I can confirm that the Canada-Japan relationship, as well as the multilateral relationship that organization has with Asia-Pacific countries, has served Canada well in encouraging other countries to follow the Canadian example of signing the convention banning anti-personnel mines, which took place in December of last year.
Canada and Japan banned anti-personnel mines in december of last year
The article stated Canada signed it, not canada and Japan. 
( z1 ban :ARG0 ( z2 and :op ( z3 country :name ( z4 name :op "Canada" ) ) :op ( z5 country :name ( z6 name :op "Japan" ) ) ) :ARG1 ( z7 mine :ARG0-of ( z8 counter :ARG1 ( z9 personnel ) ) ) :time ( z10 date-entity :month 12 :mod ( z11 year :mod ( z12 last ) ) ) )