More than half of Japanese support a bill to accept more foreign workers, a nationwide Kyodo News poll showed Sunday. The phone survey conducted over the weekend found that 51.3 percent were supportive of the bill approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet on Friday, ...

Some 40,000 foreign workers are expected to be accepted in the first year the new visa categories go into effect, with the total rising to 250,000 after five years, government sources said Saturday. The government, which submitted a related bill to revise the immigration control ...

British Prime Minister Theresa May has secured concessions from Brussels that will allow her to keep all of the U.K. in a customs union with the European Union and avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland, the Sunday Times reported, without naming sources. The move ...

With Washington poised to curtail Iran's oil exports, OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia and its partners stand ready to ramp up supplies even as market conditions remain uncertain, analysts say. The renewal of sanctions on the Islamic Republic comes at a time of major supply disruptions ...

The nation’s deal makers are having a busy year, as the reincarnation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership moves a step closer to implementation and another trade pact may also be concluded.

An inconspicuous wooden teahouse stands midway on a winding road that connects the center of a remote mountainous town in western Tokyo to a scenic lake that supplies water to the capital. Inside the old Japanese-style residence, there are several mismatching tables and chairs on ...

An aid convoy on Saturday reached a camp for displaced Syrians near the Jordanian border, the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent said, in the first such delivery since January. "The U.N. and SARC are delivering humanitarian assistance to 50,000 people in need ...

Millions of Americans will be barred from casting ballots in Tuesday's crucial midterm elections due to electoral rules at the state level, which effectively exclude many minority voters to the detriment of Democrats. Here is a look at states where these restrictions could impact the ...

Government sources say Japan and the United States plan to draw up an operations plan for a combined response by their armed forces to any Chinese threats to the disputed Senkaku Islands.

The government plans to allow the North Korean sports minister to enter the country in late November to attend a meeting connected with the 2020 Games, sources said Saturday. North Korea has told officials involved in the preparation for the general assembly meeting of the ...

Make no mistake — good deflation is an integral part of economic management in Japan.

Increasing class size is the best answer for Harvard and other top schools to be more inclusive.

Twenty-nine-year-old venture capitalist James Riney has some ideas on who may be the nation’s next Mercari Inc.

Tsuyoshi Tane says one particular piece of praise has stayed with him throughout the year. "The director of the Estonian National Museum told me his country might really be able to overcome the dark era of postwar Soviet occupation thanks to our work on the ...

The kitchen may be home to the most everyday objects in the house, but that doesn't mean they all have to be boring in design. Soak up the cleaning experience Suuu has re-designed one of the most pedestrian of household items and turned it into an ...

Baye McNeil's recent Black Eye column on the "gaijin seat" garnered a great deal of attention. Here are some readers' responses.

Give Hokuro space and time to come around and you'll have a friend who respects you and a handsome companion to be proud of.

Novelist Haruki Murakami announced Sunday he will donate original manuscripts of his works and other materials to Waseda University, from which he graduated in 1975. The donation "is a very important thing for me, so I thought I should explain clearly" by holding a news ...

When it comes to curating a biennale, a lack of funding isn't always a big problem as it can lead to more imaginative results. That's the case with the Biwako Biennale, which runs through Nov. 11 in Shiga Prefecture. The event, organized by Yoko Nakata ...

Goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, a member of Japan's national squad at four World Cup finals, will retire at the end of the season, his J. League club SC Sagamihara said Sunday. "I've decided to retire at the end of this season. All I have is a ...

When the Tochigi Brex are in sync on offense, they are a very dangerous team. The nucleus of their 2016-17 B. League championship team remains intact, and they proved again on Sunday that they are among the teams in any legitimate discussion about title contenders ...

Consadole Sapporo took a step toward a berth in next year's AFC Champions League on Sunday when Koji Miyoshi's 74th-minute goal lifted the club to a 1-0 win over Vegalta Sendai. With neither team able to make anything of their opportunities, Miyoshi capitalized on a ...

Teenager Nasa Hataoka shot a dazzling five-under 67 to win the Japan Classic by two strokes on Sunday, her second LPGA Tour triumph this season. Hataoka became the first home player in seven years to win the Japan title, firing seven birdies and two bogies ...

Kei Nishikori claimed the eighth and final entry to the season-ending ATP Finals Saturday when Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro withdrew due to a right knee injury. Nishikori, ranked ninth in the ATP Race to London, will play in the tournament for the fourth time ...

Japanese teenager Reira Iwabuchi won her second straight women's World Cup big air competition on Saturday, while compatriot Takeru Otsuka topped the podium in the men's event. The 16-year-old Iwabuchi, who finished fourth in February's Pyeongchang Olympics, earned a two-jump total of 166.50 points in ...

London Olympic judo champion Kaori Matsumoto said Sunday she will retire from the front line of the sport following her first-round loss at the Kodokan Cup, one of the qualifying events for next year's world championships. "I'm not that disappointed (in the loss). Perhaps I've ...

Kohei Uchimura missed out on the men's horizontal bar gold Saturday as Japan finished without any individual apparatus titles at the artistic gymnastics world championships. The 29-year-old, who was aiming for his first world title in three years, earned a silver medal — his 21st ...

Kaori Sakamoto bounced back from a disappointing short program to secure a podium finish in the women's event at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Helsinki on Saturday, while Pyeongchang Olympic champion Alina Zagitova led a 1-2 finish for Russia. Sakamoto, who fell twice ...

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks wrapped up the Japan Series against the Hiroshima Carp on Saturday at Mazda Stadium, achieving back-to-back NPB championships with a 2-0 Game 6 win. The Pacific League club did not win away in the series' first two games, but proved that ...

In the moments after the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks clinched their second consecutive Japan Series title on Saturday, club chairman Sadaharu Oh was asked for his thoughts about this year's team. Oh's words hold more weight than most in Japanese baseball. He's a living legend, owner ...

The Heisei Era in Japan is set to end when Emperor Akihito abdicates next year on April 30. Pinning down the end of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks' current era of dominance in Japanese baseball is going to take a little bit more time. Because as they ...