional challenges, including Taiwan and China’s growing military reach.

“Korea is not simply responding to threats on the peninsula,” General Xavier Brunson, commander of US Forces Korea, said at a forum on December 29. “Korea sits at the crossroads of broader regional dynamics that shape the balance of power across Northeast Asia.”

As China remains North Korea’s principal ally and economic lifeline, experts expect Lee to seek Beijing’s assistance in encouraging dialogue with Pyongyang.

North Korea dismissed Lee’s outreach last year, calling him a “hypocrite” and “confrontational maniac”.

China and North Korea have, in turn, continued closer coordination, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appearing alongside Xi at a major military parade in September.

Trade and culture

Lee’s visit is also expected to focus on cooperation in critical minerals, supply chains, and green industries, his office said.

Nearly half of South Korea’s rare earth minerals, which are essential for semiconductor production, come from China. The trading partner accounts for a third of Seoul’s annual chip exports, its largest market.

Last month, officials from both countries agreed to work towards stable rare earth supplies. The visit may also explore partnerships in AI and advanced technologies.

Huawei Technologies plans to launch its Ascend 950 AI chips in South Korea next year, providing an alternative to US-based Nvidia for Korean firms, Huawei’s South Korea CEO, Balian Wang, said at a news conference last month.

Another potential topic is Beijing’s effective ban on K-pop content, which stretches back to 2017 following the deployment of the US’s THAAD missile defence system in South Korea.

SM Entertainment’s chief executive, who heads one of the country’s leading K-pop agencies, will join Lee’s business delegation, according to local media.

New Year’s Eve celebrations are unfolding across the world as countries move into 2026 one time zone at a time.

The first major cities to mark the new year welcomed midnight with fireworks over their waterfronts, and large crowds gathered at public viewing points.

As the night continues, countries across the Americas will close out the global transition with events stretching from Rio de Janeiro’s beaches to Times Square in New York City and beyond.

This gallery shows how people are marking the start of 2026 around the world.

Eight European nations, Japan, and Canada on Tuesday expressed “serious concerns” about the renewed deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.

In a joint statement, foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK recalled the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave.

The statement mentioned the appalling conditions that are exacerbated by winter, noting that 1.3 million Gazans still require urgent shelter assistance.

The foreign ministers cited the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, which was published earlier in December, as evidence that the situation remains desperate.

The statement expressed their appreciation for the ceasefire in Gaza but stated that they will not lose sight of the plight of Gaza’s civilian population.

It called on Israel to ensure that the UN, its partners, and NGOs can continue their vital work and lift unreasonable restrictions on imports considered to have a dual use.

Saying that many established international NGO partners are at risk of being deregistered because of Israel’s restrictive new requirements, it warned that deregistration could result in the forced closure of humanitarian operations within 60 days in Gaza and the West Bank.

“This would have a severe impact on access to essential services including healthcare,” said the statement.

READ: Israeli Knesset passes bill halting electricity, water supply to UNRWA facilities

Ensuring UN, its partners can continue their vital work is ‘essential’

It also underlined that ensuring the UN and its partners can continue their vital work is “essential” to the impartial, neutral, and independent delivery of aid throughout Gaza.

“This includes UNRWA, which provides essential services, such as healthcare and education, to millions of Palestinian refugees,” said the foreign ministers.

The statement also called on Tel Aviv to open crossings and increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“The target of 4,200 trucks per week, including an allocation of 250 UN trucks per day, should be a floor not a ceiling,” it said, adding that these targets should be lifted so they can be sure the vital supplies are getting in at the vast scale needed.

The nations also underlined that ongoing restrictions limit the capacity for aid to be delivered at the scale needed, in accordance with international humanitarian law, or for repairs to be made to support recovery and reconstruction efforts.

