Two huts were destroyed by fire Monday near the traditional thatched farmhouses of Shirakawa-go village in Gifu Prefecture, which are registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, Gifu Prefectural Police said. The police received an emergency call from a local resident at around 2:40 ...

A total of more than ¥250 million has been donated by more than 18,000 people to a crowdfunding campaign set up by the city of Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, to help rebuild Shuri Castle after it was destroyed by fire last week. The campaign, set up ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday strongly condemned North Korea's missile launches at an ASEAN-related meeting, saying they are in clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. At the summit on the outskirts of Bangkok, Abe also urged the leaders of countries in ASEAN Plus ...

Dozens of bags containing waste polluted with radioactive substances are still missing in Fukushima Prefecture, three weeks after they were swept away from storage areas in floods triggered by Typhoon Hagibis. Of the 90 bags originally lost, 36 remain missing. The Environment Ministry, prefectural officials ...

After discussions with automakers including firms in Japan, the Trump administration may not need to place tariffs later this month on automobiles imported from the European Union and elsewhere, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has said. "We've had very good conversations with our European friends, with ...

A new round of U.S.-North Korea working-level talks on denuclearization was likely to be held this month or early next month, the South's Yonhap news agency reported Monday, quoting Seoul's spy agency, with leader Kim Jong Un eyeing a December summit with U.S. President ...

Saudi Arabia is pulling out all the stops to ensure the success of Aramco's initial public offering after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman finally decided to offer shares in the world's largest oil producer. The kingdom cut taxes on the company for a third time, ...

The two leaders met during an international gathering in Thailand at Moon’s request.

South Korean National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang says the money would be collected from Japanese and South Korean businesses.

A young wrestler dubbed "Little Miss Sumo" is fighting sexism in the ancient Japanese sport, hoping to inspire other women to step into the ring and elevate sumo to Olympic status. Hiyori Kon is the focus of a new Netflix documentary, "Little Miss Sumo," which ...

Online securities firms in Japan are fighting for survival by diversifying services in the wake of a sharp drop in stock broker fees following their full liberalization 20 years ago. "The time when we could compete by lowering fees is over," said Rakuten Securities Inc. ...

Hirotada Ototake, a writer born without arms and legs who is best known for his 1998 memoir "No One's Perfect," has embarked on a project to develop electrically operated "robot" legs that will enable him and others like him to walk. The 43-year-old Ototake, who ...

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang tells Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the trilateral summit would be held next month.

Tsai Ing-wen's chances of being re-elected as Taiwan's president received a boost as one of Taiwan's most senior China-friendly politicians appears set to enter the election, potentially sapping votes from the main opposition candidate. People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong has decided to make ...

McDonald's Corp. dismissed Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook over a recent consensual relationship with an employee, which the board determined violated company policy, the fast-food giant said on Sunday. The board found that Easterbrook, 52, who had led McDonald's since 2015, had "demonstrated poor judgment" involving ...

Arukuma, a chubby, green-colored bear wearing a red hood in the shape of an apple around its face and head, was the winner of a high-profile annual contest held in the city of Nagano on Sunday. The cute, distinctive character, created almost nine years ago, ...

Air pollution in New Delhi and its surrounding towns reached the worst levels so far this year Sunday, with authorities in the world's most polluted capital city having already declared a public health emergency and ordered schools closed. The air quality index, measuring levels of ...

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened once again Sunday to withhold federal aid from California after its Democratic governor criticized his environmental policies. Over the past two weeks, fires have ravaged nearly 40,000 hectares in the sprawling state, where firefighters on Sunday were battling the Maria ...

The chickens pecking around the rural Ukrainian village of Katerynivka paint a tranquil atmosphere. But a closer look reveals bullet holes on the walls of houses of residents hopeful that peace can finally return following a long-awaited troop withdrawal. Katerynivka is in that part of ...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday urged British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage to come together to safeguard prospects for expanded U.S.-U.K. trade after Britain leaves the European Union. Trump told reporters at the White House that both men were ...

The first court hearing of a 29-year-old suspect in the alleged robbery-murders of nine people at his apartment in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, is still a long way off, two years after the victims' dismembered bodies were discovered. The trial for the murders, which shocked the ...

The government is set to tighten rules on disclosure by Japan's wealthier residents about their overseas assets in a bid to prevent tax avoidance, sources close to the matter said Sunday. It will urge people with overseas assets of more than ¥50 million ($462,000) to ...

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in China on Monday to drum up new business deals, but under warning from his hosts to keep off thorny issues such as the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Landing in the afternoon, Macron will begin his second official trip ...

Yvette Lundy, a French Resistance figure who taught reconciliation after surviving the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, has died aged 103 in the northern French town of Epernay, authorities there said Sunday. "Still today, I think of the camp at one point each day ...

The recent Japan-EU agreement cements an all-around partnership.

One thrilling World Series can't make the sport's viewership problems go away.

Describing the rise in a tax hike and a rise in prices means using two different words in Japanese. In either case, things aren't looking up.

It's 4 p.m., do you know where your children are? Maybe they're "omote," which is a way of expressing that they're out in front of the house playing.

A Japanese news article looks at the rising number of Japanese-language institutions in Vietnam and Myanmar.

The Japanese staff of Uber Technologies Inc.'s food delivery service Uber Eats have formed a labor union to negotiate contract terms and seek improved working conditions.

Iconic Japanese boy band Arashi has started global online distribution of all of its singles, about a year ahead of the group's scheduled suspension of its activities. Downloading and subscription streaming of all of the five-member group's past 64 songs as well as a new ...

Japanese stayer Mer De Glace and European import Constantinople have been installed as favorites for Tuesday's Melbourne Cup as horse racing in Australia faces surging image problems. First staged in 1861, the "race that stops a nation" has been a fixture on the first Tuesday ...

Guangzhou Evergrande manager Fabio Cannavaro will remain in charge of the struggling Chinese first-division side for now, but only after a stinging rebuke from the club's hierarchy who warned he needed to get things right. The under-fire Cannavaro's two-year reign appeared all but over last ...

England coach Eddie Jones has hit out at "negativity" over his team's performance after a 32-12 loss against South Africa in the Rugby World Cup final. The Australian stood by his players after Saturday's stinging loss in Yokohama, where England looked like a shadow of ...

The 44th and final day of the 2019 Rugby World Cup ended with South Africa capturing the Webb Ellis Cup with a win over England in Yokohama on Saturday. With the tournament over, it wasn't just the teams who were preparing to leave Japan. The ...

The city of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, was presented with the Award for Character at the World Rugby Awards in Tokyo on Sunday, an evening that saw South Africa claim the major awards a day after winning the Rugby World Cup. The Springboks edged Japan for ...