A strict immigration policy has helped make Japan one of the world's oldest and most homogeneous societies. Now, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to invite as many as half a million foreign workers is testing the country's tolerance for change. Abe is preparing to introduce ...

Tokyo’s highest official is casting doubt on government plans to institute daylight saving time in 2019 and 2020 to help manage the scorching heat during the Summer Olympics. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Monday that she was concerned about the expense and disruption of moving ...

The Bank of Japan should drop its 2 percent inflation target and should not further expand its program of massive monetary easing, Internal Affairs Minister Seiko Noda, a long-shot to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said in an interview. The "desperate" introduction of all sorts ...

When Shinzo Abe resigned as prime minister 11 years ago it came out of nowhere, two days after a major policy speech. Now, Tokyo is wondering if he'll shock the government again. Abe's future has come under intense speculation amid a drip-feed of scandals that ...

After 16 months of warm words, lavish gifts and rounds of golf, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may be discovering the limits of personal rapport with U.S. President Donald Trump. The prime minister is planning a hastily arranged trip to Washington next month after two surprise ...

South Korea must stay in line with U.S. and Japanese plans to keep North Korea "under siege," the chairman of the Lower House committee on foreign affairs said, referring to the policy of maintaining maximum pressure on Kim Jong Un's regime. Just days after Kim's ...

Criticism by a Cabinet minister of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's energy policies may say more about his own political prospects than it does about the country's debate over clean power. Taro Kono, whom Abe appointed foreign minister last year, used a speech Sunday in the ...

Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda should stay on for a second term to handle the potential fallout from five years of unprecedented monetary easing, according to the leader of an opposition party and former official at the central bank. "I think he should stay ...

Five years since Shinzo Abe came to power, the economy is much stronger, but still falls short of the revolution he pledged to deliver. Aggressive monetary policy has beaten back the deflationary malaise of previous decades and the weak yen is boosting exports, corporate profits ...

Throughout Trump’s two-day visit, Abe publicly ducked any talk of major trade concessions even though Trump kept bringing it up.