Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s abrupt move appears aimed at containing not only the virus, but also criticism of his handling of the growing Olympic and economic threat.

Yes you can “catch it” again if the virus is merely dormant and you haven’t developed antibodies, but virologists say it’s still too soon to say how it works.

Double-income and single-parent households are confused, frustrated and scrambling to make arrangements.

Events and rites related to the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito on May 1 last year came to an end on Friday. In the morning, the last such event, the Jichinsai ceremony, was held at the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to purify ...

The world economy may be heading for its worst performance since the financial crisis, more than a decade ago, as the spread of new virus that causes COVID-19 increasingly dashes hopes of a swift rebound. A few weeks ago most economists bet the China-led slump ...

With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe having asked organizers of big sporting and cultural events scheduled for the next two weeks to consider canceling, postponing or downsizing them during what is seen as a critical time for stemming the spread of COVID-19 infections, the list ...

Japan's unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage point from the previous month to 2.4 percent in January, worsening for the first time in four months but still at a low level amid the country's chronic labor shortage, government data showed Friday. The seasonally adjusted number of ...

Singapore has a reputation for planning ahead. With climate change, it is planning for the worst. While governments around the world are struggling to meet the goals of the Paris agreement — keeping the global temperature increase to about 1.5 degrees Celsius and the rise ...

A Hong Kong watchmaker who can't get coils or wheels. New Zealand lobsters released back into the wild. A San Diego game studio facing delays to its latest fantasy board games. The coronavirus outbreak that has hobbled China's economy is increasingly ricocheting through the world ...

The industry ministry will ask online auction companies to voluntarily stop listing face masks from their websites, amid supply shortages caused by the spread of COVID-19 infections, it was learned Thursday. Face masks have been in short supply mostly in urban areas, in part because ...

A total of 4,225 registered accounts on the messaging app Line have been hacked this month and some were used for phishing scams, according to Line Corp. Line said 4,073 accounts in Japan, 81 in Taiwan, two in Thailand and 69 in other parts of ...

Products bearing the image of Kumamon, the black bear mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, racked up sales of at least ¥157.9 billion ($1.4 billion) in 2019, the Kumamoto Prefectural Government said Friday. Sales have hit fresh records every year since 2011, when the prefectural government started ...

The government and manufacturers of face masks are facing a growing challenge to keep up with demand amid the coronavirus outbreak, fueling concern that shortages of such items will continue for some time and leading to frantic searches by many people for stores that ...

Justice Minister Masako Mori said Friday that Japan's vice justice minister will travel to Lebanon, where he is expected to seek the handover of Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman who fled the nation late last year while on bail. Hiroyuki Yoshiie is ...

Huawei will build its first European manufacturing plant in France, the chairman said on Thursday, as the Chinese telecom giant seeks to ease worldwide concerns stoked by U.S. charges that Beijing could use its equipment for spying. Liang Hua said Huawei, the world's biggest producer ...

Italy on Thursday urged tourists spooked by the coronavirus not to stay away, but efforts to reassure the world it was managing the outbreak were overshadowed by confusion over case numbers. Foreign minister Luigi Di Maio condemned "false reports circulating abroad" about panic in Italy, ...

With nearly 1 million displaced Syrians massing near the Turkish border in the face of a Syrian government military offensive, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's options are narrowing. He feels blindsided by Russia's push into Syria's Idlib region and the risk of full-blown conflict is ...

The European Union will propose carbon border measures as soon as possible to protect its industries from competitors in countries with less stringent climate policies, the bloc's industry chief said on Thursday. The European Commission, the bloc's executive, is planning to propose a carbon border ...

In many ways, Japan and India are more natural partners than are India and the U.S.

At a time of unprecedented global interconnectedness, our biggest challenges are shared. Every country must work to build its resilience, or no one will be safe.

The regime's dishonesty and indifference threaten the region and the world

Our newsfeeds lit up this week about something rather sickening. Was it COVID-19? No. We’re talking about the titular “Bottled Beer Incident.” But before we dive into that, we have to welcome some new faces. Toshiyuki Niino, aka “Shachō” (Boss), wastes zero time in chatting ...

As Taketeru Kudo takes a new approach to butoh, the dancer says the art is gaining a strong following overseas.

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal remained on course for his third Mexican Open title by breezing past South Korea's Kwon Soon-woo 6-2, 6-1 in their quarterfinal clash on Thursday. Top seed Nadal eased into the semi-finals with his best performance of the week as he ...

The 14th edition of the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday could produce cutthroat battles among local men's runners, including current and ex-national record holders. Though they want to capture the title in one of the biggest marathon events in the world, they will also hit the ...

Rugby across Asia is feeling the full brunt of the coronavirus outbreak with games and tournaments getting called off at a rate of knots. Such is the speed of things that decisions are seemingly being made on an hourly basis, but as it stands this ...