The number of applications for volunteer jobs during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics has already topped the organizing committee's target of 80,000 one month ahead of the deadline. The organizing committee said Wednesday that the number of applications stood at 81,035 as of 9 ...

SoftBank Group Corp.'s Vision Fund will invest $2 billion in South Korea's Coupang, giving the e-commerce giant funds to accelerate development of new shopping and delivery services. Founded in 2010, Coupang is South Korea's largest online retailer and sells more than 120 million items from ...

In the course of preparing to bills on the age limit, the government will also consider promoting different working styles such as working shorter hours.

The move is among steps the government plans to take to ensure that raising the consumption tax will not put the brakes on economic activity.

The national accounting watchdog released a report Thursday on the murky sale of state land in 2016 involving a school operator close to the wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but fell short of identifying why the land was sold at a heavily discounted ...

In a bid to keep Washington's ongoing denuclearization talks with North Korea from faltering, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday that a major joint military exercise with South Korea would be scaled back. "We have taken a decision," Mattis said, according to a transcript ...

Chubu Centrair International Airport in Aichi Prefecture has set up a booth inside its international arrivals lobby that will allow tourists to experience being a ninja through virtual reality. The booth, which opened Thursday and will be in operation until Dec. 14, is aimed at ...

A man who suffered severe burns after having his head shoved into a pot of boiling liquid at a year-end party in 2015 said Thursday that he plans to sue his former boss over the incident. The 23-year-old man, who declined to be named, and ...

The percentage of university students with dating experience stands at around 70 percent, the lowest level since surveys by a sex education body began more than 40 years ago. In the nationwide survey conducted in 2017 by the Japanese Association for Sex Education, 71.8 percent ...

After a slow month caused by a string of natural disasters, Japan's booming tourism industry appears to be nearly back on track. Tourism rebounded slightly in October after the number of foreign visitors had dropped the previous month for the first time since 2013 following ...

A flock of great crested grebes floats on the sea, gently bobbing up and down under the warm November sun. Every so often a bird dives below the surface, searching for a tasty morsel from among the 260 species of fish, crabs and shellfish that ...

Napping on the job is generally frowned upon, but a growing number of companies are offering new services and products to allow their employees to take a quick snooze at work to help manage their health and improve productivity. Companies are creating special areas for ...

An estimated 85,000 children under five may have died from extreme hunger in Yemen since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in the civil war in 2015, an aid agency said on Wednesday, as the U.N. special envoy arrived in Yemen to pursue peace talks. Western countries ...

Activists on Wednesday called for the creation of a permanent resident visa for blue-collar foreign workers and equal pay as their Japanese co-workers as the country aims to bring in more laborers from overseas. In a statement released at a gathering held at the Diet, ...

Seven people were found dead Thursday after a wooden house caught fire in Fukushima Prefecture, local police said. Firefighters received an emergency call at around 11:05 p.m. Wednesday in the town of Ono, roughly 190 km northeast of Tokyo. The fire was extinguished about an ...

A year of warming relations between North and South Korea has raised the prospects of closer ties, if not some form of unification for the still-warring neighbors far in the future. But it might not be obvious in a typical South Korean classroom. "I really ...

In the tweet, the bureau wrote: “Freedom of expression is important but this is public property. Isn’t it a bit much?”

Justin Trudeau is offering tax breaks to business instead of cutting Canada's deficit, as his Liberal government uses a revenue windfall to keep pace with U.S. tax reform. Trudeau's finance minister, Bill Morneau, unveiled corporate tax breaks worth 14 billion Canadian dollars ($10.5 billion) over ...

U.S. prosecutors have been investigating Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. since late last year on suspicion of breaking regulations that prohibit money laundering in relation to North Korea, the New York Times reported Wednesday. A subpoena was issued for MUFG after the state of ...

Faced with the only possible withdrawal plan, all the party factions, like angry children, continue to demand the impossible.

To rein in the Saudi regime, the West must not only stop selling it arms, but also stop filling its coffers.

Sifting this year's other detritus, let us also be thankful for the following amusements.

A berry happy new year is just around the corner. Strawberry season is coming up fast, and Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo is celebrating with a springtime lunch buffet featuring 22 varieties of fresh strawberry delicacies. Playfully dubbed The Forest Strawberry Party, the buffet is taking place ...

Yellow Magic Orchestra made its 1980 debut on the legendary American dance show “Soul Train” performing a cover of “Tighten Up” by Archie Bell & the Drells, two years after the November 1978 release of the trio’s eponymous first album Dressed in logoed button-downs with ...

Fresh from a 29-date tour of the British Isles, and celebrating their 50th anniversary year, Philadelphia soul icons The Stylistics are setting up camp in Japan for a 12-date tour of three cities: Yokohama (Dec. 9), Tokyo (Dec. 10 and between Dec. 18 and ...

It's no surprise that sumo, an activity hundreds (possibly thousands) of years old, has several museums solely dedicated to its history. What is surprising however is just how small the official Japan Sumo Association one is. Tucked away inside Ryogoku Kokugikan the museum consists of a ...

Yuzuru Hanyu will decide whether he will compete again this year based on the results of medical tests he is undergoing in Japan, his coach Brian Orser said Wednesday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist twisted his right ankle in a practice fall Saturday at the ...

Takakeisho maintained his one-win lead after beating rank-and-filer Tamawashi on Thursday, the 12th day of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament. The 22-year-old komusubi, whose only loss came against sekiwake Mitakeumi on Day 7, beat the No. 2 maegashira comfortably and appeared primed to win his ...

Masashi Hosoya doesn't pour in 25-30 points every game. He is, however, a solid scoring option for the Yokohama B-Corsairs. Exhibit A: Sunday's game against the Rizing Zephyr Fukuoka, when Hosoya maximized his time on the court. He played with purpose from start to finish, ...

A little over a year ago, Nov. 11, 2017, to be exact, Shohei Ohtani strode into a room full of journalists at the Japan National Press Club and told the world he was ready to head to MLB and hoped to one day become ...