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 ...

Working women are playing a bigger role in Japan than Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Kathy Matsui thought possible when she penned her first report on womenomics in 1999. Yet the country needs to pick up the pace of change or risk being overtaken by ...

Kumi Fujisawa launched her finance career in Tokyo in 1989. It was a notable year: Emperor Akihito ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, the Nikkei average reached its giddy peak and the Sony Walkman was still a hot-selling gadget. Yet it wasn't an easy time to be ...

Tomomi Inada isn't trying to get Japan to legalize same-sex marriage or ban discrimination against gay citizens. The conservative lawmaker just wants to "promote understanding" of LGBT issues. Even that seems too much. The former defense minister said she's unsure she'll be able to introduce new ...

Donald Trump's desire to put "America First" has fostered new disputes between the United States and its allies. In Asia, old rivalries are also roaring back. Ties between Japan and South Korea — two of Washington's closest security partners — have arguably turned their most ...

About six months after facing calls to resign, the prime minister finds himself in a relatively strong position ahead of a year with key hurdles to overcome.

Prime Minister Abe will tell Theresa May that Japan has a lot riding on Brexit when he meets with her mere days before Parliament votes on her EU divorce plan.

Since the Soviet Union fell in the early 1990s, Southeast Asia has sought to avoid getting caught in a fight between major powers. The Trump administration is making that position look increasingly untenable. Vice President Mike Pence sharpened U.S. attacks on China during a week ...