The Wakayama Prefectural Government will expand the area subject to its tsunami forecasts to cover the prefecture's entire coast in an effort to minimize damage from a major quake off central and western Japan. Starting in mid-September, the prefecture will provide its own tsunami forecasts, ...

The former chief of the school operator embroiled in a scandal involving its discounted purchase of government land faced a new arrest warrant Monday for defrauding subsidies from the Osaka Prefectural Government, investigative sources said. Yasunori Kagoike, the 64-year-old former head of Moritomo Gakuen, and ...

Suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths of three elderly residents and injuries of two others at a nursing care facility in Gifu Prefecture remain unclear.

The University of Texas at Austin is removing the statues of four figures tied to the Confederacy, the school's president said Sunday, saying they had become symbols of white supremacy. White nationalists and counterprotesters clashed this month in Charlottesville, Virginia, and one woman was killed ...

The Democratic Party officially launches its leadership race, with the two contenders saddled with the task of reviving a party grappling with an exodus of lawmakers and the sweeping rise of a new political force.

The Miyagi Prefectural Government says it will remove an online tourism promotional video that has been criticized as sexually suggestive.

In the second major accident involving a vessel from the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet in just over two months, the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain, based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, collides with a tanker in waters east of Singapore.

Department stores sales in Japan fell 1.4 percent in July from a year earlier on a same-store basis, due partly to weak sales of clothes and food items, an industry body said Monday. Sales at 229 stores run by 80 companies totaled ¥547 billion ($5.0 ...

For sponsor companies, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is a golden opportunity to develop and showcase new technologies, not only to impress foreign visitors but also to provide a legacy for future generations. With everything from a mist curtain designed to cool people off in the ...

An increasing number of regional banks in Japan are introducing automated teller machines mounted on vehicles to cater mainly to elderly people living in remote areas with no bank-run ATMs. Shimane Shinkin Bank in Shimane Prefecture plans to introduce an ATM van as early as ...

The U.S., Mexico and Canada ended the first round of talks on a new North American Free Trade Agreement saying they're committed to wrapping up the negotiations quickly with a far-reaching deal. "While a great deal of effort and negotiation will be required in the ...

Calbee Inc.'s granola snack had been around for 20 years, with no real change to its recipe or sales. Then a female marketing executive turned things around by pitching the cereal as a time-saver for a growing class of consumers just like her: working ...

The government has tentatively decided to station Osprey aircraft at a Ground Self-Defense Force camp because of difficulties in basing them as planned in fiscal 2019 at Saga Airport, a source said Monday. Concerns have been growing in Saga Prefecture over the safety of the ...

Prince Akishino and his eldest daughter, Princess Mako, visited a farm raising rare pigs in Bugac, southern Hungary, on Sunday during a private trip to conduct livestock research in the prince's field of interest. They took a horse-drawn buggy tour of the farm in a ...

On July 28, the central government released what it called a scientific, specialized map of the country highlighting areas where highly radioactive nuclear waste from the nation's power plants might, or might not, be safely buried underground for as long as 100,000 years. The multicolored ...

More and more people whose relatives lived through World War II are donating inherited personal items to peace memorial museums throughout Japan. Such artifacts offer a lens through which visitors are afforded view of Japan's wartime experience. But many museums face difficulties, including insufficient ...

A team of scientists has developed a superthin electronic sensor that can attach directly to human skin — technology that could be used in the fields of medicine, nursing and sports science. The technology takes the form of a layer of fine mesh coated with ...

A railway in Kumamoto Prefecture is working hard to win back passengers 16 months after a series of powerful earthquakes rocked the area. Minamiaso Railway Co., a public-private third-sector firm, has still been unable to resume full operation of its services along the 17.7-km-long line. "We ...

Nonprofit organizations are stepping up efforts to prevent kids from committing suicide as students who kill themselves tend to do so around the end of the summer school vacation.

Four children from Sudan whose parents are believed to have been killed fighting for Islamic State in the Libyan city of Sirte last year were handed over to the Sudanese consul on Sunday to be taken to their country of citizenship. Sirte was a stronghold ...

Saudi Arabia's state carrier said on Sunday it had been unable to send planes to transport Qatari pilgrims to the kingdom because it had been unable to get permission to land at Doha airport, amid a diplomatic dispute between the two countries. Qatar and Saudi ...

A 74-year-old man was rescued in the Northern Alps in central Japan on Sunday, a week after he suffered a fall and went missing contact, police said. Kiyoyuki Tsutsui of Hiroshima said he ate pieces of chocolate and drank water from mountain runoff while keeping ...

Two suspects in custody for allegedly dumping the body of a Nagoya woman in Shiga Prefecture have been served fresh arrest warrants for robbery and murder, police said. Officers not made clear whether Ichiya Nishida, 21, and an 18-year-old male have admitted to the charges. ...

Citigroup Inc. will move its Japan headquarters and about 1,200 employees to a new building in Tokyo by the end of the third quarter, according to people familiar with the matter. The New York-based firm will officially move the location of its main Japan office ...

Recognizing Japan's quality bubble is the first step to appreciating and assessing its significant value.

Only an India fully prepared to counter and defeat aggression can deter China from initiating a military conflict on the Sino-Indian border.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's diplomacy faces the risk of coming to an end without tangible accomplishments.

Cool heads and clarity need to prevail to prevent an escalation in the North Korea crisis.

We spoke to the founders of two successful, but hugely contrasting podcast shows for Japanese learners.

How do you say "The wind has become much cooler" in Japanese?

The government hosted the National Memorial Ceremony for the War Dead at the Nippon Budokan stadium.

Will the 2020 Tokyo Olympics be smoking-free?

Dick Gregory, a comedian who lambasted racism and played a prominent role in the 1960s civil rights movement after becoming one of the first black comics to perform for white audiences, died on Saturday at age 84, his son said. "It is with enormous sadness ...

Jerry Lewis, the high prince of low-brow comedy on stage and in movies as well as a fund-raising powerhouse with his annual Labor Day telethon, died on Sunday of "natural causes" at the age of 91, his family said. "Famed comedian, actor and legendary entertainer ...

The Chiba Jets Funabashi don't just look at the numbers that appear on the stat sheet, because the game of basketball is a team sport and the collective effort of the players gives teams a better chance to win games. Jets head coach Atsushi Ono ...

Despite the amount of ink spilled trying to determine whether Seibu Lions pitcher Yusei Kikuchi was actually guilty of the illegal two-stage pitching motion he was cited for on Thursday night, it's more important to note the way he handled the Tohoku Rakuten Golden ...