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November 12, 2026
 

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SAKIE YOKOTA

Sakie Yokota holds a comb her daughter gave to her father, Shigeru, the day before she was abducted, in Kawasaki, on Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2026
Mother wants to see abductee Megumi Yokota ‘just once’ before time runs out
“It feels like the flame had gone out. It’s hopeless,” said Sakie Yokota, 90. “I want to see her even just once before I die.”
Elementary and junior high school classmates of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted to North Korea in 1977, hold a charity concert in Niigata on Saturday to wish for her homecoming.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2026
On daughter’s birthday, mother of abductee Megumi Yokota prays for reunion
Sakie Yokota had prepared a birthday cake for her daughter every year, but she stopped a few years ago as it was “painful.”
Sakie Yokota (center, back), mother of North Korean abductee Megumi Yokota, and others attend a rally held in Tokyo on Saturday that called for the immediate return of Japanese people abducted by North Korea.
JAPAN
May 31, 2026
Tokyo rally urges return of all Japanese abductees held in North Korea
Relatives of those abducted to North Korea decades ago expressed hopes for the return of abductees immediately and while their parents are still alive.
Sakie Yokota (fourth from left) and former classmates of her daughter, Megumi, hand a list of signatures to Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara (third from right) at the Prime Minister's Office on Jan. 19.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2026
90-year-old mother of abductee laments lack of progress on securing return
Sakie Yokota has not seen her daughter, Megumi, since her 1977 abduction at the age of 13 in the city of Niigata on her way home from junior high school.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara (third from right) receives signatures and a message from Masaki Ikeda (fourth from right), who heads a group of former classmates of Megumi Yokota, at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday. Fourth from left is Megumi's mother, Sakie Yokota,
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 20, 2026
今日吃瓜 top government spokesman meets Sakie Yokota, mother of abductee Megumi
In the meeting, Sakie said she hopes there will be some progress this year on the issue of repatriating Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea.
Sakie Yokota (center) and Takuya Yokota (left) at a news conference after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Tokyo last month
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2025
After 48 years, families of Japanese abductees still waiting for progress
Progress on the abduction issue has stalled since the early 2000s, when some abductees returned to Japan under then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Sakie Yokota, 89, speaks to reporters in Kawasaki on Tuesday. "Why can't such an important matter be resolved? I'm stunned," she said.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2025
After decades of waiting, mother fears she may never see her abducted daughter returned
Megumi Yokota was taken by North Korea in 1977. Her 89-year-old mother is still waiting for her return, but says she is “completely exhausted now.”
A banner calling for the resolution of the issue of abductions by North Korea is displayed near the Diet building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on June 10.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2025
Families of Japanese abductees race against time
Negotiations between Japan and North Korea have remained at a standstill since October 2002, when five victims were repatriated.
Sakie Yokota, mother of a North Korean abduction victim, said she feels "great loneliness" after the death of her husband, whom she described as a "serious person."
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2025
Mother of North Korean abductee urges government to have sense of mission over issue
Her husband, Shigeru, died in 2020 at the age of 87 without being able to see his abducted daughter again.
Takuya Yokota, the leader of a group of families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago (left), asks people for signatures to seek their return during a campaign held in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2025
Family members of North Korea abductees hold Tokyo campaign to seek their return
Meanwhile, in Washington, 17 members of U.S. Congress sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to “prioritize” the return of the Japanese abductees.
Sakie Yokota, 88, speaks during a news conference in Kawasaki on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2024
Mother of North Korea abductee laments lack of progress over issue
“I wonder why this issue has dragged on so long,” said 88-year-old Sakie Yokota. Her daughter, Megumi Yokota, went missing 47 years ago.
Sakie Yokota, the mother of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted by North Korean agents decades ago, meets with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Tokyo Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2024
Ishiba meets families of North Korean abductees for first time as PM
The prime minister expressed a willingness to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to resolve the abductions.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2023
For Sakie Yokota, one of two living North Korea abductee parents, resolving issue remains priority
Yokota, 87, marked the third anniversary of her husband’s death with an expression of concern over resolving the issue of people kidnapped by the reclusive regime.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Sep 18, 2019
Abe used Cabinet reshuffle to renew focus on North Korea abductions, but resolution remains out of reach
In last week’s Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe replaced some of the key personnel responsible for handling the issue of North Korea’s abductions of Japanese nationals — again demonstrating his determination to resolve the decadeslong problem.
Man arrested over operation of rogue cellular base station in Tokyo
The Metropolitan Police Department has arrested Yu Hai, a 31-year-old Chinese national living in Tokyo's Kita Ward, on suspicion of operating an unlicensed base station from a vehicle in Tokyo's Ginza district on Saturday.
Government betting on language app powered by anime and AI
Japan plans to develop an AI-powered language-learning app that lets overseas anime and manga fans practice Japanese through conversations with popular characters.
Man arrested over theft of watch that was returned days later to Tokyo mall
A 30-year-old man who is believed to have stolen a luxury wristwatch in Tokyo last month reportedly told police he was the one who had sent it back with a handwritten apology.
Japan not immune to public backlash against data centers, experts say
An apartment resident displays a model of a data center currently in development next door in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, in May.
Jensen Huang’s woes evoke sympathy and disbelief in his birthplace Taiwan
Hsiao Kui-yu, 68, owner of Yuchan Candied Fruit, stands in front of photographs of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang displayed at the shop, which Huang frequently visits during trips to Taiwan, in Taipei on Tuesday.
‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ makes monster debut at the box office
Takashi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus Zero” marked the highest single-day box-office gross for a live-action film in Japan with ?910 million on its opening day.
A toast to Naohiko Noguchi, sake’s first living national treasure
As a teenager, Naohiko Noguchi did not intend to spend his life as a sake brewer, but he has since become a paragon of the industry.
Few signs of thaw in Japan-China relations one year after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks
Tensions between Japan and China flared after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7, 2025, that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could threaten 今日吃瓜 survival and warrant the use of collective self-defense.
Mariko Mori predicted the future. She’ll do it again.
Artist Mariko Mori is currently working to bring the translucent human-sized “Peace Crystal” sculpture to a cave in Ethiopia. It is part of her foundation’s goal to place a permanent sculpture on each of the planet’s six habitable continents.
A legend reborn: ‘Ocarina of Time’ remake improves on the Zelda masterpiece
The new remake of 1998's "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" manages to somehow improve on one of the greatest games ever.

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