Japan successfully launched on Friday morning a low-cost Epsilon rocket carrying seven satellites built by 10 organizations, including a space venture aiming to create artificial shooting stars. The launch by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) of the Epsilon-4 rocket, from Uchinoura Space Center in ...

The transport ministry ordered two major contractors on Friday to temporarily suspend part of their business operations after they were fined last year by a Tokyo court for rigging bids for construction work on the Tokyo-Osaka maglev train project. Under the order based on Japan's ...

Friday’s ruling and similar recent decisions against Japanese firms have drawn protests from Tokyo, and chilled already frosty ties between the two countries.

The rework was required after the government was revealed to have published a monthly labor survey without having collected sufficient data over a 15-year period.

Instead of a worm, Tokyo's early bird commuters could get free soba noodles with tempura if enough of them take part in a new plan to ease congestion on a busy line in the capital. Under the plan, announced this week by Tokyo Metro Co., ...

Japan is among the top 10 countries for effectively tackling the worldwide problem of child sexual abuse but can still do more, according to a groundbreaking report released earlier this week. The Economist Intelligence Unit measured how 40 countries prevent and react to sexual violence ...

Two months after the arrest of its chairman stunned Nissan Motor Co. and the entire global automotive industry, the carmaker is weighing abolishing the role altogether as it steps up reforms to rebuild its governance. Carlos Ghosn's downfall — the auto titan is accused of ...

A ceremony marking the reconstruction of an elementary school — the last public school in Iwate Prefecture heavily damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami to be rebuilt — was held Friday in the city of Rikuzentakata. Kesen Elementary School's new building stands on higher ...

For years, retail currency investors were known as "Mrs. Watanabes," a reference to the metaphorical housewife who invests family savings mostly in foreign exchange. Now, a younger generation of women is looking at a wider asset range in which to park investments. Like their elders, ...

Mathematics teacher and puzzle creator Tetsuya Miyamoto says he's probably watched Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon" at least 20 times. Miyamoto, whose numerical and logical puzzle KenKen has achieved worldwide success over the past decade, was inspired as a teacher by the iconic scene in ...

An array of crises will keep several world leaders away from the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos next week, which takes place against a backdrop of deepening gloom over the global economic and political outlook. Anxieties over trade disputes, fractious international relations, Brexit ...

Hong Kong's government says it needs to build billions of dollars' worth of artificial islands to give the city's glittering skyline room to grow, but critics say developers are hoarding unused land that could solve the problem. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam estimates the ...

Numerous wooden boats believed to have drifted from North Korea to Tohoku's Sea of Japan coast have been left where they washed up as local residents lack the financial resources to dispose of them. Local governments cannot keep pace with the number of abandoned boats, ...

President Donald Trump unveiled a revamped U.S. missile defense strategy on Thursday that called North Korea an ongoing and "extraordinary threat," seven months after he declared the threat posed by Pyongyang had been eliminated. The Missile Defense Review, which also detailed concerns about the burgeoning ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced Kosovo's creation of an army as destabilizing for the Balkans during a visit to Belgrade that underscored his ally Serbia's conflicted approach to joining the European Union. President Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party, which is itself facing anti-government protests, mobilized ...

China's envoy to Canada on Thursday warned Ottawa of possible repercussions if it banned technology firm Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. from supplying equipment to Canadian 5G networks, the latest blast in a deepening bilateral dispute. Ambassador Lu Shaye, speaking at a news conference, did not ...

About two-thirds of patients in Congo's latest Ebola outbreak have been women, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, calling for more focus on gender in disease control and prevention. The outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is the world's second-largest and has infected ...

Dark clouds hang over the future of Japanese universities due to the government's failure to recognize the importance of education and research.

We pay a high price for economic flexibility, but benefit enormously from the rising living standards it produces.

The Madarao Kogen ski resort prides itself on two things: its powder snow ("Madapow!") — enjoying over 10 meters of fresh snow annually — and its tree skiing. It is less well-known than some of its rivals within the prefecture, but that just ...

Need winter sports equipment? The Kanda-Ogawamachi district to the east of Jinbocho Station is far and away the best place to purchase ski and snowboard gear in the capital.

Former New York Knicks forward Cleanthony Early scored a game-high 42 points and grabbed 22 rebounds to guide the visiting Hachioji Bee Trains past the Aomori Wat's on Friday night. The Bee Trains' 82-71 victory snapped their 20-game losing streak that began in early November. Coach ...

Sara Takanashi remained winless but matched her best result of the season with a second-place finish in Friday's ski jumping World Cup competition. The 22-year-old Takanashi, who dominated the women's World Cup circuit last season, scored 203.5 points for her two jumps to edge Austria's ...

Yokozuna Hakuho stayed undefeated to remain in a tie for the lead with rank-and-file wrestler Onosho at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Friday. The sole competing yokozuna following the retirement of Kisenosato and injury withdrawal of Kakuryu, Hakuho continued his quest for an ...

The six annual honbasho (tournaments) are the fulcrum around which the sumo world turns. Ninety days a year sumo wrestlers participate in events whose outcome determines not only how high or low they will be ranked but also what clothes they can wear, whether or ...

Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu and U.S. Open winner Naomi Osaka have been nominated for prestigious honors by the Laureus World Sports Awards, it was announced on Thursday. Hanyu, who came back from a serious ankle injury to become the first man to repeat as ...

Mitchell Marner scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period as the Toronto Maple Leafs snapped Tampa Bay's nine-game home winning streak in a 4-2 win over the Lightning on Thursday. Nazem Kadri and Patrick Marleau had a goal and an assist, Zach Hyman scored ...

Grand champion Kakuryu has pulled out of the ongoing New Year Grand Sumo Tournament because of pain in his right ankle, his stablemaster Izutsu said Friday, the sixth day of the basho. The withdrawal of the 33-year-old leaves just one yokozuna in the 15-day tournament ...

Defender Tsukasa Shiotani scored his first international goal for the win as Japan fought back to beat Uzbekistan 2-1 and clinch the top spot in Group F at the AFC Asian Cup on Thursday night. Striker Yoshinori Muto netted his first Samurai Blue goal in ...