The agriculture ministry said Tuesday it will send officials to 12 municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture that were hit by the 2011 nuclear disaster to help farmers there resume agricultural production. From April 2020, one official will be stationed in each of the 12 municipalities near ...

Empress Emerita Michiko will undergo surgery for breast cancer on Sunday, the Imperial Household Agency announced Tuesday. The former empress has been diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer, with no clear signs of cancer metastasis, according to the agency. Empress Emerita Michiko will stay at the ...

In banks across Japan sits a pile of money that's bigger than most countries' gross domestic product — the cash reserves of the nation's companies. For some it's a testament to their strength, but to many it's a wasted opportunity. Firms listed in Japan held ...

Since the enactment of a law in July 2018 legalizing casino gambling in Japan, large resort operators from the United States have been boosting public relations efforts as they plan bids to enter the budding market. With the law set to allow up to three ...

A letter threatening to hunt Koreans and containing what appeared to be a bullet has been sent to the South Korean Embassy in Japan, police said Tuesday, amid worsening ties between the Asian neighbors Relations between the two countries have been overshadowed by Japan's 1910-1945 ...

A Japanese firm is venturing into the food business, producing chocolate, candy, tea and sake, all colored blue, with the help of farmers in Laos and Thailand to create a market for colored food around the globe. Tsujiko Co., a manufacturer of LED lighting devices ...

A would-be justice minister in South Korea facing allegations of hypocrisy and favoritism involving his family has held a marathon 11-hour news conference in a bid to salvage his sinking reputation and nomination. A liberal darling with an impeccable resume, law professor Cho Kuk was ...

A weekly magazine's editorial department has apologized for what has been widely slammed as discriminatory coverage of South Koreans, with the magazine having branded them as pathologically quick-tempered and insisted that Tokyo cut ties with Seoul because the neighbor is "troublesome." In the latest edition, ...

Beleaguered Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei on Tuesday denied accusations reported in the Wall Street Journal that it stole technology from a Portuguese inventor, accusing him of "taking advantage of the current geopolitical situation." The U.S. Department of Justice is looking into the claim, potentially adding ...

A minor opposition party lawmaker said on Tuesday his right to free speech is being curtailed by those critical of him for suggesting war with South Korea would settle a territorial dispute between the country and Japan. "I only raised a question, and there is ...

The foreign ministers of China and North Korea have held talks in Pyongyang, with the two allies vowing to bolster bilateral ties and work closely on security issues amid the North's stalled nuclear talks with the U.S. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and North Korean ...

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday she has never asked the Chinese government to let her resign to end the city's political crisis, responding to a Reuters report about a voice recording of her saying she would step down if she could. Hundreds ...

The argument by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the country needs to buy U.S. corn because pests are eating up its domestic production is looking rather dubious. "With regard to the potential purchase of American corn, in Japan we are now experiencing pests on some ...

Japan will give shopping points to holders who make cashless payments with their phones in a measure to increase the popularity of the card.

A restaurant in the city of Nagasaki sold discount sashimi rice bowls using fish caught by an organized crime group's illegal poaching operation, local police said Tuesday. The eatery in front of Nagasaki Station, which recently shut down, was popular among tourists and workers for ...

Pakistan would not use nuclear weapons first, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday, amid tensions with archrival India after New Delhi revoked the special status of its part of the disputed Kashmir region. "We both are nuclear-armed countries. If these tensions increase, the world ...

It is suspected that the neglect by Yuri Funato, 27, caused her daughter Yua to die of sepsis after developing pneumonia in March last year in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward.

Toyota Motor Corp. has started recycling hybrid-vehicle batteries in Thailand, aiming to establish a sustainable process for the power source behind eco-friendly cars and cut costs. The carmaker said at Friday's launch event it is reusing nickel-metal hydride batteries by utilizing some of them as ...

China said Monday it had lodged a complaint against the United States with the World Trade Organization, one day after new tariffs imposed by Washington on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods came into force. The world's two biggest economies have been embroiled in ...

A document revealed that a new land-to-ship missile system that has a range of more than 300 kilometers could be deployed on Paramushir and Matua in the chain.

Bangladesh on Monday ordered operators to shut down mobile phone services to almost 1 million Rohingya refugees living in camps in the country's southeast, an official said. The move follows an outbreak of violence in recent weeks at the camps, most of whose residents fled ...

Some within the administration expect Abe to reward Motegi for his work as the country’s top negotiator in bilateral trade talks with the United States.

