The labor minister has indicated he will not support a drive to ban dress codes that force women to wear high heels at work. Employees' health and safety need to be protected, but work is varied, said Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Takumi Nemoto, who ...

Toyota said U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to slap tariffs on Mexican-made goods could cost its major suppliers $1 billion, highlighting growing concern in the U.S. auto sector.

The prospect of legal action backed by France marks a new headache for the former Nissan CEO, with the country’s finance ministry identifying €11 million in questionable expenses.

A resolution against opposition lawmaker Hodaka Maruyama came after the government verified remarks he made during a visa-free exchange program between Japan and Russia in May were problematic.

Australian police raided the headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corp., the country's public broadcaster, Wednesday in the second high-profile probe into news outlets in 24 hours, amid a crackdown on sensitive leaks. ABC executives said police searched the corporation's offices in Sydney, targeting three journalists ...

Rakuten plans to invest ¥194.6 billion in the system and install around 16,000 base stations nationwide in a bid to attract users away from the country’s three major carriers.

Central banks are resuming their first-responder role as the world economy runs into trouble, even as they lack the firepower they once had at their disposal. With Australia cutting interest rates Tuesday for the first time in three years and India likely to follow Thursday, ...

In a move to better compete with a rival train operator's famous "7-minute miracle" for cleaning a shinkansen between its arrival and departure, Central Japan Railway Co. will shave off two minutes from its own bullet train cleaning work, beginning next spring. JR Central plans ...

Upper House lawmaker Antonio Inoki plans to make a six-day trip to North Korea from June 21 to meet officials there, sources familiar with the plan said Tuesday. The envisioned trip by the wrestler-turned-lawmaker, who has developed close ties with North Korea through sports exchanges, ...

Professional shogi player Yoshiharu Habu earned his 1,434th win at a tournament in Tokyo on Tuesday, setting a record for victories in the traditional Japanese board game. The 48-year-old achieved the feat by beating Takuya Nagase, the 26-year-old Eio title holder, after last month matching ...

An elderly driver and his wife died after their speeding car entered an intersection and hit a vehicle attempting to turn in the city of Fukuoka on Tuesday night, spurring an accident that involved at least four other vehicles, police said. A total of nine ...

In the latest in a spate of increasingly threatening warnings by North Korea, the country's Foreign Ministry has urged the U.S. to "change its current method of calculation" in nuclear negotiations or risk turning last year's Singapore joint declaration into a "mere blank sheet ...

Identity politics is reshaping electoral contests as cultural nationalists push back against the perceived excesses of social progressives.

As Japan moves toward Society 5.0, there is a need for a much more transparent accounting of the possible downsides surrounding this transition, and further consideration of how some of the risks can be minimized.

Whatever intriguing cultural differences we may have as human beings, it would appear that there are certain fundamentals that remain the same wherever you go — eating, sleeping and walking, for example. Yet, if you think about it, even these fundamentals vary radically from place ...

Why are thespians the world over so drawn to "Waiting for Godot," that for many older actors playing one of its leads is as much a matter of professional pride as playing Hamlet is for younger ones? And why, in a poll by the U.K.'s ...

Con artists in movies are typically likeable rogues who prey on the deserving. The title character of Yuichi Hibi's "Erica 38," who is neither "Erica" nor "38," is closer to the unlikable reality: A woman who dupes others with no discernible guilt or remorse, ...

"Children of the Sea" has achieved the impossible. The new animated film from Studio 4°C adapts the manga of the same name by Daisuke Igarashi — whose idiosyncratic, wispy illustrations, with their huge numbers of flowing lines, always seemed impractical, if not downright impossible to ...

Warning: The following interview contains spoilers for Haruki Murakami's latest novel, "Killing Commendatore." The second installment of a two-part interview with novelist Haruki Murakami In "Killing Commendatore," the knife pierces the Commendatore's thin body until it comes out through his back. His white clothes and the ...

Following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that claimed 17 lives in early 2018, Japanese filmmaker Emily Taguchi and her team spent months with members of the grieving community, documenting their recovery and activism in the wake of ...

Warning: The following interview contains spoilers for Haruki Murakami's latest novel, "Killing Commendatore." Best-selling Japanese author Haruki Murakami sat down for an interview with Kyodo News in April on the 40th anniversary of his debut novel "Hear the Wind Sing." Here he speaks about his ...

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks made the most of having former ace Tsuyoshi Wada on the mound for the first time since 2017 in a 5-2 interleague win over the Chunichi Dragons on Wednesday. Wada, who has not pitched since the 2017 Japan Series due to ...

Japan showed plenty of attacking energy but was foiled by Trinidad and Tobago 'keeper Marvin Phillip in Wednesday's scoreless draw. Although fans at Toyota Stadium were denied a national team debut from 18-year-old wunderkind Takefusa Kubo, who was left off the bench, Japan, ranked 26th ...

Surfers and students participated in a trash-picking event at the surfing venue of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday in a bid to raise awareness about ocean plastic pollution in the buildup to the games. Teen surfer Minori Kawai, who is hoping to qualify for ...

Stephen Strasburg didn't turn in a vintage performance. He still did enough — with plenty of help from the Washington Nationals' offense — to reach a career milestone. Strasburg earned his 100th victory, Anthony Rendon homered and drove in five runs and Washington rallied past ...

The IAAF said Tuesday it will fight a Swiss court decision to suspend its rules obliging athletes, including double Olympic champion Caster Semenya, to lower their testosterone levels in order to compete in certain events. Switzerland's highest court on Monday temporarily suspended the IAAF rules ...

Asanoyama is sumo's latest champion. The Takasago stable wrestler's victory in the May tournament makes him the fourth rikishi to win a debut championship in the past six meets — something that hasn't happened in 19 years. Asanoyama is also one of four former amateur sumo ...

I last wrote about FC Tokyo midfielder Takefusa Kubo in this column a little over three months ago, reflecting on his impressive performance against reigning champion Kawasaki Frontale on the J. League's opening day. He's only gotten better, netting four goals and making an additional ...

Playing two straight five-set matches ahead of his French Open quarterfinal against Rafael Nadal was certainly not the ideal preparation for Kei Nishikori. Already exhausted before setting a foot on Court Philippe Chatrier on Tuesday, the Japanese player was handed a ruthless beating by the ...