Tokyo stands at a critical juncture this weekend as a request for residents to isolate themselves aims to prevent a major spike in cases of the novel coronavirus and help avoid a citywide lockdown. “The city is on the verge of the point at which ...

Forty more residents have been infected with COVID-19, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike announced Friday. The update brought the number of coronavirus cases in the capital to 299 as of 4 p.m. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is investigating whether the new patients had close contact with other ...

Kagura, a form of Shinto theatrical dance, is increasingly winning the hearts of young women in Shimane Prefecture, carving out a new fan base in the traditionally male-dominated music ritual that is grappling with a shortage of successors. Dubbing themselves “kagurājo,” (kagura girls) these women ...

Japan’s first commercial light-water nuclear reactor started operations in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, on March 14, 1970. Fifty years later, those involved look back on the project with mixed feelings. In that era, nuclear power was touted as a key future energy resource. But now, following the ...

The long lines and stacks of ash urns greeting family members of the dead at funeral homes in Wuhan are spurring questions about the true scale of coronavirus casualties at the epicenter of the outbreak, renewing pressure on a Chinese government struggling to control ...

For decades, indigenous groups from Colombia to Brazil have been fighting the threat to their lives posed by oil exploration, deforestation and illegal logging. Now the battle is against the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Indigenous tribes are locking down and closing off their reserves to visitors as ...

Fossil fuel-rich Russia has for the first time set out a greener economic path for the coming three decades, in a long-term, low-carbon development plan released this week. It pledges to cut planet-warming emissions by a third by 2030 from 1990 levels, when the heavily ...

With over 340 cases of novel coronavirus in six Kansai area prefectures as of Friday, local leaders want all residents who have just returned from overseas to self-quarantine. But despite Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and the governors of surrounding Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Yamanashi prefectures ...

Officials in charge of staging the Tokyo Olympics crowded around a low table inside Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's residence late Tuesday, wincing as they spoke by phone with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. Minutes later, Abe emerged to inform a gaggle of reporters that ...

They have been hailed as India's coronavirus "heroes," but doctors, nurses, delivery drivers and other frontline workers have been attacked and in some cases evicted from their homes by panicked residents. Some e-commerce giants have even halted deliveries partly due to the harassment of staff, ...

The government on Friday decided it would aim to restore the gutted Shuri Castle in Okinawa by 2026, with full-fledged reconstruction to begin in 2022. The government aims to enhance fire-prevention measures by installing sprinklers, previously missing at the castle, and automatic fire-detector alarms. Structural ...

Senior officials in the Trump administration have agreed to new measures to restrict the global supply of chips to China's Huawei Technologies Co., sources familiar with the matter said, as the White House ramps up criticism of China over coronavirus. The move comes as ties ...

Supermarkets and convenience stores decided Thursday to stay open as usual in the coming days, after a request by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike’s for residents in the capital not to leave home over the weekend. On the other hand, some operators of entertainment facilities such ...

Mask prices in Tokyo's densely populated 23 wards jumped 11.3 percent in March from a year before, reflecting supply shortages stemming from the spread of COVID-19, government data showed Friday. Face mask prices rose 3.2 percent month on month, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry ...

SoftBank Corp. launched its ultrafast 5G wireless offerings Friday, joining rivals NTT Docomo Inc. and KDDI Corp. in a battle to attract customers looking for seamless video and game streaming. The 5G services will initially cover a very limited area but will be expanded to ...

Leaders from the Group of 20 economies said Thursday they would be pumping $5 trillion (¥542 trillion) into the world economy as part of a joint pledge to use all policy tools available to cushion the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic. To fight the ...

The United States on Thursday took the grim title of the country with the most coronavirus infections and reported a record surge in unemployment as world leaders vowed $5 trillion to stave off global economic collapse. More than 500,000 people around the world have now ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chief rival was chosen on Thursday as the new speaker of parliament, an unexpected step that could pave the way to a power-sharing deal between the two men as the country grapples with a worsening coronavirus crisis. The sudden turnabout ...

At Lazada, the Southeast Asian arm of Alibaba Group Holding, staffers are furious over demands that they submit health reports daily and other coronavirus-prevention steps seen as too invasive, highlighting a long-running culture clash with management from China. Since February, Singapore-based Lazada has asked all ...

Military-style management and an unquestioning reverence for the founding Lee family have fueled Samsung's transition from the world's most ridiculed phone-maker to its biggest, says the author of a new book. Today Samsung — by far South Korea's most powerful conglomerate, with more than 50 ...

The government downgraded its key assessment of Japan's economy on Thursday, saying it was in a "severe situation" as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc domestically and globally. In its monthly report for March, the Cabinet Office did not use the expression "recovering" to ...

The Supreme Court on Thursday backed a lower court’s rejection of a petition from the Okinawa Prefectural Government to block landfill work for the planned relocation of a U.S. military base within the prefecture. In the lawsuit, Okinawa sought to revive its withdrawal of approval ...