From penalizing irresponsible dog owners to blacklisting dissenters, critics warn China's social credit system enables authorities to define "desirable and undesirable behavior" and could allow unprecedented control of citizen's lives. The fledgling initiative has sparked fears the authoritarian state is tightening its grip on an ...

Top players in global tech companies kicked off work Monday to draw up global ethical standards related to data and artificial intelligence, with Microsoft's president voicing a "sense of urgency. Some two dozen high-ranking representatives of the global and Swiss economies, as well as scientists ...

Japan will not join a U.S.-led security mission to protect merchant vessels passing through key Middle Eastern waterways, but will consider deploying its naval force independently, the Yomiuri newspaper reported Tuesday. Though the United States is Japan's most important ally, Tokyo has fostered economic ties ...

Japan and India will hold their first "two-plus-two" foreign and defense ministerial talks by the end of the year to strengthen security cooperation, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Monday. "Security and defense cooperation between Japan and India is vital not only for the two countries ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to visit China on Dec. 24 to hold talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, government sources said Monday. The three leaders, who last met in Tokyo in May 2018, are expected to discuss ...

France's second-largest airline, Aigle Azur, went into receivership after filing for bankruptcy Monday, following years of losing millions of euros, France's civil aviation authority (DGAC) said. "The Aigle Azur airline was today placed in receivership," the authority said in a statement, citing "several months of ...

India's foreign ministry has again defended a controversial citizenship register in Assam state after criticism from the United Nations, saying the almost 2 million people excluded from the list would not become "stateless." India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — which also runs Assam, in ...

Greek officials and U.N. workers evacuated the first group of what will be hundreds of migrants from the Greek island of Lesbos on Monday, where overcrowding and a crushing heat have made conditions unbearable. A first group of 635 Afghans at the Moria camp were ...

The commercial port in Libya's second city Benghazi is working round the clock three years after reopening, attempting to raise revenues for its restoration and expansion. The port was caught in the crossfire as rival factions battled for control of Benghazi from 2014 in a ...

As the competition for the 92nd annual Oscar foreign film shortlist heats up, the rivalry between Japan and South Korea will no doubt intensify in the world of cinema as well.

Quelling tensions between Japan and South Korea is critical for the U.S.' broader strategic objectives in the Indo-Pacific.

Forget its reputation as art for the culturally elite. If Italian superstar tenor Vittorio Grigolo has his way, modern opera will soon take its place as pure entertainment for the masses. Audiences in Tokyo can share his passion this autumn as the very best from ...

Julian Opie's schematic reductions of people, animals and landscapes to planes of color may be fun and casual, but it's not just eye-candy — he gets us to see much more than he shows us.

Sept. 10-Dec. 15 Founded by the British businessman Samuel Courtauld (1876-1947), The Courtauld Gallery in London houses works from the Renaissance to the 20th century and is renowned for its collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings. Sixty paintings and sculptures from The Courtauld Gallery have been ...

Sept. 10-Nov. 24 With a history of more than 800 years of making pottery, Tamba in Hyogo Prefecture is recognized as one of the Six Ancient Kilns of Japan. One of the first to promote and extol the simplistic beauty of Tamba-ware was the art ...

Sept. 14-Nov. 4 Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) is best-known as the first Japanese novelist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1968). He was also a philosopher and avid art collector who amassed an impressive range of important works. Kawabata's acquisitions ranged from Japanese masterpieces by Urakami ...

A first-inning blast from Takeya Nakamura proved the difference Tuesday as the Seibu Lions overpowered the Orix Buffaloes 5-1 in the Pacific League. Seibu starter Zach Neal (9-1) moved closer to a 10-win season in his first year in Japan, getting the victory after striking ...

The Japan men’s national team played a lot better than on Sunday, but it wasn’t good enough to post its first victory at the FIBA World Cup on Tuesday. The Czech Republic defeated Japan 89-76 at Shanghai Oriental Sports Center. The Asian squad (0-2) is now ...

Shun Sato's debut on the Junior Grand Prix circuit was a smashing success. The 15-year-old Sendai native gave Japan its second straight gold medal in the men's event in the JGP with a comfortable victory in Lake Placid, New York, on Friday. Sato's strong jumping ability ...

Yokozuna Hakuho, a record 42-time sumo grand champion, has acquired Japanese citizenship after relinquishing his Mongolian nationality, an official government publication showed Tuesday. Although Japanese nationality is not required to compete in sumo, citizenship is necessary if a wrestler wishes to progress to become a ...