Driverless taxis carrying real passengers will start nearly two weeks of testing on public roads in the capital next month with an eye to starting service in 2020, a tech firm and a major cab company said. ZMP Inc., a Tokyo-based developer of autonomous driving ...

Google was fined €4.3 billion ($5 billion) by the European Union and ordered to change the way it puts search and web browser apps on Android mobile devices, setting a global record for antitrust penalties. The penalty — the same amount the Netherlands contributes to ...

The estimated number of foreign visitors to Japan from January to June rose 15.6 percent from the same period a year earlier to 15.89 million, a record for the first half of the year, the Japan Tourism Agency said Wednesday. If the pace of increase ...

Looking for effective ways to stay safe and cool as temperatures soar? Worried that the smell from your summer sweat is bothering those around you? With an early end to the rainy season this year and a deadly heat wave gripping the nation, many companies ...

Temperatures soared to more than 35 C, with cities in central Japan seeing the highest levels this year at about 40 C, the weather agency said.

Chief negotiators from the 11 signatories to the Trans-Pacific Partnership gathered Wednesday in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, to check on their progress with domestic procedures to ratify the pact, amid fears of a trade war. During talks through Thursday, negotiators will also discuss how to welcome ...

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. sees China becoming a "core country" for its global growth strategy, and is optimistic its $62 billion (¥6.94 trillion) acquisition of Shire PLC will win approval by the country's regulators. Takeda is preparing to begin selling seven new drugs in China in ...

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp., trying to keep its new regional jet on track after a series of delays, was forced to cancel a demo flight for the world's aerospace industry Tuesday after the jet was hit by a truck. The collision, which follows the jet's debut ...

China reportedly began a six-day, large-scale, live-fire military drill in an area of the East China Sea "similar in size to the island of Taiwan" on Wednesday, according to state-run media, amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing. In a report headlined "PLA drill in ...

With basic necessities interrupted, homes evacuated and infrastructure badly in need of repair, surviving a disaster is challenging enough, but for non-Japanese speakers there is the added worry of getting important information in a language they can understand. Following the torrential downpour that hit western ...

A Reuters reporter on trial in Myanmar said the police questioning after he and a colleague were arrested in December centered on their reporting of a massacre of Rohingya Muslims, not on secret state documents they are accused of obtaining. Wa Lone, 32, also said ...

DNA testing at home is starting to gain traction nationwide as more people age and seek answers about their risks for diseases. The market for consumer genetic tests is poised to reach ¥6.6 billion ($58 million) in sales by 2022, up from ¥4.3 billion last ...

Being pushed onto already jam-packed trains during Tokyo rush hour is never a pleasant commuter experience. It only gets worse during the humid summer months. That's why Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike has launched the Jisa Biz campaign to combat train overcrowding in the run-up to ...

Watchdog grants approval to Kansai Electric Power Co.’s plan to use unspent nuclear rods from decommissioned facilities at the Oi power plant in Fukui Prefecture.

Lighting up in public facilities prohibited for the first time as the nation scrambles to combat secondhand smoke in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Thousands of people are canceling trips to popular tourist spots in western Japan even though many of their destinations were left unscathed by the recent deadly rain disaster, local officials said Wednesday. Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, known as one of Japan's oldest hot ...

The elimination of substandard concrete walls drags on despite offers of subsidies for their removal and the construction of alternative fencing, while costs increase challenge of pipe replacement.

San Francisco voters in November will decide whether to levy an additional tax on large businesses to fund homeless services, part of an expanding effort among West Coast cities to tap cash-flush companies to offset growing income inequality. The tax would apply to companies with ...

Astronomers on Tuesday announced the discovery of 10 more moons of Jupiter, bringing to 79 the number known to be circling the giant gas planet, including one "wrong-way driver" that appears destined to crash into other moons sharing its orbital highway. All the newly identified ...

U.S. President Donald Trump tried on Tuesday to calm a storm over his failure to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, saying he misspoke in a joint news conference in Helsinki on Monday. Trump stunned the world by ...

The Japan-EU trade pact could be an important turnaround both for the way Europeans see trade with Asia and for liberal democracy at large.

Tired of the endless squabbling by the two extremes, chances are good the Conservatives will close ranks behind May's approach

Based in mountainous Oita Prefecture in northeastern Kyushu, the privately owned and run Drum Tao company has barely paused from pounding away at the international entertainment market since it launched its overseas ambitions with a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2004. Since then, ...

Novelist Hiroki Takahashi has won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for up-and-coming authors, while the Naoki Prize for popular fiction has been awarded to writer Rio Shimamoto, the selection committee said Wednesday. "Okuribi" ("Ceremonial Fire") by Takahashi, 38, depicts boys engaging in violent games at a ...

Keita Asari, who founded Shiki Theater and produced a number of its long-running musicals including "Cats" and "The Lion King," died Friday at a Tokyo hospital due to malignant lymphoma, the theater troupe said Wednesday. He was 85. A native of Tokyo, Asari formed in ...

With "Mountain," director Jennifer Peedom has done for the mountaineering film what Marks & Spencer's did for food advertisements years ago: taken the concept and beautified it to such an extent that it provokes a visceral response. Salivating over the movie's visual perfection is ...

By documenting the tales of those who lived through the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, filmmakers Chie Mikami and Hanayo Oya question the island's current role as a military stronghold.

Hitoshi Yazaki goes slightly overboard with visual innuendo in an otherwise artistic film.

The highly coveted song of the summer needs to cut across demographics and unite one nation under a beat. Think Len's "Steal My Sunshine" in 1999, Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" in 2013 or Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" in 2017. Who'd have thought that, in 2018 ...

Elsinho and Yu Kobayashi struck either side of halftime to give Kawasaki Frontale a 2-1 win away to Consadole Sapporo on Wednesday night, as the J. League first division returned to action. Ken Tokura pulled a goal back for the hosts in injury time, but ...

Onelki Garcia carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning and singled in a run as the Chunichi Dragons shut out the Hiroshima Carp 5-0 on Wednesday. Garcia (10-4) allowed a hit and walked two, while striking out eight as the lefty outlasted Hiroshima right-hander ...

Keisuke Honda will launch a venture fund of around $100 million with Hollywood actor and rapper Will Smith this month, the athlete's management firm said Wednesday. Nomura Holdings Inc. said it will also take part in what has been called the "Dreamers Fund," which will ...

When the original plans for the main stadium for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics were scrapped, it left the project with a shortened timetable in which to build before the games. But so far, things have remained "on schedule," and the Olympic stadium is on ...

Sekiwake Mitakeumi earned his 11th straight victory, retaining his two-win lead at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday. Mitakeumi claimed a solid win on Day 11 against No. 4 maegashira Kaisei (7-4), who had won all of their four previous match-ups. The undefeated sekiwake ...

Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta was greeted by around 300 fans as he arrived at Kansai International Airport on Wednesday to join his new team Vissel Kobe in the J. League. The signing of the 34-year-old, who is believed to have inked a multiyear deal with ...