The Fire and Disaster Management Agency will train firefighters to operate drones in an attempt to promote the use of them in disaster response efforts. The agency will offer firefighters from across the country a training course from the second half of fiscal 2019, awarding ...

A Bank of Japan board member warned of potential dangers if the central bank's already massive stimulus is ramped up, a view suggesting there is no consensus on how quickly it should ease policy again to head off the risk of recession. Hitoshi Suzuki, a ...

At Tokyo's Rugby Dinner No Side Club, owner Masakazu Takeuchi is taking no chances: He has got in three times the usual amount of beer as the country hopes to profit from the 400,000 fans expected for the Rugby World Cup. With just three weeks ...

The team transplanted extremely thin sheet-like corneal tissues produced from another individual’s induced pluripotent stem cells that had been stored at Kyoto University.

A Keidanren official said Japanese firms now have a “keen interest” in the huge potential of the continent’s rapidly growing economy.

Two months after the dramatic Trump-Kim meeting at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, the world's most heavily fortified border is back to its perpetual state of tension, as if nothing happened. When U.S. President Donald Trump set foot into North Korea and ...

Mix the rise of e-commerce in Japan with a chronic labor shortage and a graying society and what do you get? An autonomous home delivery robot with a cartoon character voice and big inquisitive eyes. "I'm delivering delicious food," announced CarriRo Deli, a robot the size ...

A fatal collision between a U.S. destroyer and a Philippine container ship off the Izu Peninsula in 2017 was caused by U.S. crewmen failing to follow lookout protocols, Japan's transport safety authorities concluded Thursday. A report by the Japan Transport Safety Board said the watch ...

The Japan unit of Facebook Inc. failed to declare about ¥500 million in taxable income over the two years through 2017, sources close to the matter said Thursday. The tech giant's advertisement revenues earned in Japan were paid to its branch in Ireland, where the ...

Billionaire Jack Ma, long an outspoken advocate for China's extreme work culture, says that people should be able to work just 12 hours a week with the benefits of artificial intelligence. People could work as little as three days a week, four hours a day ...

But the 44 state institutions have reached over 80 percent of the overall hiring target set for year-end.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's move to suspend Parliament and come good on his promise to avoid any more delays to Brexit has set the clock running for his opponents to thwart him. The question is whether they can do it in time. In another ...

Every region in the world, except the Americas, is experiencing an increase in the number of cases of measles, a vaccine-preventable disease that can kill or disable children, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The WHO's Kate O'Brien put the blame on weak health ...

Torrential rain in southwestern Japan has left three people dead and one missing, while more than 1,900 people were staying at evacuation centers as of Thursday morning. A 96-year-old woman was found dead at a flooded house in Takeo, Saga Prefecture, early Thursday, a day ...

Hong Kong police have banned a mass pro-democracy rally from going ahead on Saturday over public safety concerns, organizers said, after last weekend saw some of the worst violence in three months of political unrest in the financial hub. In a letter to the Civil ...

The Central Social Insurance Medical Council on Wednesday approved the first health insurance system coverage for a gene therapy drug. Collategene, which is given through muscle injection to patients suffering from clogged arteries, will join the list of drugs covered by the system on Sept. ...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sparked fury among pro-Europeans and MPs opposed to a "no-deal" Brexit by forcing the suspension of Parliament weeks before Britain's EU departure date. The pound slid on the surprise news Wednesday, which opponents branded a "coup" and a "declaration of ...

The music producer behind some of South Korea's biggest K-pop stars was questioned by police on Thursday in connection with an investigation into illegal gambling and prostitution that has rocked the music industry. According to police investigators, a network of pop stars, businessmen and police ...

Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed opposition to a U.S coalition scheme to patrol the Strait of Hormuz when he met Wednesday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a diplomatic source said. The comment can be interpreted as a strong message toward Japan not to ...

Law professor Cho Kuk's nomination as South Korea's next justice minister could have been a step toward the presidency, but instead he faces allegations of favoritism and hypocrisy over his daughter's schooling in a scandal highlighting the country's class division. A liberal darling with an ...

The Supreme Court has dismissed a damages claim filed over the government's decision to exclude pro-Pyongyang Korean schools from its tuition-free program for high schools, upholding lower court rulings that found the policy lawful. The top court's Third Petty Bench, presided over by Justice Toshimitsu ...

The United States was not forewarned of South Korea's recent decision to terminate a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan that helps the U.S. allies counter missile threats from North Korea, a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday. Noting that there have been "consultations" over the ...

The U.S. Trade Representative's office on Wednesday reaffirmed President Donald Trump's plans to impose an additional 5 percent tariff on a list of $300 billion of Chinese imports starting on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15. The USTR said in an official notice that on Sept ...

Russia on Wednesday unveiled to clients its new MC-21 passenger plane, billed as a competitor to Boeing and Airbus even though the project has been stymied by sanctions and glitches with its predecessor, the Sukhoi Superjet. The new plane was the showpiece at the MAKS ...

SpaceX test-launched an early prototype of the company's Mars rocket on Tuesday, unnerving residents near the Texas site and clearing another key hurdle in billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's interplanetary ambitions. After the launch, Musk congratulated engineers from SpaceX, short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., and ...

Red, red wine, goes to my ... gut? A study by a team of scientists from King's College London has found that red wine drinkers had a greater diversity of bacteria in their digestive tracts, which is a marker of gastrointestinal health, compared to those ...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday called Puerto Rico "one of the most corrupt places on earth" as the U.S. territory prepared for a hit by Tropical Storm Dorian, which brought back memories on the island of devastation from hurricanes two years ago. Puerto Rico is ...

Critics who want to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan are ignoring 20 years of experience.

Despite past reforms, the bureaucracy continues to wield strong influence over policy decisions today.

Few musicians in any era, in any genre, have had such lengthy and varied creative journeys as saxophonist Charles Lloyd. The longevity of his 60-year career is honorable enough, but the unpredictability of his path and the ebb and flow of his musical ideas ...

Shoichiro Mukai powered through the men's 90-kg division at the World Judo Championships on Thursday until losing in the final, while compatriot Chizuru Arai, the defending women's 70-kg champion, was knocked out early. In the men’s 90-kg final, Dutchman Noel van 't End scored ...

Takayuki Kajitani got caught sleeping at the wheel in the outfield during the sixth inning. When he came to the plate in the seventh, however, the Yokohama BayStars veteran was locked in 100 percent. Kajitani hit a tiebreaking two-out single to right to give his team ...

Japan's 12-man FIBA World Cup squad, which includes 10 players who are employed by B. League teams, will measure its overall skills during the upcoming global tournament in China. Similarly, four B. League squads will be put to the test in The Terrific 12, a ...

Australian Olympic men's 100-meter freestyle champion Kyle Chalmers was recovering Thursday after a third operation to treat a long-term heart condition. The 21-year-old, who claimed silver at last month's world championships in South Korea, posted a photo on Instagram of himself in a hospital bed ...

The Kashima Antlers kicked off their Asian Champions League quarterfinal tie with a 0-0 draw in hot and humid conditions against Guangzhou Evergrande on Wednesday. Antlers, the 2018 champions, were playing Guangzhou for the fifth time in the ACL, and it was the first time ...