The Justice Ministry has drafted guidelines to help companies that want to hire international students understand the types of jobs eligible for granting visas. The guidelines, released Friday, focus on fields related to creativity and culture, such as animation, manga, fashion, design and food. They ...

Japan's first convenience store was not, as many suppose, 7-Eleven in Tokyo in 1974 but Mitsui in Kyoto in 1673. The genius behind it was Mitsui Hachirobei, heir to the sake shop his father had opened a generation earlier. Of samurai birth, the father saw ...

In 1979, The New Yorker ran a very long article by Frances FitzGerald about American history textbooks and how they had changed over the years. She said that the framing of history depends on who is writing it and, more importantly, who is supporting ...

With the anime marking its 25th anniversary this year, the world's first permanent store for "Sailor Moon" goods opened Saturday in Tokyo's trendy Harajuku district. The Sailor Moon shop is inside the Laforet building and sells a variety of goods ranging from key chains and ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s strong call at the U.N. to take action against Pyongyang finds wide support, but South Korea may prove to be a wildcard.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Taro Kono, his Japanese counterpart, that talking only about sanctions for North Korea rather than focusing on dialogue will be seen as going against United Nations resolutions. Tensions have continued to rise since North Korea carried out its sixth ...

A string of exorbitant court rulings on bicycle accidents has sent sales of cycling liability insurance soaring nationwide.

Now 89, former World War II "comfort woman" Lee Yong-soo clutched a microphone in one hand Friday in a park outside San Francisco's Chinatown, thrust her other clinched fist in the air, and made a vow. Lee, abducted from Korea at 15 and forced into ...

The federal government Friday told election officials in 21 states that hackers targeted their systems before last year's presidential election. The notification came roughly a year after Department of Homeland Security officials first said states were targeted by hacking efforts possibly connected to Russia. The ...

Would exploding a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific, as North Korea has threatened, push the current war of words between the U.S. and North Korea closer to actual war? As with much that has transpired lately in the U.S.-North Korea nuclear crisis, no one can ...

In his final Counterpoint column, Jeff Kingston considers where Japan is heading under scandal-hit Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Ariel is a devoted labrador. Named after the title character in Disney's "The Little Mermaid," Ariel can’t get enough of her user, 37-year-old Kanako Suzuki. Ariel rolls on her back, begging to be petted, and when Suzuki joins her on the floor, the animal ...

As a conductor for the City Theater of Bremerhaven in the north of Germany, Tonio Shiga is used to being at the center of the action whenever he leads a musical performance with his orchestra. He is equally at home, however, sitting behind a piano and accompanying the theater's performers for a rehearsal or concert. In fact, the two roles go hand in hand for this maestro. ...

Japanese cooking teacher on the joys of bill's famous creation and fermented soybeans.

The Nakasendo was an Edo Period (1603-1868) road used for travel between the capital of Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto, the former capital. The 69 post towns along the way provided accommodation and services to daimyo and their entourages, who passed through on their sankin ...

After living in France for nearly a decade, Toru Matsushita returned to his hometown of Osaka and took up where he left off in the French capital. Before long he was settled back into preparing and serving soba. On the surface it was a circuitous ...

The first time I had a Minoh beer was on a stool years ago at a makeshift bar out the front of its brewery in the affluent suburb of Osaka that gave the beer its name. Since then, the award-winning brewery has been transformed ...

A frequently overlooked aspect of kitchens in general is the importance of storage. In fact, most of the space in a kitchen is given over to the storage of utensils and equipment as well as the food itself. Japanese kitchens have some unique features in ...

Attached to the Lotteria fast-food restaurant in Nakano's Sun Road shopping street is a special stall selling a special bear-shaped treat. They make a taiyaki variant shaped like Lotte's famous Koara no Machi ("Koala's March") cookie snack, called "Koara no Machi Yaki." The regular ...

Question: Is it really the case that for a large part of the 20th century Japan enjoyed a golden age of literature? Or is this just misty-eyed nostalgia? One of the hallmarks of a golden age is an atmosphere of competitive creativity in which a ...

Eiichiro Oda's long-running contemporary manga "One Piece" is the undisputed king of Japanese pop culture today. One Piece Vol.1, by Eiichiro Oda.216 pages VIZ MEDIA, Manga. With over 400 million volumes in circulation worldwide, it's the most popular manga of all time, and its ever-growing legion of ...

The mysteries in I.J. Parker's Sugawara Akitada saga, set in the latter part of Japan's Heian Period (794-1185), are now up to 17 full-length books. Throughout, she has skillfully adopted the literary model of the traditional Asian crime novel in which the protagonist, a ...

Kazuki Yabuta struggled through seven innings but held Yomiuri to two runs to pick up his 15th win this season as the Hiroshima Carp edged the Giants 3-2 on Saturday. With the game tied 1-1, Ryuhei Matsuyama drove home the go-ahead run and Xavier Batista ...

Defender Naomichi Ueda scored a last-gasp winner as reigning champion Kashima Antlers edged Gamba Osaka 2-1 at home on Saturday to tighten their grip on top spot in the J. League first division. Leandro canceled out Hwang Ui-jo's early opener for Gamba and Ueda headed ...

The Panasonic Wild Knights made it five straight bonus-point wins to start the Japan Rugby Top League season Saturday, beating the Toyota Verblitz 43-16 at Kumagaya Sports Stadium. Robbie Deans' side was made to work hard by Jake White's team, for whom Lionel Cronje and ...

Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo on Saturday earned a berth in the Japan Open women's doubles final, while women's singles world champion Nozomi Okuhara withdrew with an injury. The top-seeded duo edged compatriots Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, seeded eighth, 21-11, 21-15 at Tokyo Metropolitan ...

Ilie Nastase is taking on a new role as a diplomat for the Czech Republic. The Romanian tennis great has been banned by the International Tennis Federation for two years because of his foul-mouthed comments and bad behavior as Romania's Fed Cup captain. But after a ...

Ozeki Goeido dodged a bullet on Saturday to rebound from back-to-back defeats and zero in on his second career championship at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament. Goeido was given a serious run for his money by ninth-ranked maegashira Takanoiwa in the day's penultimate bout at ...

Caroline Wozniacki ended Garbine Muguruza's honeymoon as world No. 1 in clinical fashion with a 6-2, 6-0 win on Saturday to book her place in the Toray Pan Pacific Open final against unseeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Wimbledon champion Muguruza went into this week's tournament in ...

Olympic and world champion Yuzuru Hanyu opened his season by breaking his own world record in the short program at the Autumn Classic International on Friday night. The 22-year-old Hanyu pulled off an error-free routine to score 112.72 points, topping the 14-man field and adding ...

The Chiba Lotte Marines have asked Tadahito Iguchi, who is set to retire as a player this season, to become manager of the Pacific League club, an informed source said Saturday. If Iguchi accepts the post, he would become the first Japanese with experience playing ...

Masahiro Tanaka gave up eight runs over 5⅔ innings as the New York Yankees fell 8-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. In the loss, Tanaka (12-12), equaled the most runs he has conceded in a game in the major leagues. He surrendered six ...