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Japanese golf player Hiromi Kobayashi reacts after her shot during a media tour of Kasumigaseki Country Club golf course, one of the venues of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, in Kawagoe, near Tokyo, Monday, Feb. 25, 2019. Kobayashi was the LPGA's rookie of the year in 1990 and she says Japan faces high expectations. She says &quot;as a player I was representing myself. But this is a different kind of pressure&quot; for the country and its golfing community. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Tokyo and Japan offer tradition, expectation to Olympic golf

By STEPHEN WADE - Associated Press

Seattle Mariners' Yusei Kikuchi tosses a baseball to fans during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, Feb. 25, 2019, in Peoria, Ariz. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

All eyes on Kikuchi during his spring debut for Mariners

By TIM BOOTH - Associated Press

FILE - This June 12, 2018, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, right, meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sentosa Island, in Singapore. Trump and Kim will likely be all smiles as they shake hands later this week in Hanoi for a meeting meant to put flesh on what many critics call their frustratingly vague first summit in Singapore. But behind the grins is a swirl of competing goals and fears. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

AP Explains: What everyone wants at the Trump-Kim summit

By FOSTER KLUG - Associated Press

People take a look at a copy of a local newspaper reporting a referendum in Naha, Okinawa, Japan, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019. The people of Okinawa voted Sunday on a plan for a U.S. military base relocation in a referendum that will send a message on how they feel about housing American troops in Japan, who many see as a burden on the group of tiny southwestern islands. The headline reads &quot;New Base, Opposition majority.&quot;(Kyodo News via AP)

Okinawa referendum rejects relocation for US military base

By YURI KAGEYAMA - Associated Press

Japanese Emperor Akihito, left, and Empress Michiko, second from left, are greeted by Crown Prince Naruhito, right, and Crown Princess Masako, second from right, at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, during a ceremony celebrating the 30th anniversary of Emperor Akihito's reign, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan’s emperor marks 30th year of reign at Tokyo ceremony

Associated Press

People stage a protest as construction workers start dumping a truckload of sediment into the sea at Henoko on Okinawa's east coast Friday, Dec. 14, 2018. Japan's central government has started main reclamation work at a disputed U.S. military base relocation site on the southern island of Okinawa despite fierce local opposition. (Takuto Kaneko/Kyodo News via AP)

Okinawa to vote on U.S. military base relocation

By Yuri Kageyama - Associated Press

People prepare to vote in a referendum at a polling station in Naha, Okinawa, Japan, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019. The people of Okinawa are voting on a plan for a U.S. military base relocation in the referendum that will send a message on how they feel about housing American troops in Japan, who many see as a burden on the group of tiny southwestern islands. (Kyodo News via AP)

Okinawa votes in referendum on US military base relocation

By YURI KAGEYAMA - Associated Press

In this Feb. 17, 2019 photo provided by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan, Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako speak at their residence Togu Palace in Tokyo. Naruhito celebrates his 59th birthday on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. (Imperial Household Agency of Japan via AP)

Japan’s crown prince hopes to continue father’s legacy

By HARUKA NUGA - Associated Press

In this Feb. 3, 2019, photo, Kazuo Oda, a retired trading house executive and longtime tennis friend of Emperor Akihito, speaks on a photograph showing Oda with then Crown Price Akihito and Michiko Shoda, who become Empress Michiko, during an exclusive interview with the Associated Press in Tokyo. Akihito’s Heisei era will end when he abdicates on April 30 in favor of his elder son, 58-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito, beginning a new, as yet unnamed era. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Correction: Japan-Emperor story

By MARI YAMAGUCHI - Associated Press

Strong quake hits Japan’s northernmost main island Hokkaido

By YURI KAGEYAMA - Associated Press

In this August, 2018, photo, Kanaashi Nogyo High School pitcher Kosei Yoshida pitches during a game of the National High School Baseball Championship in Nishinomiya, Hyogo prefecture, western Japan. Amateur baseball officials in Japan are debating the introduction of pitch limits aimed at preventing injuries to high school players. (Kyodo News via AP)

