The son of founder Sazo Idemitsu and other relatives have argued that their firm’s philosophy of treating employees as family is incompatible with Showa Shell’s corporate culture.

A new hard-line U.S. policy aimed at halting imports of Iranian crude oil may deal a significant blow to the growing ties between Tokyo and Tehran.

The one-on-one question time of the prime minister by opposition party leaders — introduced in 2000 to reinvigorate parliamentary debates — has outlived its usefulness and no longer functions in the Diet, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe argued Wednesday. Abe made that remarks after Yukio Edano, ...

The National Police Agency is accelerating plans to reinforce police officers' gun holsters and safety straps so their firearms cannot be stolen, agency officials said Wednesday. The move comes in the wake of an incident in the city of Toyama the previous day where a ...

Former Environment Minister Goshi Hosono borrowed ¥50 million ($455,000) from a securities firm during the general election last October without initially reporting the funds, sources said.

A 21-year-old former SDF member arrested over a fatal police box attack in Toyama was carrying at least four knives, a sign the attack was premeditated.

Emergency kits are a must-have in earthquake prone Japan, but a survey by The Japan Times has found that a number of people did not use theirs when a deadly quake rocked Osaka Prefecture and its vicinity last week. The June 18 quake, which affected ...

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly passed an anti-smoking ordinance that is stricter than the national version currently under consideration, in a move intended to rein in secondhand smoke.

A 73-year-old man received a suspended sentence Wednesday for illegally confining his mentally ill son in a wooden cage for years at their home in the city of Sanda, Hyogo Prefecture. The Kobe District Court sentenced Yoshitane Yamasaki to 18 months in prison, suspended for ...

Australia is expected to pass legislation on Wednesday aimed at preventing interference by foreign governments, a move likely to further stoke tensions with major trading partner China. Mirroring similar rules in the United States, Australia will require lobbyists for foreign countries to register, and makes ...

Financial assets held by households stood at a record ¥1.83 quadrillion ($17 trillion) at the end of March, climbing 2.5 percent from a year earlier thanks to a rise in share prices, the Bank of Japan said Wednesday. The figure marked a record-high on a ...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld President Donald Trump's ban on travel from several mostly Muslim countries, but in the process also overruled an infamous 1944 decision that allowed the internment of 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II because of concerns over homeland ...

Uzbekistan Ambassador Gayrat Fazilov wants to strengthen the strategic partnership with Japan. "We see Japan as a very close partner in the Asia Pacific region," Ambassador Fazilov said during a courtesy visit to The Japan Times on Wednesday. "My task as ambassador is to open ...

The British government's estimate of how much it will have to pay the European Union as part of its so-called divorce settlement is at least £10 billion ($13 billion) too low, a committee of lawmakers said on Wednesday. Negotiators in London and Brussels have agreed ...

Chessy Prout, an American teenager who spent most of her childhood in Japan, initially felt a sense of powerlessness as the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault gained steam last year. About four years before the movement evolved into a global force, Prout, now ...

Britons enjoyed sweltering heat for the third day running on Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) in Wales and possibly set to hit record June highs this week, the Meteorological Office said. Portmadog in North Wales was the hottest place at 30.6 ...

Russian police said early on Wednesday they had received multiple bomb threats in the World Cup host city of Rostov-on-Don, causing bars and restaurants to be evacuated across the city. "On June 26, police received a series of phone calls about explosives planted at locations ...

Uber Technologies Inc. won a probationary license to operate in London on Tuesday in a partial victory for its new chief executive after it made changes to ease strained relations with city authorities. The new license was subject to strict conditions, however, and came with ...

Malta will let the rescue ship Lifeline dock after Italy refused it entry, ending the vessel's near-week-long wait in the Mediterranean with more than 230 migrants on board, Italy's prime minister said on Tuesday. Lifeline said one person had been evacuated for medical reasons and ...

The conduct of Xi and the CCP will ultimately bring China a new century of shame.

A concerted multilateral response at global, regional and national levels is needed to defeat the transnational threat of terrorism.

Onerous licensing process for private lodging won't stop bad operators, but it will put off honest would-be entrepreneurs.

Choreographer Philippe Decoufle describes his new circus-inspired show, "Nouvelles Pieces Courtes" ("New Short Pieces"), as a "sort of visual and physical mind game." That's not surprising as the 56-year-old Frenchman has fused dance with dizzying aerial choreography, sly acrobatics and the clever use of video ...

What's in a name? On one level, it's how you identify yourself to yourself (as in dorky name, dorky self-image). On another, it's your social calling card, your link to family, going back generations (or not, if an ancestor decided to exchange one name ...

One of the frequent complaints lodged against the Japanese film industry is that producers are reluctant to bankroll anything that isn't based on an existing novel, manga or TV series. There's a lot of truth in the criticism, but not every screen adaptation of ...

Norichika Aoki's big night at the plate led the Tokyo Yakult Swallows to their third straight win, a 7-2 Central League victory over the Chunichi Dragons on Wednesday. Aoki, in his first season back in Japan after six years in the majors, opened the scoring ...

Sumo is a monolith. Individual stables may exhibit variances in training and culture, but for the most part life for wrestlers is the same throughout the sport. Enter any stable early in the day and you will find training going on. Come back at ...

Dubbed "Old Man Japan" by fans and media, the country's oldest-ever World Cup squad is finally exhibiting a brand of soccer it was unable to play at the previous tournament, veteran Keisuke Honda said Tuesday. The Samurai Blue went to Brazil in 2014 with high ...