Thanks to Netflix, many are familiar with Japanese clutter-buster Marie Kondo and her soothing remedies for the melancholy brought on by conspicuous consumption. Kondo is already a superstar in Japan, where closet sizes barely keep up with snowballing affluence, but she wasn't the first ...

A man in Chiba Prefecture became irritated last month at how long it was taking for a barrier at a rail crossing to open. Losing patience, he fetched a hand saw from his van and removed the barrier arm so that he could drive ...

Talking to oneself is not respectable. It suggests many things, none of them good: abysmal loneliness, a mental screw loose, a social wire frayed, insanity, dementia. Shukan Post magazine this month cites experts in dementia who see solitary dialogue as a potential premonitory sign ...

Neat squares of Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn will dot the spacious lawn of the Diet Building grounds in a movement not to leave any cultivable land idle. The work on the first plot in the Diet grounds was tackled by 45 attendants ...

Finance Minister Taro Aso called on the Asian Development Bank on Saturday to scale back easy money to countries like China that have developed to the point of no longer needing financial aid. "ADB should hold substantive discussions on a concrete path toward graduation while ...

Membership in organized crime syndicates has been decreasing about 10 percent each year since 2011, according to National Police Agency statistics. The reasons for the decline in membership are complex but we should give credit to the police for using every means at their disposal ...

King Maha Vajiralongkorn — Rama X of Thailand — was crowned Saturday in a dazzling show of pageantry, laced with Hindu and Buddhist ritual, vowing to reign "with righteousness" on behalf of the Thai people. Starting at the auspicious time of 10:09 a.m., the public ...

Matt Pottinger, senior director for Asia at the National Security Council, disclosed the information at a meeting in Washington with family members of abduction victims.

North Korea fired several rounds of unidentified short-range "projectiles" into the Sea of Japan on Saturday, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The North "fired multiple rounds of unidentified projectiles from its east coast town of Wonsan in the northeastern direction between 9:06 ...

About 1,000 people gathered to watch the liftoff.

If pursued, an IPO would give investors in the fund a way to cash out part or all of their stakes.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke for more than an hour on Friday, discussing the possibility of a new nuclear accord, North Korean denuclearization, Ukraine and the political situation in Venezuela, the White House said. "Had a long and very good ...

Emperor Naruhito expressed his hopes for progress toward world peace on Saturday at the Imperial Palace, where tens of thousands of people gathered to witness his first public greeting since ascending to the throne on May 1. "I am deeply blessed and grateful for everyone ...

Researchers have some dating advice for "maximizers" who can't stop comparison shopping.

Studying film in New York, working in TV in Japan, and now living in Berlin, "Yosuke Hosoi says international filmmaking is his calling.

With the growing demand for sake in the United States, American craft brewers are also getting in on the act — and giving Japan's "drink of the gods" their own twist.

Few restaurants capture the Shinsen neighborhood feel better than Hiyori. Looking in from street level, you can tell that it's easygoing and convivial, the sort of place where you drop in for a quick drink, strike up conversation with your neighbors and end up ...

The Daikanyama district continues to mushroom new developments, most of them notable more for their architecture than their carefully curated content. It would be tempting to lump the new Kashiyama building in that category, but there is definitely gastronomic substance to be found along ...

With only one full-time employee, Chiba Prefecture-based Locobeer has kept its local focus for over 20 years, all the while brewing an award-winning and eclectic lineup of beer.

The recently released McDonald's McFlurry Nama Caramel delivers on its promise of caramel flavor and sweetness, but not much else.

Natsu Miyashita's "The Forest of Wool and Steel" is a mesmerizing reading experience, a slow journey in how one young person renders an occupation into a vocation.

Lafcadio Hearn's "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan" is an unmissable book offering a visceral, firsthand experience of a Japan now largely vanished.

A strange and uneven novel, Yukio Mishima's "The Temple of Dawn," the third volume in the "Sea of Fertility" tetralogy, is an elegy to the loss of pureness in the Japanese national spirit.

Amuro Tsuzuki had the best ride of the women's final on Saturday to win the World Surf League's Ichinomiya Chiba Open. At Tsurigasaki Beach, where surfing will introduce itself to the Olympics next year, the 18-year-old Tsuzuki beat 20-year-old compatriot Maiko Miyasaka for her first ...

The Alvark Tokyo scratched and clawed their way to a third-place finish in the brutal East Division during the regular season. Forty-four wins in 60 games was what they accomplished. Indeed, it wasn't easy. On Saturday, the resilient defending champions moved a step closer to achieving ...

Johnny Neumann forged an unconventional path in life. As a prep basketball phenom at Overton High School in Memphis, Tennessee, in the late 1960s, Neumann was recruited by UCLA's John Wooden and Kentucky's Adolph Rupp, coaching titans of powerhouse programs in that era. He had ...

There was sun, rain, a little hail, sun again and finally a blanket of gray clouds at Zozo Marine Stadium on Saturday. Eventually, the Chiba Lotte Marines' bats showed up as well. Katsuya Kakunaka tied the game with an RBI double in the eighth and Seiya ...

The first match of the Reiwa Era for Shonan Bellmare and Nagoya Grampus did indeed feature “beautiful harmony” of a sort, with the two teams sharing a 1-1 result on Saturday after 90 minutes of spirited attacking on both ends at BMW Stadium. A fast-moving ...

Taisuke Miyagawa needs some more time to make his comeback, but the Nihon University Phoenix have returned to college football. Junior quarterback Taiki Hayashi threw a 72-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Junnosuke Kishizawa on the first play of a 42-0 rout of the Nippon ...

Former Japan national team star Keisuke Honda has said he will leave Australia's A-League at the end of this season, Fox Sports reported Friday. "I still don't decide where I will play next year," he was quoted as saying. "But I knew that I would ...