People in the Tohoku region devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami expressed hopes Wednesday that a rescheduled Tokyo Olympics will showcase to the world next year their progress toward reconstruction. The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday that the 2020 Tokyo Games would be ...

Now that the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics have been postponed until next year, concerns are growing about whether small and midsize businesses in the tourism and service industries will be able to weather the COVID-19 storm, economists and analysts say. With tourism traffic drying up ...

At least 59 internet domains containing phrases related to the Tokyo Olympics and 2021 were obtained on Tuesday, the day the spectacle was postponed, it was learned Thursday. Many are believed to have been acquired for resale, with one being auctioned for ¥1.9 million. An expert ...

Mika Nishiyama made a false confession and served 12 years. Then she was diagnosed as having an intellectual disability, ADHD and autism spectrum disorder.

We are about to make a historical step — hopefully forward — as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Justified civil liberties concerns shouldn't prevent us from using technology to combat a pandemic that could kill millions.

Real experts know the dangers of winging it.

In the latest edition of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants rankings, Singapore’s Odette has retained its No.1 position for a second straight year, ahead of The Chairman in Hong Kong and Tokyo’s Den. But the announcement on Tuesday was overshadowed by the escalating coronavirus ...

The incubation period for COVID-19 is long enough that we may not feel the ramifications of our actions for as much as two weeks from now. For those with compromised immune systems, that makes the need for a united response even more pressing.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has her first post-royal job: narrating a Disney documentary about elephants. Disney announced Thursday that the duchess, who is married to Britain's Prince Harry, is lending her voice to "Elephant," to be released April 3 on the Disney+ streaming service. ...

In 2016, shortly after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, Tom Jenkinson released a plaintive protest song under his Squarepusher alias, titled “MIDI Sans Frontieres.” Though he’s better known for maximalist explosions of breakbeats, hyperactive acid synths and fusion-jazz frippery, the ...

Responses to the spread of the COVID-19 virus have varied widely from country to country and are changing from day to day. So, while Broadway shows in New York have shut down for at least a month, West End productions in London have been ...

Diamond League events in Stockholm, Naples and Rabat that were scheduled for late May have been postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said on Friday. The Diamond League has now postponed five events in the 2020 season, after meets scheduled for Doha and an unspecified ...

Bill Bartholomay, the former baseball owner who moved the Braves from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966 to become Major League Baseball's first team in the South, has died. He was 91. Bartholomay died Wednesday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, according to his daughter, Jamie. Braves Hall of ...

Commissioner Roger Goodell told NFL teams on Thursday that the draft will go on as originally scheduled for next month. The draft will still take place April 23-25. It was originally scheduled for a big outdoor production in Las Vegas, but those plans were scrapped ...

Fred "Curly" Neal, the dribbling wizard who entertained millions with the Harlem Globetrotters for parts of three decades, has died. He was 77. The Globetrotters said Neal died in his home outside of Houston on Thursday morning. "We have lost one of the most genuine human ...

Jimmy Wynn, the diminutive Houston Astros slugger whose monster shots in the 1960s and '70s earned him the popular nickname "The Toy Cannon," has died. He was 78. The Astros said the three-time All-Star outfielder died Thursday in Houston, but did not provide further details. Just ...

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the B. League ran out of all options but one: canceling the remainder of the 2019-20 season. The league announced on Friday that it will not play any of the games remaining on the schedule, including the postseason. The ...

The International Olympic Committee will set dates for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in about three weeks, a source familiar with the matter said Thursday. According to the source, the IOC may decide to hold the games in spring as requested by international sports federations to ...

Athletes who had already qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before they were postponed will keep their places when the showpiece takes place in 2021, sources told AFP on Thursday. Around 57 percent of the 11,000 scheduled participants for the Tokyo Games had already made ...

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike on Friday expressed her hope that the venue for the marathon and race walk events in the Tokyo Olympics will be changed back to the nation's capital from Sapporo. "Tokyo citizens want" the marathon and race walk to take place in ...

The Indianapolis 500 was postponed Thursday until August because of the coronavirus pandemic and won't run on Memorial Day weekend for the first time since 1946. The race will instead be held Aug. 23, three months later than its May 24 scheduled date. "The month of ...

The coronavirus crisis has reached Japanese baseball, with the Hanshin Tigers announcing Friday three players had tested positive for the virus. Pitcher Shintaro Fujinami, outfielder Hayata Ito and catcher Kenya Nagasaka were each given PCR tests for the virus on Thursday and all came back ...

Hanshin Tigers pitcher Shintaro Fujinami became the first professional baseball player in Japan to test positive for the new coronavirus, a source with knowledge of the matter said Thursday. The 25-year-old right-hander, considered one of the top prizes of Nippon Professional Baseball's 2012 amateur draft, ...