Pope Francis' trip to Japan this weekend might fulfill a wish he gave up on decades ago as a young man in South America. The 82-year-old pontiff is set to start a four-day tour Saturday, visiting Nagasaki and Hiroshima on Sunday, followed by Mass at ...

Organizers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games unveiled the inside of two major venues to the media Thursday as they near completion, touting them as world-class facilities. Four out of six permanent venues for the games have been completed. The Tokyo Aquatics Centre, located ...

Many Japanese are looking forward to Pope Francis' visit to Japan on Saturday, including Shoji Fukahori, an 82-year-old Christian priest and hibakusha in Hiroshima. When the first atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, Fukahori, then 8, was about 3 km from ground ...

Japan is in the final stage of talks with China to resume exports of beef to the world's most populous market for the first time in about two decades, government sources said Thursday. Tokyo is hoping the exports will be resumed next year, the sources ...

Batteries and big price tags are all the rage at this year's Los Angeles Auto Show. While it'll be tough for any carmaker to top the buzz Ford Motor Co. has already generated with the debut of its Mustang Mach-E sport utility vehicle, several other ...

This year's Beaujolais Nouveau wine, produced in the Bourgogne region of France, went on sale in Japan on Thursday. While the excitement surrounding the release has subsided in recent years compared with the bubble economy era in the late 1980s, the start of sales of ...

While a South Korean consumer boycott of Japanese products continues in the wake of a prolonged dispute over wartime history and trade, economists say Japan has already seen the worst of its economic repercussions. Concerns had grown among businesses as moves to shun Japanese brands ...

LDP sources have said the party has all but given up hope of passing the bill this year, reports have said.

The school consulted the police about the incident in late September and held an emergency meeting for parents to explain what happened, the sources said.

Panasonic Corp. said Thursday it will withdraw from all production of liquid crystal display panels by 2021 amid fierce competition from Chinese, South Korean and other foreign rivals. Panasonic stopped manufacturing LCD panels for televisions in 2016. It has since focused on LCD panels for ...

Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said Thursday he had invited between 100 and 200 supporters to attend this year's edition of a publicly funded cherry blossom-viewing party at the center of a growing scandal. Opposition parties have been stepping up criticism that the annual event, ...

As the clock ticks closer to the deadline for renewing the pact, Tokyo and Seoul appear no closer to bridging significant gaps.

A subcommittee of a labor ministry panel on Wednesday gave its approval to draft guidelines on preventing power harassment in workplaces, requiring companies to clearly ban such practices. The draft, approved by the Labor Policy Council subcommittee, lists detailed examples of problematic actions, such as ...

Analysts have doubts about the ability to spend such a large amount given the government debt.

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako left Tokyo on Thursday for the Grand Shrines of Ise for a ceremony marking the completion of two major rites signifying the emperor's enthronement. After ascending to the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1 following his father's abdication, the 59-year-old emperor ...

The Financial Services Agency proposed on Wednesday realigning the Tokyo Stock Exchange into three trading markets from the current four. The proposal also sought to revamp the Topix index of all issues listed on the TSE's first section into a new index covering fewer actively ...

SoftBank Group Corp. is in talks with partner financial institutions including Mizuho Bank to secure loans totaling ¥200 billion to ¥300 billion to support The We Co., operator of the WeWork office-sharing business, sources with knowledge of the matter said Thursday. SoftBank plans to provide ...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared on Wednesday that street unrest had been put down in a victory over foreign enemies, after a wave of violent demonstrations swept the country following a hike in fuel prices last week. Amnesty International said it had documented at least ...

Firefighters battled nearly 200 bush fires across Australia on Thursday as authorities issued a Code Red alert for parts of Victoria state and Sydney was blanketed in hazardous smoke for the third consecutive day. Officials imposed a total fire ban across Victoria where temperatures were ...

A former executive in charge of accounting at loss-making panel-maker Japan Display Inc. embezzled some ¥578 million ($5.3 million) over a four-year period from 2014, and was dismissed last December, the company said Thursday. The Apple Inc. supplier filed a criminal complaint against the former ...

France and Germany outlined separate proposals for reforming NATO on Wednesday after President Emmanuel Macron slammed the alliance as experiencing "brain death," causing uproar just weeks before a crucial summit. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian used the one-day meeting with his 28 NATO counterparts ...

City dwellers tend to live longer if they are in leafy neighborhoods, according to a study published earlier this week that linked green areas to lower rates of premature death. Trees in cities are already credited with cooling and cleaning the air, and absorbing planet-warming ...