“We now urge the Government of Israel to remove these humanitarian access constraints, and to deliver and honour the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict,” it added.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to keep Gaza’s crossings largely closed, preventing the entry of mobile homes and reconstruction materials and worsening the humanitarian crisis affecting over 2 million people.

Palestinian officials say that at least 414 people in Gaza have been killed since the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas took place on Oct. 10.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed over 71,000 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it largely uninhabitable.

READ: 25 Palestinians die in Gaza amid severe weather since start of December

China has held two-day military drills – Justice Mission 2025 – around Taiwan, marking the sixth round of large-scale war games since 2022, when then-Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited the island.

The exercise included 10 hours of live fire drills on Tuesday as Chinese forces practised encircling Taiwan and blockading its major ports.

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What happened during the Justice Mission 2025?

The war games began on Monday in the waters and airspace to the north, southwest, southeast and east of Taiwan’s main island, according to China’s Eastern Theatre Command spokesperson Shi Yi.

The exercises saw China deploy its naval destroyers, frigates, fighter planes, bombers, drones, and long-range missiles to simulate seizing control of Taiwan’s airspace, blockading its ports, and striking critical infrastructure, “mobile ground targets” and maritime targets, Shi said.

The exercises also simulated a blockade of Taiwan and its main ports, Keelung and Kaohsiung.

Tuesday’s live-fire drills were held in five zones around Taiwan between 8am and 6pm local time (00:00 GMT and 10:00 GMT), according to the Eastern Theatre Command. Chinese forces fired long-range rockets into the waters around the island, according to a video released by the military on social media.

Taiwan’s coastguard said seven rockets were fired into two drill zones around the main island.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Defence said it had tracked 130 air sorties by Chinese aircraft, 14 naval ships and eight “official ships” between 6am on Monday and 6am on Tuesday.

Ninety of the air sorties crossed into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ), an area of land and sea monitored by Taipei, during the 24 hours, in the second-largest incursion of its kind since 2022.

How were the exercises different from last time?

Justice Mission 2025 was the largest war game since 2022 in terms of the area covered, according to Jaime Ocon, a research fellow at Taiwan Security Monitor.

“These zones are very, very big, especially the southern and southeast zones around Taiwan, which actually breached territorial waters,” he told Al Jazeera, referring to the region within 12 nautical miles (22km) of Taiwan’s coast. “That’s a big escalation from previous exercises.”

They also focused explicitly on blockading Taiwan, unlike past iterations, sending a strong message to Taipei and its unofficial allies, particularly the US and Japan.

“This is a clear demonstration of China’s capability to conduct A2/AD – anti-access aerial denial – making sure that Taiwan can be cut off from the world and that other actors like Japan, the Philippines, or the United States cannot directly intervene,” Ocon said.

A blockade would impact not only the delivery of weapons systems but also critical imports, such as natural gas and coal, that Taiwan relies on to meet nearly all its energy needs. It would also disrupt vital global shipping routes through the Taiwan Strait.

Alexander Huang, director-general of Taiwan’s Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies, told Al Jazeera the drills were similar to those held after Pelosi’s visit in August 2022.

“For this drill, it actually interfered with international civil aviation routes and also maritime shipping routes. In previous drills, they tried to avoid that, but this time they actually disrupted the air and maritime traffic,” he said.

The drills also put pressure on Taiwan’s maritime and transport links to Kinmen and Matsu islands, which are closer to the Chinese mainland.

Why did China stage the exercises now?

China has a history of holding military exercises to express its anger with Taiwan and its allies, but large-scale exercises have become more frequent since Pelosi’s Taiwan visit.

Beijing claims Taiwan as a province and has accused the US of interfering in its internal affairs by continuing to sell weapons to Taipei and supporting its “separatist” government led by President William Lai Ching-te.

Washington does not officially recognise Taiwan, whose formal name is the Republic of China, but it has pledged to help Taipei defend itself under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act and the 1982 Six Assurances.

