Princess Kako, the youngest daughter of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, is planning to visit Austria and Hungary in September in her first official overseas trip, the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday. The 24-year-old princess is expected to attend memorial events and also ...

District courts in Tokyo and seven other cities will begin using web meetings in February 2020 to connect judges and lawyers online to help make necessary preparations for lawsuits easier, according to judicial sources. The new system is designed to allow those involved in civil ...

The government on Thursday started soliciting public comments over its plan to allow foreign nationals who come to Japan under the government-sponsored Technical Intern Training Program to work directly for hotels for up to five years, officials said. Those workers could eventually apply for a ...

Orion Breweries Ltd. launched its first lineup of canned chūhai — a drink typically made of shōchū or vodka mixed with a nonalcholic beverage — on Tuesday, seeking to win over young drinkers who are increasingly drawn to the beverages and away from beer. Three ...

Line has about 80 million active users in Japan, of which about 32 million are registered Line Pay users, according to the firm.

The U.S. president will refrain from imposing tariffs for up to six months as trade negotiations with both parties are underway.

A prototype of Japan's new shinkansen conducted a trial early Thursday, reaching 320 kilometers per hour, the maximum speed for existing shinkansen models. The prototype, dubbed ALFA-X, is designed to travel at 360 kph when it is put into service by the spring of 2031, ...

Nissan Motor Co. plans to keep Hiroto Saikawa as its CEO and newly appoint Thierry Bollore, CEO of its alliance partner Renault SA, to its board, pending shareholder approval in June, sources said Thursday. In a management revamp following the arrest of former Chairman Carlos ...

A woman pleaded guilty Thursday to complicity in her husband's assaults on their 10-year-old daughter, who died in January, as her trial began in a case that has attracted national attention. Nagisa Kurihara, 32, is suspected of failing to stop her husband, Yuichiro Kurihara, 41, ...

A report released by a global union federation Wednesday demanded better conditions for laborers working on the construction of Tokyo Games facilities after several "alarming" cases of suspected labor violations were uncovered. The report from Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), titled "The Dark Side ...

Japan on Thursday expressed concern about a tense standoff between Iran and the United States over an international nuclear deal and offered to work with Tehran to defuse tension in the Middle East. "We are concerned that the situation in the Middle East is getting ...

A few years ago, Chinese tourists engaged in bakugai (explosive shopping spree) in Tokyo's Ginza district made headlines. But that seems to be a thing of the past, as more Chinese tourists now seek services and experiences unique to Japan. And one of the most ...

One in every three people in the country is expected to be 65 or older in 2025, government data shows.

A 56-year-old man arrested on suspicion of placing knives on Prince Hisahito's desk in Tokyo last month will undergo a psychiatric examination to see whether he is mentally competent to take responsibility for his actions, sources close to the matter said Thursday. A court has ...

The world's food production is in jeopardy because the fertile layer of soil that people depend on to plant crops is being eroded by human activities, scientists said Wednesday. Climate change is likely to make it worse even as demand from a growing population is ...

A major red light district in Osaka will be closed during the Group of 20 summit in late June, the first such occurrence in 30 years, a local restaurant association said Thursday. All 159 members of the Tobita Shinchi association will not operate during the ...

The Philippines is withdrawing top diplomats from Canada after Ottawa missed a deadline to take back 69 shipping containers full of trash, the latest move in a long-running row stoked by threats from Manila's outspoken president. Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte threatened Canada with war ...

Don't count on a summer heat wave to rescue Asia's liquefied natural gas prices. Weather forecasts signal lackluster demand in the largest importing region, raising prospects a global glut will deepen. Temperatures across North Asia this summer will be cooler than a year ago, according ...

Increasingly complex, growing and related risks, from global warming to pollution and epidemics, threaten human survival if left to escalate, the United Nations warned on Wednesday. A biennial assessment report on how the world is dealing with disasters said the past could no longer be ...

Organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games announced plans Wednesday to launch robots from the "Mobile Suit Gundam" anime series into space aboard a satellite that will broadcast messages of support to athletes. In the project, conducted in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace ...

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has expanded his lead over a wide field of candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination by 5 percentage points since he entered the race in late April, according to a monthly Reuters/Ipsos poll. The poll released on Wednesday ...

To improve bilateral relations, Tokyo and Seoul have to take advantage of open doors to cooperation.

Japan's role as a global bridge-builder facilitating dialogue between international order and revisionist forces has never been more necessary.

Netflix is ramping up its production of original Japanese content, including anime and live-action dramas, to please both domestic and overseas subscribers. But arguably its most important export is "Terrace House," the reality show that films three men and three women living together under ...

A heart-warming tale about an elderly woman's struggles with dementia as seen from the perspective of her young grandson, "Grandma is Okay" ("Baba wa, Daijobu") is the latest movie by Yokohama-born filmmaker Jacky Woo. Based on Akiko Kusunoki's picture book of the same name, it ...

For a second, Shota Hiranuma thought he might've hit the first home run of his pro career. He came up a few centimeters short, but being responsible for the run that helped give his team a win isn't a bad consolation prize. Hiranuma broke a scoreless ...

For sure, the game the Chiba Jets Funabashi lost on Saturday was a big one. Once again, they failed to win their last game, falling to the Alvark Tokyo in the B. League Championship final in Yokohama for the second straight season. But star point guard ...

Yokozuna Kakuryu and sekiwake Tochinoshin each won on Day 5 of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament on Thursday to retain their share of the lead. Kakuryu overcame a spirited but short-lived effort from Bulgarian komusubi Aoiyama in the final bout at Ryogoku Kokugikan, whileTochinoshin bested ...

Scotland fullback Stuart Hogg admits the autumn heat in Japan could hamper his team's chances of claiming a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal spot at the host nation's expense later this year. But he also warns that the Scots are quick learners. "We played Japan in 2016 ...

One of the most surprising aspects of sumo for first-time watchers is the sheer violence of the sport. Notions of cuddly pandas gently belly bouncing each other out of the ring get blown away when the first thunderclap of a harite (roundhouse head slap) echoes ...

New ozeki Takakeisho has pulled out of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament due to a right-knee injury, the Japan Sumo Association said Thursday. The 22-year-old wrestler, promoted to the sport's second-highest rank for the 15-day tournament which began Sunday at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan, sustained the ...