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The consumption tax increase next April will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people's financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the impact of the hike, experts say.
Every parent is all too familiar with The Tantrum. The screaming, the flailing arms, the angry head butting — and the timing (normally in the most inconvenient public place possible).
International events undermine Japan's democracy. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for being a party to it.
Tucked away behind the main museums in Ueno, the Tokyo University Art Museum may not be on most people’s radar, but it is definitely one of the city’s top museums in terms of curatorial quality. Whenever I go there, I am always delighted by ...
Francisco Liriano showed up at PNC Park on Tuesday afternoon in a suit with his suitcase packed for a trip St. Louis. The message reverberated through the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse. After 21 years away from the playoffs, it was time for the best story ...
When longtime Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir introduced drastic austerity measures, he berated the public for being ungrateful over how his regime had improved their lives, boasting that before he came to power, Sudanese never ate hot dogs, talking as if they were a strange, ...
China’s notoriously opaque courts have suddenly embraced social media to provide a window into their proceedings, to boost a skeptical public’s confidence in the country’s Communist Party-controlled legal system. Nearly 1,000 Chinese courts have set up microblog accounts. One in central China released a ...
Australia’s new Prime Minister Tony Abbott began a visit to Indonesia on Monday for talks on his tough refugee policies, which have sparked anger in Jakarta, as his government faced criticism over a boat sinking that left dozens dead or missing. Abbott laid a ...
In a rare exception to strict Internet controls, a Hong Kong newspaper reported Tuesday that China’s first free trade zone will allow access to Facebook, Twitter and other websites that are currently banned nationwide. The Shanghai free trade zone, approved in August to boost ...
When Chinese police beat elderly former professor Sun Wenguang so badly they broke four ribs, it was just part of the price he has paid for a lifetime defying authority. The white-haired, soft-spoken Sun first went to prison nearly 50 years ago and is ...
Last month, Chinese police invited Wang Gongquan in for a “cup of tea,” often a prelude to detention. He had launched a public petition calling for the release of arrested dissident Xu Zhiyong, and the authorities were not amused. But Wang effectively told the ...
Three founders of Femen said Saturday they had left Ukraine in fear for their lives after police discovered weapons in their Kiev offices that the feminist group says were planted. Alexandra Shevchenko, Anna Hutsol and Yana Zhdanova “have fled Ukraine fearing for their lives ...
The United States is sending a senior envoy to North Korea to seek the release of an ailing Korean-American sentenced to 15 years hard labor, the State Department said Tuesday. Kenneth Bae was tried at a time of high tension between the United States ...
The head of a U.N. inquiry into human rights in North Korea challenged Pyongyang on Monday to back its allegation that testimony gathered by his panel in Seoul amounted to “slander.” The three-member Commission of Inquiry chaired by retired Australian Judge Michael Kirby wrapped ...
Of all the challenges the U.S. faces as it winds down the Afghanistan war, the most difficult might be closing the prison nicknamed “The Second Guantanamo.” The United States holds 67 non-Afghan prisoners there, including some described as hardened al-Qaida operatives seized from around ...
Dozens of same-sex couples said “I do” Monday as New Zealand became the first Asia-Pacific country, and only the 14th in the world, to legalize gay marriage. Vows were exchanged in venues ranging from an airliner cruising at 30,000 feet (9,150 meters) to a ...
South Korea’s last dictator lives in an L-shaped mansion protected by 5-meter stone walls and a plainclothes security team. He almost never goes outside, his longtime lawyer says, given the scrutiny he would face. Highlighting the extent of change in the nation he once ...