Emperor and prime minister diverge on Japan’s memory of warAs the 70th anniversary of surrender looms Abe grows tired of apologising and calls for ‘proactive pacifism’Wed Mar 04 2015 - 01:00
Battle over US military base in Japan intensifiesOkinawa construction has led to activists being dumped offshoreFri Feb 27 2015 - 05:00
Japan should copy apartheid race policies, says education adviser‘Black people basically have a philosophy of large families,’ says adviserFri Feb 13 2015 - 22:00
Shinzo Abe uses hostage crisis to nudge Japan from pacifismCountry’s mass-market magazines speculate that radical jihad will come calling soonThu Feb 05 2015 - 01:00
Islamic militants threaten to ‘cause carnage’ wherever Japanese foundOfficials in Tokyo say they are taking threats seriouslyMon Feb 02 2015 - 01:00
Japan waits in wings of IS hostage drama as Jordan agrees pilot swapJapanese PM Shinzo Abe responds to claims that promise of aid triggered crisisFri Jan 30 2015 - 12:00
Hostage’s plea for life in Islamic State video puts pressure on Japanese PMJapan would ‘spare no effort’ to free hostage, says Shinzo AbeSun Jan 25 2015 - 18:45
Japanese hostage’s mother pleads for release as deadline passesIslamic State online video calls for $200 million ransom from Japanese governmentFri Jan 23 2015 - 10:32
Islamic State threatens to kill two Japanese hostagesVideo carries threat to kill captives unless $200m ransom is paid within 72 hoursTue Jan 20 2015 - 14:31
Tokyo escalates arms spend amid frictions with ChinaDefence budget mark’s Japan’s third straight year of increased military spendingWed Jan 14 2015 - 20:13
Shinzo Abe’s victory to silence critics for bumpy road aheadRight-wing government returned to power amid low turnout fuelled by voter apathyMon Dec 15 2014 - 20:11
Japan election: Government wins new term with big majorityShinzo Abe’s coalition wins two-thirds of seats in lower house in record low turnoutSun Dec 14 2014 - 20:50
The lives of others: What the world can teach Ireland about smarter livingFrom Japan’s low obesity rates to Belgium’s happy renters, the world is full of examples of how to make society smarter, healthier and more enrichingSat Dec 13 2014 - 06:00
Japanese artist jailed over ‘obscene’ kayak designMegumi Igarashi’s first gained notoriety for exhibiting plaster casts of her genitaliaSat Dec 13 2014 - 01:00
Japan increasingly wary of China’s growing economic and military heftShinzo Abe and Xi Jinping meeting on islands dispute does little to thaw relationsMon Dec 01 2014 - 17:45
Tiny Okinawa throws spanner in US-Japan military allianceElection of Takeshi Onaga as governor gets world’s attentionThu Nov 20 2014 - 01:01
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe calls electionLeader of ruling Liberal Democrats announces snap election after data confirms recessionTue Nov 18 2014 - 12:18
Election looms as Japan unexpectedly slips into recessionStage set for prime minister Shinzo Abe to call for a vote in DecemberMon Nov 17 2014 - 10:02
Local vote on restarting reactors brings Japan’s return to nuclear power closerMove ‘unavoidable’, says governor, though Japanese people still oppose nuclear powerFri Nov 07 2014 - 23:46
Japanese minister under fire over sex bar ‘expenses’Controversy involving Yoichi Miyazawa follows two cabinet resignationsThu Oct 23 2014 - 15:39
Two Japanese government ministers resign in single dayYuko Obuchi, widely tipped to become Japan’s first female prime minister, steps downMon Oct 20 2014 - 10:57
Tokyo torn between competing visions for 2020 OlympicsThere is much work to be done to prepare the city but little agreement on the next stepsTue Sept 30 2014 - 01:00
‘Fukushima-Gate’ tapes deepen dispute over nuclear legacyAccount from Japan’s 2011 nuclear disaster was kept secret - until nowTue Sept 16 2014 - 08:48
Dengue fever outbreak infects 34 in TokyoDisease normally found in tropical and subtropical areas of AsiaTue Sept 02 2014 - 19:49
Japan’s PM avoids Yasukuni shrine amid rising wartime revisionismTokyo Letter: Shinzo Abe trying to uphold nationalist ideology without damaging Chinese ties furtherSat Aug 16 2014 - 01:00
Two dead as powerful typhoon batters JapanMeteorological agency issues warning of possibility of ‘grave natural disaster’Wed Jul 09 2014 - 01:00
If you take away the quakes, Tokyo is an awesome place to liveIt may be pricey, crammed and situated on one of the world’s most unstable seismic zones, but Tokyo has its benefits, namely being one of the safest, cleanest cities to liveThu Jul 03 2014 - 01:00
Japan passes controversial change in pacifist stanceNew strategy described as biggest change to Japan’s defence posture in nearly 70 yearsTue Jul 01 2014 - 22:56
Japan coalition divided as prime minister seeks greater conflict powersCritics say Shinzo Abe’s initiative would alter Japan’s constitutional frameworkSat Jun 21 2014 - 01:00
Japan to ban child porn after years as international outlierProposed law will allow a year for disposal of porn before possession is punishableThu Jun 12 2014 - 01:00
Japanese firms struggle to retool for ‘internet of things’The death of Japanese high-tech may have been exaggerated as it works out how to take advantage of an interconnected worldMon Jun 02 2014 - 01:10
Overwork remains a fatal flaw in Japanese societyDeath from working too hard – ‘karoshi’ – and depression damage many livesSat May 31 2014 - 01:00
Cultured mind interpreting Japan and its peopleWild Geese: Peter MacMillan, University of Tokyo, JapanFri May 16 2014 - 01:00
Justin Bieber stumbles across the ‘soul of Japan’The pop star unwittingly visited east Asia’s most controversial shrineSat Apr 26 2014 - 01:00
Obama risks angering China on first leg of Japan tripUS president vows to defend Japan’s owernship of disputed islandsWed Apr 23 2014 - 14:43
Japanese politicians visit war shrine ahead of Obama visitChina says PM’s tree donation to controversial monument a ‘slap in the face’ to US presidentTue Apr 22 2014 - 07:18
Japan moves toward ditching its pacifist stanceConservatives have long disliked 1947 constitution, in which Japanese people ‘forever renounce war as a sovereign right’Mon Apr 14 2014 - 01:00
World’s longest-serving death row prisoner freed in JapanJapanese court says police evidence against man convicted in 1968 was probably fabricatedFri Mar 28 2014 - 01:01
Scientists to issue starkest climate warning yet at Japan conferenceRising seas will displace hundreds of millions in coastal areas around world by 2100, report will sayWed Mar 26 2014 - 01:00
Japan desperate to tackle its ticking demographic time bombThe government is considering a solution that it has so far shunned: mass immigrationSat Mar 22 2014 - 01:01
Fukushima lives in limbo, three years onBattle to decommission nuclear plant continuesMon Mar 10 2014 - 19:47
Japan revisits apology to wartime ‘comfort women’, sparking diplomatic row with SeoulJapan admitted its wartime system of sexual slavery in 1993Sat Mar 08 2014 - 01:00
Tokyo mystified by vandalism of Anne Frank diariesCopies of iconographic text of the Jewish Holocaust is being attacked in librariesSat Mar 01 2014 - 07:14
Japan sparks fury with UN move to immortalise letters from Kamikaze pilotsApplication triggers furious reaction in ChinaSat Feb 08 2014 - 01:00
Under Shinzo Abe, Japan takes a sharp turn to the rightThe prime minister’s nationalist obsessions are again coming to the foreSat Feb 01 2014 - 01:00
Japan increases military spendingNew amphibious unit modelled on US marines to protect outlying territoryWed Dec 18 2013 - 01:11
No evidence that HSE agreed CRC top ups, says ReillyTaoiseach says agencies must ‘answer up’ in scheduled meetings with HSETue Dec 03 2013 - 16:17
Kenny hopeful of China deal for Irish beefWith a population of 1.3 billion, China is potentially one of the world’s largest markets for Irish farm productsTue Dec 03 2013 - 01:00
Japan lifts twelve-year ban on Irish beefBeef imports were banned by Tokyo government in 2001 after the BSE scandal in EuropeMon Dec 02 2013 - 12:38
Beef ban to be lifted as Kenny trade visit to Japan beginsPost-BSE measure to be removed as greater links sought with vast marketMon Dec 02 2013 - 01:00