The Justice Mission 2025 came just days after Washington approved a record-breaking $11.1bn arms sale to Taiwan.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that the drills were a “punitive and deterrent action against separatist forces who seek ‘Taiwan independence’ through military build-up, and a necessary move to safeguard China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity”. Beijing sanctioned 30 US firms and individuals over the arms sale.

Experts also say the exercises were linked to a separate but related diplomatic row between China and Japan.

Beijing was angered in November by remarks from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that an attack on Taiwan would be a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Such a scenario would legally permit Japan to exercise its “right of collective self-defence” and deploy its military, she said.

How is Taiwan responding to the drills?

Taiwan cancelled more than 80 domestic flights on Tuesday and warned that more than 300 international flights could be delayed due to flight rerouting during the live-fire drills.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said the coastguard monitored the exercises near the outlying islands and that an undisclosed number of naval vessels had also been deployed nearby. Taipei also monitored all incursions into its ADIZ, including the Taiwan Strait, sections of coastal China, and waters around Taiwan.

In a statement on Tuesday, Defence Minister Wellington Koo said, “[Beijing’s] highly provocative actions severely undermine regional peace and stability [and] also pose a significant security risk and disruption to transport ships, trade activities, and flight routes.”

Koo described the exercises as a form of “cognitive warfare” that aimed to “deplete Taiwan’s combat capabilities through a combination of military and non-military means, and to create division and conflict within Taiwanese society through a strategy of sowing discord”.

How did the US respond to the drills?

US President Donald Trump has so far remained quiet about the military drills, telling reporters on Monday that he was “not worried”.

“I have a great relationship with President Xi, and he hasn’t told me anything about it,” Trump said when asked about the exercises during a news conference, according to Reuters. “I don’t believe he’s going to be doing it,” he added, seemingly referring to the prospect of actual military action targeting Taiwan.

William Yang, a senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that Trump might avoid saying much about the Justice Mission 2025 exercises as he hopes to meet President Xi Jinping in April to discuss a US-China trade deal. “It’s a diplomatic strategy to make sure the US response is not going to immediately upset the temporary trade truce between the US and China,” Yang said.

“I think it’s quite consistent with how he personally and his administration have been handling the issue of Taiwan by trying to de-prioritise making public statements,” he said.

Dec. 26 (UPI) — The Japanese government on Friday approved a record $58 billion defense budget for the 2026 fiscal year amid worsening diplomatic tensions with China.

The allocation is 9.4% more than budgeted for defense in 2025 and is a new record for defense spending when the new fiscal year starts in April.

The funds will help pay for cruise missiles and unmanned defense systems as Japan enters the fourth year of its five-year plan to bolster its military, Newsweek reported.

During that time span, Japan is investing about 2% of its annual gross domestic product to modernize its military with state-of-the-art equipment, including drones.

It also demonstrates a significant shift in Japan’s defensive priorities after spending relatively little on national defense for several decades.

The new spending will bolster Japan’s land, sea and air coastal defenses with unmanned assets and a greater ability to attack enemies from beyond their respective ranges, according to The Japan Times.

Japan is building up its Synchronized, Hybrid, Integrated and Enhanced Littoral Defense drone system that commonly is referred to as SHIELD.

“This system will enable Japan to adopt new warfare methods, firmly protect the lives of personnel and halt enemy invasions of islands at the coastline,” Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told media.

The system is slated to go into service in 2027 and will provide Japan with an ample supply of “inexpensive unmanned aerial, surface and underwater vehicles” that can be used to attack enemy targets and conduct reconnaissance.

A large quantity of relatively affordable drones is available from the United States, Australia, Turkey and other nations.

Japan also is improving its counterstrike capabilities with better anti-ship missiles and intends to acquire hypersonic missiles that can fly five or more times faster than the speed of sound.

Such improvements would improve Japan’s ability to strike enemy targets from a long distance and more effectively deter potential aggression against the island nation.

Suspect is in police custody; no information about potential motive.

