The Japan Times presents the second installment of a monthly 12-part series that looks back at the leading issues of the past three decades.

“Secondhand smoke” describes the fumes in the air that result from someone smoking tobacco. “Sidestream smoke” (fukuryūen) comes off the tip of the cigarette itself rather than out of the mouth of the person smoking it. Since sidestream smoke is estimated to make up ...

Shortly after the Kansai region was rattled by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake on June 18, photos of the damage started popping up on social media. Tweets showed a bookstore that looked as if it had been turned upside-down, a damaged electronic sign at a ...

Whenever you read about people doing things you yourself would never dream of doing, you naturally wonder: Is it a warped individual nature that is to blame? Is it the nature of the time, the place, the circumstances? Warped or not, an individual need never ...

The governor uses the Battle of Okinawa anniversary and America’s ongoing detente with North Korea to renew his call for shrinking the U.S. military’s footprint in the prefecture.

A Japanese dancer won the silver medal Friday in the junior male division of an international ballet competition held in Jackson, Mississippi. The winner, 17-year-old Hyuma Kiyosawa, who lives in San Francisco, was happy with his achievement at the USA International Ballet Competition. No gold ...

Japan is apparently pitching its experience decommissioning a small facility in the village of Tokai as a reason to get into the North’s secretive Nyongbyon facility, sources say.

The central bank is leaning toward downgrading its projection for 1.3 % inflation in 2018, based on the tepid price growth logged in April and May.

University of Tokyo professor Yuji Iwasawa is approved to serve out the term of retired Judge Hisashi Owada at the world court.

The U.S. Defense Department announced Friday that it had "indefinitely suspended select" military exercises with South Korea less than two weeks after President Donald Trump's historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore. "To support implementing the outcomes of the Singapore Summit, ...

U.S. President Donald Trump contradicted himself Friday, announcing via an executive order that North Korea continues to pose "an unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States — a statement that comes less than a week after he triumphantly declared that the North's nuclear ...

Iran doesn't believe buyers of its oil — including Japan — will get waivers from Washington following its renewal of sanctions, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Friday. American officials earlier were said to have asked Tokyo to completely halt oil imports from Iran, going ...

Syrian government helicopters dropped barrel bombs on opposition areas of the country's southwest on Friday for the first time in a year, a war monitor and rebel officials said, in defiance of U.S. demands that President Bashar Assad halt the assault. Assad has sworn to ...

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a 20 percent tariff on cars imported from the European Union unless the bloc removes import duties and other barriers to U.S. goods, escalating a global trade war the EU warned could endanger $300 billion in commerce. "Based on the ...

The U.S. Navy is drafting plans to house up to 25,000 immigrants on its bases and other facilities, at an estimated cost of about $233 million over six months, as the Trump administration seeks to ease a mounting crisis on the Mexican border, a ...

Skipping straws may be hip. But there are much better ways to fight pollution.

Two of the more exciting whisky distilleries to open this year are the Kanosuke Distillery in Kagoshima Prefecture and the Sakurao Distillery in Hiroshima Prefecture. Both are pursuing innovative new whiskies, playing on regional variation to create local flavors.

Tulio Andrade, cultural attache to the Brazilian Embassy in Tokyo, opens up about soft power, cultural differences and LGBTQ issues in Japan.

Beignet's French-style kushiage skewers are served bite-sized, elegantly plated and with an Asian twist.

With a declining agricultural workforce, there are concerns about how Japan will tackle food self-sufficiency and maintain its landscapes, cultural heritage and vitality of its countryside villages.

Lawson's seasonal soft cream brings plenty of sweetness and mango flavor.

From Haruki Murakami to Natsume Soseki, "The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories" serves up a feast of literature, a smorgasbord of over 30 widely varied modern Japanese writers.

U.S. celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who killed himself in a French hotel room earlier this month, had no narcotics or alcohol in his body when he died, a prosecutor said on Friday. Bourdain, host of CNN's food-and-travel-focused "Parts Unknown" television series, was 61. Brash and ...

Jaba Bregvadze, the first Georgian to play Super Rugby, said Saturday's test against his Sunwolves teammates gave him a lot to reflect on. The hooker was speaking at Toyota Stadium in Aichi Prefecture after Georgia's 28-0 loss to head coach Jamie Joseph's Japan. The match started ...

Shun Yamaguchi struck out eight over the distance to pitch the Yomiuri Giants to a 7-1 Central League win over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows on Saturday. Yamaguchi (6-5) gave up six hits, walked one batter and hit one. He did not allow a run until ...

A day after umpires admitted mistakenly ruling a foul ball a decisive two-run home run, the Orix Buffaloes on Saturday asked the game be resumed from the point of the incorrect call. An entourage that included Nippon Professional Baseball's chief umpire, Masato Tomoyose, and the ...

Japan stunned Georgia with a mature performance based on physicality in difficult conditions Saturday as it ran out a 28-0 winner at Toyota Stadium. In front of a small but vocal crowd of 14,776 at one of the 12 Rugby World Cup 2019 venues, and ...

Nasa Hataoka finished the first round of the NW Arkansas Championship among the seven players tied for second place at 7-under-par 64 on Friday, with Mexico's Gaby Lopez holding a one-shot lead. While Lopez shot a career-low 63 to take sole possession of the lead ...

Yuta Watanabe, considered among the top 30 or so players who were not selected in Thursday's NBA Draft, will play for the Brooklyn Nets next month in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, he announced on Twitter on Friday. The former George Washington University ...