The government maintains that renewable energy sources remain too unreliable and expensive, despite their wide-scale uptake around the globe and significant, ongoing reductions in their cost.

In a review of current guidelines, it was decided Tuesday to reduce the number of government entities subject to Japan’s controversial secrecy law by 42.

A long-running error in the Seven & I Holdings Co. unit’s calculations for such workers led to the shortfall for payments to part-time staff, sources said.

Osaka Metro Co. on Tuesday started testing a next-generation automated ticket gate featuring a facial recognition system. The subway operator aims to introduce the gates at all of its train stations by fiscal 2024, ahead of the 2025 World Expo in the city of Osaka. The ...

The government announced an estimate Monday that it will spend around ¥1.5 trillion on reconstruction projects for areas devastated by the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in the five-year period starting from fiscal 2021. In a draft of its new basic policy for post-Great ...

Some banks are levying more fees as a way to cover plunges in revenue, with industry leader MUFG Bank considering a maintenance charge for inactive accounts. The moves reflect a tougher business environment amid prolonged low interest rates as well as higher costs for labor ...

Tales of heroism, devastation and horrifying injuries emerged Tuesday after New Zealand's smouldering White Island volcano exploded, killing an estimated 13 people and turning what should have been an intrepid day trip into a nightmare. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there were five confirmed fatalities ...

The watchdog accused Nissan of violating the law by underreporting Ghosn’s pay package by around ¥9.1 billion in the eight years through March 2018 in securities reports.

Car sales in China continued to decline in November, extending a historic slump and all but ensuring a second straight annual drop for the world's biggest auto market. Sales of sedans, sport utility vehicles, minivans and multipurpose vehicles fell 4.2 percent from a year earlier ...

Experts and university students expressed concern about the nation's low environmental consciousness at a recent symposium in Tokyo. Citing Swedish activist Greta Thunberg's campaign efforts to tackle climate change, Tohoku University professor Jusen Asuka warned of a lack of awareness about the issue in Japan. "People ...

Paul Volcker, the towering former Federal Reserve chairman who tamed U.S. inflation in the 1980s and decades later inspired tough Wall Street reforms in the wake of the global financial crisis, died Monday at the age of 92, according to his daughter, Janice Zima. Volcker, ...

The government said Tuesday it hopes to double the country's output of wagyu beef, known for its tenderness and marbled fat, to 300,000 tons by fiscal 2035 amid rising overseas demand. Under the goal, which is part of a government program to support farmers and ...

Insults and threats are again being hurled between the United States and North Korea as tensions soar to heights unseen in the last two years ahead of a unilateral year-end deadline set by Pyongyang for progress in nuclear talks. While North Korea has deployed some ...

Japan's initial budget for fiscal 2020 will hit a record high and top ¥100 trillion ($920 billion) for the second straight year due to swelling social security and defense costs, government sources said Monday. The initial general account budget for the current fiscal year ending ...

A man suspected of fraudulently obtaining hard drives containing data managed by the Kanagawa Prefectural Government has posted over 7,800 items, including over 3,900 hard disks, for sale online, the company he had been working for said Monday. Yuichi Takahashi, 51, a former employee of ...

The plight of "returnees" to North Korea from Japan is increasingly forgotten nearly 60 years after Tokyo and Pyongyang jointly launched a resettlement project for ethnic Koreans living in Japan. Attracted by Pyongyang propaganda promising a "paradise on Earth," some 93,000 people, including 6,700 Japanese ...

The boy had been coming to play at her home almost daily — even when her son was not around. The woman, a housewife in her 30s living in the Kanto region, would serve the child snacks, and it was not uncommon for him to ...

Afghan police said Monday they have detained a total of six men in connection with last week's shooting of Tetsu Nakamura, a well-known Japanese aid worker in the country. Nakamura, local representative of Japanese aid group Peshawar-kai, and his staff were traveling in two vehicles ...

For Li Mo, the footage of black-clad people clashing with police and vandalizing storefronts proved the final straw. The images of Hong Kong protesters fighting for greater autonomy from Beijing incensed the mainland-born postgraduate student and she could no longer remain on the sidelines. ...

Police referred two men and a high school student to prosecutors Tuesday over their alleged involvement in online trading of uranium, in violation of Japanese law regulating nuclear materials. A 24-year-old man of Azumino, Nagano Prefecture, is suspected of posting for sale small amounts of ...

A devastating measles outbreak has continued to spread in Samoa, with the death toll reaching 70, as the United Nations on Monday released $2.6 million in emergency aid to combat the epidemic. Official figures showed there were 112 new cases in the 24 hours to ...

Amazon.com Inc. claims the Pentagon failed to fairly judge its bid for a cloud contract worth up to $10 billion because President Donald Trump viewed company founder Jeffrey Bezos as his "political enemy." Amazon Web Services, Amazon's cloud unit, claimed in a lawsuit that was ...

General Motors Co. loaned the buyer of its half-century-old assembly plant in Ohio $40 million to help the cash-strapped startup roll out an electric pickup truck. The transaction to support Lordstown Motors Corp. and its debut model, called Endurance, is essentially a mortgage, Jim Cain, ...

The fate of the World Trade Organization's top court was effectively sealed on Monday after the United States said it would not back a proposal to allow it to continue, trade officials said, although the WTO chief vowed to find a solution. The Trump administration ...

A convicted burglar who assaulted and raped women and children during a two-week rampage across Britain while wrongly free from jail was given 33 life sentences on Monday, with the judge saying he would never cease to be a danger to society. Joseph McCann, 34, ...

With some reverse thinking, smaller nations may be able to deter a major power.

Regional tensions require Tokyo to make a delicate compromise.

Short-term thinking is detrimental to sound decision-making.

When you're trying to describe what something is in Japanese, the structure 'to iu' can come in very handy.

A quick English lesson that asks readers about their culinary experiences.

Some restaurants in Japan are beginning to offer gluten-free options, but if you want to be certain then it's better to know the words that will help you avoid a dietary disaster.

Kyodo news looks at a manga that tells the experience of one Uighur woman.

Musashi Suzuki bagged his first international goal to help lead Japan to a 2-1 win over China in the EAFF E-1 Football Championship on Tuesday. The Consadole Sapporo forward opened the scoring for Hajime Moriyasu's squad of J. League players in the first half, while ...

Yuzuru Hanyu incurred his largest defeat in more than 10 years at the Grand Prix Final on Saturday to American Nathan Chen. Despite a super effort in his free skate to "Origin," Hanyu lost by nearly 44 points to the two-time defending world champion on ...

World No. 1 Kento Momota was named the Male Player of the Year by the Badminton World Federation on Monday at an awards ceremony recognizing 2019's top performers. "I'm very happy and brimming with confidence," said Momota, who won 10 international competitions this season including ...

Pete Frates, whose personal battle with the neurodegenerative disease ALS inspired the Ice Bucket Challenge campaign that raised millions of dollars for medical research, died on Monday aged 34, seven years after his diagnosis, Boston College said. The former BC baseball captain, who was named ...