One idea may be allowing female members to remain in the Imperial family even when they marry commoners.

Their numbers are sure to grow with the coming influx of foreign workers.

Officials claim the organizers did not take sufficient fire prevention measures.

An Olympic mega-fan who attended every Summer Games since Tokyo in 1964 has died, just over a year before his home city was set to host its second Olympics. Tokyo businessman Naotoshi Yamada, 92, who died on March 9 from heart failure, was a national ...

“I’m not here to sell a business,” Lionel Desclee tells reporters in Tokyo in his first public remarks since his appointment Friday. “Absolutely not at all.”

Authorities in China have arrested almost 13,000 "terrorists" in the restive far western region of Xinjiang since 2014, the government said Monday, in a lengthy policy paper again defending its controversial Islamic de-radicalization measures. China has faced growing international opprobrium for setting up facilities that ...

A 5-year-old girl from Aichi Prefecture decided to have her waist-length hair cut in January so it can be made into wigs for children who have suffered hair loss from cancer or other illnesses. Momoko Kanda was prompted to donate her hair, which had never ...

Exports fell in February for the third straight month, a sign the trade-reliant economy is under growing strain and suggesting that the Bank of Japan might eventually be forced to offer more stimulus to temper the effects of slowing external demand and trade friction. Slower ...

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday she would announce new gun laws within days, after at least 50 people were killed in mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with ...

More companies in Japan are turning to shared office space to shorten employees' commuting times and offer them a better work-life balance. Shared spaces are also expected to foster new businesses by providing budding entrepreneurs chances to network with people from different industries and come ...

As Beijing grows wary of pro-independence groups seeking to forge closer ties in Hong Kong and Taiwan, activists say they are coming under increased surveillance and harassment from pro-China media outlets and unofficial "operatives." Visits to Taiwan in January by several Hong Kong activists including ...

Is it time for the U.S. to reintroduce the 'fairness doctrine' to prevent the media from broadcasting extreme views?

Finance Minister Taro Aso bought Haruhiko Kuroda time to reach that elusive 2 percent inflation target, but this isn't where the BOJ head wants to be.

Criticism of Modern Monetary Theory makes assumptions that are off the mark.

A good way to start a conversation in Japanese at this time of year is to talk about allergies and hay fever in particular. Learning the vocabulary for sore eyes and runny noses can also help at your local pharmacy.

A word that indicates hardship, agony and pain, you're most likely to hear it at this time of year because of spring allergies or hangovers from cherry blossom parties.

Learn new words in this story about a teen who changed his name — including the word he no longer wanted to be associated with.

Seven-Eleven has announced it will test shorter operating hours at some of its stores this month. Will this cause a problem for customers?

For more than 30 years, Akio Sakurai has been obsessed with studying and recreating the minute details of every recorded performance of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Name the date and the place of the concert and Sakurai can play the song as Page did ...

Passionate fandom has become the domain of pop music. Or, at least, that's the image that has developed globally over the past decade, as intense groups of diverse people throw their support behind a wide range of mainstream acts, from Beyonce to BTS. Rock, ...

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy claimed his maiden title at The Players Championship on Sunday, while Japan's Hideki Matsuyama earned his third top-10 finish of the season. Matsuyama, who started the day in 22nd place, made an eagle, four birdies and a bogey in a final-round ...

New entrants into the world of sumo generally fall into three groups. Most are recent junior high school graduates with little to no previous sumo experience. That category has a fairly high washout rate, as the reality of sumo's harsh lifestyle normally comes as a shock ...

Yokozuna Hakuho earned his ninth straight win on Monday and remained the only undefeated wrestler at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament. In the final bout at Edion Arena Osaka, Hakuho took on komusubi Mitakeumi (3-6), who earned his first top-division title last July in Nagoya ...

Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball aren't really so different on the field. Everyone is playing the same game and the rules are more or less the same, with some exceptions. But as the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics found out during their exhibitions ...

Japanese forward Junya Ito scored his debut goal in the Belgian first division Sunday as league leaders Genk qualified for the championship playoffs with a 3-3 draw at Zulte Waregem. After setting up a 19th-minute equalizer for Ruslan Malinovskiy to erase an early 1-0 deficit, ...

Double Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu skipped his opening practice Monday at the World Figure Skating Championships, with compatriots Shoma Uno and Keiji Tanaka also no-shows at the morning session. The Pyeongchang and Sochi Olympic Games men's gold medalist was scheduled for an 8:05 a.m. skate ...

After a season in which it reeled off 17 straight wins in conference play, the Gonzaga University men's basketball team, led by Japan's NBA hopeful Rui Hachimura, was handed the top seed in the West Region of the NCAA tournament. Sunday's announcement gave Gonzaga its ...

Khris Davis' reputation for hitting home runs preceded him on the Oakland Athletics' trip to Japan, even among some of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters' own sluggers. The Oakland star showed the Fighters what the fuss was all about in his club's final game before ...

Dominic Thiem edged error-prone Roger Federer 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to win the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday, denying Federer a record sixth title in the desert. Thiem trailed 4-3 and 5-4 in the third set before breaking Federer with a forehand winner to go up ...

Japanese ski jumper Ryoyu Kobayashi soared to his 19th podium of the season when he finished runner-up to Slovenian teenager Domen Prevc in a flying hill World Cup event in Norway on Sunday. While 19-year-old Prevc earned 454.7 points behind jumps of 241 and 232.5 ...

New Zealand's Canterbury Crusaders rugby team said they would consult with the Muslim community about a potential change of name after criticism following Friday's massacre at two mosques in their home city of Christchurch. The name of the reigning Super Rugby champions has been questioned ...