A grand piano stands silently in a tatami room at Naoko Nakashima's home in Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture. It has not been played in almost two years. Nakashima's grandmother gave the piano to her when she was 5 years old and she practiced every day in ...

Consumers, retailers and businesses nationwide throw away millions of tons of food each year, with waste ultimately affecting profit levels and keeping officials up at night. Food loss can happen at any stage in the production process, whether it be harvesting, processing, retailing or consumption. It's ...

It all began with bread crusts — lots and lots of bread crusts. Tatsuya Sakamaki, owner of bread manufacturer Bongout in the Saitama city of Kawaguchi, was troubled by the bags of crusts that would accumulate from the 50 loaves of white sandwich bread he ...

More domestic companies are taking the issue of unpleasant odors in the workplace seriously.

Takako Tonooka's life at high school did not start out the way she had anticipated. On the very first day she attended class, she was groped on the train — and that was only the beginning of her nightmare. For a year and a ...

Steps are being taken to assist people with color vision deficiency navigate life more easily. As we find out, however, not everyone agrees with the approach.

Behind the scenes of the country's largest dog show.

How many times have you been jolted awake in summer at 4:30 a.m. by rays of sunlight streaming through your flimsy curtains? Conversely, how many sunsets have you missed because you've been stuck in an office until it's officially time to go home? The underlying ...

As the new academic year begins, Masami Ito looks at efforts that are being made to prevent young people from drinking heavily in group settings.

With an increasing number of Muslims residing in and visiting Japan, local governments and businesses in the private sector are eyeing ways to target the potentially lucrative market