A man has carried out a mass stabbing attack at a Japanese tyre factory, also spraying victims with a chemical substance, according to local officials.

Eight people were stabbed and seven others were injured after being sprayed by a bleach-like agent at the Yokohama Rubber Co tyremaker in Japan’s Mishima, southwest of Tokyo, on Friday, said the Fujisan Nanto Fire Department.

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Japanese media named the suspect as a 38-year-old who is now in custody. He is being charged with attempted murder, reported Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper, citing the Shizuoka prefectural police.

The suspect was carrying a survival knife and wearing what appeared to be a gas mask, according to investigators cited in the Asahi report. He is believed by police to have acted alone, the report added, though there was no immediate information about a potential motive.

The Associated Press news agency cited the fire department as saying five of the stab victims are in serious condition, but conscious.

An employee of a nearby car dealership said she was “shocked” to learn of the attack in what is generally a “quiet” area.

“I’m scared, but I’m also shocked that it could have happened in a place like this,” the unnamed employee told Asahi Shimbun.

Violent crime is relatively rare in Japan, which has a low murder rate and some of the world’s toughest gun laws.

However, there are occasional stabbing attacks and even shootings, including the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.

In June, Japan executed a man dubbed the “Twitter Killer”, after he was convicted of killing and dismembering nine people he met on social media. The execution was the country’s first use of capital punishment in nearly three years.

A Japanese man was also sentenced to death in October for a shooting and stabbing rampage that killed four people, including two police officers, in 2023.

Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki, whose 113 worldwide victories were the most of any player from Japan, died Wednesday in his home country after a battle with colon cancer, the Japan Golf Tour said. He was 78.

Ozaki was revered in Japan, a big hitter with a sense of style who won 94 times over 29 years on the Japan Golf Tour, the last one coming at the 2002 ANA Open when he was 55.

He rose to No. 5 in the world ranking in 1996 at age 49. Ozaki often got overlooked for never winning outside Japan except for the New Zealand PGA Championship. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.

“He is an indispensable, one-of-a-kind figure in discussing men’s golf, both now and in the future,” the tour said in a social media post.

Ozaki competed in 49 majors, his best finish coming in the 1989 U.S. Open at Oak Hill when he finished three shots behind Curtis Strange. He played the Masters for the 19th and final time in 2000 when he was 53 and tied for 28th.

Isao Aoki was the first Japanese player in the World Golf Hall of Fame, and Hideki Matsuyama became the first to win a major at the 2021 Masters. Both were inspired in some fashion by Ozaki, the pioneer in a nation now obsessed with golf.

Ozaki won the Japan Open five times and the Japan PGA Championship six times. He led the Japan Golf Tour money list a record 12 times, including five in a row from 1994 through 1998. He won his final money title in 2002, when he was 55.

When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, Ozaki said his one regret was not playing more outside of Japan.

“But I dedicated my life to Japanese golf and am extremely grateful the voters thought I was worthy of this honor,” he said upon his election. He received 50% of the vote on the International ballot.

Ozaki was looked upon as the Arnold Palmer of golf in Japan with his powerful swing, charisma and sense of style, often wearing silk shirts and baggy pants. And his skill was not limited to just golf. He played the guitar and had three songs reach the pop charts in Japan, according to the Hall of Fame.

His first love was baseball, and he spent three years pitching professionally before turning to golf. That was evident when Ryo Ishikawa, who won his first Japan Golf Tour title at age 15, spoke of Ozaki’s influence. Ishikawa said he would visit Ozaki about 10 times a year to get advice.

“Jumbo used to be a baseball player, so he always tried to teach me the link from pitching or hitting to golf,” Ishikawa said in 2010 interview with the Associated Press. “Jumbo wanted me to hit the ball far.”

Ozaki traveled with an entourage when he did play outside Japan in the majors, usually renting a house and bringing a sushi chef so his people would feel at home.

