The alleged ¥150 million payment from the LDP is considered unusually high, especially for an election in a nonswing district.

E-commerce giant Rakuten Inc.'s mobile phone unit said Thursday it would expand its free mobile phone trial service, currently limited to 5,000 users in major cities, ahead of its April launch of a full-scale wireless service. Rakuten Mobile Inc. said it would provide the free ...

It's 9:15 a.m. on Sunday, July 26, and excitement is building at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre as the first swimming medals go up for grabs. Nearby at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre, U.S. superstar Simone Biles is warming up for her first appearance of the ...

Brace yourself. Orthodontist Yuki Miyajima believes that Japanese have long been too tolerant of the sometimes crooked ways of teeth. The good news? He says more and more Japanese are seeking out that winning smile achieved by straightening up — and can improve their health and ...

U.N. experts have demanded an immediate investigation by the U.S. and other authorities into allegations that Saudi Arabia's crown prince was involved in a plot to hack the phone of Amazon boss and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. The U.N. special rapporteurs, Agnes Callamard and ...

China failed to send home North Korean workers by a December deadline in violation of United Nations sanctions, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday, adding that this was why Washington had blacklisted two entities involved in Pyongyang's labor exports. A 2017 U.N. Security Council resolution, ...

Nissan Motor Co. will go bankrupt within two to three years, Carlos Ghosn told a defense attorney during more than 10 hours of interviews before the auto executive skipped bail and left Japan. The former chairman and chief executive officer of Nissan Motor Co. and ...

Across Asia, Japan netted a surplus of ¥3.93 trillion, but its black ink shrank for a second year.

A 61-year-old postman failed to deliver thousands of postal items that he kept at his home instead, police said Thursday. About 24,000 undelivered items were found in the man's home in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, said the police, who sent his case to prosecutors. "It was too ...

Shintaro Wakiyama said that the money was received days after he was elected, in July 2018, from a then executive of Shiohama Industry Corp.

The government has been pushing for fathers to take paternity leave as Japan faces a demographic crisis, yet a new wrinkle has emerged: Almost one-third of mothers report that their partners do little to help out around the house while they're off work. Of 508 ...

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. has estimated that it will take 44 years to decommission its Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant. Tepco presented the outline of decommissioning plans to the municipal assembly of Tomioka, one of the two host towns of the nuclear plant, ...

In Wuhan, the central Chinese city that's ground zero of the deadly new virus spreading through the country, a sense of fear is rapidly taking hold. On Thursday morning, the city's some 11 million residents woke to learn it's now on lockdown, with public transport ...

Democrats accused President Donald Trump at his impeachment trial on Wednesday of a corrupt scheme to pressure Ukraine to help him get re-elected and warned that America's global prestige would suffer if the U.S. Senate acquits him. The Republican Trump, who has denied wrongdoing, sounded ...

Britain moved a step closer to its Jan. 31 exit from the European Union when the legislation required to ratify its deal with Brussels passed its final stage in Parliament on Wednesday, bringing an end to more than three years of wrangling in Parliament ...

Domestic shipments of personal computers surged 37.4 percent in 2019, sparked by demand created from an increase in teleworking and people and companies replacing their Windows 7 operating systems, which Microsoft stopped supporting last week, an industry body said Wednesday. PC shipments totaled 9.74 million ...

The official uniform of the Japanese national team to be worn by athletes during the Olympic and Paralympic Games opening ceremony was unveiled Thursday, the day before the start of the six-month countdown to the start of the Summer Olympics. Clothing retailer Aoki Inc. designed ...

Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi's recent remarks raising doubts over the country's coal-fired power plant exports have been met with a backlash from within the government and ruling bloc, while earning favorable responses from opposition lawmakers. Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Koizumi pointed out that ...

As the world's fifth-largest emitter, Japan must step up to the plate and promptly revamp its efforts to combat global warming.

There is a strong case for investing substantially and urgently in decarbonizing the Japanese economy.

Black Eye columnist Baye McNeil opens the new year with an email from a reader that illustrates the importance of language in dealing with multiracial individuals.

Actor Hio Miyazawa gives a voice to sexual minorities in his latest role in Rikiya Imaizumi's latest film, "his."

The premise for Yuki Tanada's film about a sex doll designer gets laughs, but also offers sharp insights into human issues.

Serena Motola gives a raw performance as a young survivor of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 in Nobuhiro Suwa's latest film.

Just over a year after giving birth to her first child, Yuka Osaki decided to return to the court with the goal of representing her home country at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The provisional Japan women's national team is currently holding a training camp at ...

Shodai and Tokushoryu each retained their leading records at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Thursday, while ozeki Goeido suffered an eighth loss and faces a demotion from the sport's second-highest rank. Goeido (4-8) was beaten by new sekiwake Asanoyama (7-5) in the day's ...

In March 1986, while Mike Ditka, Walter Payton and William "The Refrigerator" Perry and the rest of the Chicago Bears were still celebrating their Super Bowl XX mauling of the New England Patriots two-plus months earlier, in Osaka a young man named Daisaku Yamaguchi ...

Shimane Susanoo Magic head coach Yukinori Suzuki has received a two-month suspension by the league for power harassment, it was announced on Tuesday. Suzuki's punishment is for his treatment of an unnamed team staff member and a Shimane player, according to a league-issued statement and ...

Yuta Watanabe scored a career-high 40 points for the NBA G League's Memphis Hustle on Wednesday. The second-year pro, a two-way player for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and Hustle, put on a shooting clinic against the Delaware Blue Coats in Southaven, Mississippi. In 35 impressive minutes, ...