Seawater samples taken following the release of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor showed radioactivity levels well within safe limits, operator TEPCO said on Friday.The start on Thursday of the discharge of some of the 1.34 milli...

Final preparations to discharge waste water from the crippled Fukushima power plant in Japan were under way Wednesday, its operator said, a day before the scheduled release into the Pacific Ocean.Tokyo had announced on Tuesday that the operation woul...

Plans to discharge treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant cleared their last regulatory hurdle in Japan on Friday, as China said it would ban some food imports over the move.South Korea meanwhile said Tokyo's plan to dilute the treated water...

The G7 plans to launch a partnership scheme to diversify supply chains this year, the group's finance ministers said Saturday following talks in Japan ahead of a major summit next week.The ministers did not directly cite a desire to reduce reliance o...

Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street, as investors await the Bank of Japan's policy decision later in the day.The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.90 percent, or 254.89 points, to 28,712.57 in early trade, while the...

Troubled Japanese conglomerate Toshiba on Thursday accepted a $15 billion takeover bid by a consortium led by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners, major local media outlets reported.The long-awaited decision follows years of turmoil for the com...

A new species of orchid with delicate, glass-like blooms has been discovered by Japanese scientists, who found thepink and white plant hiding in plain sight.Despite its presence in Japan's parks and gardens, it took researchers at Kobe University a d...

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has come under fire for his party's proposal to reduce student debt for those who have children, as the country struggles to raise its low birthrate.Kishida has pledged "unprecedented" measures to tackle the coun...

In a forest in northern Japan's Hokkaido, Atsushi Monbetsu kneels on the moss in the thick morning fog and begins to pray in a languagethat has nearly disappeared."Kamuy," he begins, addressing the gods of the Ainu Indigenous people, as he starts a s...

By AFPTourists revelled in wintry scenes across Japan on Wednesday, as much of the country was blanketed by snow in a cold snap that has killed at least one person and disrupted travel."These temperatures are some of the coldest we've seen in a decad...

By AFPJapan's low birth rate and ageing population pose an urgent risk to society, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday, pledging to address the issue by establishing a new government agency.Birth rates are declining in many developed countries,...