February 29, 2020
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought understanding for his decision to call for school closures as a measure against the new coronavirus during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday. Regarding his request for closing educational institutions including elementary, junior high ...
A man in his 70s has been infected with the new coronavirus, the Sendai municipal government announced Saturday, the first confirmed case in the Tohoku region. The man was one of the passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was docked in Yokohama Port. He disembarked on Feb. 20 after t...
With the Tokyo Paralympics approaching this summer, a seminar aiming to deepen the understanding of diversity and inclusion was held on Feb. 15 at The Yomiuri Shimbun in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. Participants discussed ways to realize a society where people can transcend differences of gender and nationa...
BEIJING (Reuters) — Factory activity in China contracted at the fastest pace ever in February, even worse than during the global financial crisis, highlighting the colossal damage from the coronavi...
Toy cars and robots for boys, and dolls for girls — The sales strategy used by the toy industry to show clear distinction between products for boys and girls was so commonplace that most toys worke...
ISTANBUL (AFP-Jiji) — The leaders of Russia and Turkey held crisis talks Friday after 33 Turkish soldiers died in an airstrike in Syria, as Ankara ramped up pressure on Europe by threatening to floo...
SEOUL (AFP-Jiji) — South Korea reported its biggest surge in new coronavirus cases on Saturday as concerns grew of a possible epidemic in the United States and the World Health Organization raised i...
SEOUL (Reuters) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw military drills on Friday, state media KCNA said, a rare public outing amid efforts to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus in the isolat...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. public health officials said they have identified four “presumptive” coronavirus cases believed to have emerged from community transmission of the infection, signalin...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The United States has decided to postpone a meeting with leaders of Southeast Asian countries it had planned to host on March 14 due to worries about the coronavirus outbreak,...
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Services offering forecasts or information on congestion levels for trains and stations are booming in popularity in Japan amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The use of such services...
PARIS (AFP-Jiji) — The first detected case of coronavirus in Africa highlights the vulnerability of the world’s poorest continent to outbreaks of contagious diseases. Much of Africa struggles wi...
PHOENIX (AP) — Clayton Kershaw struck out four batters without allowing a hit in his spring training debut Friday, the first step toward a possible Opening Day start for the Los Angeles Dodgers. ...
SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Federal Reserve, long criticized for being too white and male, crossed a substantial milestone last year: for the first time in its 107-year history, white m...
MIAMI (AP) — Luka Doncic turned 21 on Friday, and the Miami Heat were determined not to give him and the Dallas Mavericks a gift-wrapped victory. So after wasting another lead, the Heat found a wa...
NORWICH, England (AP) — Norwich rekindled its hopes of staying in the English Premier League by beating third-placed Leicester 1-0 on Friday. A swerving finish from left back Jamal Lewis in the 7...
PARIS (Reuters) — Roman Polanski cast a shadow over France’s Cesar Awards on Friday even as he won best directing for his film “An Officer and a Spy,” with several women in the audience walkin...
NEW YORK (Reuters) — A U.S. appeals court Friday blocked one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s signature immigration policies that has helped to sharply curb a migration surge on the southern borde...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he again was tapping Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, to be the nation’s top spy, a loyalist whose first nomination he dropped last year...
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Democratic White House hopefuls are seizing on U.S. President Donald Trump’s delayed response to the coronavirus outbreak, calling it the latest evidence of his incompetenc...
FRANKFURT (Reuters) — Volkswagen Group said its full-year operating profit rose 22% to €16.9 billion ($18.5 bil.) thanks to strong sales of higher-margin cars and lower diesel charges, defying an ...
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) — Apple Inc. is closely watching how the coronavirus outbreak is unfolding in South Korea and Italy, where the company has suppliers, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in...
Harley-Davidson Inc. on Friday named a board member hailed for turning around the Puma brand’s near-bankrupt business as its interim chief as the motorcycle maker gropes for an effective strategy to...
AKB48 brings you Team 8, a group of idols where each member represents one of the 47 prefectures in Japan. As the group members travel across the nation for meet and greet fan activities, they learn a...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Thursday that the government has decided to call for all elementary, junior high and high schools in the nation, as well as special-needs schools, to close from Mon...
The decision on Thursday to request school closures “was made in a top-down fashion, solely by the prime minister, including the period of closure,” a senior government official said. The govern...
With masks in short supply due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus, some Kokumin drugstores were selling masks as part of expensive sets with other items, it was learned Thursday. Operating comp...
Crew members of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was anchored at Yokohama Port due to an onboard outbreak of the new coronavirus, began to disembark from the ship on Thursday after negative tes...
“How would you survive for 72 hours after an earthquake?” This is the question posed by the Sona Area facility at the Tokyo Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park in Koto Ward, Tokyo, which runs free i...
The Fair Trade Commission is seeking, under the Antimonopoly Law, an emergency court order to block Rakuten Inc.’s plan for free delivery of purchases over a certain amount on its online shopping s...
KOCHI — Global figurine maker Kaiyodo Co., headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture, revealed plans on Feb. 19 for a town revitalization initiative using popular characters and local specialties. ...
The famous Eleven-Headed Kannon, a national treasure, will be shown in Tokyo for the first time at a forthcoming exhibition of Buddhist art that opens in June at Tokyo National Museum. The Buddhist...
The Japan News has partnered with media startup inkl, a news service that curates articles from the world’s leading publishers for users to read on mobile devices. A selection of articles from The Japan News and The Yomiuri Shimbun is now available to read on inkl, which hosts titles from about 20 countries. 
An exhibition featuring works by contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama is being held at Niigata City Art Museum in Chuo Ward, Niigata. In the exhibition “The collection of Yayoi Kusama + Artists who we...
The famous Eleven-Headed Kannon, a national treasure, will be shown in Tokyo for the first time at a forthcoming exhibition of Buddhist art that opens in June at Tokyo National Museum. The Buddhist...
KYOTO — Masatsugu Suga wears two hats. He runs an apparel shop while also serving as the secretary-general of a committee organizing a biannual art festival at temples and other venues around the Ni...