The government plans to subsidize the purchases of cars with extra safety functions for those age 65 or over as part of steps to reduce traffic accidents, sources have said. Up to ¥100,000 will likely be provided per new vehicle equipped with an automatic braking ...

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday made major changes to his Cabinet, making several ministerial appointments in a bid to help stave off increasing unhappiness in the energy-producing west. Trudeau's Liberals lost their majority in an October election and now face a potential national ...

Russian oligarch and former U.K. newspaper owner Alexander Lebedev responded angrily Wednesday to media allegations that a British government report on Russian interference could contain damaging information about his relationship with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Lebedev, who bought Britain's The Independent and the Evening Standard ...

The U.S. envoy on North Korea acknowledged Wednesday that Pyongyang has not yet taken verifiable action to denuclearize and called on the regime to "seize the moment." Stephen Biegun, testifying to Congress on his nomination to be deputy secretary of state, also called for North ...

General Motors Co. on Wednesday filed a racketeering lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, alleging that its rival bribed United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials over many years to corrupt the bargaining process and gain advantages, costing GM billions of dollars. GM also alleged that ...

Israel said its aircraft struck dozens of Iranian and Syrian military targets in Syria on Wednesday in retaliation for rockets fired toward Israel a day earlier. Syrian state media reported two civilians were killed and several others injured in the attacks, but said Syria's air ...

Talks to end a strike by thousands of workers at Canada's biggest railroad, Canadian National Railway Co., continued on Wednesday, as industrial plants slowed output of products cut off from their markets. About 3,000 unionized workers, including conductors and yardmen, hit picket lines on Tuesday ...

Nazi memorabilia including Hitler's top hat and a cocktail dress worn by his companion Eva Braun is going under the hammer at a German auction house, drawing calls from the Jewish community to stop a sale it deems immoral. The collection features items such as ...

French media organizations lodged a complaint against Google to the country's competition authority Wednesday over the U.S. internet giant's refusal to pay for displaying their content. The move sets up a legal fight with Google over a new EU copyright law that could have huge ...

How should and how can Japan navigate the world's emerging transformative and chaotic landscape?

A proliferation of upstream dams is beginning to impose costs across much of Asia.

On Nov. 21 and 22, the city of Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture will host the 6th World Heritage Summit coinciding with the commemoration of the Shrines and Temples of Nikko being added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Heritage ...

The city of Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture is one of the brightest lights in the Japanese sightseeing firmament, which is apt, given that its name literally translates to "sunshine." With some amazing attractions from World Heritage sites dating back to the eighth century to ...

Yoshihiro Nakamura's "The 47 Ronin in Debt" aims to humanize "Chushingura," Japan's best-known samurai story, by weaving in period financial figures

An adaption of a 2001 novel by Susanna Jones, "Earthquake Bird" looks at Tokyo in 1989 and tells the story of an explosive love triangle

The French actress discusses her love of Japan and her work with Japanese film directors, as well as her recent stint as a performing arts judge

The Japan Rugby Football Union said Thursday the Brave Blossoms will take part in a parade in Tokyo on Dec. 11 to express their appreciation to their fans following their successful Rugby World Cup campaign. The JRFU said it is coordinating with the 31 players ...

Yuzuru Hanyu came through his first NHK Trophy practice session in two years with flying colors on Thursday. The two-time Olympic champion, who injured the lateral ligament in his right ankle in 2017 at an NHK Trophy practice in Osaka, looked sharp this day, tearing ...

About five years ago a sumo video went viral online and was widely shared on websites dedicated to other fighting sports. The video itself was a low resolution (360p) poorly-edited effort with ill-fitting music, featuring a rikishi that spent only five tournaments in the top ...

Yokozuna Hakuho extended his lead at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament with a win over Endo on Thursday as new komusubi Asanoyama suffered his third loss and fell two wins off the pace. Hakuho (11-1) blasted Endo (5-7) with his right forearm and issued a ...

Japanese Olympic Committee Secretary General Tsuyoshi Fukui has been tipped to take on the role of the Japanese delegation head for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, sources familiar with the matter said late Wednesday evening. According to sources, Mitsugi Ogata, head of training with the JOC, ...

Centuries before basketball was invented, William Shakespeare reflected on the subject of greatness. The Great Bard once summed it up this way: "Be not afraid of greatness: some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them." It's already obvious ...

Japan bowed out of the Davis Cup Finals on Wednesday, going down to Serbia a day after opening its Group A campaign with a loss to France. Filip Krajinovic beat Yuichi Sugita 6-2, 6-4 in the opening singles rubber at Madrid's La Caja Magica before ...