“It was unexpected, but I’m especially happy that they used ‘wa’ in the name,” says an Osaka shopkeeper.

Business confidence turns sour on slowdowns in overseas economies.

This year's recruits went to work at their new jobs for the first time Monday, the start of fiscal 2019 and the beginning of stricter overtime restrictions. "I would like (this ministry) to lead Japan's social security and working style," Health, Labor and Welfare Minister ...

When Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga unveiled that Reiwa would be the name of Japan's next Imperial era on Monday, it was a moment that finally put an end to months of fierce media competition to get the scoop before the official announcement. The name ...

Last September, two months before his arrest in Tokyo, then-Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn and the carmaker's chief executive officer considered bringing in a new partner for the alliance with Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., according to an email. At the time, Ghosn ...

Lawson Inc. will introduce self-checkout systems in all 14,000 of its convenience stores by October to cope with Japan's chronic labor shortage and ease the burden on existing employees, company sources said Monday. Customers across the nation will process their purchases by scanning barcodes themselves ...

Some 200 Chinese ships have been spotted near the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island in the South China Sea since the start of the year, triggering alarm in the Philippine military. Philippine soldiers will continue their patrols in the disputed area, military chief Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. ...

Twitter erupted in a flood of posts Monday morning as the Japanese government revealed the country's new era name, Reiwa 令和, which is set to go into effect starting May 1. Keywords and hashtags related to the revelation captured most of the top trending ...

The new head of the nation's main banking lobby is warning the Bank of Japan against deepening negative interest rates, signaling that such a move could spur risky investment and put further pressure on lenders' profits. "It will be a quite difficult option to take," ...

Seoul began a unilateral effort to excavate Korean War remains along the border Monday as silence from Pyongyang stymied a previously agreed joint operation with the North. The joint excavation along the Demilitarized Zone of remains from the 1950-53 conflict was part of a military ...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffered a severe setback as his ruling AK Party lost control of the capital, Ankara, for the first time in a local election and he appeared to concede defeat in the country's largest city, Istanbul. Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish ...

With the Olympics — and an anticipated influx of even more foreign tourists — a little more than a year away, local companies are finding more ways to get in on the act of showcasing Japanese know-how and enhancing the overall experience of visitors. Take ...

Idemitsu Kosan Co., Japan's second-largest oil wholesaler, and fourth-ranked Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. merged Monday, creating a new oil giant to better compete in increasingly challenging market conditions amid falling demand for gasoline. The new company, with combined sales of over ¥5 trillion, is set ...

The Reiwa Era is poised to become a great one for Japan.

Tokyo needs a strategic thinker/planner like the late Andrew W. Marshall and politicians who listen to his or her analyses.

The particles まで and さえ both emphasize degree, the former expressing the limits of time, space, quantity and so on. By attaching it to a noun (X), the construction Xまで can translate to “until X”

Baseball star Ichiro Suzuki's retirement announcement on March 21 shocked fans and friends across the country, who say they admire his achievements.

In the beginning there was the word. More precisely, the prefix. When the Heisei Era officially started, on Jan. 8, 1989, Japan's economy was still merrily bubbling along. That must have been one reason for the popularity of 超 (chō, hyper-). The prefix itself ...

Simona Halep cut the gap with world No.1 Naomi Osaka in the WTA rankings on Monday after the Romanian made the semi-finals at the Miami Open last week. French Open champion Halep, who last held the top spot in January, would have returned to the ...

It was only one event. And there was no guarantee of continued success for a long time into the future. Even so, ONE Championship's first-ever event in Japan managed to instill confidence that the organization is on the right path for further success in the ...

Christian Yelich led the way for the Milwaukee Brewers, from his first swing to the very last one of the game. Making it a pretty typical day for the reigning NL MVP. Yelich hit his fourth homer in the first inning and a two-run double in ...

Nasa Hataoka won the Kia Classic on Sunday at Aviara Golf Club for her third win in her last 16 LPGA Tour starts. The 20-year-old closed with a 5-under 67 for a three-stroke victory over playing partner Inbee Park, top-ranked Park Sung-hyun, Ko Jin-young, Azahara ...