"The accused was sitting right there, so close to me, and yet I felt like there was an unbridgeable distance between us." Tomomitsu Shibuya, a 55-year-old pastor from the city of Aomori who served as a lay judge almost 10 years ago, recalls the day ...

For the first time in 36 years, a former refugee reunited with an Okinawan man who rescued him and a hundred others fleeing their home country of Vietnam from a cramped and food-depleted boat sailing on a perilous journey. Masakazu Minami, 50, whose Vietnamese name ...

New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's big tour of the U.K. saw him booed by EU supporters in Wales and heckled by nationalists in Scotland. Northern Ireland's fractious parties then told him that his Brexit plans were reopening old wounds. The Conservative Party leader's swing ...

Toyota Motor Corp. on Friday lowered its outlook for group net profit, operating profit and sales for the business year through March due to a stronger yen, despite posting record sales and net profit in the April-June quarter. The same day, Honda also revised down ...

With U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement on Thursday of tariffs on another $300 billion of Chinese imports nearly all goods from the country are set to be subject to U.S. import taxes, which Trump says will generate billions of dollars in revenue from China ...

More than five months after they were detained without charge, dozens of separatist leaders from Indian-administered Kashmir remain imprisoned as the government in New Delhi seeks to marginalize them, according to sources and figures from a rights group. Authorities in New Delhi see the removal ...

The annual total surged 40 percent, the steepest increase on record, as governments drew interest from around the nation with generous return gifts.

Yosuke Amaike, 39, spends a busy week juggling work at four different schools, where he works as a part-time instructor. He gives lectures at Gifu University, as well as a private university, a junior college and a vocational school, and his salaries are decided according ...

North Korea fired two "new-type" projectiles from its east coast, the South Korean military said Friday — the country's third launch in just over a week, but one that U.S. President Donald Trump looked to play down — as a trade and history clash ...

As Asian markets slid Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he'll impose more tariffs on China, another trade spat between Japan and South Korea is escalating. Japan confirmed Friday it will remove South Korea from a list of trusted export destinations, which would expand ...

Takemoto, who worked on “Lucky Star,” was one of Kyoto Animation’s leading directors and died along with Futoshi Nishiya, who directed “Free!”

The United States will no longer be prohibited from having ground-launched intermediate-range missiles once it pulls out of an arms control treaty with Russia on Friday, but funds to test and develop the missiles may soon run out, officials say. Washington said last year it ...

U.S. scientists announced Thursday they have successfully built functional heart parts out of collagen with a 3D bioprinter, using a breakthrough technique they say could one day create entire organs. Their method, described in the journal Science, replicates the body's own complex biological scaffolds using ...

President Donald Trump ruled out giving Beijing advance notice of his intent to slap a new 10 percent tariff on $300 billion in Chinese goods in an Oval Office meeting before he announced the duties, according to several people familiar with the discussion. During the ...

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Friday made his first visit since 2015 to one of the four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido that are claimed by Japan, despite a request from Tokyo to have the trip canceled, according to Russia's Interfax news agency. Medvedev traveled ...

The temperature near the new National Stadium in central Tokyo, where the Olympic marathon will start and finish, hit 30 degrees Celsius at 6 a.m. on Friday, weather service provider Weathernews said. With exactly one year to go until the 2020 Olympic women's marathon, which ...

The government has put together a program to tackle infectious diseases ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, including a plan to encourage those involved in the event to get measles and rubella vaccinations. Through the plan, Japan hopes to prevent the further spread ...

The founder of a banned Hong Kong independence party has been arrested in a raid where offensive weapons and explosives were found, a senior police source said on Friday as the city reels from weeks of anti-government protests. In a statement, police said eight people ...

Japanese conveyor belt sushi chain Kura Sushi Inc.'s U.S. unit made a firm debut Thursday on the Nasdaq market, its shares ending above $19 after rising from its initial public offering price of $14. The parent company said Kura Sushi USA Inc. aims to expand ...

A major nuclear arms control pact between the United States and Russia expired on Friday, raising the specter of a new Cold War-style arms race. The move came after U.S. President Donald Trump said last October that he would withdraw the United States from the ...

Foreign Minister Taro Kono urged his new British counterpart, Dominic Raab, on Thursday to achieve an "orderly" exit from the European Union to minimize the impact on the global economy. In their first talks since Raab was named foreign secretary by British Prime Minister Boris ...

The hangings of rapists and murderers Koichi Shoji and Yasunori Suzuki were Japan’s first executions of 2019.

In response, South Korean President Moon pledged countermeasures that might affect military information exchanges with Japan — a key part of their three-way security pact with the U.S.

India's Supreme Court on Thursday moved the rape trial of a powerful regional politician to the capital, New Delhi, to allay fears he could influence the outcome, a further embarrassment for the Hindu nationalist ruling party. Federal police opened a murder investigation this week against ...

People connected to the government of Saudi Arabia have run a network of fake accounts and pages on Facebook to promote state propaganda and attack regional rivals, the social media giant said on Thursday. Facebook said it had suspended more than 350 accounts and pages ...

The success of leftist party Reiwa Shinsengumi marks a turning point in Japanese politics.

From craft goods and antiques to unusual galettes and premium sake, Tokyo's Mon-Naka neighborhood has it all.

Initial reports on the Kyoto Animation fire tagged the alleged arsonist as dealing with mental illness, but his criminal past should have been emphasized more.

After last week's barn-burner of an episode, we needed a little bit of a breather. There are still plenty moments of joy this week, but first, let's get the Kenny-Haruka-Risako love triangle out of the way. The episode begins with Haruka and Shohei checking out ...

Jose Lopez hit a tie-breaking, two-run double off his former team, lifting the second-place Yokohama BayStars to a 4-2 win over the Central League-leading Yomiuri Giants on Friday night. Trailing by a run in the sixth, Neftali Soto doubled in Takehiro Ishikawa to tie it ...

A spectacular Andres Iniesta penalty goal and a late Asahi Masuyama header earned a point for Vissel Kobe in a 2-2 home draw with Gamba Osaka on Friday night. Trailing by two, Iniesta was the picture of calm as he scored in the 79th minute ...

Bill Bradley, captain of the U.S. gold medal-winning basketball team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, was recently involved in another winning (and historically important) project with ties to Japan. And it has nothing to do with basketball. The weekly satellite radio program "American Voices with Senator ...

Tatsunori Hara moved into rarefied air when his Yomiuri Giants beat the Hiroshima Carp on Tuesday night, becoming the 13th NPB manager to reach 1,000 career victories. It's easy to look back and see how he got there. Hara has managed a number of strong ...