He has two younger brothers who also played on tour, Naomichi (Joe) and Tateo (Jet).

Ozaki played in the 1996 Presidents Cup, partnering with Vijay Singh to beat the American duo of Fred Couples and Davis Love III. He qualified for the 1998 team but decided against the trip to Australia, and his brother, Joe, played instead.

Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.

The Seto Ohashi Bridge spans 13.1km, connecting Japan’s main islands of Honshu and Shikoku via five smaller islands. It took ten years to complete and is one of the most expensive bridges in history

A seemingly endless double-decker bridge links five islands whilst appearing to ‘soar into the sky’.

The two-tiered Seto Ohashi Bridge is a coastal landmark joining Honshu, Japan’s main island, to Shikoku set against the stunning Seto Inland Sea. Construction on the engineering wonder kicked off back in 1978 and the public were allowed over a decade later. Since then, it’s enabled millions to cross the Seto Inland Sea in just 20 minutes, slashing the previous ferry journey time of over an hour.

It’s not merely an engineering triumph. The bridge also draws in tourists. Bridge aficionados flock to vantage points like the Seto Ohashi Memorial Park to witness how the structure “soars both into the sky and distance”, as the Japanese tourist board describes it.

For those seeking a day trip, the park boasts gift shops, a rooftop viewing deck, Japanese gardens and a children’s playground. Visiting after dark offers even more breathtaking scenes as the bridge illuminates once dusk falls.

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In pure statistics alone, Seto Ohashi is extraordinary. The complete length spans 13.1 kilometres (8.1 miles), with the longest section, the Minami Bisan-Seto Bridge, stretching 1,100m. The bridges accommodate two lanes of motorway traffic in each direction (Seto-Chūō Expressway) on the upper level and one railway line in each direction (Seto-Ōhashi Line) on the lower level.

The scheme took a decade to complete at a cost of US$7 billion (£5.3 billion), utilizing 3.646 million cubic meters of concrete and 705,000 tonnes of steel. The construction of the bridge also took a great human toll. Despite safety measures such as nets and ropes, 17 workers tragically lost their lives over the decade-long build. Today, it stands as the world’s longest combined railway and road bridge.

If you’re an admirer of grand architectural feats and fancy a trip to see the bridge, the simplest route is likely to fly into Tokyo and then catch a train to Okayama. You can get up close and personal with the bridge by train, bus or car. From Takamatsu and Okayama, hop on the JR Marine Liner. Buses to Memorial Park depart from Sakaide Station and take about 20 minutes.

There are several points of interest along the bridge that might catch your eye:

Seijima

Once an island, Seijima is now linked to Shikoku via a land bridge. It’s a quaint spot, home to around 500 people who continue to uphold cultural traditions and festivals, like the Daishi Market and the autumn festival. Seijima is renowned for its abundant sea bream fishing grounds. In fact, tourist companies used to run boat tours complete with geisha for visitors to witness the spectacle of fishermen hauling in their nets.

Shamijima

Similar to Seijima, Shamijima was once an island but became part of the mainland during a land reclamation project. Its picturesque beach has been recognised by the Ministry of the Environment as one of Japan’s top 100. Here, you’ll find the Seto Ohashi Memorial Park and stunning views of the bridge.

Ogoshi District

Nestled to the east of Sakaide City, the Ogoshi district is beautifully situated on the slopes of Goshikidai Mountain, overlooking the Seto Inland Sea. The area is a thriving hub for farming, particularly orange and lemon orchards. The Goshikidai Skyline, a route that meanders along the mountain’s plateau, offers breathtaking views of the Seto Inland Sea.

Kagawa Prefecture

Once you’ve journeyed south to Shikoku, you’ll find yourself in the vibrant Kagawa. There’s an abundance to see, discover and, not least, savour here. Kagawa Prefecture is renowned as the birthplace of a famous udon noodle. Sanuki udon, known for its chewy texture, is thicker than other noodles.