The nation’s newest solid-fuel rocket lifted off Saturday and put a space telescope into orbit as planned, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said. The Epsilon, Japan’s first new rocket in 12 years, blasted off from Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture at 2 p.m. ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting Mongolian Prime Minister Norov Altankhuyag have agreed to hold regular talks in conjunction with the United States on resolving North Korea’s abductions of Japanese. Mongolia has diplomatic relations with the reclusive communist state. The abductions, committed in the ...

Now that Tokyo has been given the honor of hosting the 2020 Olympic Games, the city, as well as all of Japan, will spend the next seven years “internationalizing” (kokusai-ka), a term that becomes fashionable again every few years when something like this happens. ...

Scientists in Spain say they have succeeded in making mature cells in living mice revert to their youthful, versatile state — a step toward the goal of regenerating tissue by using stem cells. Right now, the technique is at its earliest stage and is ...

Piles of old electronic gadgetry, most of it out of order, clutter Junichi Matsuzaki’s “studio” on the first floor of an aging public apartment building in Adachi Ward in northeastern Tokyo. To visitors the outdated technology may look like junk, but to the 53-year-old ...

In a sunny corner of Tomoko and Kenji Usui’s garden, surrounded by marigolds and goldenrod, there stands a peculiar little house. The thatched roof is tall and pointy like a witch’s hat, with flowers growing around the brim. The porch is wide and shady, ...

For snorkelers, there’s perhaps nothing better than hanging out underwater with a hawksbill sea turtle. Safer than sharks, they are graceful and beautiful, ancient and wise. But sightings are rare. Of my hundreds of snorkeling adventures, I’ve only seen turtles, from a distance, in ...

The dark herd rushed at the slope like a massive wave crashing ashore. Hitting the base of the steep escarpment they were momentarily lost from my viewpoint; they surged upslope, reemerging into view on the upper terrace as a thundering horde, the vibration of ...

For most readers, Japanese literature may suggest romantic/erotic works by Nagai Kafu, elegantly classical and humorously or sinisterly “kinky” fiction by Tanizaki, or coolly stylish contemporary works by Haruki Murakami. For such readers, this volume will come as a shock — both refreshing and ...

Former Japan international Sota Hirayama denied Urawa Reds the chance to stay within one point of leaders Yokohama F. Marinos by scoring a last-gasp winner in FC Tokyo’s 3-2 victory on Saturday. Hirayama, who came off the bench in the 73rd minute, buried a ...

A prized rookie pitcher went head-to-head with a slugger on a historical pace before a fight broke out and before and a player dove across home plate to successfully execute a suicide squeeze. The most recent tilt between the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and Hanshin ...