Princess Mako, the first grandchild of Japanese Emperor Akihito, on Wednesday left Tokyo's Haneda airport for a nine-day official visit to Bhutan, during which she is expected to meet with King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. It is the third official visit abroad by the 25-year-old ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday sought China's cooperation in addressing North Korean provocations during his meeting with Beijing's top diplomat. "To solve the problem of North Korea peacefully and diplomatically, Japan wants to cooperate with China, which has a great influence (on Pyongyang)," Abe ...

Weeks after a U.N. special rapporteur released a surprise open letter slamming a state-backed conspiracy bill that critics warn could erode privacy and free speech rights, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has shown no sign of letting up on its targeting of ...

A special investigation committee of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly confirmed Wednesday that a former deputy governor gave false testimony in March about his role in the Tsukiji fish market relocation plan. The committee approved the judgment of perjury for Takeo Hamauzu with the backing of ...

Local governments outside Tokyo that are slated to host Olympic competitions agreed Wednesday on basic principles concerning cost sharing with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the central government and organizers.

Soccer star Keisuke Honda has caused a stir on social media with an impassioned "motivational" tweet he posted in response to a news report about Tuesday's government white paper on suicide. The annual report showed the number of suicides declining in 2016 to the lowest ...

Laox said Wednesday it will acquire a taxi operator in Kyoto in an effort to enhance its diversified customer services amid growing demand from foreign visitors. The retailer, a major duty-free shop operator, will acquire a full stake in Aito Kotsu on July 1 at ...

South Korea's Defense Ministry "intentionally dropped" mentioning that four more launchers had been deployed for the controversial U.S. THAAD anti-missile system in a report to President Moon Jae-in's top aides, his office said on Wednesday. Moon has ordered a probe at the ministry of defense, ...

The government plans to ease passport regulations to allow married women to have both their maiden name and family name included on their passports in fiscal 2019.

Prime Minister Theresa May could lose control of parliament in Britain's June 8 election, according to a projection by polling company YouGov, raising the prospect of political deadlock just as formal Brexit talks begin. In stark contrast to opinion polls that have until the past ...

A joint exercise by the Maritime Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan is being arranged as concerns grow over the increased pace of North Korea's weapons testing, government sources said Wednesday. The nuclear-powered Ronald Reagan was sent to the Sea of ...

May 31 marks World No Tobacco Day, but the prospect of Japan banning indoor smoking in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics looks hazier than ever. With the last day of the current Diet session looming, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has faced fierce ...

Industrial production in April rose 4.0 percent from the previous month to its highest level since October 2008, due mainly to increased auto production amid an economic recovery, government data showed Wednesday. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, however, kept unchanged its basic assessment ...

Embarrassed by the recall of thousands of kitchenware pots after they appeared to leach lead when heated, discount-furniture king Akio Nitori took an unusual step. He hired a team of auto industry engineers to revamp the quality assurance and testing division. Ten years later, every ...

Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is planning to visit South Korea in early June and meet with President Moon Jae-in, an LDP lawmaker said Tuesday. Nikai is also considering conveying a letter from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Moon to lay ...

The government's move to ban smoking in indoor public places ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has hit a snag due to staunch resistance from lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party trumpeting smokers' rights and the need to protect the tobacco industry. But if ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition partner warned that a proposal to broaden the military's role to strike back against enemy attacks risks upsetting Japan's neighbors. "Japan has gained the trust of neighboring countries by adopting an exclusively defensive posture," Natsuo Yamaguchi, who leads the Buddhist-backed ...

A council of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported to Gov. Yuriko Koike on Tuesday that the metropolis should ban and penalize the act of encouraging children to send selfies online to protect them from falling prey to child pornography. The metropolitan government will begin the ...

Researchers from Mie University in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, said they have found that physical exercise combined with music is more effective in preventing dementia from worsening than solving calculation problems. Associate professor Masayuki Sato, who leads the research team, also said that exercising with music ...

A leading U.S. Republican senator on Tuesday urged allies Australia and Japan to continue to move forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, despite the U.S. withdrawal, "I know Australia is now talking with Japan and others about moving forward with TPP despite America's ...

There are no smart ways to start a nuclear war, but there are an infinite variety of stupid ones.

The usability of reactor-grade plutonium for weapons threatens the whole nuclear fuel-cycle concept of Japan's Council for Nuclear Fuel Cycle.

From Toyama to schools far and wide, Jack Lee Randall lives his lesson — that art can thrive wherever people are.

Data suggest Japan's schools are seeing a surge in food allergies among students, but are all the claims legitimate?

There's a scene in "Logan" — the latest addition to the "X-Men" franchise — where an aged, ailing Professor X (Patrick Stewart) exhorts Logan, aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), to open his mind to the possibility of a normal human existence, with a family to ...

"Radiance," winner of the Ecumenical Prize at Cannes, is being promoted as a love story, but director-scriptwriter Naomi Kawase has more on her mind than getting her age-inappropriate pair into a clinch.

Imagine "Ponyo" but with a whole lot of dancing. Boiled down, that is what you get with "Lu Over The Wall."

Ryota Moriwaki picked the perfect time to open his 2017 account as the Urawa defender sent Reds into the Asian Champions League quarterfinals by scoring the decisive goal in a 3-0 extra-time victory over Jeju United in the second leg of their matchup on ...

A Junya Tanaka strike lifted Vissel Kobe into the Levain Cup quarterfinals with a 1-0 Group B victory at struggling Albirex Niigata on Wednesday night. Seven minutes after the break at Denka Big Swan Stadium, Tanaka struck with his left foot, and Vissel held on ...

Zelous Wheeler hit his third homer in two games and drove in three runs to lead the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles in a 6-0 beating of the Yomiuri Giants on Wednesday in interleague play. Wheeler, who homered twice and drove in six runs in Tuesday's 13-5 ...

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams advanced to the French Open's third round for the first time in two years by beating Kurumi Nara on Wednesday. In the day's first match on Court Philippe Chatrier, the 36-year-old Williams, ranked 11th in the world, knocked out ...

Kashima Antlers have let go of manager Masatada Ishii after they missed their chance to advance to the Asian Champions League quarterfinals, the J. League first-division side said Wednesday. A day after Ishii's men beat China's Guanghzou Evergrande 2-1 at home in the round of ...

When yokozuna Hakuho was interviewed ringside on Sunday, after wrapping up his first title in a year, he congratulated the people of the Philippines on the imminent promotion of Takayasu to ozeki. It was a nice nod to the Taganoura stable man's mother, who ...

The Japan Volleyball Organization (V. League) announced Wednesday it will launch a new league but said there would be no professional competition coming anytime soon. The new league is tentatively called the "Super League," and starts in the fall of 2018 to replace the current ...

National team manager Vahid Halilhodzic's willingness to take risks has worked out well in recent months, and Japan will be hoping that his instincts continue to pay off in its upcoming World Cup qualifier against Iraq. Japan takes on Syria in Tokyo next Wednesday in ...

Sekiwake Takayasu was officially promoted to sumo's second-highest rank of ozeki on Wednesday by the Japan Sumo Association board of directors. The 27-year-old, whose father is Japanese and mother is from the Philippines, is the first new ozeki since Mongolian Terunofuji was promoted after the ...

World No. 9 Kei Nishikori advanced to the second round of the French Open on Tuesday, when Japan's women crashed out one after another. In the women's draw, Naomi Osaka, Miyu Kato and Nao Hibino all failed to make it out of the first round ...