Low-cost carrier Air Seoul Inc. plans to soon close half of its 12 offices in Japan after suspending some flights in the face of frayed Japan-South Korea ties, sources close to the matter said Monday. Air Seoul will shut offices in Hokkaido, Shizuoka, Toyama, Yamaguchi, ...

The government is set to start talks on female members of the imperial family being allowed to maintain their royal status after marriage, by heading their own family branches, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The proposal is seen as serving to defer ...

Chinese retailer Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said Monday that sales logged from its annual Singles' Day shopping blitz crossed the $30 billion mark late Monday afternoon, putting the event on track to set a record in its 11th year. Akin to Black Friday and Cyber ...

Staffers at the prefecture’s Multicultural Counseling Center offered telephone consultation services to residents in languages including English, Chinese, Tagalog and Portuguese, after Typhoon Hagibis tore through the area.

At least 315 of the households evacuated after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis have suffered from flooding and other damage caused by Typhoon Hagibis, which hit central, eastern and northeastern parts of Japan last month, an analysis by Kyodo News has shown. The tally found ...

An exhibition featuring the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki opened Saturday in Los Angeles, telling the stories of Japanese Americans who were in the two cities when the bombs were dropped in August 1945. Marking the 75th anniversary of the bombings, the Japanese ...

The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering ending a special tax break for wining and dining expenses at large companies at the end of fiscal 2019, informed sources said. The administration believes the measure, which allows half the expenses to be deducted from ...

The chief of a Liberal Democratic Party tax panel said Monday the group will explore changes that will lead to a tax system more in tune with the country's increasingly digitized economy. Akira Amari, head of the LDP Research Commission on the Tax System, said ...

The current account surplus shrank 3.3 percent from the previous year in the first half on weak exports to the rest of Asia amid continuing tensions over the U.S-China trade war, preliminary data showed Monday. In the April-September half, the surplus in the current account ...

Financial services group SBI Holdings Inc. and a regional bank in Fukushima Prefecture on Monday announced a capital tie-up that will expand the Tokyo-based company's networks. SBI will invest ¥1.11 billion ($10 million) in Fukushima Bank and provide expertise on financial products and information technology ...

The children, about 1 or 2 years old, suffered minor injuries, while two teachers were also taken to hospital, according to police.

Core private-sector machinery orders fell 2.9 percent in September, declining for the third month in a row and prompting the government to downgrade its assessment, Cabinet Office data showed Monday. Total orders fell 18.7 percent to ¥2.14 trillion, largely due to a significant drop in ...

In voluntary questioning by Kyoto investigators, 41-year-old Shinji Aoba is said to have largely admitted to allegations of murder and attempted murder.

Some on the nine-member board insisted on the need to communicate to markets that the BOJ would maintain loose monetary policy.

Chile announced Sunday it will move to draft a new constitution and replace one dating back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship — a key demand of protesters who have rocked the country for three weeks. The new constitution will be drafted by a body called ...

A group of lawmakers is looking to ramp up security cooperation with the United States and Taiwan in a bid to counter China's military buildup and growing assertiveness in the region, according to sources familiar with the plan. The cross-party group, headed by Keiji Furuya ...

Former Deputy Mayor Jun Yoshida was elected mayor on Sunday for the town of Okuma, in Fukushima Prefecture, one of the host municipalities of the disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The 63-year-old independent beat Koichi Suzuki, another independent and a 64-year-old former president ...

With its hard line against Catalan separatism, immigration and feminism, far-right party Vox was the big winner of Spain's repeat general election Sunday, surging into third place. The party won 52 seats — more than doubling the 24 it took during its April parliamentary debut ...

The resignation of Bolivian President Evo Morales, the last serving member of the 'pink tide' of leftist leaders that swept Latin America two decades ago, polarized governments across the region Sunday, with presidents from Venezuela to Argentina denouncing a "coup" and others cheering his ...

In the sitcom "The Office," a bumbling manager spends much of his time distracting the hapless employees of a paper company's local sales branch. Somehow, despite all the antics that seem to interfere with getting anything done, the branch consistently manages to be the ...

