Hinata Goto reportedly fell as he was trying to get off the 30-metre-long walkwayA five-year-old boy has died after becoming trapped in a moving travelator at a ski resort in northern Japan, local media have said.The victim, Hinata Goto, died on Sunday…
Takeshi Niinami bought supplements in the belief that they were legal, says Jim Beam and Laphroaig ownerBusiness live – latest updatesTakeshi Niinami, one of Japan’s best-known business leaders, has resigned as chief executive of the drinks company Sun…
As soon as 2060, global heating may send temperatures high enough to stop children in most parts of country from taking part in outdoor summer sports, study showsThe tens of thousands of fans filing into Koshien baseball stadium near Osaka are more gra…
Japanese negotiators have just days before the end of Trump’s 90-day pause on punishing tariffs to pull off a breakthroughIt all seemed to be going so well. In April, Japan’s chief trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, sat opposite Donald Trump in the Oval…
Fifty-five years since Osaka last hosted, rocks from Mars, domestic androids and artificial hearts are part of showcase on ‘unloved’ islandAs clunky as it sounds, “designing a future society for our lives” isn’t a bad ambition for the world in these tr…
Prospect of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan has forced Japan to step up measures to protect islands in Okinawa prefecture Japan has for the first time released plans to evacuate more than 100,000 civilians from some of its remote islands near Taiwan in th…
Authorities relax laws to make it easier for hunters to carry out ‘emergency shootings’ when bears are spotted in populated areasJapan is to relax its strict hunting laws to make it easier to shoot bears, amid a rise in dangerous encounters with the an…
Parents and campaigners have called on education and health authorities to end the practice of requiring children to strip off for school health checks“My chest was completely exposed and I felt embarrassed,” writes a Japanese girl after undergoing an …
Japan’s supreme court rules that practice under now-defunct eugenics law was unconstitutionalJapan’s supreme court has ordered the government to pay damages to dozens of people who were forcibly sterilised under a now-defunct eugenics law, saying the p…
Change to civil code will bring Japan into line with other G7 countries, amid concerns existing law inflicts psychological harm on childrenDivorced couples in Japan will for the first time be able to negotiate joint custody of their children after parl…
Despite warm words from the US and Japanese leaders during their summit this week, back in Japan the spectre of a second Trump White House looms largeJoe Biden was effusive in his praise for Japan and its “bold” prime minister, Fumio Kishida, during a …
Tributes paid to wrestler, who was born Chad Rowan and became the sport’s first non-Japanese grand champion in 1993Tributes have been paid in Japan to Akebono, the first foreign wrestler to reach the pinnacle of the sport of sumo, who has died aged 54….
Sato will become the only option by 2531, suggests modelling as part of campaign to overturn outdated law requiring spouses to have same surnameJapanese citizens will all have the same family name in 500 years’ time unless married couples are permitted…
Meme-worthy content appears in short supply, at least initially, as world’s oldest royal family embarks on its social media journeyThe rarefied world of Japan’s imperial family has entered the age of social media, but fans expecting selfies, emojis and…
Japan is the only country in the world that requires spouses to use the same name, but after decades of inaction, appetite for change is buildingFor Akiko Saikawa, the administrative nightmare began soon after she married.The office worker from Tokyo h…
Ennosuke Ichikawa was part of apparent family pact to take their own lives after he learned he was to be accused of sexual abuseOne of Japan’s best-known kabuki actors has been given a suspended prison sentence for helping his parents die in an apparen…
As foreign population reaches record levels, the western prefecture of Mie has compiled a guide for those who need itIt is a linguistic trap few learners of Japanese have avoided: declaring yourself pera pera (fluent in a language) when you’re really p…
New landmass about 100 metres across pops up above the waves near Iwoto island after eruptions began last monthJapan has gained another island to add to its already impressive collection, after an undersea volcanic eruption 1,200km (745 miles) south of…
Many in the city have put the Hanshin Tigers’ lack of success down to an unusual Colonel Sanders-based superstition, but it may be about to endThe last time the Hanshin Tigers were proclaimed the best baseball team in Japan, their fans celebrated by hu…
Japan hopes the fair in 2025 will reconnect it with the global community after Covid but calls are growing to delay or scrap the eventIn the distance, beyond the clouds of sand kicked up by a coastal wind and passing lorries, the centrepiece of Osaka’s…