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.

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.

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 ...

A Japanese space-exploring craft arrived near an asteroid Wednesday after a 3½-year, 3.2 billion-kilometer journey to undertake a first-ever experiment: Blow a crater in the rocky surface to collect samples and bring them back to Earth. The unmanned Hayabusa2 spacecraft reached its base of operations ...

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 ...

An inspirational new version of Barbie will encourage young girls to embark on careers in engineering and the sciences, the iconic doll's manufacturer Mattel said on Tuesday. Barbie, who first hit the shelves in 1959, prides herself on trying out jobs where women aren't strongly ...

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 ...

David Lynch accused President Donald Trump on Tuesday of "causing suffering and division" as the filmmaker clarified what looked like a glowing endorsement days earlier. Lynch shocked liberal Hollywood when he told The Guardian newspaper in an interview published Saturday that Trump could go down ...

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 ...

Japan rugby head coach Jamie Joseph said Wednesday his team is capable of making history by reaching the quarterfinals at next year's World Cup. The 2019 tournament host blanked Georgia 28-0 last weekend to complete a busy month of home tests with a second victory ...

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 ...

Akira Nishino knows there are a few ways for his Japan squad to qualify for the knockout stage of the World Cup for the third time in five tournaments. He only cares about one. With a victory over No. 8-ranked Poland at Volgograd, Japan has ...

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 ...