North Korea is "fully ready for both dialogue and war" and prepared to respond to any U.S. "provocation by prompt counterstrike," state-run media said Monday as the Winter Olympics continued in South Korea. In a pair of blistering commentaries, the North's official Korean Central News ...

Police on Monday raided facilities of the main successor group to doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo in connection with an alleged case of fraud involving a condominium lease, investigators said. The facilities of the group, known as Aleph, are in Kyoto's Minami Ward and are believed ...

Four nations discuss establishing a joint regional infrastructure project in an attempt to counter Beijing’s multibillion-dollar initiative and growing influence.

A long-running Russian doping scandal. Corruption scams. Major cities say "no" to staging the Olympics Games. If the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were a publicly traded company, its stock might be struggling to stay afloat in a sea of damaging headlines. Instead, it has never been ...

Japan's soft power has been boosted immeasurably by its decades-long policy of recruiting foreign graduates to come and teach in the country, according to a study by a British-based researcher. Sharleen Estampador-Hughson, from the University of Sheffield, argues that the experience of living in the ...

Unrestricted displays of pornographic magazines at retail stores are rare overseas. With the number of inbound tourists expected to increase sharply for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo, calls for the removal of porn magazines from convenience store shelves in Japan have been ...

Fasten your seatbelts for a flight to Paris, and never leave the ground. That's exactly what 12 passengers did at First Airlines in central Tokyo last week, relaxing in first- and business-class seats, served with four-course dinners, before immersing themselves in a 360-degree virtual reality ...

Tobishima, Aichi Prefecture — a village without a single hotel, ryokan (Japanese-style inn) or souvenir shop — will establish a tourism exchange association in April, in the hope of encouraging local residents to rediscover the area's appeals and become involved in boosting tourism. The idea ...

Billionaire Masayoshi Son's plan to list his cash-cow telecom business is raising concern among observers that the company might stop guaranteeing the debt of its parent, SoftBank Group Corp., worsening the quality of its credit. The mobile division SoftBank Corp. assures payments to investors on ...

Lawmakers grapple over a proposal to expand an overtime work system while the opposition suggests the government deliberately manipulated a 2013 survey.

Two men, a woman and a teenager were arrested Monday on suspicion of setting fire to a house in Chiba Prefecture and killing its sole resident. The four friends were spotted near the house in Inzai when the fire broke out shortly after 4 p.m. ...

Prosecutors on Monday demanded the death penalty for a 32-year-old Peruvian man accused of killing six people.

Popular Japanese restaurant chain Ikinari Steak has opened a fourth outlet in New York, near Fifth Avenue. At the latest branch, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, customers stand while they eat — a style the chain adheres to as part of its mission to serve ...

The United States has sketched out a path under which three key European allies would simply commit to try to improve the Iran nuclear deal over time in return for President Donald Trump keeping the pact alive by renewing U.S. sanctions relief in May. The ...

The family of a slain Okinawan woman will ask the U.S. government to pay compensation because the former U.S. base worker convicted of her murder cannot, their lawyer said Monday. Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, 34, who is appealing his conviction by the Naha District Court for ...

Japan's alliance with the U.S. and robust economic growth will remain key to ensuring Japan's national security for the foreseeable future.

Social media could be just the start of a slippery slope leading to an Orwellian world controlled by Big Data Brother, accelerated by convergence with the sensors in our devices and rapid advances in artificial intelligence.

There are at least two sides to every issue, and gun ownership in America is no exception.

Japan's problems with deciding on a standard pronunciation for each letter of the alphabet begin with A (ē or ei) and end with Z (zetto, zii or jii).

On the fourth day of the Pyeongchang Olympics, Daichi Hara took third place in the men's moguls, bringing the first medal for team Japan.

A recent Godiva ad challenged the culture of "obligatory" Valentine's chocolates.

introducing some meanings and uses of the verb 出(だ)す and its compound verbs.

A 2015 documentary on local supporters of Japan’s traditions of whaling and dolphin-hunting won an international film festival award Saturday in London.

Satoko Miyahara did a run-through of her free skate to "Madame Butterfly" during a 40-minute workout at the practice rink beneath Gangneung Ice Arena on Monday evening. The four-time national champion concentrated on her combination jumps and strokes specifically during the session, in which Canada's ...

Japan's men's 500-meter speedskaters were left wanting Monday, Daichi Yamanaka only managing fifth as Norway's Havard Lorentzen won gold at the Pyeongchang Winter Games. Lorentzen, a three-time winner on the World Cup circuit this season, set a new Olympic-record time of 34.41 seconds for first ...

World record-holding gold-medal favorite Japan advanced to the semifinals of the women's team pursuit at the Pyeongchang Winter Games on Monday. Miho Takagi, who won individual Olympic silver in the 1,500-meter event and bronze over 1,000 in South Korea, her elder sister Nana Takagi and ...

Ayana Onozuka claimed her spot in the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, finishing fifth in the qualification round on Monday. Onozuka, who earned bronze at the Sochi Olympics four years ago, scored 84.80 points in her second of two runs ...

Snowboarders Yuka Fujimori and Reira Iwabuchi placed second and third, respectively, in the women's Big Air qualifying round Monday to earn their places in the final at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Reigning world champion Anna Gasser of Austria, who failed to complete either of her ...

Speedskating star Nao Kodaira paid an emotional tribute to her late friend and former teammate Miyako Sumiyoshi on Monday, a day after capturing the women's 500-meter gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Games. Kodaira was left devastated after Sumiyoshi, who skated for Japan alongside Kodaira ...

Of all the questions surrounding reports of a Russian curler's alleged doping infraction at the Pyeongchang Olympics, the biggest is why? Why would an athlete in one of the Winter Games' least taxing and least physically demanding sports feel it necessary to use performance-enhancing drugs? Even ...

Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir have the lead in ice dance following the short dance at Gangneung Ice Arena on Monday afternoon. The defending world champions skated to a Latin musical selection and set a world record with a score of 83.67 points. Virtue and ...

The sixth-ranked Japanese women's curling team suffered its second loss of round-robin play Monday after an 8-3 defeat to Canada in the preliminary round at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. In their sixth game at Gangneung Curling Centre, the Japanese foursome allowed Canada to get on ...

Sprint queen Nao Kodaira credited compatriot and men's figure skating repeat champion Yuzuru Hanyu for her explosive gold medal win in the women's 500 meters at the Pyeongchang Winter Games on Sunday. Kodaira's new Olympic record time secured Japan's second gold medal of the games, ...

Four Chicago Blackhawks fans were ejected during Saturday night's game after making racist taunts toward Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly. Capitals coach Barry Trotz called the incident "disgusting" and racially motivated, and the league office also condemned the behavior. The 25-year-old Smith-Pelly, who is black, was ...