The first female student was admitted to Japan's national naval submarine academy Wednesday after the end of a ban on women on the country's submarines. Risa Takenouchi, 26, entered the academy in Hiroshima along with about 20 men, after the Maritime Self-Defense Force overturned previous ...

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Edano used parliamentary debates to go after Prime Minister Abe on allegations of cronyism over an annual taxpayer-funded cherry blossom viewing party.

A deadly new virus reminiscent of one of China's biggest public health debacles has the country's leaders rushing to keep another outbreak from becoming a political crisis. After three weeks of revelations about a mysterious strain of coronavirus first detected in central China, President Xi ...

German prosecutors Tuesday said they were searching business premises across the country as part of an investigation into suspected diesel emissions cheating involving Mitsubishi cars.

As Japan readies to welcome a rush of Chinese visitors during the Lunar New Year holidays, hotels and other commercial facilities consider measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Conveyor belt sushi chain Kura Sushi Inc. opened a flagship restaurant Wednesday in Asakusa, a popular tourist spot in Tokyo. Decorating the interior of the restaurant with ukiyo-e woodblock prints and other items of traditional Japanese culture, Kura Sushi hopes to attract tourists from abroad. The ...

Tadamori Oshima, speaker of the House of Representatives, has said that the government should draft measures to ensure stable imperial succession as a basis for in-depth discussions by the Diet on the matter. In an interview, Oshima said he hopes the government will draw up ...

A group of merchants on Rakuten Inc.'s online shopping mall on Wednesday submitted a petition with some 4,000 signatures to the Fair Trade Commission, asking it to investigate the e-commerce giant's planned free shipping policy. The union of more than 300 sellers on Rakuten alleges ...

Government-funded memorial services each year commemorating the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami will end in 2021, which will mark the 10th anniversary of the massive disaster, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe concluded that he should determine the course for ...

As the distribution of power in the regional order becomes fragmented with intensifying Sino-U.S. strategic competition, Japan remains at the front line of East Asian security. With Chinese unilateral and coercive efforts altering the status quo on the one hand and the complexity of ...

The city of Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture, is attempting to solve the dilemma facing mothers with child care time constraints who still want to work. By promoting the introduction of jobs with working hours as short as two hours per day, two days per week, ...

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Wednesday they were studying plans to offer special late-night train services for those watching soccer matches at three regional venues during the Summer Games. The three venues in Sapporo, Rifu ...

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. will permit cabin crew to wear surgical masks while operating mainland China flights due to concerns over a new coronavirus, and allow passengers to Wuhan to change or cancel flights without charge through Feb. 15. The airline's flight attendant ...

The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted early on Wednesday on party lines to approve the rules for President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, rejecting Democratic efforts to obtain evidence and ensure witnesses are heard. As the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history began in earnest, Trump's ...

The Justice Ministry published explanatory information about the nation's justice system on its website on Tuesday, rebutting international criticism of Japan's prosecutorial approach. The system has been described as "hostage justice," most particularly in the wake of former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn's flight ...

The Japanese government rejected on Tuesday a protest by South Korea against the reopening of the National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty in Tokyo. "Foreign people unhappy about it should come to see it. There's nothing fabricated," said Seiichi Eto, minister in charge of territorial ...

North Korea has blocked foreign tourists from entering the country, travel operators said Wednesday, amid fears over the spread of a new coronavirus first detected in China. Young Pioneer Tours, a China-based tour agency specializing in travel to the North, said in a notice posted ...

Chinese President Xi Jinping has offered personal assurances that he won't use the protests in Hong Kong as an excuse to tighten Beijing's controls on the region, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said. Speaking in a Bloomberg Television interview at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, ...

Japanese companies overwhelmingly feel Japan should shift away from its dependence on coal for power generation even though a third of firms say this would harm their business, a Reuters poll has found — further evidence that the government is out of step with ...

