On March 21, a female student at the Akita University of Art in Araya Okawamachi, Akita Prefecture, was slated to give a valedictory speech at the college's graduation ceremony. According to the Asahi Shimbun on March 31, the unnamed woman wanted to talk partly ...

Japan's weekly magazines do not consider their primary role to be reporting cheery news. It would be more correct to say their practice is to proceed from a pessimistic perspective and then, after readying readers to rude realities, encourage searches for sustenance and survival, ...

Social media has been awash with posts following the public unveiling of Japan’s new era name, Reiwa, at the beginning of April. The announcement was almost the complete opposite of an April Fools’ Day joke and yet every detail has been picked apart online, ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering forgoing bilateral talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka in June.

The Supreme Court rejects an appeal filed by lawyers representing former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn against his detention following his latest arrest.

For most people, reaching 100 would be reason enough to put one's feet up and take things easy, but Lisel Heise has other ideas. The German centenarian, a former sports teacher, has started a new chapter in her life by running for election to the ...

U.S. prosecutors have just under two months to present British authorities with a final and detailed criminal case to justify the possible extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a U.S. government official said on Friday. The official, who asked for anonymity when discussing the case, ...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he is willing to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump for a third time for nuclear talks — if Washington comes to the table with the "correct posture" — but laid down a year-end deadline "for a ...

Tokyo police have arrested a man for allegedly robbing over 100 taxis throughout Japan by asking for change from drivers before paying and then fleeing with the money. The police said Friday that Ryusei Tamayose, a 23-year-old unemployed man with no fixed address, is suspected ...

A controversial statue erected close to the Japanese Consulate in Busan to symbolize Korean laborers forcibly taken to Japan during the colonial era is removed.

Finance chiefs of the Group of 20 major economies affirm the need to take “timely” policy action to better cope with downside risks in the global economy.

Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has said he will visit China from April 24 to 29 as a special envoy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Nikai is scheduled to give a speech at an international conference in Beijing on China's "Belt ...

Japanese researchers made a significant contribution to an international team whose photographs allowed the first looks at a distant black hole.

A man in a wheelchair-type electric scooter lit his jacket on fire outside the White House fence on Friday and was hospitalized with what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries, the U.S. Secret Service said. Secret Service officers responded to the incident on the north ...

Theresa May will stay on as U.K. prime minister to get Brexit done, even if that means remaining in the job until the end of October, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said Friday. May promised to step aside once the divorce agreement has been ...

Which is just a dramatic way of saying that you could live longer if you ate more healthy foods.

Ever since he was a young chef in his early 20s, Michimasa Nakamura has wanted to shake things up in the world of sushi. Although he cherished its craftsmanship and traditions, he felt constrained by the field's conservative way of thinking, especially in Japan, where ...

Finding artistic freedom in New York, Osaka-born artist finds new expressions for Japanese-style painting.

Vaughan Allison on why his blood is black, his best concert memory and the most underrated area in Tokyo.

Through its No Death to Coffee project, which launched in 2018, Single O and its Tokyo-based outpost, Single O Japan, hope to ensure there will always be enough coffee to drink sustainably in the future.

Tableaux, a Daikanyama restaurant of over two decades, is revitalizing itself with American chef Rachel Dow and her refined take on "new American" cuisine.

To herald the end of the Heisei Era (1989-2019), Lawson is bringing back some retro flavors of its signature Kara-age Kun fried chicken, like corn pottage, and seaweed and salt.

"Zen: The Art of Simple Living" is a profoundly beautiful work, easy to read, encouraging deep thought and reflection, but most importantly, acting as a practical guide to Zen action.

"Contraceptive Diplomacy" by Aiko Takeuchi-Demirci's illuminates the world of Margaret Sanger and Japanese birth control activists such as Shizue Ishimoto, tracing a history that still shapes women's health rights to this day.

"Family Traits: The Fantastic Bestiary of a Father and his Sons" is a collection of watercolor illustrations by Thomas Romain, a Tokyo-based animator, and his sons' whimsical drawings that inspired them.

The ninth film in the original "Star Wars" saga will be called "The Rise of Skywalker," and will feature the return of the evil Emperor Palpatine to threaten the young heroine Rey and the Resistance, Walt Disney Co. revealed Friday. Disney showed fans attending the ...

Hiroki Tokoda went the distance and tossed his first pro complete-game victory on Saturday as the Hiroshima Carp snapped a five-game losing streak with a 6-1 win over the Yokohama BayStars. Tokoda (2-1) fanned six and allowed four hits and a run over nine innings ...

Yuki Togashi didn't have his best shooting game on Saturday. It wasn't even close to his best game. But he kept shooting, never losing faith in his shot. The Jets star's confidence in his skills helped his team triumph in a down-to-the-wire game against the reigning champion ...

Fans of conservative, defensive soccer would have done well to steer clear of Nissan Stadium on Saturday night. That left plenty of room for everyone else to enjoy the end-to-end action between two offensive-minded sides as Yokohama F. Marinos and Nagoya Grampus battled to a ...

A strong performance by Bradie Tennell helped the United States win the World Team Trophy on Saturday at Marine Messe. The U.S. captured the biennial competition for the fourth time with a total score of 117 points. Japan was second with 104, while Russia finished ...

With 500 days to go until the 2020 Paralympic Games, International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons says Tokyo organizers have made great strides but must remain focused on the goal to ensure the event lives up to its promise. Tokyo hit the 500-day Paralympic Games' ...

The organizing committee of the Tokyo Games on Saturday unveiled a set of pictograms to be used to represent the different Paralympic sports, as Japan marked 500 days to go until the games. Organizers revealed the 23 pictograms created by a team led by graphic ...

Gonzaga's Rui Hachimura was named the recipient of the Julius Erving Award as the best small forward in the nation at the College Basketball Awards on Friday night in Los Angeles. The top honors went to Duke forward Zion Williamson, who won the John R. ...