U.S. officials will try to expedite humanitarian aid to North Korea, a U.S. envoy said on Wednesday, as Washington and Pyongyang struggle to find a breakthrough in stalled talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear program. Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, ...

A court sentenced a 48-year-old man to death on Wednesday for killing two junior high school students in Osaka Prefecture in 2015, rejecting the defense counsel's claim that he did not intend to commit the murders and cannot take full criminal responsibility due to ...

Elon Musk's SpaceX halted Tuesday's launch of a long-delayed navigation satellite for the U.S. military, postponing for at least a day the space transportation company's first designated national security mission for the United States. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a roughly $500 million GPS satellite ...

Taiwan's Defense Ministry has said that Chinese bombers, fighter jets and warships were spotted near the self-ruled island nation, the first such reported activity in several months. According to the Defense Ministry, People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including H-6 heavy bombers, Y-8 transport aircraft and ...

Ex-Prime Minister Kishi set a two-year timeline to revise the postwar security treaty with the United States as a precursor to amending the pacifist Constitution, declassified records show.

The number of superrich households in Japan has almost doubled since 2011 to a record high, thanks to rising stock prices and an economic expansion, an indication that this segment of society has benefited from Abenomics. The number of households with net financial assets of ...

It's been the most radical cash injection in history — nearly ¥400 trillion pumped into Japan's economy over more than five years to slay deflation and kick growth into higher gear. That's still not enough to save Tomoaki Nagai's metal parts factory near Osaka, and ...

Japan saw a widening goods trade deficit in November as the cost of oil imports surged while smartphone-related exports to Asia plummeted, government data showed Wednesday. The country logged a deficit of ¥737.3 billion with the rest of the world, the second straight month of ...

More men are taking jobs as flight attendants in the traditionally female-dominated profession as smaller Japanese airlines actively look to distinguish themselves from their larger domestic rivals. The increasingly physical nature of the work combined with the growing need to deal with unruly or drunk ...

Anyone betting that Chinese President Xi Jinping would back down quickly in a trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump better think again. Xi told a Beijing crowd including some of China's most influential political, military and business figures on Tuesday that the country's growing ...

The former head of a now-bankrupt kimono rental firm was sentenced to 30 months in prison Wednesday for swindling banks of funds to keep his business running until its abrupt closure before Coming of Age Day earlier this year. Yoichiro Shinozaki, 56, the former president ...

The Trump administration wants to work with Congress on freeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government control, though it's considering pursuing some changes on its own, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday. "I would like to get them out of conservatorship," Mnuchin said during ...

Brazilian far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday that he would take all action "within the rule of law and democracy" to oppose the governments of Venezuela and Cuba. Bolsonaro, who takes power Jan. 1, is a fervent anti-communist who has praised his country's 1964-1985 ...

The fighter can't fulfill crucial operational requirements of the Air Self-Defense Force.

It's time for Japan to rediscover its values and pressure Myanmar to find justice for the Rohingya

One day next year, and the year after that, someone will ask me in the course of a conversation why I decided to stay in Japan. I know this because it ranks among the top questions I'm asked — by Japanese and non-Japanese alike ...

The Japanese movie business is something like a restaurant where new cooks and waiters arrive as old ones retire or die, but the menu remains much the same, decade after decade. This year, similar to every year going back to the 1980s and beyond, the ...

In the English-speaking world, Japanese TV in 2018 was celebrated for how boring it could get. But it was anything but domestically, where viewers questioned norms and helped nudge forward programs with progressive politics. However, no production from Japan was bigger overseas this year than ...

Penny Marshall, who played an endearingly graceless character with a thick Bronx accent in U.S. television's "Laverne & Shirley" before becoming a pioneering film director with hits including "Big" and "A League of Their Own," has died at 75, her publicist said on Tuesday. Marshall ...

The Japan Sumo Association on Wednesday conducted a special workshop for wrestlers on how to treat their lower-ranked peers, while also announcing several measures it plans to introduce in response to the sport's ongoing problems with violence. According to attendees, JSA chairman Hakkaku appealed to ...

Nippon Paper Industries Co. announced Wednesday its decision to shut down its four-time Asia League-winning ice hockey club in a bid to streamline management and cope with declining revenues. The Japanese paper manufacturer said it will look for other companies willing to underwrite the Nippon ...

The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters finalized their deal for one of the biggest stars of Taiwanese baseball on Wednesday, signing a three-year contract with outfielder Wang Po-jung in Taipei. A two-time Chinese Professional Baseball League batting champion for the Lamigo Monkeys, the 25-year-old Wang is ...

Sumo fans around the globe are spoiled for choice these days when it comes to following their favorite sport. Livestreams, tournament preview shows in English, ever-increasing coverage in mainstream media and a plethora of fan sites and blogs are all available. It's a far cry from ...

When Japan takes on South Africa next September at Kumagaya Rugby Ground the Brave Blossoms will come up against a player in Siya Kolisi whose background and raison d'etre is a world away from their own. The first black player to captain the Springboks in ...

Vissel Kobe on Wednesday announced the signing of World Cup defensive midfielder Hotaru Yamaguchi from neighboring J League first-division side Cerezo Osaka. A fan favorite at Yanmar Stadium, Yamaguchi has played his entire J League career with Cerezo, punctuated by a short stint with German ...

One Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong expects the company's recently-announced deal with U.S. broadcaster Turner Sports will go a long way toward raising the martial arts organization's profile in the U.S. He just doesn't think it stops there. "I think the Turner Sports deal is a major, ...

For the first time in two years, there are no slam-dunk candidates on this winter's ballot for Japan's Baseball Hall of Fame. Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, the longtime second baseman and later third baseman for the Central League's Chunichi Dragons, is best positioned to receive the 75 ...

Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani said Tuesday he hopes to get the chance to face his high school alumnus Yusei Kikuchi should the left-handed pitcher strike a deal with a major league team. "I think the teachers (at our school) are really looking ...