Health ministry technocrats wanted to maintain a tight grip on information rather than cooperate with private institutions, critics say.

Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi warned Monday that the Paris climate accord could face "death" if steps to fight global warming are put on the back burner to facilitate the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Many economists and policymakers are forecasting a steep global recession ...

Dressed in protective plastic coveralls and white boots, Yuji Onuma stood in front of the row of derelict buildings that included his house, and sighed as he surveyed his old neighborhood. On the once-bustling main street, reddish weeds poked out of cracked pavement in front ...

Actor-turned-politician Taro Yamamoto is angling for a new real-life role in which he leads his novice party and allies to victory, ousts long-ruling conservatives and takes over as prime minister within the next few years. Whether or not he can achieve that ambitious target, Yamamoto ...

Prosecutors have confirmed that Nissan's arrested chairman, Carlos Ghosn, is being held in the spartan Tokyo Detention House in Katsushika Ward — its many rules and restrictions making for a stark contrast with his comfortable, globe-trotting lifestyle. Ghosn is most probably being held in a ...

On a recent weekday morning, a group of men in their 70s and 80s gathered for baseball practice just down the road from a junior high school where students were arriving to start the day. At full strength, the Shimohama Club baseball team's 33 players ...

Shinichiro Tsukada says his small plastering company in Tokyo wouldn't survive without the 22 Chinese and Vietnamese workers who make up half his payroll. "They're treasures, real treasures," he said. "Workers are disappearing as our population ages. Buildings cannot be built because there aren't enough ...

Chikara Imai, 73, is quick to dismiss the new parties in Sunday's national election, saying old ties with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party is what the country's most elderly village needs for survival. Nanmoku, 107 km (67 miles) northwest of Tokyo, is at ...

Public support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, battered by a smoldering scandal and a perception that he is taking voters for granted, has fallen below 30 percent, the lowest since he returned to power in 2012, a survey released on Friday showed. The suspicion of ...

Few doubt Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to invest public funds in a $90 billion high-tech maglev railway makes political sense. Whether it makes equally good economic sense is less clear. Proponents say lending government money to Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) to speed ...