Japan does not plan on recognizing a Palestinian state for the time being, Reuters reported, citing the Asahi newspaper in Japan which quoted unnamed government sources.
According to the report, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will skip a relevant meeting during the United Nations General Assembly this month.
A host of countries - including Britain, France, Canada, Australia, and Belgium - have announced their intention to recognize a Palestinian state during a meeting at the UN General Assembly.
On Monday, those countries were joined by Luxembourg, which officially announced its intention to recognize a "State of Palestine".
In contrast, Germany's government announced it does not believe the time is right to recognize a Palestinian state.
Germany did, however, vote in favor of a non-binding resolution which the UN General Assembly approved this past Friday, outlining "tangible, time-bound and irreversible steps" toward a two-state solution, a plan that would establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
The text was adopted by a vote of 142 in favor, 10 against, and 12 abstentions. Israel and the United States were among the ten nations that voted against the measure. The other eight were Argentina, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, and Tonga.