Emperor Akihito spoke of his hopes for world peace in the final New Year’s address of his reign, with a record 154,800 well-wishers visiting the Imperial Palace on Wednesday.

While it is not known which events will hold back global commerce, professional economic soothsayers appear in agreement that growing risks and uncertainty will slow Japan’s growth.

Japan’s 2019 political calendar is shaping up to be a busy year with Emperor Akihito’s historic abdication at the end of April and elections in mid-April and over the summer.

Three people were found dead Wednesday after an early morning fire engulfed a house on the island of Sado and spread to about 15 buildings in the neighborhood, police said. The fire broke out about 3:45 a.m. at the house of Kohei Ikeda, 75, and ...

2019 will be a big year for Japanese diplomats and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with a number of major events that will be attended by hundreds of top leaders and VIPs from across the globe. These include the Group of 20 summit in Osaka on ...

The death toll from landslides and devastating floods in the central Philippines triggered by a tropical depression climbed to 85, officials said on Wednesday, and 20 people were missing as rescuers slowly reached cut-off communities. The casualties, including young children, were mostly killed when their ...

Japan's relations with South Korea are unlikely to see a significant improvement in 2019, as tensions over wartime issues have reared up in recent months and inflamed passions on both sides of the Sea of Japan. In a fresh sign of friction, the Japanese government ...

Italy's Uffizi Galleries called on Germany on Tuesday to return a still-life painting by the Dutch master Jan van Huysum, which was looted by retreating Nazi troops in World War II. "Germany has a moral duty to return this painting to our museum," said Uffizi ...

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said there is plenty more to be done on the populist agenda, including cutting the pay of the nation's lawmakers. "We are only at the end of the beginning," Di Maio said in a New Year's Day message ...

Right-wing nationalist Jair Bolsonaro, who has vowed to crack down on political corruption, violent crime and ignite a moribund economy with deregulation and fiscal discipline, was sworn in as Brazil's president on Tuesday. The former army captain and seven-term fringe congressman rode a wave of ...

The most critical message that needs to be heard in Japan is that gender equality is an economic issue that helps both men and women live better lives.

The impeachment of Donald Trump is possible, but actually removing him from office is unlikely.

According to Katsuyasu Ito, chef and owner of L'Aureole Tanohata, Hidemitsu Kikuchi, is the last person producing imo no kona (potato flour) commercially in Japan. Working in Tanohata, a tiny village on the Sanriku coast of northeastern Iwate Prefecture, Kikuchi should be heartily applauded for ...

A botched assassination attempt in 1891 presents Japan's fledgling penal code with an existential dilemma.

Ko Ishikawa plays the sho, a bamboo free-reed mouth harp that first came to Japan from China in the Nara Period (710-794). Despite what you might expect, however, the way he plays the instrument isn't conventionally traditional. The sho is used in gagaku, a style ...

What is the future of films in Japan? Bigger spectacles backed by media conglomerates? Maybe at the top end of the industry. At the lower end, though, indie filmmakers have to find other ways to draw audiences and finance films. Crowdfunding helps some get ...

Ryoyu Kobayashi claimed his third straight, and sixth overall, World Cup title Tuesday after sweeping the German legs of the 67th edition of the Four Hills Tournament. Kobayashi recorded jumps of 136.5 and 133 meters at the large hill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen to top the 50-man ...

Toyo University took the lead in the Tokyo-Hakone collegiate ekiden road relay on Wednesday after winning the race's first leg for the second year in a row. Five runners from Toyo University, the 2014 champion and overall runner-up for the past three years, finished the ...

Although Yusei Kikuchi is arriving in the major leagues with less fanfare than Shohei Ohtani did a year ago, the lefty could — like Ohtani did — help change people's minds about Japanese pitching. Kikuchi, who has reportedly reached a deal with the Seattle Mariners, ...

Was it a one-night spectacle? Or was it a freak show? The exhibition match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and young Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa ended up in a lopsided win by the American in Monday's year-end event by Japanese mixed martial arts promoter Rizin. "It's all ...

It's that time once again to make predictions, and state hopes and wishes for the year ahead in sumo. A common refrain over the past decade or so has been the expressing of a desire to see a scandal-free year in the sport. Ask almost any ...

Yokohama F. Marinos midfielder Kosuke Nakamachi announced on Wednesday his intent to continue his career in Zambia after turning down a two-year contract extension with the J. League first division side. The 33-year-old, who joined Marinos in 2012, revealed his decision in a post to ...