News On Japan

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga says the Japanese government is doing all it can to rescue people and assess the damage from the downpours in northern Kyushu. (NHK)

Japan and the United States at a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting on Wednesday called for tightening sanctions against North Korea, which claimed a successful test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile earlier this week. (Jiji)

The U.S. government's confirmation that the missile North Korea fired Tuesday was an intercontinental ballistic missile has suddenly made the prospect of a North Korean ICBM flying through the sky over Japan and toward the United States a more realistic possibility. (the-japan-news.com)

Japan's fiscal 2016 tax revenue came in around 2.1 trillion yen ($18.5 billion) below the initial forecast, casting doubt over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to replenish government coffers by spurring growth in the corporate sector. (Nikkei)

Japanese companies have never been in better financial shape. Their sky-high ratio of capital to assets testifies to that fact, with the average figure topping 40% for the first time last fiscal year. There's a catch, however: They are inveterate hoarders, which critics say points to a corporate governance problem. (Nikkei)

An observation rocket developed by Japanese startup Interstellar Technologies Inc. is scheduled to blast off from a launch site in the town of Taiki, Hokkaido, northern Japan, in the morning of July 29, the company said Thursday. (Jiji)

he Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum released online Wednesday digitally processed 16 millimeter film footage showing the central area of Hiroshima about 10 years before its devastation by the U.S. atomic bombing. (the-japan-news.com)

A group of local assembly members in Tokyo and Saitama prefectures who have publicly identified their sexual-minority status said Thursday they launched an inter-assembly league to promote policies supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. (Japan Today)

A 27-year-old man was arrested Thursday in Shizuoka Prefecture on suspicion of fatally stabbing a total stranger with a knife, police said. (Japan Times)

A 26-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a minor after he enticed a high school girl to live with him for a month, police said Thursday. (Japan Today)

A single poisonous fire ant has been found at Tokyo Port. It was in a shipping container that arrived from China. (NHK)

Record rainfall has hit parts of the Kyushu region in southwestern Japan. (NHK)

Torrential rains continue to batter western Japan for a third day. Seven people are dead and 14 are missing. (NHK)

Japan will introduce class activities using English for elementary school third- and fourth-graders when the next school year begins in April 2018, the education ministry said Friday. (Jiji)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have launched an investigation following the death of an elderly man who was found collapsed in a bathtub in his residence in Suginami Ward on Friday, reports TV Asahi. (tokyoreporter.com)

The leaders of Japan, the United States and South Korea agreed Thursday to cooperate closely to have the U.N. Security Council adopt a new sanctions resolution on North Korea over the reclusive state's missile development. (Jiji)

YouTube star Piko Taro has partnered with the Japanese Foreign Ministry to promote little-known U.N. development goals in Japan, singing and dancing to the catchy melody of his hit song "Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen" in a video. (Japan Today)

E-commerce company Rakuten Inc. has banned the sale of ivory items at its shopping site amid criticism from environmental activists that illegal trade in ivory is rampant on the internet, a company official said Thursday. (Japan Times)

Japan's Imperial Household Agency said Friday it has decided to postpone the announcement of Princess Mako's informal engagement to former university classmate Kei Komuro and other related events scheduled for Saturday, in view of serious damage caused by heavy rain in the northern part of the Kyushu region of southwestern Japan. (Jiji)

More than 120 countries adopted the first-ever treaty to legally ban nuclear arms at a U.N. conference in New York on Friday. (Jiji)

Latest Images