After its electoral defeat, the Liberal Democratic Party began talks with the Democratic Party for the People, led by Yuichiro Tamaki, who is not willing to go beyond external support for the government. Opposition leader Yoshihiko Noda has intensified efforts to gain cross-party support for his bid for the post of prime minister, but he is not likely to succeed.

The Holy See’s logo at the universal exhibition that will open on 13 April was unveiled. At the Vatican’s section, visitors will be able to admire "The Entombment of Christ" by Caravaggio, brought to Japan from the Vatican Museums. Manga artist Kan Takahama will be one of the "ambassadors" of the Vatican presence at the Expo. For the first time, the Holy Year in Rome will also have a manga-styled mascot.

For the first time in 15 years, the Liberal Democratic Party lost its majority in parliament in Tokyo. The new premier paid the price for the party's slush fund scandals, which had already caused Kishida's popularity to plummet. Excluding an enlargement of the coalition, the opposition led by Yoshihiko Noda is trying to put up a united front with the centrists. For the first time, the Conservative Party, a xenophobic and revisionist force, will also enter the Diet.

Tomorrow Japanese voters will pick members of the House of Representatives in an early election. The ruling majority is at risk after months of corruption scandals and poor showing in public opinion polls. Inside the LDP, a new leadership contest is developing. Opposition parties are not likely to back a coalition government with the LDP.

The incredulous tears of the ‘hibakusha’ in a country that has struggled to recognise their suffering and equal dignity. The movement's role in the campaign to ban atomic weapons. PM Ishiba speaks of ‘extremely saignificant’ recognition, but continues to cite nuclear deterrence as a ‘pragmatic response’.

Fr Alberto Berra, a PIME missionary in the city of the first atomic bomb in 1945, speaks about the decision to award the prize to the association that gives voice to the victims who still bear the signs of the explosion from almost eighty years ago. “They feel they have received a mission: to be a voice for the world” because, as Pope Francis said in Hiroshima in 2019, “it is not only the use of atomic weapons that is immoral, but also their possession.”