The biggest train and subway lines in and around Tokyo will adopt extended operating hours for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, games organizers said Friday. For each day during the games, the major lines, including the Yamanote Line that encircles central Tokyo, will run past 2 ...

As confidence in free trade appears to be waning mainly due to U.S. foreign policy and Brexit, international business leaders said Friday that stronger cross-border cooperation is needed more than ever to prevent further damage to the principles of globalization. "Our message is very clear. ...

Acting on its aim to make the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics "the most innovative in history," organizers on Friday unveiled robots that will be deployed to assist spectators and staff during the games. The robots shown to reporters are to be used as part ...

Prince Hisahito, the 12-year-old grandson of Emperor Akihito and soon-to-be second-in-line to the throne, graduated Friday from an elementary school affiliated with Ochanomizu University in Tokyo. The prince will become second-in-line to the Chrysanthemum Throne after the 85-year-old Emperor abdicates at the end of next ...

Mark Karpeles gets a suspended term for data manipulation related to the scandalous disappearance of 850,000 bitcoins in 2014 but is found not guilty of embezzlement.

Google LLC said Thursday that a team led by engineer Emma Haruka Iwao from Japan has broken a Guinness World Record by calculating pi to the 31.4 trillionth digit, around 9 trillion more than the previous record set in 2016. The accomplishment, announced on the ...

A district court on Friday rejected a plea by residents to halt a reactor at the Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture. The decision by the Iwakuni branch of the Yamaguchi District Court is in line with rulings made by other regional courts and ...

Former Osaka municipal assemblyman Akira Yanagimoto of the Liberal Democratic Party has been tapped to run against Ichiro Matsui, the governor of Osaka Prefecture and head of Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka), in next month's Osaka mayoral race, with the focus on whether ...

Trading house Itochu Corp. said Friday it has increased its stake in major sportswear-maker Descente Ltd. to 40 percent, succeeding in what, for Japan, was a rare hostile takeover bid. The two firms with over 50 years of business ties were drawn into a takeover ...

The cryptocurrency boom appears to be alive and well for Binance, the world's largest digital-asset exchange by trading volume. One of the hottest coins right now is the Malta-based exchange's eponymous token, Binance Coin, which has more than tripled in value in the last three ...

The Bank of Japan said Friday that an economic slowdown in China and some other countries is beginning to weigh on exports and production at home. After a two-day meeting, the central bank's board decided to maintain its monetary policy of asset purchases and ultralow ...

It has been six decades since the Dalai Lama fled into exile, but in the isolated mountain hamlet where he was born, he remains very much on the minds of devotees and Chinese authorities alike. Lying on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan plateau in ...

The Fukushima Prefectural Board of Education will reduce its number of prefecture-run high schools by 15 by the end of fiscal 2023 as the region continues to struggle with a dwindling number of students due to a declining birthrate. The mergers will be implemented over ...

Acting defense chief Patrick Shanahan says reports that Washington might demand Japan and other allies pay as much as five times more for hosting U.S. troops are “erroneous.”

Despite there being a long history of bug-eating in rural parts of Japan, for the average consumer nowadays stomaching creepy-crawlies is too much to ask. But like many edible insect ventures springing up overseas, one Kyoto startup has been bitten by the same bug and ...

President Tsunekazu Takeda, who led Japan’s bid for the 2020 Olympics, is expected to retire amid a French investigation into alleged bribes involving the selection process.

The annual session of China's parliament ended Friday with stronger information control and a consideration toward the United States, which has been putting pressure on Beijing to rectify its alleged unfair trade practices. The National People's Congress kicked off on March 5 at a time ...

The top U.S. general said on Thursday that the Chinese military was benefiting from the work Alphabet Inc.'s Google was doing in China, where the technology giant has long sought to have a bigger presence. "The work that Google is doing in China is indirectly ...

Microsoft Corp. on Thursday said it is combining elements of its video gaming and Azure cloud computing businesses to court game developers, an action designed to use the strength of its XBox gaming franchise to gain ground on cloud services leader Amazon.com. Microsoft said it ...

A short delay before the U.K. leaves the EU won't work — Brexit should be canceled.

The budget proposal is riddled with gimmicks and unrealistic assumptions.

Which are the best museums to visit when in Tokyo? Read on to find our favorite galleries and exhibition spaces, exhibiting everything from fine art to the weird and the wonderful.

After living in Japan for a while you start to notice certain personality types popping up in the international community, particularly among English teachers. There's the "weeaboo," a fairly recent character; the paripi (party people), who hit every nomikai (drinking party); and the gaijin (foreigner) ...

On a Friday night at a downtown Tokyo television studio, 12 teen models with cutesy nicknames like "Ayamin" and "Kyokyo" are waiting nervously to find out who has won coveted spots on the cover of Popteen magazine, a Japanese fashion bible. The girls, sporting a ...

Police in South Korea questioned two K-pop stars and two other singers resigned on Thursday, as accusations of sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape rocked the music industry and hit entertainment stocks. The blame game triggered by accusations against the boyish stars who ...

There are currently 46 heya (stables) in sumo. All bear the name of their stablemaster. Every wrestler, referee, ring announcer, hairdresser, etc., belongs to a heya. The vast majority live in the building that houses that stable. Some like Nishiiwa Beya have been around for just over ...

The winner of the Sunwolves' Super Rugby clash with the Queensland Reds on Saturday could well be determined by which of the teams' youngest players comes out on top. Ben Gunter, who still holds the record as the Top League's youngest ever player, makes his ...

Yokozuna Hakuho maintained his flawless record at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Friday, as the ranks of unbeaten wrestlers were whittled down to just two. The Mongolian superstar overcame winless No. 3 maegashira Nishikigi by frontal force out in the penultimate bout on Day ...

Ryoyu Kobayashi scored his 12th victory on the 2018-19 World Cup circuit on Thursday, a feat only three men had achieved before him. The 22-year-old became the first non-European to win the men's ski jumping World Cup overall title on Sunday, and in January completed ...