The politics of protest was a running theme at Lunar New Year fairs in Hong Kong this week as stall holders sold T-shirts, tattoo transfers, tote bags and coasters bearing slogans popularized during months of pro-democracy demonstrations. Often-violent protests, sparked by a now-withdrawn bill that ...

Only about 13 percent of local government authorities in Japan are working to achieve the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals, in areas such as the fight against climate change, a Cabinet Office survey has shown. Some 58 percent of local governments are interested in ...

Environment Minister Koizumi criticized a coal-fired power plant project in Vietnam, calling into question the government’s financial support for the project amid a rising global outcry from climate activists.

The fabric of Australian life — the sun-licked, outdoor way of healthy living that has drawn people to the continent for decades — is under assault. The unprecedented wildfires that have killed at least 28 people, incinerated an area almost the size of England and ...

Boeing on Tuesday officially pushed back the timeframe for the 737 Max to return to the skies, sending shares plunging and overshadowing an earlier announcement of a first flight of the delayed 777X plane. Boeing said it is now targeting the return of the grounded ...

The U.S. military claims to have "successfully" disrupted the online propaganda efforts of the Islamic State in a hacking operation dating back at least to 2016, according to declassified national security documents released Tuesday. The heavily redacted, previously top secret documents said the U.S. Cyber ...

North Korea said on Tuesday the United States had ignored a deadline for nuclear talks and it no longer felt bound by its commitments, which included a halt to nuclear testing and inter-continental ballistic missile tests, and may "seek a new path." North Korean leader ...

Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump have agreed to extend negotiations on a dispute over a French tax on tech titans to the end of the year, postponing Washington's threat of sanctions, French officials said Tuesday. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, speaking before a ...

Leading by example, Koizumi and his colleagues in the government may have a chance to change the mindsets of Japanese men about work and fatherhood.

Stability in the Persian Gulf region is crucial for Japan's energy security.

It's about time Tokyo's food scene readily embraced various diet restrictions, so we're expanding our original list of Tokyo's best gluten-free restaurants with five more chosen by our readers.

Yuki Tanada's latest film, an adaptation of one of her own novels, looks at the use of dolls as substitutes for humans in relationships.

At times outlandish, other times artistically stunning, Polish film posters proved that postwar communism couldn't crush creativity.

Jan. 18-March 1 Kyoto-born Takeji Asano (1900-1999)was a woodblock artist committed to not only designing, but also carving the blocks for and printing his own works. Having trained in nihonga (Japanese-style painting) before he moved on to shin hanga (new prints) and sōsaku hanga (creative ...

Jan. 24-Feb. 29 After studying aesthetics and psychology, the conceptual artist James Lee Byars (1932-1997) developed his own artistic beliefs while going back and forth between New York and Kyoto in the 1960s and during his later nomadic life. His works ranged from sculpture and ...

Jan. 24-March 22 Textile dyeing artist Yoko Shimura follows in the footsteps of her mother, Fukumi Shimura, a Living National Treasure celebrated for her senshoku (plant and vegetable derived dyeing). An educator as well as artist, when Yoko opened her first studio in 1989, she ...

Rikishi who are famous for something other than results in the ring usually achieve that status through some notable aspect of their personality. But whether it's a comedian-like demeanor or exaggerated gestures before fights, wrestlers normally have just one trait for which they are known. Not ...

Rank-and-filers Shodai and Tokushoryu maintained their joint lead with one-loss records at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday, while ozeki Goeido staved off demotion by avoiding an eighth defeat. Shodai (10-1), the No. 4 maegashira on the east, was put to the test ...

With just half a year to go until the Summer Olympics, Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu is running out of time and sympathy. Moriyasu, the first coach to take charge of both the Samurai Blue and Olympic squads since Philippe Troussier in 1999, has come ...

Defending champion Naomi Osaka threw her racket, tossed a ball and kicked the racket again for good measure, before sitting for a while with a towel over her head. She sensed the crowd was looking for drama, and she gave them a little bit. She ...