Facing a critical Upper House election this summer, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to be laying the groundwork for a controversy-free five-month Diet session, which starts Monday.

When the world rang in 2019, it also prepared to usher in the Year of the Boar. But in Sasayama, a picturesque, historical city of about 42,000 nestled in rural Hyogo Prefecture about an hour by train from Osaka Station, the wild boar is ...

Four people were killed Sunday in a fire that burned down a house in the suburbs of Tokyo, according to police. A nearby resident in the city of Hino made an emergency call at around 2:45 a.m. to report the fire at the two-story wooden ...

Germany should shut down all of its coal-fired power plants by 2038 at the latest, a government-appointed commission said on Saturday, proposing at least €40 billion ($45.7 billion) in aid to regions affected by the phase-out. The road map proposals, a hard-won compromise reached early ...

Taliban officials said U.S. negotiators on Saturday agreed on a draft peace deal setting out the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan within 18 months, potentially ending the United States' longest war. The details of the draft were given to Reuters by Taliban sources at ...

The National Institute of Infectious Diseases says mutated influenza viruses resistant to baloxavir marboxil, a new flu drug sold as Xofluza, were detected in patients last month.

The United States on Saturday called on the world to "pick a side" on Venezuela and urged countries to financially disconnect from Nicolas Maduro's government, while European powers signaled they were set to follow Washington in recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the ...

South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo has denounced recent alleged flybys of Japanese patrol planes near South Korean naval vessels as a "serious provocation," according to Yonhap news agency. Jeong made the remarks Saturday during an unscheduled visit to the Republic of Korea Fleet headquarters ...

Supporters see Putin's doomsday rhetoric as a solution to the world's problems.

If liberals want to defeat populists, there is only one route: Regain the trust of the voters that form much of their base.

When visiting the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, one might encounter an impeccably dressed, broad-shouldered individual diligently picking up absent-mindedly discarded bits of trash, returning a stray pamphlet or straightening a sign.

As the end of the financial year draws to a close, now is the season when fashion companies restructure their retail portfolios, with shop closures making way for new shoots to pop up in the following months.

Now 2019 is in full swing, On: Design takes a final look at a few of 2018's end of year noteworthy prizewinners.

Cockle, a tiny shih tzu mix, was originally rescued from the horrid conditions of a breeder and was first featured in The Japan Times' Adopt Me section in May 2017. He has now been rechristened Shishimaru (after the cartoon character from "Ninja Hattori-kun"), and ...

Every January, Just Be Cause takes a look at how things went for the non-Japanese residents of Japan (NJ) in the previous year. While not everything made this year's list — there were the false claims of "foreigner fraud" of the national health insurance system, ...

In a move that shocked fans, popular Japanese boy band Arashi said Sunday that it will go on hiatus at the end of 2020. "Around the middle of June 2017, I told other members that I wanted to end the activities as Arashi for now ...

Figure skating coach Brian Orser said Saturday he is "very confident" two-time Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu will be able to compete at this spring's world championships which will be held on his home soil in Japan. Orser told reporters at the European Figure Skating ...

Rei Ohara finished runner-up behind Ethiopia's Fatuma Sado in Sunday's Osaka Women's Marathon. Ohara covered the 42.195-kilometer course in the western Japan metropolis in 2 hours, 25 minutes, 46 seconds. It was Sado's first victory in the race that starts and finishes at Yanmar Stadium ...

Jawad Williams scored his team's first basket of the game, a 3-pointer from the right corner. It was a good omen for the defending B. League champions. A sign of things to come. Williams finished with a game-high 31 points, including 5 of 8 from 3-point ...

Takeshi Inoue lost a unanimous decision against undefeated Mexican champion Jaime Munguia in his challenge for the WBO super welterweight title on Saturday. The judges scored the fight for the 22-year-old Munguia 120-108, 120-108, 119-109. His win at the Toyota Center in Houston raised his ...

The Emperor's Cup isn't the only prize awarded on the final day of a sumo tournament. The new champion receives an array of trophies and gifts from various organizations and locales around Japan as well as prizes from several foreign governments. Two to four men normally ...

In the heat of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a certain candidate promised his supporters that they would be "tired of winning." It's a sentiment that could just as easily apply to observers of the Samurai Blue after their fifth shaky one-goal win of the ...

Sekiwake Tamawashi became the second-oldest wrestler in sumo's current format to secure his maiden championship, winning the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday, the tourney's 15th and final day. The 34-year-old Mongolian wrapped up his triumph with his 13th victory, beating No. 9 maegashira ...

For newly crowned Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka, the reality of a second Grand Slam title and her impending move into the world No. 1 ranking had yet to sink in on Saturday night. The Osaka-born 21-year-old said she had envisioned her 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, ...

Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi finished third in the competition in Sapporo on Sunday, landing on the ski jumping World Cup podium for the first time in four meets. Kobayashi recorded jumps of 124.5 and 129.5 meters in the large hill individual event to finish with a ...

Japan erupted in joy after Naomi Osaka won her second straight Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on Saturday, with fans taking pride in the feat that guaranteed she will become the country's first world No. 1 single's player in tennis. In Osaka, where ...

Over four months since her U.S. Open win catapulted her into the realms of tennis' elite, Naomi Osaka at last got to have a true moment in the spotlight. She was deprived of such a moment in New York in September, her win having been ...