A new anti-establishment group led by actor-turned-politician Taro Yamamoto made a surprisingly strong showing in the Upper House election Sunday, reflecting a sense of stagnation and growing public frustration with vested interests in the country. Reiwa Shinsengumi candidates Yasuhiko Funago, 61, who has Lou Gehrig's ...

The private-public initiative combines telecommuting, extra trains and staggered work hours to see if Tokyo’s notorious congestion can be reduced for the Olympics.

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton met with key diplomatic and security officials in Tokyo on Monday amid Washington's push to build a multinational force to safeguard commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Bolton held separate meetings with Foreign Minister Taro Kono, Defense Minister ...

In a post-election news conference, Abe said his longtime goal isn’t out of reach and he will to try to compromise with those working against him.

The joke’s on them: After internal pushback, the top execs at influential Yoshimoto Kogyo step in to take the punishment instead of the comedians.

Undaunted by the failure to capture a two-thirds supermajority in the upper chamber, Abe pushes on with his goal to rewrite the charter, with an eye on Article 9.

Looking for that perfect recipe, or a new flavor combination that delights the senses? Increasingly, players in the food industry are embracing artificial intelligence to better understand the dynamics of flavor, aroma and other factors that go into making a food product a success. Earlier this ...

Despite a record number of women winning seats in Sunday's Upper House election, some female voters have expressed doubts about the government's commitment to empowering women. In Sunday's election 28 women won seats, matching the figure seen in the previous Upper House election in 2016 ...

Business leaders welcomed the ruling coalition's victory in Sunday's Upper House election, voicing hope that the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will facilitate progress in improving social security programs and restoring fiscal health. "In this fall's extraordinary Diet session, to sweep away worries about ...

At a time when younger people drive less and hail more rides, while SUVs reign supreme thanks to low gas prices, Nissan Motor Co. is betting on the humble sedan. Over the past few decades, the auto industry, especially in North America, has been ditching ...

South Korea's exports, a bellwether for global trade, appear set for an eighth straight monthly decline as trade disputes take a toll on global demand. Exports during the first 20 days of July fell 14 percent from a year earlier, data from the Korea Customs ...

This is the fourth in a series of reports on Japan's energy policy. A searing heat wave in Europe, along with a severe drought in India and heavy rainstorms in Kyushu. These highlight the worry over how severe the problems of climate change have become. ...

Japan's largest clothing maker Fast Retailing Co. issued an apology on its Korean website for remarks that angered Korean customers amid the trade spat between Japan and South Korea. At its earnings news conference on July 11, the Uniqlo owner's chief financial officer Takeshi Okazaki ...

Miniature remote controlled cars have proved to be a crowd pleaser at track and field throwing events, but for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Toyota Motor Corp. is upping the game with a hi-tech way to fetch javelins and hammers: pint-sized, self-driving AI robot cars. The ...

Under the thin veneer of supposedly free elections, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un cast his ballot Sunday in nationwide polls to choose new deputies to the country's local assemblies, state-run media has reported. The official Korean Central News Agency said Monday that Kim had ...

Hong Kong's opposition Democratic Party is investigating attacks by suspected triad gangsters on train passengers on Sunday, after a night of violence opened new fronts in the political crisis now deepening across the city. Screams rang out when men, clad in white T-shirts and some ...

China will be able to place armed forces at a Cambodian naval base under a secret agreement the two nations have reached, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The agreement, reached this spring but not made public, gives China exclusive access to part of Cambodia's ...

Boris Johnson, favored to become Britain's new prime minister, said on Sunday the country could reach a free trade deal to leave the European Union that would remove the need for one of the more problematic parts of a previous agreement. In his weekly column ...

To many voters, the election was a chance to endorse or repudiate the Abe administration’s performance since he returned to power in December 2012.

Philip Hammond's decision to resign as Britain's finance minister should Boris Johnson become prime minister thrusts him into the front-lines of a brewing internal revolt against the likely incoming leader. The 63-year-old Oxford University graduate is one of Britain's most respected ministers among European leaders ...

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner will lead a U.S. delegation on a tour of the Middle East to finalize details of his proposed $50 billion economic development plan for the Palestinians, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, an administration official said on Sunday. Kushner, Middle East ...

After Sunday's election, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party — along with its coalition partner Komeito — remains firmly in the saddle with a strong majority in both the Upper and Lower Houses of the Diet. While the results of the poll were not surprising, they ...

Thousands of tons of camel dung are being used to fuel cement production in the northern United Arab Emirates, cutting emissions and keeping animal waste out of landfill. Under a government-run scheme, farmers in the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah drop off camel excrement at collection ...

President Donald Trump drew fresh criticism on Sunday with an eighth day of attacks on the four progressive Democratic Congresswomen known as "the Squad," whom he said he didn't believe were "capable of loving our country" and should apologize for "hateful" comments. Sunday's Twitter message ...

Humanitarian group SOS Mediterranee said Sunday it has relaunched rescue efforts off Libya seven months after it abandoned operations using its ship Aquarius and despite a refusal by European ports to accept the migrants. The Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking will "conduct search and rescue activities in ...

The results of the Upper House elections promise exactly what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe campaigned upon: stability.

The LDP has lost almost all elections in Okinawa despite the government's candidates consistently being the more qualified and experienced.

Fifty years later, it's hard to convey how much joy there was when the Eagle finally landed.

As we make the shift from 梅雨 (tsuyu, rainy season) to 夏本番 (natsu honban, summertime in earnest), you'll find that the weather will take center stage in many Japanese conversations.

If you're going to play the 福引 (ふくびき, lottery) in Japan, you're going to need some 運 (うん, luck).

t the general meeting held in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the 25th, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) effectively decided to include breakdancing, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing as additional events for the 2024 Paris Olympics just as the organizing committee proposed.

Whale meat auctions were held Thursday in different areas of Japan earlier this week, the first since the country ended its 31-year commercial whaling hiatus, with some cuts selling for over ¥10,000 per kilogram.

U.S. President Donald Trump offered Saturday to guarantee the bail of rapper ASAP Rocky, detained in Sweden on suspicion of assault following a street brawl. Trump tweeted that he had spoken with Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who he said gave assurances that the singer would ...

Rui Hachimura has had to go through a hectic schedule since he was drafted by the Washington Wizards last month. Last week, the 21-year-old finally returned to his native Japan for the first time since the draft on June 20. But he won't have much ...

Yoshitomo Tsutsugo is not your typical No. 2 batter. Or is he? The answer probably depends on the brand of baseball you prefer. The BayStars slugger isn't a speedster nor much of a bunter. He's a destructive force at the plate with 193 career home ...

Emperor Naruhito will assume the role of Honorary Patron of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Imperial Household Agency announced Monday. The honor was formally requested by Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori, and submitted to the Imperial Household Agency through Prime Minister Shinzo ...

Yokozuna Kakuryu said he woke up to a blissful Monday morning, after winning his sixth top-division title at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament. "I woke up feeling really great. I was more focused than usual," Kakuryu said of his impressive 14-1 performance at Dolphins Arena, ...

As organizers approach the final one-year countdown to the Tokyo Olympics, their efforts have earned the approval of one of the key figures in the successful execution of the 2012 London Olympics. Speaking to The Japan Times on Friday, former London 2012 commercial director Chris ...