Fed up with what it considers deteriorating moral standards among young beachgoers, the city of Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, is scrambling to purge its popular beach of disorderly and intimidating visitors, typically out-of-control drunks and people with tattoos associated with yakuza. The city will submit a ...

Beginning in Hiroshima on Wednesday, the infrastructure ministry started adding English equivalents to street signs to make it easier for foreign visitors to find their way. A sign in the center of the city that read "Rijo-dori" in Roman letters now reads "Rijo dori Ave." The ...

A 70-year-old man who after retiring took up farming in a village in Fukushima Prefecture is in no mood to forgive Tokyo Electric Power Co. for the damage caused by the disaster at the nearby Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. "My grudge against Tepco ...

About 70 dogs and cats are still living in a shelter in Sendai, almost three years after the region was devastated in the March 2011 disasters. "I would like to continue to look after these animals until all of them can reunite with their owners," ...

The smartphone demands the attention and occupies the mind of its owner, crowding out the random impressions that — were they observed — might just lead to insights, ideas and novel solutions to seemingly intractable questions.

The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) deaf community has trouble finding interpreters who know about LGBT issues. I hope to interpret at LGBT events and help spread interest in Japanese sign language.

By popular demand, Shizuoka Performing Arts Center is set to stage a revival of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," its sell-out 2011 production adapted by contemporary theater paragon Hideki Noda and directed by its own artistic diector, Satoshi Miyagi. Back in April 2011, counter to the ...

The heroine of French composer Georges Bizet's "Carmen" is one of the most famous roles in opera, but it's also one of the most difficult of all to carry off well. An artist playing the ill-fated gypsy seductress in this 1875 masterpiece must be able ...

"I love the original 'Full Monty' movie, and I think Robert Carlyle is brilliant as the central character — a loser who overcomes the odds against him. In fact it's his portrayal that inspired me to tackle the role as my live-acting debut — ...

Billed as an exhibition of masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), "Admired from Afar" is the latest in a number of exhibitions of Japanese art from American collections.

For better or worse, in contemporary art it is common to see male photographers tend toward featuring landscapes and objects, and female photographers working on problems of shifting identities, family and the body. In this respect there is a strong lineage for Ayaka Yamamoto's ...

The Osaka Evessa were in dire straits at this time a season ago, losers of 19 of 24 games before the All-Star break. Then Bill Cartwright arrived and did a remarkable job leading the team's reclamation project. The ex-Chicago Bulls bench boss went 17-11 ...

A pair of Japanese coaches once again had the opportunity to experience football's highest level by being a part of Pro Bowl activities last week in Hawaii. This is the fourth consecutive year that the program has been held by the NFL in conjunction ...

Wladimir Balentien, Japan's single-season home run king, apologized Wednesday to fans and teammates over his arrest in Florida on domestic violence charges. The 28-year-old Balentien, who broke Nippon Professional Baseball's record last season with 60 home runs, said he wanted to put off-field issues behind ...

Nadeshiko Japan midfielder Nahomi Kawasumi is set for a move from INAC Kobe Leonessa to a team in the National Women's Soccer League in the United States, INAC general manager Yasunori Yamashita said Wednesday. Yamashita said the 28-year-old Kawasumi is "getting ready to move to ...

Sochi Olympics gold medal hope Sara Takanashi became the first ever to win three consecutive titles at the World Junior Ski Championships on Tuesday. The 17-year-old ace nailed the day's longest jumps with efforts of 100.5 meters in both rounds earning her a total of ...