Shigeru Kayano, one of the most well-known and respected Ainu figures of modern times, writes in his autobiography “Our Land Was a Forest” about the loathing he felt as a young man for the shamo (Japanese) researchers who used to visit his village and ...

At least eight houses were swept away by floods and at least one person died Friday as torrential rain hit parts of northern Japan, prompting the Meteorological Agency to issue evacuation warnings. A 91-year-old woman died in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, following a landslide, according ...

In a windy town in Hokkaido, an experiment is about to begin with a battery designed to transform the way electricity is supplied and at the same time boost Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic rescue plan. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is ...

A species of bumblebee imported to Hokkaido as a pollinator for greenhouse vegetables is rapidly expanding its presence in the wild and threatens to disturb the prefecture’s native ecosystem. Buff-tailed bumblebees, which are 1 to 2 cm and characterized by their white-tipped abdomens, have ...

Hokkaido has been stepping up efforts to attract foreign tourists during its off-season period in spring and is currently zeroing in on Thailand, where the holiday season starts in March and continues through May. As part of these efforts, the tourism ministry’s Hokkaido District ...

On a late March afternoon in central Sapporo’s “raccoon trail,” a covered shopping arcade, business is particularly brisk. While Honshu’s main cities celebrate under the cherry blossoms, several meters of snow remain piled up beside icy sidewalks — with more expected. That’s good news, ...

In April 1890, the Japanese government shipped more than 1,200 political prisoners from all over the country, including samurai insurgents from the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion against the government of Emperor Meiji. Nine years before, more than 250 years of rule by the Tokugawa shoguns ...

The death toll from a blizzard that hit Hokkaido and the Tohoku region over the weekend has risen to nine, local police said Monday. The latest fatality as of Monday was Kuniko Jingi, 76, who was found collapsed under the snow on a road ...

Eight people died amid heavy snowfall in Hokkaido over the weekend, including a woman and her three children trapped in their car, police reported. Kazuyo Miyashita, 40, her son, Daiki, 11, and her two daughters, Misa, 17, and Sayo, 14, have died of carbon ...