General-account budget requests by government ministries and agencies totaled around ¥101 trillion ($913 billion) for fiscal 2018 amid ballooning social security expenses and record-high defense spending, government officials said Thursday. The budgetary requests submitted to the Finance Ministry topped the ¥100 trillion mark for the ...

Japan's Yoshiaki Ishizawa on Thursday received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, one of Asia's highest honors, with a vow to carry on his advocacy for cultural heritage preservation and promotion. Ishizawa, 79, a former president of Sophia University who spent decades helping to restore Cambodia's Angkor ...

Abe and May vow to jointly deal with the North Korean military threat and to maintain smooth trade relations as Britain prepares to exit the EU.

Western Digital deal with Toshiba stalls as the Japan tech giant fielded last-minute new offers for its flash memory business.

Spectators packed a Seattle arena and 5 million more went online to watch a video game tournament this summer in which winners each earned $2.2 million, about as much as tennis pro Rafael Nadal won at this year's French Open. Players came from all ...

Kisaku Suzuki, creator of the world's first sushi robot, once ran a company that made candy-wrapping machines. And he was angry. Why had the Japanese government embarked on a policy to limit rice production, effectively paying some farmers to keep their paddy fields idle? For ...

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday visited a key Maritime Self-Defense Force base southwest of Tokyo to inspect a helicopter carrier. Flanked by Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, May, who is on a three-day visit to Japan through Friday, went aboard the Izumo, the largest ...

Japanese researchers successfully engineered cells to relieve Parkinson’s symptoms in clinical trials, taking a step closer to a potential cure.

Abe holds an early-morning phone conference with Trump agreeing on a course of action in response to Pyongyang’s latest missile launch.

Japan Post Bank Co. plans to spend an initial ¥100 billion directly buying stocks — when it finds the right opportunities. The nation's second-largest bank by deposits, which currently invests in equities only through passive investments in funds, is eventually aiming to boost active stock ...

Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Wednesday he hopes to accompany Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the Japanese leader's visit to Russia early September and hold talks with his Russian counterpart. Apart from holding talks with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Kono would be expected to attend ...

The Defense Ministry on Thursday requested a record-high budget of ¥5.26 trillion for fiscal 2018, underscoring heightened concern over what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the "unprecedented" and "grave" security threat posed by North Korea's military provocations. This request, if approved by the government, would ...

Hurricane Harvey is just one of several recent weather disasters marked by shocking staying power, punishing whole regions for days or weeks on end — or even longer. Others include a massive heat wave over Russia and flooding in Pakistan in 2010, the Texas drought ...

North Korea has lambasted the Japan-U.S. security alliance, labeling Tokyo "crafty" and claiming that Japan views tension on the Korean Peninsula as a "good opportunity" to loosen constitutional restraints on its military. The remarks, in a commentary run by the North's official Korean Central News ...

Princes William and Harry paid a quiet tribute to their mother Princess Diana on Wednesday, a day before the 20th anniversary of her death that has reignited interest in one of the world's most famous women. Diana's two sons met representatives of the charities she ...

India took a mature route in defusing the border confrontation with China in the Himalayas.

As Shinzo Abe's government bets it all on Donald Trump's America, there's new evidence that Xi Jinping's China holds far more promise.

Japanese audiences are renowned as some of the world's most respectful listeners, but for musicians accustomed to getting more raucous receptions elsewhere, the experience can be a little unnerving. When New York-based jazz composer Miho Hazama returned to her native Tokyo a few years ago ...

"The Shack" feels like a sugar-coated salve for wounds sustained from the flurry of recent news events. Directed by Stuart Hazeldine and starring Sam Worthington as a grieving dad, the big surprise in this religious fantasy story is the presence of Japanese actress Sumire ...

In 2010, the online encyclopedia Drummerworld added a 13-year-old Japanese schoolgirl to its list of the world's greatest players. Senri Kawaguchi had rocketed to fame after posting YouTube videos of herself drumming along to songs from the "K-On!" anime series, wearing the same sailor-suit ...

Takuma Asano and Yosuke Ideguchi scored in each half to book Japan's place at the 2018 World Cup with a 2-0 win over Australia on Thursday. Japan went into the game at Saitama Stadium knowing that it would qualify for a sixth straight World Cup ...

Kaho Minagawa earned the bronze medal in the individual hoop competition at the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships Wednesday, becoming the first Japanese in 42 years to make a podium finish in an individual event. Minagawa, who didn't advance to the 10-woman all-around final at the ...

The Hanshin Tigers acquired Mexican right-hander Luis Mendoza on Thursday after claiming him on waivers. The 33-year-old Mendoza has played in Japan since 2014 with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. During that span, he is 27-36 with a 3.80 ERA for the Pacific League club. His ...

No one, not even Maria Sharapova herself, knew quite what to expect from her return to Grand Slam tennis at the U.S. Open. It had been 19 months since she had entered a major tournament. She played only nine times anywhere since a 15-month doping ...

Dependable frontcourt leaders Reggie Warren and Abdullahi Kuso are looking to help transform the Kagawa Five Arrows into a potent force in the second division this season. The Five Arrows went 19-41 last season, finishing fifth in the B2's West Division. The franchise, formerly known as ...

Soichi Hashimoto won the men's 73-kg gold medal at the world championships on Wednesday, when fellow worlds debutant Tsukasa Yoshida settled for silver. In his final, Hashimoto defeated Azerbaijan's Rustam Orujov, the silver medalist at last year's Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Japan has now won ...

Sumo’s long and grueling summer regional tour came to an end last Sunday with the now yearly KITTE Basho held in the heart of Tokyo at the 38-story JP Tower. The following day, the new banzuke was released for the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament ...