REUTERS
 
 
North Korea's World Cup qualifier against Japan that was scheduled to be held in Pyongyang next week has been called off, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Friday.
According to a report from Kyodo News, North Korea, which has no formal diplomatic relations with Tokyo, dec...

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CNN
 
 
Japan has ended its negative interest rate policy, marking a historic shift away from an aggressive monetary easing program that was implemented years ago to fight chronic deflation.
As part of the decision, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised interest rates for the first time in 17 years, lif...

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JAPAN TODAY
 
For Sakie Yokota, whose daughter Megumi was abducted to North Korea in the 1970s at age 13, her "miraculous" meeting a decade ago with Megumi's own daughter in Mongolia was a delight but also a painful reminder of the separation that continues to this day.
Although the 88-year-old Y...

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KYODO NEWS
 
The Japanese Society of Gender Identity Disorder, a body promoting transgender studies, has decided to drop "disorder" from its name based on the latest understanding of people with gender identities differing from those assigned at birth.
The change, announced Sunday at its general ...

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JAPAN TODAY
 
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force's Blue Impulse aerobatic team flies over Komatsu City in Ishikawa Prefecture on Saturday, to celebrate the start of a shinkansen bullet train service between Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, and Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture -- a new extended route of the ...

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KYODO NEWS
 
The Japanese government plans to expand the scope of foreign university students eligible for its scholarships from April to provide more academic opportunities to children of the country's growing number of foreign workers, according to officials.
The education ministry is set to in...

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THE GUARDIAN
 
Health officials racing to identify cause of rise in streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, which has a 30% fatality rate
Experts warn that a rare but dangerous bacterial infection is spreading at a record rate in Japan, with officials struggling to identify the cause.
The number of c...

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BBC
 
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has slammed a gathering of ruling party members last November that involved scantily-clad dancers.
 Leaked footage of the event, organised by a chapter of the Liberal Democratic Party, showed women in swimwear sitting on participants' laps, reports said....

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CNBC
 
 
Japan is launching a new high-speed bullet train, or shinkansen, extension on Saturday that will make an under-the-radar prefecture far more accessible to travelers.
The coastal Fukui Prefecture is some 185 miles west of Tokyo. The new train will pass through the city of Fukui, the town ...

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JAPAN TODAY
 
Japan's Yasukuni Shrine has picked a former military commander as its chief priest in a move that could stir controversy over a site that other Asian nations see as a symbol of Japan's wartime aggression.
Umio Otsuka, 63, a former Maritime Self Defense Force (SDF) commander and a on...

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