The Tokyo Metropolitan Government opened a call center Friday for foreign visitors to improve communication with businesses and other organizations of interest. The center, the first of its kind, will be open 24 hours a day and provide guidance and translation services in English, Chinese ...

The pair of rulings might affect the Japanese government’s controversial labor reform drive.

Having eluded indictment, Nobuhisa Sagawa will probably receive a cut in retirement pay for falsifying the Moritomo Gakuen documents with his Finance Ministry subordinates.

Nestled in the mountains on the border of Hiroshima and Okayama prefectures is Takahashi, a city of about 31,000 people which lies 30 minutes by train from the popular international tourist destination of Kurashiki. Home to Bitchu Matsuyama Castle, built in 1240 on top of ...

Toshiba Corp. on Friday finalized the sale of its chip business, releasing the embattled company from its worst-ever crisis but selling off its crown jewels. Now the scandal-hit electronics firm must ask itself a big question: What has it got left to drive growth? Analysts ...

Convenience store operator FamilyMart and discount store chain Don Quijote opened two jointly run experimental stores in Tokyo on Friday, exploring ways to learn from each other's marketing and operational know-how. FamilyMart, the country's second-biggest convenience store operator, aims to attract more female and younger ...

Scientists have pinpointed three genes that may have played a pivotal role in the evolution of the striking increase in brain size that helped define what it means to be human. These genes, found only in people, appeared between 3 and 4 million years ago, ...

The government decided Friday to drop its plan to recommend a chain of islands southwest of the Japanese archipelago for inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage list this summer. The decision, approved at a Cabinet meeting, came after a UNESCO preliminary review panel opted against recommending ...

The list of regions battling for a coveted spot for the development of casino resorts ranges from Osaka to Hokkaido. And you can add Mickey Mouse's neighborhood to the list of possibilities. Chiba Prefecture, home to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, is gaining attention, with proponents ...

Opposition camp lawmakers roared in anger. Stenographers were ordered to stop transcribing. The prime minister accused an opposition leader of lying. This was the chaotic scene Monday at the Diet during an Upper House Budget Committee session. The scandal The issue in question was a familiar one: ...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday played down the chances of a quick deal to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons as a delegation from Pyongyang headed to meet him with a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, suggesting a ...

The city of Sapporo began issuing cards serving as proof of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender partnerships on Friday, responding to calls from couples seeking portable evidence they can present in emergencies and other situations. The city in Hokkaido started authenticating partnership oaths submitted by ...

Chinese bike-sharing company Mobike entered the Latin American market in Mexico City this year drawn by its millions of potential clients. Now it has run into a problem increasingly plaguing the country: street crime. Theft has been so widespread that in the past few days, ...

Boeing Co. technicians voted to form the first collective bargaining unit at the planemaker's factory in South Carolina, scoring a rare victory for organized labor in a state traditionally hostile to unions. The "micro-unit" will represent more than 170 flight-line workers, a small subset of ...

Global finance chiefs from America's closest allies are promising to give Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin an earful this week after the Trump administration imposed steel and aluminum duties that sparked swift trade responses. Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau acknowledged that trade will now take center ...

The sooner negotiations with North Korea shift from the threat of war to the potential "win-win" of economic modernization and shared prosperity, the more confident we can be that true peace has been won.

Punishing migrant children for the sins of their parents is both stupid and contrary to fundamental American ideals.

Ome brings "Showa Retro" to life with vintage movie posters, goods and trains.

Matt LeBlanc, former star of 1990s U.S. hit comedy "Friends," said on Thursday he will step down as co-host of the BBC motoring program "Top Gear" after the next series. The American actor, who achieved global fame as Joey Tribbiani in the NBC sitcom, was ...

Kodai Senga returned to the mound for the first time in two weeks on Friday, and worked into the sixth inning for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in a 6-2 interleague win over the Yokohama BayStars. Senga (4-1) looked rusty at the start but found his ...

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks chairman Sadaharu Oh, whose 868 home runs are the most by a professional baseball player, said Friday he has married for a second time. "This is the 10th year we've been living together, so it's time to draw the line and make ...

Stand-in head coach Scott Hansen named his Sunwolves team Friday for Sunday's Super Rugby game with the Brumbies at GIO Stadium in Canberra, Australia. The starting XV, which contains just three Japanese-born players, shows nine changes and two positional switches from the side that lost ...

With two friendly matches before the real thing gets underway in Russia you would think coaches should select the team with which they hope to open their 2018 World Cup campaign. England plays Nigeria at Wembley on Saturday, a sort of warm-up for Tunisia, the ...

The government will confer the People's Honor Award on two-time figure skating Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu, its top spokesman said Friday, making him the first figure skater to receive the honor. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that the presentation ceremony ...