On Jan. 16, the Fukushima District Court ruled in favor of a woman and her daughter who had sued the city of Fukushima for cutting their welfare benefits. When the woman’s daughter was in high school, the woman received a grant scholarship to help ...

Freedom comes in many forms, as does "unfreedom." You can be a prisoner in prison, a prisoner in a prison-state, a prisoner in your job, a prisoner in your joblessness. Who is freer — a poor person in a free country, or a rich ...

With spring looming, perhaps it’s time to re-think the national obsession with seasonal gifts and souvenirs. Once a virtual national pastime, the cyclical ritual of obligatory gift-giving could be consigned to history within a matter of years, according to a recent survey conducted by MyNavi.jp. According ...

Michiko Ishimure, an award-winning author and social critic whose works put the spotlight on what became known as Minamata disease, died early Saturday due to acute exacerbation of Parkinson's disease. She was 90. A native of Kumamoto Prefecture, the prolific Ishimure is known for raising ...

The U.S. Navy is investigating allegations that sailors from the 7th Fleet based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, are involved an alleged drug ring in Japan.

Day care centers are resorting to the sensors to prevent sudden death syndrome at a time when major staff shortages are being caused by low pay.

Haruhiko Kuroda, 73, would be the first Bank of Japan governor reappointed in about 60 years.

Itoham Foods Inc., the nation's biggest exporter of premium wagyu, expects shipments to hit a record with Taiwanese demand for the beef set to triple and exports to Brazil on the verge of beginning. The unit of Itoham Yonekyu Holdings Inc. predicts exports might rise ...

U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris — known for his strident views on China's military expansion and nuclear-armed North Korea — to be the United States' next ambassador to Australia. The White House announced the move in a statement ...

There's a lot more to the 89-year-old Instagrammer than her wacky selfies.

A rapt audience watches in silence as a delicate confection in the shape of a flower blooms in the experienced hands of a wagashi master. Junichi Mitsubori, a third-generation wagashi (Japanese dessert) artisan hailing from Yokosuka City, Kanagawa, does not embellish his movements as ...

Name: Juliet Knapp Age: 25 Nationality: British / Japanese Occupation: Art management Likes: Yorkshire tea, David Bowie Dislikes: Cold Kyoto winters 1. You grew up in The New Forest, Hampshire in the U.K., what was that like? It's a beautiful place with wild horses and donkeys, cows and pigs and ...

A veteran of the U.K. music scene, Takashi "Taka" Hirose has been playing bass guitar in popular British indie-rock band Feeder for more than two decades. As chilled off stage as he is energetic on it, the 50-year-old Gifu Prefecture-native reminisces about his time ...

At Kimchi no Mizuno, staff regularly play a game with the tables, an ever-changing dance with the room, performed to get around the fact that the restaurant is noticeably small, with space for no more than half a dozen tables. Despite the restaurant's size, there ...

At restaurants around the world, sake is increasingly becoming the beverage of choice for challenging pairings. Ingredients such as artichoke, asparagus and fermented foods are kryptonite to most wines.

For a long time, Pepsi has owned the flavored cola market in Japan. It did so with left-of-center flavors that often tasted bad but, by rolling out curiosities such as cake-flavored soda, got attention, which is sometimes all that's needed. Now, Coca-Cola wants in ...

In the landmark Western "The Searchers" (1956) directed by John Ford, John Wayne plays embittered Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards, in obsessive pursuit of Comanche Indians who have kidnapped his niece. Such is Edward's hatred for Native Americans we spend the movie convinced he ...

Sara Takanashi found inspiration for the Pyeongchang Olympics from an unlikely source — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Takanashi, vying for her first Olympic medal in women's ski jumping, said Saturday that she spoke at the athletes' village with Abe, who attended the games' opening ceremony ...

Japan's Miho Takagi was unable to keep pace after a decent start and finished fifth in the speed skating women's 3,000 meters at the Pyeongchang Olympics on Saturday. Aiming for Japan's first medal of the games, Takagi was instead overshadowed by Carlijn Achtereekte, who led ...

Smile Japan suffered a 2-1 defeat to Sweden in their opening Group B preliminary-round match at the Kwandong Hockey Centre on Saturday night. Japan fell behind early in the contest, then tied it late in the second period, before surrendering the decisive goal early in ...

Norwegian and Canadian teams dominated qualification for the men's snowboard slopestyle final on Saturday with both nations having all four of their athletes qualify for Sunday's final. Canada's Max Parrot emerged as the highest scorer during the qualification, which sees each athlete have two attempts ...

Emperor's Cup holders Cerezo Osaka opened the season on a winning note Saturday, defeating reigning J. League champions Kawasaki Frontale 3-2 in the Fuji Xerox Super Cup. Cerezo, who defeated Frontale 2-0 in November's League Cup final, opened the scoring at Saitama Stadium on a ...

Austria's Matthias Mayer will attempt to go where no man has gone before on Sunday when he defends his Olympic downhill title in what looks likely to be an open race against a pack of challengers hungry for his crown. No one has won successive ...

South Korea's figure skating queen Yuna Kim said Saturday that the experience of lighting the Pyeongchang Olympic cauldron was "emotional" and admitted she had been scared of dropping the torch. Kim, who captured gold at the Vancouver Games in 2010 and controversially took silver in ...

The first day of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics was full of drama both on the ice and behind the scenes. Team Japan had a strong showing during the skating competitions, particularly Shoma Uno who rose above the rest as America's Nathan Chen suffered several mishaps. The ...