Senior Japanese and Russian diplomats on Tuesday agreed to further promote negotiations over planned joint economic activities on four disputed islands off Hokkaido, Japanese officials said. The vice ministerial talks in Tokyo over the Russian-held islands came ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's scheduled visit ...

The Imperial Household Agency said Tuesday that the formal engagement and marriage of Princess Mako — the eldest granddaughter of Emperor Akihito — and her fiance, Kei Komuro, will be postponed until 2020 due to "lack of preparation." The couple, both 26, were supposed to ...

South Korea’s national spy agency told a parliamentary committee it was possible North Korean hackers broke into the Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc.

Japan should stop giving out giri choco (obligatory chocolate). That was the message in a full-page ad that Godiva published last week which instantly went viral, stirring up debate, once again, on the pros and cons of women giving out inexpensive courtesy chocolates to their ...

The Japan Tourism Agency launched a new digital advertising campaign Tuesday in a bid to draw more tourists from Western countries, a demographic that has failed to keep pace with Asian tourists who have flocked to Japan in recent years. Currently, three out of four ...

Uber was either a cheating competitor willing to break the law to win the race to develop self-driving cars or the victim of an unproven conspiracy theory stitched together by its main rival, Waymo, jurors heard in opening statements of a trade secrets trial. The ...

Heavy snow blanketed much of the Sea of Japan coast on Tuesday, disrupting transportation and prompting authorities to request the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces for disaster relief after about 1,000 vehicles were stranded. Due to a strong cold front and a low-pressure system, snow ...

Younger operators of sento (public bathhouses) in Tokyo are breathing new life into the facilities, which have long helped residents in communities feel refreshed and relaxed. There are fewer sento these days because more people have baths at home. But some operators have achieved a ...

The government's recently unveiled anti-smoking plan has sparked an outcry from lung cancer patients and other activists because it leaves a gaping loophole that basically allows customers in restaurants and bars to continue lighting up. The plan released Jan. 30 by the health ministry backpedaled ...

Electric bicycles are enjoying brisk demand as they mark the 25th anniversary this year since the first model was released in 1993. According to government data, sales of electric bicycles in Japan in 2016 grew 15.3 percent from the previous year to 539,529 units, breaking ...

The government approved Tuesday a bill to promote the enrollment of children at nursery schools beyond their own municipalities to address serious day care shortages that have put tens of thousands on waiting lists. Parents can in principle apply for their children's enrollment only at ...

A news conference by a Thai rights group was called off Tuesday following a police warning not to hold the event or risk violating a junta ban on public gatherings. Activists had planned to hold a news conference at the Maneeya Center in Bangkok — ...

Two crew members were killed when the aircraft, which was on a test flight after maintenance, crashed into a home in Saga Prefecture.

Several of U.S. President Donald Trump's lawyers have advised him not to sit down for an interview with a special counsel investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election, the New York Times reported on Monday. Citing four ...

Tokyo stocks on Tuesday saw their largest decline since 2016 as Wall Street's sell-off delivered heavy blows to investor risk appetite. The Nikkei 225 average temporarily fell more than 1,600 points to a low of 21,078.71, down from the previous day's close of 22,682.08. It ...

Reuters Seattle's election authority said on Monday that Facebook Inc. is in violation of a city law that requires disclosure of who buys election ads, the first attempt of its kind to regulate U.S. political ads on the internet. Facebook must disclose details about spending in ...

Warplanes launched heavy attacks on the two last major rebel-held areas in Syria, killing at least 29 people in the Ghouta suburb near the capital and choking people with gas in Idlib in the northwest, rescue workers and a war monitor said on Monday. President ...

U.S. President Donald Trump's tax reform could bring almost $2 trillion back to the United States as U.S. firms repatriate cash piles from foreign affiliates, a U.N. report said on Monday. Ending the incentive to hoard cash overseas could produce a stimulus effect in the ...

A locked track switch is being blamed for the crash of an Amtrak passenger train into a freight train that killed two people and injured more than 100 in South Carolina on Sunday and is again raising questions about the roll-out of a new ...

The market for studying abroad is booming, and with the right plan universities in Japan can easily enroll more international students.

Washington is once again playing with the dangerous notion of a 'limited' nuclear war.

Americans vote their pocketbooks, and their wallets are feeling better than they have in a long time.

The challenge facing Kazufusa Hosho is one that many guardians of traditional Japanese art forms know well: ensuring the survival of a centuries-old culture by attracting new and younger audiences. The 32-year-old is a 20th-generation head of the Hosho Noh School, which is based in ...

While visiting the Rathole Gallery, a confident 3 year-old told me that his favorite work in the current exhibition, Roni Horn’s “The Selected Gifts,” was a picture of meatballs. Among the straightforward, but nonetheless very beguiling, studio photographs of objects that the New-York based artist ...

Norichika Aoki says he is only thinking about victory for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, upon returning to the Central League ballclub after seven years in the major leagues. "I love this team for welcoming back warmly even though I ended up leaving them," Aoki told ...

With the remarkable achievements he's accomplished in collegiate ekiden, including four Hakone titles, Susumu Hara could easily rest on his laurels. Instead, he's chosen to voice his opinions about what he feels is right in hopes of bringing reform to Japanese track and field. The Aoyama ...

When a 19-year-old Noriaki Kasai competed at the Winter Olympics for the first time, Kiichi Miyazawa was Japanese Prime Minister, Bill Clinton was campaigning to become the United States president and Michael Jordan was the NBA's Most Valuable Player. Over the 26 years since the ...

Yuzuru Hanyu will be "100 percent" ready to defend his men's singles title at the Pyeongchang Olympics, his primary coach Brian Orser said Tuesday. Speaking a day after confirming Hanyu would compete in the men's event after deciding to skip the team event, the Canadian ...