Baseball officials in Japan debate pitch limits

By JIM ARMSTRONG - Associated Press

In this May 9, 2012, photo, lawyer Junichiro Hironaka speaks at the press cub of courthouse in Tokyo. The newly appointed star defender for former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 he believes the case against his client does “not meet international standards.” Hironaka also said that he believed Ghosn’s trial on charges of falsifying financial reporting and breach of trust might not begin until after the summer. (Kyodo News via AP)

Nissan ex-boss Ghosn’s new lawyer questions handling of case

By KAORI HITOMI - Associated Press

This July 2018, photo shows containers piled up at a Tokyo port. Japan's exports have fallen 8.4 percent in January from a year earlier while imports also edged lower, suggesting a deepening impact from China's economic slowdown. Customs data released Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 showed exports to all of Asia dropped 13 percent year-on-year, largely due to a 17 percent decline in shipments to China. (Shinji Kita/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan trade deficit highest in 5 yrs, hit by China doldrums

Associated Press

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe raises his hand during a parliamentary session at the Lower House in Tokyo, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Abe and his chief spokesman have declined to say if Abe nominated President Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace prize. Speaking in parliament on Monday, Abe said the Nobel committee has never in a half-century disclosed the identity of the person or groups behind such nominations. He said, “I thus decline comment.”(Kyodo News via AP)

Shinzo Abe mum on reports he nominated Donald Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

By Haruka Nuga - Associated Press

FILE - In this June 5, 2018, file photo, rolls of steel are shown in Baytown, Texas. Despite President Donald Trump's tough talk on trade, his administration has granted hundreds of companies permission to import millions of tons of steel made in China, Japan and other countries without paying the hefty tariff he put in place to protect U.S. manufacturers and jobs, according to an Associated Press analysis.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

AP analysis: Hundreds of companies excused from steel tariff

By RICHARD LARDNER and LARRY FENN - Associated Press

FILE - In this June 27, 2012, file photo, lawyer Junichiro Hironaka speaks at press cub of courthouse in Tokyo. Hironaka, a defense lawyer famous for winning innocent verdicts in a legal system where 99 percent of the cases result in convictions, was hired to defend Nissan Motor Co.'s former chairman Carlos Ghosn on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The new defense lawyer for Ghosn has a strong track record for winning acquittals, an extreme rarity in Japan. (Kyodo News via AP, File)

Ghosn beefs up defense with lawyer famous for acquittals

By YURI KAGEYAMA - Associated Press

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2019, file photo, Motonari Ohtsuru, defense lawyer of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, speaks during a press conference in Tokyo. Ohtsuru, the chief lawyer of former Nissan Chairman Ghosn, has handed in his resignation, according to his office and a statement submitted to the court.(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

Lawyer famous for acquittals to defend Nissan ex-chair Ghosn

By YURI KAGEYAMA - Associated Press

In this Jan. 28, 2019, photo, Kenji Aiba, left, speaks as his partner Ken Kozumi listens during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo. Kozumi and Aiba have held onto a marriage certificate they signed at their wedding party in 2013, anticipating that Japan would emulate other advanced nations and legalize same-sex unions. That day has yet to come, and legally they are just friends even though they've lived as a married couple for more than five years. On Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, Valentine’s Day, the couple is joining a dozen other same-sex couples in Japan’s first lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the country’s rejection of same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Toru Takahashi)

The Latest: Gay couples sue for marital rights in Japan

Associated Press

FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2018, file photo, people cross a street in Tokyo. Japan’s economic growth for the October-December period rebounded from a slump the previous quarter, growing at an annual rate of 1.4 percent, according to preliminary government data released Thursday, Feb. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, FIle)

Japan’s economy rebounds in 4Q, growth for 2018 at 0.7 pct

Associated Press

In this Jan. 28, 2019, photo, Kenji Aiba, left, and his partner Ken Kozumi laugh during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo. Kozumi and Aiba have held onto a marriage certificate they signed at their wedding party in 2013, anticipating that Japan would emulate other advanced nations and legalize same-sex unions. That day has yet to come, and legally they are just friends even though they've lived as a married couple for more than five years. On Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, Valentine’s Day, the couple is joining a dozen other same-sex couples in Japan’s first lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the country’s rejection of same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Toru Takahashi)

Japanese same-sex couples sue for equal marital rights

By MARI YAMAGUCHI - Associated Press