Local Japanese politicians openly backed closer ties with Taiwan at a Nagoya summit this week, pushing back against pressure from Beijing.

• The Nagoya mayor personally addressed the 12th Taiwan-Japan Exchange Summit despite reports that China had asked him to skip it, calling the two sides' friendship deep and long-standing.
• A cross-party group of 325 Japanese lawmakers is pushing to fix how Taiwanese residents in Japan are officially labeled, since their nationality is currently listed as "China" on registration documents.
• A Kobe city councilor used the summit to criticize Japan's handling of an incident at the recent Nagoya Asian Games, where he said Taiwan's sports minister and Taiwanese fans were treated disrespectfully under pressure from China, calling it a disgrace to Japan.
• A Nagoya city councilor publicly apologized at the summit for that earlier incident, seen as a step toward rebuilding Taiwanese trust in Japan.
• Local Taiwanese officials also attended despite being in the middle of an election campaign back home, showing how much weight they put on the relationship.

Outlook: The next summit moves to Yokohama, with organizers planning to keep expanding grassroots ties between Taiwanese and Japanese local governments regardless of pressure from Beijing.