A Japanese consortium of major automakers and energy firms said Friday it is considering setting up a company this year to spur the construction of hydrogen stations to stimulate sales of fuel cell vehicles. The group — consisting of 11 companies including Toyota Motor Corp., ...

A human skeleton thought to be the oldest in Japan has been found in a collapsed cave in Okinawa, a local museum said Friday, adding that it appears to be around 27,000 years old. The nearly complete skeleton, dating from the Old Stone Age, appears ...

Visitors to Japan passed the 10 million mark last Saturday, three weeks earlier than last year, Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Akihiko Tamura said Friday. According the latest data, visitors to Japan have exceeded 10 million for five years straight, but this time was the fastest ...

A contentious conspiracy bill criticized for its Orwellian implications begins a weakly opposed journey through the Lower House, driven by the LDP-Komeito ruling bloc.

A record-high 97.6 percent of new graduates in Japan had jobs as of April 1, reflecting high demand amid an acute labor shortage.

Just as many readers are swapping paperbacks for tablets, many language learners are trading in their textbooks for apps so they can study on the go. One of the most popular language applications on the market is Duolingo, a program that "gamifies" learning by rewarding ...

The Cabinet approves a one-off abdication bill that envisions the Emperor stepping down in December 2018.

Two Chinese fighter jets conducted an "unprofessional" intercept of a U.S. radiation-detecting plane in international airspace over the Yellow Sea off the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. military said Friday. The U.S. aircraft, a U.S. WC-135 Constant Phoenix, known colloquially as a "nuke sniffer," was intercepted ...

With the Ground Self-Defense Force troops in South Sudan scheduled to arrive back in Japan on May 27, experts have called for the government to thoroughly review Japan's peacekeeping mission there amid debate over whether it was in line with the nation's principle of ...

A female giant panda at Tokyo's Ueno zoo has shown signs of being pregnant, including reduced appetite and longer sleeping times, the zoo's operator said. If 11-year-old Shin Shin does give birth, the cub will be the first giant panda born at Ueno Zoological Gardens ...

Broadcom and a group led by KKR are the two leading bidders for Toshiba’s highly valued semiconductor unit, sources say.

Matsumoto Castle in Nagano Prefecture is more vulnerable to an earthquake than previously thought and requires work to strengthen its resistance, officials of the city where the national treasure is located said Thursday. A recent earthquake resistance test has found that the castle's main tower ...

A recent government report showing a record percentage of people in Japan remain unmarried at age 50 has also revealed major regional disparities, indicating local factors are influencing marriage rates. Generally higher rates of unmarried men in eastern prefectures and among women in prefectures home ...

A Kanagawa woman who started a crowdfunding project last year to bankroll her search for a husband is on course to reap the ultimate dividend. After meeting 11 suitors in the space of a month through the formal Japanese matchmaking tradition of omiai, 27-year-old Tomoko ...

A record number of refugee and migrant children are traveling solo to escape violence and poverty, falling prey to abuse and human traffickers in their journey to a new life, the United Nations children's agency said on Wednesday. Be it to escape war in Syria ...

The government began studying ways Thursday to curb traffic congestion during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, including promoting staggered work hours and teleworking. At its first meeting to promote the smooth flow of traffic during the international sporting event, participants including games organizing committee ...

A new ferry line between isolated North Korea and its neighbor Russia docked for the first time at the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok on Thursday. The ferry's Russian operators say it is purely a commercial venture, but it coincides with what some academics say ...

The United Nations said on Thursday up to 200,000 more people might flee Mosul as Iraqi forces push into the last districts held by Islamic State militants. Iraqi authorities and aid agencies are already struggling to cope with a surge in displacement since security forces ...

Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk is convinced that enhancing human intelligence and memory is our species' only alternative to elimination by our own super-intelligent inventions.

In all three confrontations since the 19th century between Russia and the West, it was Russian action, motivated by domestic concerns, that spurred European or Western efforts at strategic containment.

Growing up in a small beach town on the west coast of Florida, much of my free time as a youth was spent in or around the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf was almost always warm, not unlike bath water, yet it provided the ...

Juri Hara allowed a run in six innings, pitching the Tokyo Yakult Swallows to their third straight victory, a 4-2 win over the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers on Friday. Before 28,264 at historic Jingu Stadium, the second-year right-hander faced only one scoring threat through five ...

Kashima Antlers suffered a humbling 3-0 defeat at home to Kawasaki Frontale on Friday as the away side won its third straight and moved above the reigning champs ahead of the weekend fixtures. Kashima, which fell from the top of the table last weekend, started ...

Overcoming a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter against any foe is a big challenge. To do so in the final 10 minutes against a team that won 49 of 60 regular-season games was the even greater challenge the Alvark Tokyo faced in Game 1 ...

Sunwolves fullback Kotaro Matsushima has extra reason for the Japanese Super Rugby side to come away with a win against the Sharks this weekend. The 24-year-old, who was born in Pretoria, South Africa, to a Zimbabwean father and Japanese mother, joined the Sharks Academy in ...

Yokozuna Kisenosato squashed Daieisho to stay within two wins of grand champion rivals Hakuho and Harumafuji at the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament on Friday. In arguably his most convincing win of the meet, Kisenosato quickly wrapped both arms around Daieisho and flattened the winless No. ...

A Premier League season that began with justified hopes of a competitive, high quality battle between six heavyweight clubs with some of the finest coaches in football ends with a whimper on Sunday. Even Sky Sports, who can normally upgrade the mundane into mind-blowing, will ...

World No. 9 Kei Nishikori crashed out of the Italian Open on Thursday as he suffered a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 defeat to Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in the third round. The seventh-seeded Nishikori, coming back from a right wrist injury, lost the opening set ...

Just listening to how he talks and reacts, he just seems the same kid that we came to know from his high school days in Japan. But this past year has surely made Rui Hachimura a better basketball player. The 19-year-old phenom has returned to Japan ...