March 17, 2014
“It was like a dream,” Sakie Yokota, the mother of North Korean abductee Megumi Yokota, said Monday after she and her husband, Shigeru, returned from meeting Megumi’s daughter Kim Eun Gyong for the first time. Megumi was abducted by North Korea when she was 13. The Yokotas met her daughter f...
Japanese and North Korean foreign ministry officials are expected to resume talks soon to discuss bilateral issues, including North Korea’s past abductions of Japanese nationals, according to government sources. The Foreign Ministry has also officially announced that the parents of Megumi Yokot...
A 2-year-old boy was found dead Monday morning in an apartment in Fujimi, Saitama Prefecture, while an 8-month-old-boy was discovered in the same apartment alive and rushed to the hospital. Investigators from the Kanagawa prefectural police are questioning a man in his 20s who was in the apartment...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he was very moved to hear that the parents of Megumi Yokota were able to meet with her daughter in Mongolia last week, 30 years after Megumi’s abduction to Nor...
SOFIA (AP)—Elena Radionova won her second straight gold medal at the world junior figure skating championships on Sunday, leading a medals sweep for Russia. The 15-year-old Radionova scored 127.3...
The resumption of formal contacts between director general-level officials of the Japanese and North Korean foreign ministries seems to be on the horizon, after the Foreign Ministry announced the mee...
SADO, Niigata—A pair of crested ibis siblings has started building a nest on Sado Island, the Environment Ministry has announced. The same pair hatched four chicks last year. The ministry’s Sado...
Relatives of people kidnapped by North Korea have expressed surprise at the first meeting between the parents of abductee Megumi Yokota and Megumi’s daughter in Mongolia last week. Although Shiger...
KINGSTON (AP)—A Jamaican juror has been charged with attempted bribery in a high-profile murder trial of top dancehall reggae star Vybz Kartel, police on the Caribbean island said Sunday. The Jam...
Japanese athletes who participated in the Sochi Paralympics cheer shortly after the closing ceremony on Sunday night in Sochi, Russia. Front row from left: Akira Kano, Mayuko Eno, Taiki Morii, Momoka ...
CAIRO (AP)—Egypt’s interim leader on Sunday said that the general public opposes the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood in the political process because he said it uses violence. In a wide-ran...
TAMPA, Fla. (AP)— Masahiro Tanaka allowed one run and three hits over 4⅓ innings Sunday in the New York Yankees’ 7-4 win over the Atlanta Braves. Tanaka, who signed a $155 million, seven-year ...
Ozeki Kakuryu, left, forces out No. 3 maegashira Takayasu to improve to 8-1 on Monday at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament at Osaka’s Bodymaker Colosseum. The yokozuna hopeful remained one win behind...
KUALA LUMPUR (AP)—Australia took the lead Monday in searching for the missing Boeing 777 over the southern Indian Ocean as Malaysia requested radar data and search planes to help in the unprecedent...
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP)—Novak Djokovic came into Indian Wells for the first time in four years without a title. He left with a $1 million check and his first trophy of the year, beating Roger F...
SAN SALVADOR (AP)—El Salvador’s Supreme Electoral Court has declared an ex-guerrilla from the country’s civil war the president-elect after a tight, contested runoff. The court late Sunday al...
SOCHI—The curtain fell on the Sochi Paralympics on Sunday, with Japan winning six medals during the nine-day competition. Japan earned three gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the 72 event...
HARRACHOV, Czech Republic (AP)—The team event at the ski flying world championships has been canceled due to high winds. Sunday was the second straight day that strong wind made it impossible to c...
The dollar lost ground moderately at levels below ¥102 in Tokyo trading Monday, with currency players waiting to see developments in the Ukrainian crisis after a key referendum in Crimea. At 5 p.m...
Stocks lost further ground on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday, bruised by selling amid persistent wariness over the course of the Ukrainian crisis. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average was down 49...
The likely resolution of a long-pending legislative task for both the ruling and opposition camps is at last in sight. Efforts must be expedited to formulate an accord to ensure the law’s revision d...
It is extremely problematic that the law has been ignored for nearly two years at schools, and this situation must be corrected as soon as possible. Education minister Hakubun Shimomura has finally ...
PARIS—Hello Kitty had many well-wishers for her 40th birthday, as people flocked to an event held here during Paris Fashion Week. Hello Kitty is a popular feline character of Sanrio Co., and produc...
A powerful earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.2 jolted wide areas in the west of the nation early Friday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The quake, which struck at about 2:06 a.m., ...
Today, many Japanese entertainers have multiple skills to add value to their profession. For Ayaka Wada, a member of teenage pop idol group S/mileage, art is her favorite subject, regardless of whethe...
Senior RIKEN officials bowed deeply during a Tokyo press conference Friday to apologize for the fact research articles about stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cells were written i...
Japan was seen as an international leader in the field of art in the 18th and 19th centuries—the middle of the Edo period (1603-1867)—when ukiyo-e artists produced numerous masterpieces. This was ...
OSAKA—The recent confusion regarding articles published by scientific journal Nature on stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cells may cause adverse effects on Japan’s studies of...
When Daisuke Takahashi arrived in Sochi on Sunday, determined to deliver his best performance at the Olympic Games, his parents were back in his hometown of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, planning to...
Japan and China, two East Asian regional powers, have been unable to hold summit talks since they started feuding with each other over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Japan’s relations...
SOCHI (Jiji-Japan News)—Gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu has given his exhibition program at the Sochi Olympics a theme: resurgence. The 19-year-old, who made history by becoming the first Japanese mal...
From April, “Onomato Pera Pera” will appear in the JN LearningLab Pages of the Japan News.
The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun’s March 6 issue. * * * Haiku poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) supposedly said, “Any 3-shaku-tall [e...
A few months ago I was on a business trip to Canada with some colleagues, and we ended up being invited to have dinner at a nice Italian restaurant with a friendly and engaging professor, whom I’ll ...
SENDAI—Clad in a brand-new, dark blue uniform, Iroha Ishikawa, 3, slipped past her mother who was trying to take a photo of her daughter with her smartphone, jumping around in front of the hina doll...
With his innovative presentation techniques, and a keen eye for beauty and political themes within daily life, German artist Wolfgang Tillmans has broadened the boundaries of photographic expression. ...
The Japan News has renewed its pages from the March 1 issue. The above is the new weekly schedule of main sections and articles in our print editions.
The Japan News is like no other English-language newspaper. Published by The Yomiuri Shimbun, the largest-circulation newspaper in the world, The Japan News is plugged into an extensive national and i...
