Just a month ago, the Diet session opening Monday was expected to hotly debate but ultimately approve more specific measures on how Japan will operate what will eventually be its first casino resorts. But following a casino-related bribery scandal that erupted in December, Prime Minister ...

On the morning of Jan. 17, 1995, I was jolted awake in my Kyoto apartment by the largest earthquake I'd ever experienced. The glass windows shook violently, but thankfully didn't break. Before going back to bed, I turned on the TV I'd pulled out of ...

Kobe and the surrounding area on Friday morning marked a quarter century since the Great Hanshin Earthquake devastated the region, killing 6,434 people in what was then Japan's worst postwar natural disaster. Survivors, their family members — including many who were born long after the ...

As Kobe commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake that took the lives of more than 6,400 people, the city and region are working to remind younger generations of the past devastation — and the importance of disaster-preparedness — even as they ...

At a mid-December meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organization and UNESCO, Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa spoke with pride about his city's successes in the area of sustainable, environmentally friendly tourism. "Since 2000, when we produced nearly 820,000 tons of household and industrial garbage, ...

This year, all attention will turn to the 2020 Olympics, with politicians, business leaders and the media talking about how to ensure its success, what it means for Japan domestically and internationally and how to avert a post-Olympic economic slump. Outside the seven prefectures in ...

The Cabinet is expected to approve a Self-Defense Forces mission to the Middle East that will comprise a destroyer, patrol planes and 250 personnel as part of an intelligence-gathering operation. In addition, one of two P-3C maritime surveillance planes deployed at Japan's base in Djibouti ...

With the close of the extraordinary Diet session on Dec. 9, some of the largest opposition parties once again entered talks about merging before year's end, with an eye toward increasing their seats in the next general election. Here's a look at the talks ...

It was a busy 2019 for Kansai, particularly in the days leading up to the June Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka. While the Tokyo Olympics will be the focus of much of the nation's attention in 2020, here are some major issues ...

Rising concerns worldwide about what an increase in tourism is doing to historic cities, cultural sites and the environment loomed over the start Thursday of a two-day gathering in Kyoto on tourism and culture organized by the United Nations World Tourism Organization and UNESCO. Kyoto ...