Democrats signaled their willingness to let some witnesses requested by Republicans testify as the House starts public impeachment hearings of Donald Trump this week, but only those people with knowledge of the president's actions. And not Hunter Biden or the whistleblower. Ahead of the first ...

The murder of two Indonesian activists, which police say was ordered by a palm oil businessman, highlights the escalating violence and threats faced by environmentalists who challenge the industry, rights groups say. Martua Parasian Siregar, 55, and Maraden Sianipar, 42, were found dead 10 days ...

Tehran and Moscow inaugurated on Sunday a new phase of construction for a second reactor at Iran's sole nuclear power plant in Bushehr on the Gulf coast. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), and deputy chief of Russia's nuclear ...

Moscow photographer Galina Goryushina says that online shopping has changed her life. "I've got more time for myself," said the 30-year-old freelancer. "I don't have to haul heavy shopping bags. And I don't waste money on silly knick-knacks laid out on the store shelves," said Goryushina. The ...

Airstrikes by Syrian regime ally Russia on Sunday killed seven civilians, including three children, in an anti-government bastion in northwestern Syria, a war monitor reported. Eight others were wounded in the raids and some of them are in a "critical" condition, said Rami Abdel Rahman, ...

Icelandic seventh-grader Lilja Einarsdottir is on an unusual field trip with her class: They're measuring the Solheimajokull glacier to see how much it has shrunk in the past year, witnessing climate change first-hand. "It is very beautiful but at the same time it is very ...

Joe Olson was once such a passionate supporter of the National Rifle Association that he pledged to bequeath millions of dollars from his estate to the gun organization upon his death. But the steady drip of investigations and misspending allegations and a shakeup at the ...

Democrat Pete Buttigieg is criss-crossing New Hampshire on a mission: introduce himself and his centrist policies to shrewd, often independent-minded voters while convincing them he is the relatable, articulate visionary in the 2020 presidential race. During a four-day bus tour through The Granite State that ...

China's technological innovations have been striking enough to put Silicon Valley on edge.

Japanese saxophonists finished first and second in the seventh Adolphe Sax International Competition, which was held in Belgium through Saturday. Kenta Saito, 27, from Tokyo won the first prize, held in Dinant, southern Belgium, the birthplace of Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone. Saito ...

South Africa's rugby stars on Monday hoisted the World Cup before thousands of ecstatic fans at Cape Town's City Hall, where Nelson Mandela made his first speech after his release from prison. The Springboks' final stop on their victory tour pounded home the message of ...

Japanese basketball's own living legend Takehiko Orimo says that he would absolutely be honored if he gets the nod. But he does not want the occasion to be a farewell stage. The 49-year-old, who has announced plans to retire at the end of the 2019-20 ...

Athens Olympic women's marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi will be the first runner from Japan to carry the flame on its journey to next year's Summer Games, the Tokyo organizing committee said Monday. Noguchi will be the second runner to take part in the Greek ...

The Hiroshima Carp's Ryosuke Kikuchi, quite possibly the most dynamic defensive second baseman in the world (at least in the conversation), could be playing in MLB next season. So too could the Yokohama BayStars' slugging captain Yoshitomo Tsutsugo and free agent outfielder Shogo Akiyama, one ...

Sumo has been around in various forms for over 2,000 years. Even what we can call the modern form of the sport has existed since the 1600s. It's hardly surprising when dealing with a timeframe of centuries or millennia that the number of all-time-great rikishi is ...

Yokozuna Hakuho suffered his first loss of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament on Monday, losing to rank-and-filer Daieisho in an undramatic end to Day 2 that leaves the title chase wide open. In the final bout of the day, Hakuho swept away a high shove ...

Ozeki Goeido pulled out of the ongoing Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament on Monday, citing a left-ankle injury. The 33-year-old Japanese wrestler, in sumo's second-highest rank, sustained the injury on Sunday, the opening day of the 15-day meet at Fukuoka Kokusai Center, when he lost to ...

Canoeist Monika Seryu is determined to excel at the 2020 Paralympics next year, believing a strong performance will not only give hope to people with disabilities but also help change perceptions and make Japanese society better for all. Seryu, aiming for a medal at the ...