Airbnb Inc. said Thursday that it is still removing "thousands" of listings from its website for unlicensed private lodgings in Japan, as required under a new law that took effect last week to cope with a sharp increase in foreign visitors and a consequent ...

Caterpillar, Volvo and Komatsu contribute to abuses in Myanmar by selling machinery used by domestic mining companies implicated in land expropriation, environmental destruction and armed conflict, according to a report published on Wednesday. The three companies "appear to be the dominant brands" represented in the ...

The top commander of U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region reassured Tokyo on Thursday that Washington remains committed to the defense of Japan, amid concern that commitment may be weakening after an annual military exercise was canceled. "The steadfast alliance between Japan and the United ...

Experts see the policy change as motivated by business interests rather than a sincere desire to shift away from protectionism.

An Okinawa monorail firm said Thursday it will experiment with accepting fare payments made by Alipay, a QR code-based platform run by China's Alibaba Group, at its gates to improve convenience for Chinese tourists. The test will start at Okinawa Urban Monorail Inc.'s Yui Rail ...

The school where a 9-year-old girl died after a powerful earthquake jolted Osaka this week reopened Thursday as staff members, students and local residents continued to grieve. "I am really saddened," Yoshimi Tanaka, principal of Juei Elementary School in the city of Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, ...

A ruling party lawmaker apologized Thursday for heckling a lung cancer patient last week during the man's parliamentary testimony on an anti-smoking bill. Yoichi Anami, a Lower House member from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, said the remark because of his feelings "that ...

An emerging number of Japanese schools are introducing unisex uniforms or flexible uniform codes in an effort to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. School officials hope the move will ease the mental anguish of such students, who are usually required to wear gender-based ...

Tokyo has decided to cancel nationwide evacuation exercises designed to prepare for North Korean ballistic missile launches, a government source said Thursday. Following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's summit this month with U.S. President Donald Trump, the government has changed its stance on the ...

Police say a boom in the popularity of mountaineering has led many inexperienced climbers to venture into more isolated, challenging terrain.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth to her first child, a girl, on Thursday, Ardern said in a posting on Instagram. Ardern, 37, became New Zealand's youngest prime minister when she took office through a coalition deal last year after an inconclusive election, ...

Are you on the hunt for an English-speaking doctor in Tokyo? A handy smartphone app aims to help foreign residents and visitors easily find multilingual medical services. Japan Hospital Guide, released by Tokyo-based nonprofit organization Japan Medical Support System For Visitors From Abroad (JaMSSVA), shows ...

A 44-year-old woman in Osaka Prefecture has been arrested on suspicion of murdering her brother in March. Police initially treated his death as a suicide, but now believe the woman spiked his drink with sleeping drugs and forged a suicide note. Company executive Akemi Adachi ...

The minimum voting age in national referendums to amend the Constitution was lowered to 18 from 20 on Thursday as part of a series of moves to encourage civic participation by young people. The lowering of the voting age for referendums brings it into line ...

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says he shouldn't be blamed for the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, and declares he knows nothing about money from the state fund appearing in his personal account. He does, though, have explanations for the vast sums of cash, luxury handbags ...

With technology powered by artificial intelligence, high school students are colorizing black and white photos of Hiroshima taken before the atomic bombing of the city in 1945. The 14 students at Hiroshima Jogakuin high school launched the initiative last November, aiming to make the images ...

The missile engine test site that President Donald Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had committed to destroy is a major facility in the western part of the country that has been used for testing engines for long-range missiles, according to a ...

One man is dead and two others, his wife and son, are injured after a knife attack early Thursday at a housing complex in Yokohama, police said. The male suspect fled the scene after attacking Koji Endo, 61, his wife, Kyoko, 61, and their son, ...

Those targeted were unwittingly registered as representatives of firms that operated Japanese-language dating websites and were based in Anguilla, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday it has exempted some steel products from Japan and four other countries from the U.S. global tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports. The exemption applies to seven U.S.-based companies importing steel products from Japan, Sweden, Belgium, Germany and China, ...

American Airlines and United Airlines have asked the federal government to refrain from using their flights to transport migrant children who have been separated from their families. "The family separation process that has been widely publicized is not at all aligned with the values of ...

Asylum seekers moving to Europe have raised their adopted nations' economic output, lowered unemployment and not placed a burden on public finances, scientists said on Wednesday. An analysis of economic and migration data for the last three decades found asylum seekers added to gross domestic ...

A group of Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers asked Alphabet Inc.'s Google on Wednesday to reconsider its work with Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., which they described as a security threat. In a letter to Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, the lawmakers said ...

North Korea's young leader sees the Trump administration as presenting a unique opportunity to ensure his regime's survival

Democratic leadership with a coherent voice and message may be a thing of the past

The Peninsula Tokyo's signature restaurant Peter will collaborate with four award-winning Japanese artisan chefs during a limited edition culinary series from August to November. Each artisan chef will be at Peter for one weekend only, partnering with chef de cuisine Masateru Kiriyama to create lunch ...

If you ask Naoko Okusa how to dress your best, she will tell you to look inside yourself before you stare into a cluttered closet or at an oversized mirror. Arguably the most influential stylist in Japan, Okusa, who has 136,000 followers on Instagram, offers ...

The Japanese media love a scandal and so far 2018 hasn't disappointed in that regard. Two recent stories centered around J-pop idols have been mostly ignored by mainstream outlets, but both have taken off online thanks to web publications, hinting at a shift unfolding ...

Japan coach Jamie Joseph named a much-changed side Thursday for Saturday's clash with Georgia at Toyota Stadium in Aichi Prefecture, with injuries sidelining a number of players. Five days after falling to Italy in their second test to even that series, Joseph has made seven ...

Less than a year after being dismissed as Yokohama B-Corsairs head coach, former Japan national team center/power forward Satoru Furuta is back as a sideline supervisor. On Tuesday, the second-division Earthfriends Tokyo Z handed the coaching reins to the Aichi Prefecture native. Furuta, who played for ...

Naomi Osaka retired during her second-round match Wednesday at the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham, England, due to abdominal issues. Osaka, ranked 18th in the world, withdrew from her match against Dalia Jakupovic after the No. 113 Slovenian had taken the first set 6-3. After a ...

For veterans of Japan's 2014 World Cup campaign, avenging a painful loss at that tournament to Colombia was cause for only momentary celebration, goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima said Wednesday. In the buildup to the rematch between the two sides in Saransk on Tuesday, the 35-year-old custodian ...