Japan ex-minister urges PM to protest US ICC sanctions
Gen Nakatani called US sanctions on the International Criminal Court an attack on international order.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Judge Tomoko Akane walks before delivering the verdict in the Al Hassan case at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday Nov. 20, 2024. (Eva Plevier/Pool Photo via AP, file)
Photograph: Associated Press News (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Former Japanese defense minister Gen Nakatani urged Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to protest US sanctions on the International Criminal Court and its president, Tomoko Akane.
- Nakatani described the US sanctions as an attack on the rules-based international order.
- The US imposed sanctions on about a dozen ICC staff members over investigations into Israeli officials in Gaza and US military personnel in Afghanistan.
- The sanctions freeze assets in US jurisdictions and bar court officials and their families from entering the US.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
64/100
Craft
95/100
Hype
12/100
6 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
Only 1 of the 6 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Former Japanese defense minister Gen Nakatani has urged Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to more firmly protest United States sanctions imposed on the International Criminal Court and its president, Tomoko Akane. Nakatani, a veteran lawmaker, described the US decision as an attack on the rules-based international order. He plans to submit demands to Takaichi’s top government spokesperson by mid-September. The sanctions were imposed by the US in retaliation for ICC investigations into Israeli officials in Gaza and U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan. The measures freeze any assets held in US jurisdictions and prevent court officials and their families from entering the United States.
Disagreement on ICC president's response
The Associated Press reported that ICC president Tomoko Akane said last month that the sanctions had not intimidated her or affected her work. She called on Japan to work with other ICC members to defend the court and convince Washington not to escalate the situation. None of the other reports mention Akane's response.
What the coverage left out
None of the right-rated reports mention that ICC president Tomoko Akane said the sanctions had not intimidated her or affected her work. The right-rated digest also does not mention the specific number of ICC staff members sanctioned by the US, nor does it detail the sanctions' impact on assets and travel.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 5 Sept 2026, 05:00, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
5 rated outlets
- The left-rated reports led with former Japanese defense minister Gen Nakatani urging Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to protest US sanctions on the International Criminal Court and its president, Tomoko Akane. These reports carried Nakatani's description of the sanctions as an "outright attack on the rules-based international order." They also detailed the US rationale for the sanctions, citing investigations into Israeli officials in Gaza and U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan. The Associated Press report, which was a full report, also included comments from ICC president Tomoko Akane stating the sanctions had not intimidated her or affected her work, and her call for Japan to support the ICC.
Centre
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated centre has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Right
1 rated outlet
- The right-rated digest reported that former Japanese defense minister Gen Nakatani urged Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to protest US sanctions on the International Criminal Court and its president, Tomoko Akane, calling Washington's decision an "outright attack on the rules-based international." The digest did not include further details on the US rationale for the sanctions or any response from the ICC president.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Japan ex-minister urges PM to protest US ICC sanctions?
- Of the 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 83% are rated left, 0% are rated centre, 17% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Japan ex-minister urges PM to protest US ICC sanctions left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Japan ex-minister urges PM to protest US ICC sanctions biased?
- Japan ex-minister urges PM to protest US ICC sanctions is one event reported by 6 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Japan ex-minister urges PM to protest US ICC sanctions?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Japan ex-minister urges PM to protest US ICC sanctions?
- 6 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- Why did the US impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court?
- The United States imposed sanctions on about a dozen International Criminal Court staff members in retaliation for ICC investigations into Israeli officials in Gaza and U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan. The sanctions freeze any assets held in U.S. jurisdictions and bar court officials and their families from entering the United States.
- What did Japan's former defense minister say about the sanctions?
- Former Japanese defense minister Gen Nakatani described the US decision to sanction the International Criminal Court and its president as an outright attack on the rules-based international order. He urged Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to protest more firmly and demand that the US withdraw the measures.
- Did the ICC president respond to the sanctions?
- According to the Associated Press, ICC president Tomoko Akane said the sanctions have not intimidated her or affected her work. She called on Japan to work with other ICC members to defend the court and convince Washington not to further escalate the situation.
Read it at the source
6 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
5- Former defense minister urges Takaichi to challenge U.S. sanctions on ICC president
(opens Japan Today in a new tab)
Japan Today — is Japan Today biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Japan's former defense chief urges prime minister to challenge U.S. sanctions on ICC president (opens Los Angeles Times in a new tab)
Los Angeles Times — is Los Angeles Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Japan's former defense chief urges PM to challenge US sanctions on ICC president (opens The Washington Post in a new tab)
The Washington Post — is The Washington Post biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Security Check (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
The Toronto Star — is The Toronto Star biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Japan's former defense chief urges PM to challenge US sanctions on ICC president (opens Associated Press News in a new tab)
Associated Press News — is Associated Press News biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Right
1Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
How did this read?
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