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[Global Times correspondent in Japan Yue Linwei, Global Times correspondent Wang Yi] Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's trip to Central Asia has been canceled. According to reports from multiple Japanese media, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake occurred in Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu Island, Japan on the afternoon of the 8th. Japanese government departments have determined that there is a risk of a major earthquake in the Nankai Trough in Japan in the next week. The Japanese government has issued a "Japan Nankai Earthquake" warning to residents from Kanto to Okinawa. For this reason, Fumio Kishida announced on the morning of the 9th that he would cancel his original trip to Central Asia.

On the 9th, a house collapsed in Osaki City, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan after the earthquake, and rescue workers are rescuing people. (Visual China)

According to a report by Kyodo News on the 9th, after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred in the waters near Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan on the afternoon of the 8th, relevant Japanese experts held a meeting to evaluate the possible "Japan Nankai Trough Huge Earthquake" in the future, and believed that the "Japan Nankai Trough Huge Earthquake" was expected to have a "higher probability of a major earthquake than usual" in the epicenter and surrounding areas. The Japan Meteorological Agency and earthquake-related experts believe that the Japan Nankai Trough from Shizuoka Prefecture to the waters of southern Kyushu Island "is at risk of a huge earthquake in the future."

In order to prepare for a major earthquake, various places along the Pacific coast of Japan launched full-scale preparations such as setting up evacuation points and confirming evacuation routes on the 9th. If a major earthquake occurs, strong earthquakes and tsunami waves are expected from Kanto to Kyushu Island and Okinawa. The Meteorological Agency calls on people to be vigilant in the next week.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency of Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on the 9th that so far, a total of 13 people have been injured in the three prefectures of Kumamoto, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima. Miyazaki Prefecture held a disaster countermeasures headquarters meeting on the morning of the 9th. Governor Kono Shunji emphasized that "the risk has increased compared to usual, and it is necessary to repeatedly remind attention, including re-checking daily preparations." 75 evacuation points have been opened in 10 cities and towns, including Kochi City and Shimanto City in Kochi Prefecture. Kuroshio Town, which may be hit by a tsunami as high as 34 meters, has issued an "elderly evacuation" instruction to all areas in the town.

According to the Japan Broadcasting Association (NHK) on the 9th, Fumio Kishida said at a press conference that day that he had canceled his original trip to Central Asia. Kishida said, "As the person with the highest responsibility for crisis management, I have decided that in order to be more loyal to the country, I must stay in Japan for at least a week and take all possible measures to implement government policies and release emergency information." A Japanese government official said that Kishida hopes to participate in the Japan-Central Asian Five Leaders' Summit online.

Earlier reports said Kishida had planned to visit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from the 9th to the 11th, and would attend the Japan-Central Asian Five Countries Summit in Kazakhstan. Japan's Fuji News Network said that this was the first summit since Japan and the five Central Asian countries established a dialogue mechanism in 2004. NHK quoted a Japanese government official as saying that at this meeting, Kishida planned to announce a new cooperation framework between Japan and the five Central Asian countries.

Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao said on the 9th that the Japanese government has been conducting high-level dialogues with Central Asia for the past 20 years, and the main purpose of holding this summit is to further deepen relations with the five Central Asian countries. Japan's Sankei Shimbun published an editorial on the 8th saying that Kishida's establishment of a cooperation framework with these countries is for Japan's long-term economic interests and strategic considerations. Post-war Japan has experience in developing the Southeast Asian market and has achieved certain results. Compared with Southeast Asian countries, it is easier for Japan to enter the five Central Asian countries because Japan has no historical issues with these countries during World War II. Hiroki Kaji, a professor at the Department of Chinese Studies at Aichi University in Japan, said on the 9th that the policy significance of Kishida's participation in this summit is: first, the region is adjacent to Russia, China and the Middle East and has geopolitical importance; second, the region has a large amount of energy resources and is economically important.

Kishida's visit is obviously related to the upcoming LDP presidential election in September. Tsuyoshi Nojima, a professor at the Department of Sociology at Daito Bunka University in Japan, believes that Kishida's approval rating is very low and the domestic economic performance is not very good, so he needs to do more positive things in diplomacy in the hope of improving his approval rating. The latest poll by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun shows that the Japanese public's approval rating for Kishida's cabinet is only 28%, while the proportion of those who do not support Kishida's cabinet is 64%.

However, Kishida's trip to Central Asia obviously also has international political and diplomatic considerations. A US media reported on the 9th that Central Asian countries have historically had close relations with Russia in the fields of security and economy. China has long promoted economic cooperation between China and Central Asia through mechanisms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Belt and Road Initiative. The United States and European countries are also strengthening their partnerships with Central Asian countries. Against this background, Japan, as a member of the Group of Seven (G7) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), has become increasingly important in Central Asia. Nakano Koichi, a professor of political science at Sophia University in Japan, said on the 9th that Kishida's visit will show that "Japan hopes to fight back against China and Russia to some extent", or more realistically, Japan is trying to hedge against the closer economic contacts between Russia and China and Central Asian countries in history. Lianhe Zaobao said that after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the five Central Asian countries were also exploring ways to expand foreign exchanges, and thus became the target of Japan and the United States' efforts to win over.