For leading food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto, sushi is part food, part theater, a dining experience unique among Japanese culinary traditions. From the closed-off tuna auctions of Tsukiji to the chefs who meticulously craft morsels of fish for loyal customers, each player has a role ...

UNICEF and major water and housing equipment maker Lixil Corp. announced on Thursday that they forged a partnership to address sanitation problems that put hundreds of children in danger every day. A joint agreement entitled "Make a splash! Toilets for Everyone!" aims to achieve one ...

Thursday's executions of six Aum Shinrikyo cultists — the second set of hangings this month following the executions of seven on July 6 — have reignited debate over the nation's death penalty system, marked by its opacity and the absence of prior notice to ...

U.S. President Donald Trump accused China on Wednesday of targeting American farmers in a "vicious" way and using them as leverage to get trade concessions a day after the administration announced a $12 billion farm aid package. China and other top U.S. trade partners zeroed ...

With "womenomics" often touted as a key policy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the government has been working to increase women's participation in the workforce, politics and other areas in recent years. However, change has been slow in Japan, which ranked 114th in last year's ...

A former care worker killed 19 residents of the facility and injured 26 others in 2016, shocking the nation.

Commercial lenders are privately complaining to the central bank about its purchases of corporate bonds at negative interest rates and are asking it to stop the practice, according to people familiar with the matter. The trigger for the grievances is that the Bank of Japan ...

An enormous amount of debris has been found across a wide swath of water off western Japan following recent torrential rains that devastated the region with landslides and flooding, land ministry officials said Thursday. The amount of debris could be the largest on record originating ...

The prosecutor’s office also indicted on Tuesday the former director-general of the ministry’s science and technology bureau, as well as two former executives of Tokyo Medical University.

The prison cell had no air-conditioning, and the temperature at floor level was found to be 34 degrees shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday.

North Korea will transfer the remains of an unspecified number of soldiers killed in the Korean War on Friday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, after accepting about 100 wooden caskets sent by the United States. The repatriation of remains of U.S. soldiers killed in ...

North Korea is continuing to produce fuel for nuclear bombs in spite of its pledge to denuclearize, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, even as he argued that the Trump administration was making progress in talks with Pyongyang. Asked at a Senate Foreign ...

With the hangings of six former members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult Thursday, Yoko Kamikawa became the justice minister who has ordered the most executions, 16, since Japan lifted its 40-month moratorium on the death penalty in 1993. Thirteen of the 16 executed individuals ...

Some speculate the Justice Ministry wanted to draw a curtain on the shocking crimes before the end of the Heisei Era, set for next April.

The Reconstruction Agency is launching an initiative in the hopes of drawing LGBT tourists to the Tohoku region as it looks to attract more foreign visitors. The agency believes that tourism information can quickly spread throughout the LGBT community once the region, which was devastated ...

Japan will consider crafting a new document to mark the 20th anniversary in October of a joint declaration seeking to promote closer ties with South Korea, government sources have said. The government is hoping to show that relations between Tokyo and Seoul have been improving ...

The JCPOA represents a model for crisis resolution through diplomacy; its death will mean killing the hope that negotiations can resolve other regional crises.

Europeans can no longer assume that their interests are synonymous with those of the U.S.

Sakura Tei, an okonomiyaki and monjayaki (savory pancakes) restaurant on one of Harajuku's fashionable back streets, will have the Kochi Yosakoi Fair, a monthlong event from Aug. 1. The restaurant will have a unique selection of meat, vegetables, fruits and seasonings from Kochi Prefecture ...

The Tokyo Station Hotel is once again presenting a refreshing summer menu through the end of August. This classic modern icon of Tokyo Station welcomes guests with hospitality by following their seasonal theme "Spending Summer Comfortably at the Hotel." Carrying on from last year's popular ...

The news of Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar returning to Fuji Rock, one of Japan's most celebrated music festivals, was met with excitement from hip-hop fans here as soon as it was announced in February. To leverage the hype ahead of the festival, Universal ...

Yusei Kikuchi went nine innings, setting up an extra-inning win as Tomoya Mori's pinch-hit sayonara double lifted the Seibu Lions to 2-1 triumph over the Orix Buffaloes on Thursday. Kikuchi lucked out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the second and then cruised until Koji ...

The Japan Football Association on Thursday asserted its days of reliance on foreign managers was over by naming Japan Olympic squad head coach Hajime Moriyasu to also manage the senior national team. The 49-year-old Moriyasu, who in October took over as head coach of the ...

Journeyman Kazuya "J." Hatano was a steady contributor during the Osaka Evessa dynasty years. The hard-working forward earned a trio of championship rings as part of the bj-league's first powerhouse team under bench boss Kensaku Tennichi. Nearly a decade later, Hatano is still collecting a paycheck ...

Fascinated by the contact sport of kabaddi, a middle school and a high school in Saitama Prefecture beat a succession of collegiate teams this year to win the national student championship after learning the rules and tactics from scratch. Seven years ago, Jiyunomori Gakuin Junior ...