TOKYO -- The lower house of the Japanese parliament is likely to be dissolved in September, with the first general election under Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga following soon thereafter.

After a slow start, the government is accelerating its COVID-19 vaccination rollout ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which start in July. The government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are increasingly confident that the coronavirus pandemic will have dissipated to the point where it will be possible to hold an election in the fall.

Suga is expected to direct

TOKYO -- The Japan Self-Defense Forces have averaged two joint drills weekly since January, reaching beyond longtime ally the U.S. to include fellow Quad members Australia and India as well as European nations.

On the other hand, Tokyo has not conducted a drill with South Korea since 2018 as a chill has fallen on relations between the two neighbors.

The Self-Defense Forces have carried out 38 joint exercises with foreign militaries from January to May, according to public announcements. Aside from the

HONG KONG -- Investors rallied around Eastern Air Logistics on Wednesday, sending shares of the corporate sibling of China Eastern Airlines climbing by the maximum 44% allowed on their first day of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The impressive debut, coming on the heels of JD Logistics' $3.16 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong two weeks ago, is a positive sign for Chinese freight companies in need of fresh capital to cope with soaring package volumes and a vicious price war.

Courier services SF Holding

SEOUL -- South Korean conglomerate SK Group will build a hydrogen production complex in Ulsan, the manufacturing base for Hyundai Motor, looking to transform the city into a supply center for the green fuel.

Group company SK Gas leads the project, which will spend 2.2 trillion won ($1.97 billion) over five years. SK also plans to install 100 hydrogen fueling stations around South Korea by the end of the decade.

SK and Lotte Chemical intend to establish a joint venture later this year

TOKYO -- Japan and Australia stressed the "importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait" in a statement Wednesday after a meeting of their defense and diplomatic chiefs, highlighting security cooperation between two U.S. allies on the front lines of deterrence against China.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi spoke virtually with Australian counterparts Marise Payne and Peter Dutton. This was the two nations' first two-plus-two meeting since October 2018.

This marked the first mention of the

BEIJING -- Former Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa declared victory Wednesday night in Mongolia's presidential election with an apparent outright majority of votes in early tallies.

Khurelsukh heads the Mongolian People's Party, which holds a supermajority in Mongolia's parliament. He would replace outgoing President Battulga Khaltmaa, who is leaving office following changes to the constitution that limit presidents to a single six-year term.

Vote totals reported by local media showed Khurelsukh with over 810,000 votes, more than triple the tally

SEOUL -- Kim Jong Un has placed the North Korean people first and foremost under revisions to the all-important governing party rulebook, according to reports that began surfacing this month, indicating that the leader is setting out to create an identity that is starkly different from his revered grandfather and father.

Since taking the reins in 2011, the North Korean leader had embraced his connection to the Paektu bloodline, invoking his grandfather and North Korean founder Kim Il Sung through his mannerisms and clothing choices.

But still struggling

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff writer and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He is the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize for international reporting.

TOKYO -- When President Xi Jinping at the end of last month told his fellow Chinese Communist Party leaders that China should seek to become "humble," "credible," "lovable" and "respectable," many observers initially welcomed the pronouncement

TOKYO/LONDON -- After briefly pulling ahead of Zara this year in terms of market value, Uniqlo has fallen well behind the European fast fashion leader as vaccinated individuals in Western economies refresh their wardrobes for post-lockdown life.

The market capitalization of Uniqlo's Japanese parent company, Fast Retailing, totaled just over 8.7 trillion yen ($79.4 billion) as of Wednesday, well behind the roughly 100 billion euros ($121 billion) for Zara's Spanish parent