When speaking last month about a plan to introduce private-sector English testing for university entrance exams, education minister Koichi Hagiuda created an outcry when he said students should compete for entry "in accordance with their (financial) standing," implying they should compete financially. The comments created ...

Earlier this fall, it was revealed that 20 Kansai Electric Power Co. officials, including the chairman and president, received nearly ¥320 million in cash and presents between 2006 and 2018 from a powerful, and now deceased, former deputy mayor and political fixer in Takahama, ...

When the extraordinary Diet session convenes on Friday, 15 government-sponsored bills are expected to be submitted — one of the lowest totals since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's second stint started — reflecting his administration's determination to focus its energy on revising the Constitution. But coming ...

Japan may not bring much more than past promises to U.N. Climate Action Summit.

FactCheck Initiative Japan, a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization that analyzes information provided by politicians, has found issues with a number of claims that were made in relation to the July 21 Upper House election. Of the 11 claims of false or misleading statements and information it ...

Ichiro Matsui, the mayor of Osaka and head of Nippon Ishin no Kai, said Tuesday that water tainted by radioactive tritium from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant could — if proven environmentally safe — be sent to Osaka and dumped into Osaka ...

The summer of 2019 brought record-breaking heat. Early to mid-September, until last week, felt like late July in Kansai, Tokyo, Nagoya and parts of Kyushu and Shikoku. Only in a few areas of Hokkaido, where temperatures dropped into the low teens at night, were ...

Newly appointed Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the third-youngest Cabinet minister in the postwar era, has been tapped by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his youth and popularity with the media and the public. The 38-year-old son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the younger Koizumi ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning to reshuffle his Cabinet on Wednesday. When this action, combined with the reshuffle of Liberal Democratic Party executives, takes place, there is always huge media coverage on who will be appointed to what post and what it means ...

What is a museum and how can its exhibits, which often include the world's most important cultural properties, be protected from natural disasters, including earthquakes? Those questions formed the basis of much discussion at the Kyoto assembly of the International Council of Museums, or ICOM, ...