The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum on Thursday adopted new guidelines on the quality of infrastructure development and investment, with all 21 economies — including China — agreeing to take into consideration recipients' ability to pay back loans for such funding. The guidelines call for openness, ...

The dispute over the islands off Hokkaido has long been a thorn in bilateral relations, preventing Tokyo and Moscow from concluding a postwar peace treaty.

Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Thursday called for an early conclusion to negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a day after 16 members of the envisaged Asian free trade agreement failed to reach a broad deal targeting a year-end deadline. At a ministerial ...

A research panel with Japan's food safety commission said Thursday that safety will be assured even after the removal of import restrictions on U.S. beef that were imposed to counter mad cow disease. Findings will be reported to health minister Takumi Nemoto after a month ...

What's in a name? That's the question facing voters in Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture, who go to the polls Sunday to cast their ballots in a mayoral election and a referendum on whether to officially change the municipality's name to Tamba-Sasayama. The city, about a 90-minute ...

Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki said he made the request to U.S. State and Defense Department officials but they did not give a specific reply.

While career success has taken him from elementary school teaching to the head of Tess Co., Kenji Suzuki's life has not always been easy or straightforward. During his tenure as a teacher, one of Suzuki's students suffered from a health condition that left them unable ...

The revelation came after a spate of incidents in which airline personnel breached drinking rules, prompting the government to crack down.

When it came to light in March that a Vietnamese man in Japan's foreign trainee program was duped into performing radioactive decontamination work in areas devastated by the 2011 nuclear disaster, Bungo Okabe, 36, was the first to offer help in seeking justice. Okabe, a ...

Railroad enthusiasts across Japan are pooling resources, making financial contributions via the internet to preserve abandoned rail facilities and support financially struggling local railways. Some of these sites have turned into tourist destinations where railway buffs gather for exchange events, with locals hoping the trend ...

The accidents not only threatened civilians but also put SDF members at risk, said Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya.

Women in Tokyo strongly favor having single-sex train cars on public transport, according to a poll of five of the world's biggest commuter cities released Thursday, despite such policies facing growing criticism. A Thomson Reuters Foundation survey of 1,000 female travelers in Tokyo, London, New ...

Over 80 percent of people in Japan hold positive views about receiving nursing care from robots, according to a survey by nursing care service provider Orix Living Corp. The result suggests that people feel a psychological burden from being taken care of by humans, Orix ...

Attorney Michael Avenatti, who represents adult film star Stormy Daniels in her legal battles with U.S. President Donald Trump, was arrested in Los Angeles on Wednesday on suspicion of domestic violence, a police spokesman said. Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Jeff Lee said no further ...

A U.S. congressional commission said on Wednesday that China appears to have relaxed enforcement of sanctions on North Korea and called on the Treasury Department to provide a report on Chinese compliance within 180 days. In its annual report, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review ...

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday told Donald Trump that France was the United States' ally and not a vassal state after the U.S. president attacked him in a series of tweets that demonstrated how much their relationship had soured. In five posts sent on Tuesday ...

A South Korean fishing boat collided with a Japanese fishing vessel in the Sea of Japan about 250 kilometers north of the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture early Thursday, throwing 13 sailors from the South Korean boat into the sea, media reports and Japanese ...

The minister in charge of cybersecurity said he doesn't use computers. Yoshitaka Sakurada, who just last week was criticized for stumbling over basic questions during Diet deliberations, found himself once again in hot water Wednesday after making it known that he doesn't use them even ...

The Osaka High Court on Wednesday overturned a lower court decision and acquitted a tattooist for operating without a medical license, ruling the process is not a medical practice. "The tattooing procedure is not relevant to medicine and it does not constitute a medical act ...

The search for remains of victims in the charred ruins of the Northern California town of Paradise was set to intensify on Wednesday, while firefighters stepped up their nearly week-long efforts to contain the state's deadliest-ever wildfire. A National Guard contingent of 100 military police ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday he agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin to push forward with talks toward the conclusion of a peace treaty between the two countries that has been hampered by a long-standing territorial dispute. "I agreed with President Putin to accelerate ...

The Chinese government has reversed its previously chilly attitude and now favors better relations with Japan, creating new economic opportunities for Japanese businesses.

The Cold War metaphor is structurally flawed and carries the operational danger of heightening tensions and provoking a very hot war.

Pink pastries and jewelry boxes may not evoke the most classic of Christmas imagery, but who's to say things can't get a little creative sometimes? In the spirit of giving girly girls what they really want this season, Hilton Tokyo Odaiba Hotel happily presents ...

When in-demand mature-age model Anna Yuki reached her personal "do or dye" moment, she chose gray hair over the color bottle, and graceful aging over the pursuit of youth. "No more highlighting and disguising the gray hair," Yuki says from the backyard of her Tokyo ...

Throngs of fans packed Tokyo Dome on Tuesday and Wednesday to watch K-pop group BTS perform songs from across its five-year career. The crowd cheered, bought merchandise and the two days offered the seven-member group some respite from a week of scandal. Things kicked off ...

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's trip to the Museum of Death in Hollywood proved to be a 2018 highlight for the 25-year-old J-pop star. "I thought it would be about murder and crime, but it was actually about everything related to death," she tells The Japan Times. ...

A feminist manga-style artist says she plans to use characters based on an Egyptian pharaoh and a Chinese empress to bring more female empowerment to the male-dominated world of comic books. Queenie Chan is working on a series of nonfictional biographies aimed at children titled ...

Live-action manga adaptations — from weepy dramas about teenage love to goofy comedies set in fantasy worlds — usually reflect real life only at its extremes, whether it's the melodramatic or the idiotic. Then there is "Hard-Core Heisei Hell's Bros.," a cult manga about two ...

Sosuke Genda drove in a trio of Seibu Lions teammates to back some gutsy pitching as Samurai Japan wrapped up the Japan All-Star Series with a 4-1 win over the MLB All-Stars on Thursday. Japan's fifth win of the six-game series was the most for ...

Whether in the Kokugikan in Tokyo, or at one of the regional tournaments in Osaka, Nagoya or Fukuoka, sumo wrestlers warm up and prepare for their bouts in dressing rooms called shitakubeya. There are always two shitakubeya and they are designated East and West. Wrestlers who ...

Rank-and-file wrestler Tochiozan beat ozeki Takayasu and earned his fifth straight win Thursday, taking the spotlight at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament following the withdrawal of yokozuna Kisenosato. With no remaining yokozuna in competition, Tochiozan shares the lead with komusubi Takakeisho one-third of the way ...

The annual All-Star Game is making the rounds in the league's brief history. First, of course, was the 2017 edition at Tokyo's Yoyogi National Gymnasium in mid-January. Last season's entertaining contest was staged in Kumamoto, and the ongoing campaign's midseason showcase is set for Jan. ...

Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu hopes he can ward off injury at this year's Cup of Russia in Moscow, ensuring he will be healthy for a bid at a fifth Grand Prix Final crown. "First of all I want to get through official practice (in ...

Grand champion Kisenosato withdrew from the ongoing Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament Thursday citing a knee injury, the latest in a string of setbacks that will again raise the prospect of his retirement. The news comes a day after Kisenosato, the first Japan-born wrestler in 19 ...