Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took the stage at the World Economic Forum's 2019 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, where he stressed Japan's commitment to enhancing a free, open and rules-based international order. Flying in from Moscow and appearing in front of the audience ...

Sony Corp. on Wednesday showed off the latest tricks of its signature robotic dog, Aibo, including a new security capability of patrolling inside a house. Teaming up with security company Secom Co. Ltd., the Japanese electronics giant will roll out the new roaming security feature ...

Thailand's king on Wednesday issued a royal decree endorsing the first general election since a 2014 coup, and officials said the long-delayed poll would take place on March 24. The election will be the first in the kingdom since the military toppled the administration of ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s attempt to quickly settle a territorial dispute with Russia appears unlikely to bear fruit, with no substantive progress announced after talks with Vladimir Putin.

The labor ministry releases corrected personal income statistics going back to 2012 after the discovery of sampling irregularities stretching back years that resulted in compensation to millions going unpaid.

Japan logged a goods trade deficit of ¥1.2 trillion ($11 billion) in 2018, government data showed Wednesday, the first red ink in three years as the cost of energy imports surged. Imports rose 9.7 percent from a year earlier to ¥82.69 trillion, outpacing a 4.1 ...

The story of Iwao Hakamada, a former professional boxer and death-row inmate, 82, who continues to battle to clear his name over a 1966 quadruple murder, will be adapted into a manga series, supporters of the convict announced Wednesday. Hakamada was sentenced to hang in ...

The police believe the men belong to a group suspected of similarly smuggling a total of some 4 tons of gold since March 2017, and selling it in Japan.

Weekly tabloid magazine Spa! issued an apology in its latest edition after a list it published in December — which ranked colleges based on the perceived sexual availability of their female students — received heavy criticism and led the publication to re-evaluate its editorial ...

In Tokyo's Ginza, Seoul's Gangnam and Beijing's Chaoyang financial district, a familiar scene plays out almost every night of the work week. As dusk falls, businessmen flock to karaoke and hostess clubs to close deals and build relationships in the liquor-lubricated intimacy of young ...

The leaders of Russia and Japan acknowledged Tuesday that settling a decades-long dispute over four island disputes poses a daunting challenge, but vowed to continue negotiations. The Soviet Union seized Shikotan, Kunashiri and Etorofu and the Habomai islets, known in Japan as the Northern Territories, ...

James Dyson, the billionaire Brexit supporter who revolutionised vacuum cleaners with his bagless technology, is moving his corporate office and tax registration to Singapore from Britain to be closer to his fastest growing markets. The company said the move from Britain was not driven by ...

Greater involvement by families and local communities can stimulate the curiosity of young potential leaders and cultivate their spirit of adventure.

Resolving a dispute from WWII would require giving up territory, but that would be deeply unpopular in Russia.

If you've ever taught English at a Japanese school, you'll likely be familiar with a certain kind of silence — pervasive and tinged with teenage ennui. Authors Alexander Dutson and James Hill want to recommend breaking the ice with philosophy. Their book, "Thinking Experiments," presents ...

I teach a class of 38 at Hamamatsu Higashi Senior High School in Shizuoka Prefecture, and earlier this month I tried out a gender-themed lesson from Alexander Dutson and James Hill's "Thinking Experiments." The class I teach emphasizes essay writing and comprises students who aim ...

Japanese music hasn't made many inroads into Western markets this decade. Save for some brief viral flashes and niche success, the country's artists have mostly been overlooked. However, Sean Miyashiro, founder of media company 88rising, thinks Japan still holds one big advantage. "I think the ...

Love hotels feature in many Japanese films, including those, like Ryuichi Hiroki's "Kabukicho Love Hotel" and Izuru Kumasaka's "Asyl: Park and Love Hotel," that make such establishments a central focus. Typically guests drop their social masks within their walls, while employees get an up-close ...

The concept of parallel universes is a fascinating one. What if there was another you out there, making the big bucks, fighting in a war or writing bad poetry? And what would happen if you and your alternate self were ever to meet up? That's ...

Two Japanese films were among nominations for the 2019 Academy Awards, announced early Tuesday morning. Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Manbiki Kazoku," titled "Shoplifters" overseas, was nominated for the Oscar for best foreign-language film. "Mirai," directed by Mamoru Hosoda, was among the nominees for best animated feature. The last Japanese ...

Netflix has rejected a Quebec government request that it pull footage of a 2013 Canadian rail disaster from its film "Bird Box," while apologizing for any pain it may have caused. In a letter to Quebec Culture Minister Nathalie Roy, Netflix also promised not to ...

Having tasted her first Grand Slam success at the U.S. Open last year, Naomi Osaka says she now has a "weird" feeling of wanting more after progressing to her first Australian Open semifinal on Wednesday. Osaka was just 20 when she became Japan's first Grand ...

Kei Nishikori retired from his quarterfinal against top seed Novak Djokovic on Wednesday, succumbing to an injured thigh as he trailed 6-1, 4-1. Nishikori, ranked ninth in the world, was coming off a five-hour, five-set match on Monday and could not keep up with the ...

Those who doubted the value of Nippon Professional Baseball's video review system a year ago have officially left the building. On Tuesday, NPB announced a few tweaks to a system that got some negative press last year, but was — on the whole — considered ...

South Korea's Son Heung-min said he's blocking out thoughts of being tired as he slogs it out at the Asian Cup on the back of a frantic spell of soccer in recent months. The World Cup, Asian Games and Premier League have all taken their ...

Komusubi Mitakeumi handed yokozuna Hakuho his first loss on Wednesday, returning from injury to pull off the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament's biggest surprise so far. Mitakeumi (6-2-3), who missed three days of competition with an injured left leg, faced the unenviable task of battling ...

"Defense wins championships," as the old saying goes. The Samurai Blue certainly needed plenty of it on Monday after maintaining less than 24 percent possession over 90 minutes of their Asian Cup round of 16 win against Saudi Arabia under the baking sun at Sharjah ...

With a sport as ancient as sumo, trading cards aren't the first things that spring to mind when you think of memorabilia. A person could be forgiven for assuming that if such cards existed, they must be just a recent concession to western tastes. The reality ...

Premier League club Cardiff City's record new signing, Emiliano Sala, is missing presumed dead after a light aircraft he was travelling in disappeared over the English Channel, with a search to find the plane being called off on Tuesday. The Argentine striker, signed on Saturday ...

U.S. Open winner Naomi Osaka kept her hopes of winning back-to-back women's singles Grand Slam titles alive Wednesday when she beat reigning tour finals champion Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-1 in the Australian Open quarterfinals. The win, her third against the Ukrainian in six tries, made ...