The government is aiming to curb the growing trend of land plots with no identifiable owners by clarifying owners' responsibilities, with the Cabinet approving a bill to revise the Basic Act for Land at a meeting Tuesday. The number of plots with undetermined ownership is ...

A Maritime Self-Defense Force unit currently deployed in the Middle East will not take part in any exercise of force by the U.S. military there, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday. While the MSDF unit will provide information to the U.S. military around once in ...

Sony Corp. on Tuesday raised its group net and operating profit outlooks for the current business year through March, citing robust demand for image sensors used in portable devices such as smartphone cameras. The electronics and entertainment giant now expects a net profit of ¥590 ...

Sinking into steamy hot springs, the giant rodents of Izu Shaboten Koen flick their ears and close their eyes against the camera clicks of fascinated onlookers, drifting into a hazy midday nap. They might not know it, but the five capybaras are the star attraction ...

Japan's real gross domestic product is believed to have dropped for the first time in five quarters in the October-December period, partly due to the consumption tax hike taking a bite out of domestic demand, according to estimates by 10 think tanks. The research institutes ...

Google LLC is limiting access to key tools that track ad spending, disrupting hundreds of marketers and underscoring the powerful role the search giant plays in the digital advertising industry. One recent change affects ad measurement companies — independent firms that monitor the performance of ...

In another demonstration of the effect the virus is having on tourism, Japanese department store operators saw duty free sales slump during the key Lunar New Year holiday.

The Hilton group said Tuesday it will open a hotel under its newest luxury brand in Kyoto in autumn 2021, counting on a further upswell in lodging demand from tourists even after the Tokyo Olympics this summer. The timing of the planned opening for the ...

In a bid to dampen the effects of a rapidly graying society, the Cabinet on Tuesday approved bills to urge businesses to let employees work until age 70.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s luxury Lexus brand posted a double-digit sales gain last year, taking its 30th anniversary in stride as strength in China and Europe offset stalled demand in North America. The brand, which debuted in 1989, grew 10 percent to 765,330 vehicles worldwide, Toyota ...

So far, 20 cases of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus have been reported in Japan, four of which occurred in Tokyo.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said the island will deny entry to all foreign nationals who had been to China during the past 14 days starting from Friday due to the increasing threat from the coronavirus epidemic. The new incoming travel ban includes all foreign nationals who ...

The U.S. Commerce Department has finalized a new rule to impose anti-subsidy duties on products from countries that it has determined undervalue their currencies against the dollar, including potentially China and even Japan. The move Monday could provide a fresh irritant in U.S.-China trade talks ...

Sapporo's annual snow festival began in the city on Tuesday, amid fears over the outbreak of the coronavirus from China and soaring costs involved in transporting snow to the site amid an unusually warm winter. The number of visitors to the winter event in the ...

The government named on Tuesday new ambassadors to Bolivia, Cyprus, East Timor, Iceland and UNESCO, effective Wednesday. Osamu Hokida, 63, will become the top envoy to Bolivia after serving as the consul general in Leon, Mexico for a little more than two years. His previous ...

The government is urging people to remain calm amid the ongoing outbreak of 2019-nCoV, the new coronavirus that originated in China, and resist a growing number of social media rumors containing false information and abusive comments related to the illness. A number of baseless claims ...

Japanese department store operators saw duty free sales slump during the key Lunar New Year holiday, one of the first indications of how hard the nation's retail sector will be hit by the coronavirus outbreak in China. Takashimaya Co.'s duty free sales during the weeklong ...

Forget about clinging to hopes that China, the world's largest car market, will recover from its unprecedented two-year slump anytime soon. Expectations were already bleak as the year began, with IHS Markit predicting a 10 percent drop in first quarter production. Now, the influential research ...

When a fifth of the people living in the city of Wakayama faced a three-day water stoppage last month to fix a 60-year-old pipe network, they rushed to get ready, only to learn that the repairs could be made without a shutdown. Some 3,000 complaints ...

Add a gun that can't shoot straight to the problems dogging Lockheed Martin Corp.'s $428 billion F-35 program, including more than 800 software flaws. The 25 mm gun on U.S. Air Force models of the Joint Strike Fighter has "unacceptable" accuracy in hitting ground targets ...

Tesla Inc.'s stock surged 20 percent on Monday in its largest one-day gain since 2013, fueled by a quarterly profit at Panasonic's battery business with the U.S. carmaker and an investor report predicting its shares would rise more than ten-fold by 2024. Shares of Tesla ...

The United Arab Emirates, a major international transit hub, on Monday suspended flights to and from China, except for Beijing, following the outbreak of the new coronavirus in China. It was not immediately clear if the UAE suspension, which cuts most air links with one ...

A new study on meat consumption has found that people who eat red and processed meat have higher risks of heart disease and early death — contradicting recent research that suggested cutting out meat has few health benefits. The multiple findings can make it "difficult ...

Japan and the U.S. could have the first security partnership that operates in space.

The U.S. president goes into his reelection campaign stronger than ever thanks to the Democrats' poor timing.

The particle "hazu" basically translates as "should" in English, but can sometimes be rendered as "no wonder."

A Kyodo article looks at the number of nations taking part in the Tokyo Paralympics this summer.

Michiyo Azusa, known for singing "Konnichiwa Akachan" ("Hello Baby") among other hits, has died. She was 76. Azusa, whose real name is Michiyo Hayashi, was found dead when her manager visited her home Wednesday, according to her management office. She made her debut after graduating from ...

The Japan Sumo Association is putting its considerable weight behind the 2020 Tokyo Games as it looks to use the international extravaganza to promote the country's national sport. On Tuesday at the famed Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, the JSA formally announced plans for Grand Sumo, ...

Yuzuru Hanyu's bid to recapture the world title he last won in 2017 meant turning back the clock and being himself, one of his coaches, Ghislain Briand, said Monday ahead of this week's Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. After runner-up finishes at the Grand Prix ...

Brian Elliott made 16 saves for his 40th career shutout in the Philadelphia Flyers' 3-0 win over the sinking Detroit Red Wings on Monday night. It was the Red Wings' ninth consecutive loss (0-8-1), and the second straight time they've been shut out. This is ...

The Canadian Football League's global scouting team came away "very, very impressed" by the performances of the athletes who participated in the Japanese stop of the CFL Global Combine over the weekend. The CFL hosted the combine after the professional league and the X League, ...