Shinzo Abe will almost certainly become the nation's longest-serving prime minister next month. Whether he will be remembered as a success could well hinge on how the economy weathers the consumption tax hike. Legislation raising the tax to 10 percent from 8 percent took effect ...

Just as Japan braces itself for a hike in the sales tax to 10 percent on Oct. 1, one of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's would-be rivals is calling for it to be abolished altogether. Taro Yamamoto, a former actor who is now the leader of ...

A deepening feud between Japan and South Korea threatens to undercut next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games as the two sides spar over whether spectators could wave Rising Sun flags during the event.

Japan and South Korea need time to cool down from a feud hurting security ties, former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said of the dispute that the Trump administration warns could damage its regional alliance network. Onodera, who has served two stints as defense minister under ...

The sleepy neighborhood of Araya in the city of Akita seemed like the perfect place for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to put a U.S. anti-missile system. The area has reliably backed the ruling party and has firsthand experience of a North Korean rocket flying ...

Ties between Beijing and Tokyo deteriorated after Japan purchased part of the disputed Senkakus from a private owner in 2012, though relations have since improved.

Japan and South Korea say they're willing to meet over Tokyo's move to tighten regulations on vital tech exports to its neighbor, but neither has much political incentive to climb down from one of their worst economic disputes in decades. Decades of mistrust make it ...

At the age of 75, Mikiko Kuzuno found herself recently laid off and applying for a job at a factory near Tokyo. She insisted on making the application in person. "I asked them to please take a look at me," she said. "I wanted to ...

The public's top pick to become the next prime minister says the country is not ready for the scale of change he thinks it needs. Shinjiro Koizumi, the 38-year-old son of popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, consistently leads polls asking who should succeed long-serving ...

Twice before, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has backed away from the sort of sales tax hike that toppled at least one predecessor. Now, he faces the same dilemma again. In five months Japan is set to raise the levy to 10 percent from the current ...