4+ hour, 20+ min ago  (101+ words) May 27, 2026 at 12: 40 JST Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi answers questions from Hideya Sugio of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan about allegations of slander videos during a session of the Upper House Cabinet Committee on May 26. (The Asahi Shimbun) It is…...

2+ day, 4+ hour ago  (650+ words) May 29, 2026 at 14: 17 JST Devil's tongue. Elephant's foot. Demon yam. Overseas, the plant goes by names that might make you shudder. In older Japanese usage, the name of the food made from that plant was sometimes written in kanji in a…...

3+ day, 4+ hour ago  (501+ words) May 28, 2026 at 14: 09 JST There once was a person named Shiro Minamimura, who died in 2024 at age 95. Nicknamed "the back-channel mediator in Japan-China diplomacy" for his unwavering commitment to exchanges between the two countries from the time before the normalization of…...

6+ day, 1+ hour ago  (446+ words) July 17, 2025 at 13: 45 JST Japan sank into a trade deficit of 2. 2 trillion yen ($15 billion) for the first six month of this year, according to government data released Thursday, as exports were hit by'President Donald Trump's tariffs. In June, Japan's exports slipped…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago  (475+ words) May 19, 2026 at 13: 29 JST His name is Jiro. He is an android created by Dr. Kohmyoji, a global authority on robotics. Jiro is fitted with a device called "the Conscience Circuit," also known as Gemini, which is meant to make him…...

2+ week, 45+ min ago  (110+ words) By TAKAHIRO OKUBO/ Staff Writer May 10, 2026 at 07: 00 JST The May 4, 1993, issue of weekly magazine AERA features college student Bunzo Kashiwagi, who talks about a letter he wrote about war-renouncing Article 9. (Takahiro Okubo) KOCHI'U. S. President Donald Trump's complaint about Japan not…...

3+ week, 5+ day ago  (547+ words) By TORU SAITO/ Staff Writer May 5, 2026 at 07: 00 JST TSURUOKA, Yamagata Prefecture--The "Dadachamame," a specialty product of this northeastern city, is a line of "edamame" soybeans that are eaten green and known to be delicious. A group led by a…...

1+ mon, 3+ day ago  (112+ words) April 7, 2026 at 18: 05 JST The imperial family meets with Atsuko Yamamoto, right, a survivor of the Great East Japan Earthquake, at the Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, on April 6. (Koichi Ueda) Emperor Naruhito,…...

1+ mon, 5+ day ago  (112+ words) February 20, 2026 at 14: 10 JST Kaori Sakamoto of Japan reacts after competing in the women's free skate during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena on Feb 19 in Milan, Italy. (Imagn Images via REUTERS) MILAN--Kaori Sakamoto's final…...

1+ mon, 1+ week ago  (264+ words) April 24, 2026 at 09: 45 JST A South Korean national holding a banner carrying political messages was arrested Wednesday for allegedly obstructing an annual spring festival at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, Japanese police said. The shrine honors Japan's 2. 5 million war dead, including convicted war…...