Japan will mobilize up to around 9,100 police officers to ensure safety during the Rugby World Cup starting Sept. 20, the National Police Agency said Thursday. A total of 48 matches will be played at stadiums in 12 prefectures in Asia's first Rugby World Cup ...

The approval rating for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet has risen to 55.4 percent, up 5.1 percentage points from the previous poll in August, after he reshuffled his ministerial lineup and the leadership team of the Liberal Democratic Party, a Kyodo News survey showed ...

The company offered ¥2,620 per share, a 21 percent premium on Zozo’s closing price, sending its shares soaring Thursday.

Isshu Sugawara stepped into a ministerial role for the first time amid Japan’s worsening relations with its neighbor.

The Tokyo Game Show opened on Thursday with the spotlight on how game-makers will take advantage of ultrahigh speed 5G mobile data networks ahead of the technology's commercial rollout in Japan in 2020. Game-makers, related network developers, and esports promoters cite their sector as one ...

Monex Group Inc.'s online brokerage sold out ¥500 million ($4.6 million) of SoftBank Group Corp. bonds to individual Japanese investors in less than three minutes earlier this week, a sign of strong demand for the conglomerate's debt despite skepticism about some of the company's ...

An American man who married his same-sex Japanese partner in the United States sued the central government Thursday, demanding it grant him long-term resident status. American Andrew High and his Japanese partner, Kohei, who withheld his family name, live together in Tokyo and are also ...

A defiant anthem penned by an anonymous composer has become the new soundtrack to Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests. "Glory to Hong Kong" first appeared on YouTube on Aug. 31 and has quickly won a huge following among those pushing for greater democratic freedoms in the ...

For years, tension between Japan and South Korea has waxed and waned in a cyclical pattern. In the recent past, friction and animosity has repeatedly emerged as a result of the politicization of historical issues. Tension would subside only after the political winds changed to ...

Thai Buddhist hard-liners have filed a police complaint against a young female artist over paintings that depict Buddha as the 1960s Japanese superhero Ultraman. The complaint over four paintings, displayed last week at a shopping mall in northeastern Thailand, highlights the emboldenment of ultraconservative Buddhist ...

Japan's three major mobile phone carriers are set to release the latest models of Apple Inc.'s popular iPhone series on Sept. 20. The three carriers — NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Corp. — will accept reservations for the three new iPhone models from ...

New Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, a rising political star, said Wednesday he will encourage increased innovation in the country in the fight against climate change. "Countermeasures against global warming can't work without innovation," the 38-year-old said at a news conference after assuming his first ministerial ...

Only the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University made it to the top 200 — fewer than China, Italy, Denmark and Belgium, the report said.

The U.S. Republican Party has lashed its fate to an increasingly unhinged leader.

Abe demonstrated that he is clearly in the driver's seat, posturing his allies for advancement in the LDP ranks, keeping bandwagoners contained and edging out rivals altogether.

Netflix series 'The Naked Director' has been a runaway hit, with a second series announced shortly after the first began streaming. But not everyone is a fan.

Kazushi Ono, artistic director of opera at New National Theatre, Tokyo, is using his experience of working in Europe to help stage operas with a nod to the digital age in Japan

The United States will leave the FIBA World Cup with its worst finish in a major international tournament, assured of finishing no better than seventh after falling to Serbia 94-89 in a consolation playoff game Thursday night. The previous worst finish for a U.S. men's ...

Yurisbel Gracial delivered a solo home run, while Kodai Senga threw eight innings of one-run ball, as the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks held on for a 3-2 win over the Seibu Lions on Thursday. The result put the reigning Japan Series champions back on top of ...

Four-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters is planning another comeback. A mother of three, the Belgian who retired after the 2012 U.S. Open wants a new challenge, she told the WTA in an interview on its website on Thursday. The 36-year-old Clijsters, who started her professional ...

The whistle to be used by referee Nigel Owens when the Rugby World Cup kicks off on Sept. 20 in Tokyo arrived in Japan on Thursday following a roughly 20,000-km journey by bicycle and ferry from London. South African Ron Rutland and Hong Kong native ...

Twenty-eight counterfeit NBA championship rings have been seized by federal authorities at Los Angeles International Airport. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Wednesday that the rings were in a wooden box shipped from China with a final destination in Arizona. Investigators suspect the intent was to ...

Manchester United's current squad lacks the maturity required to mount a serious challenge for the Premier League title, although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's players have potential, former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. United has won the league 20 times but hasn't lifted the trophy since Alex ...

Caster Semenya is finally getting her gold medal from the 2011 world championships after Russian runner Maria Savinova was stripped of the title for doping. But Semenya won't attend a medal reallocation ceremony at the upcoming world championships in Doha, Qatar, South Africa's track federation ...

Yokozuna Kakuryu suffered his first loss of the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament on Thursday, falling behind undefeated co-leaders sekiwake Takakeisho and rank-and-filer Okinoumi on Day 5. The sole yokozuna in action at Ryogoku Kokugikan lost to the May tournament winner, No. 2 maegashira Asanoyama (3-2), ...

Sumo tournaments are shown daily on NHK. While the play-by-play men rotate, one ever present is acerbic color commentator Kitanofuji. Often decked out in traditional Japanese attire, the sharp-tongued 77-year-old rarely sugarcoats his views. If anyone has earned the right to voice their opinion, however, it's ...

Rookie Kyle Lewis broke up a no-hit bid with a home run for the second consecutive game, and the Seattle Mariners beat Sonny Gray and the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 on Wednesday night. Just as he did on Tuesday night against the Reds' Trevor Bauer, Lewis ...

Australia flyhalf Bernard Foley will join the Top League's Kubota Spears after the Rugby World Cup, the club announced on Thursday. Foley, who is in Japan with the Australian squad ahead of the World Cup later this month, will link up with the Chiba-based Spears ...

Rory McIlroy was named the PGA Tour's Player of the Year on Wednesday, winning the prestigious Jack Nicklaus Award for the third time. The Northern Ireland star, who was also handed the accolade in 2012 and 2014, came out on top after a vote by ...

Japan's pro basketball landscape completely changed during the bj-league's 11 seasons of operations. From six franchises in its inaugural 2005-06 season to 24 in the final year, new teams sprouted up every year throughout the nation. And so it's worth noting that the 2019-20 campaign ...

The Boston Bruins signed coach Bruce Cassidy to a multiyear contract extension Wednesday, a reward for leading the team to the Stanley Cup Final in just his second full season on the bench. "I think it's a good marriage," Cassidy said at the team's training ...

The New York Times says Justify won the 2018 Triple Crown after a failed postrace drug test at a California track that could have kept the horse out of the Kentucky Derby. The newspaper reported Wednesday that Bob Baffert-trained Justify tested positive for the drug ...