A famous television actor in Japan has caused a furore by suggesting to a worried fan that she needed permission from her husband to seek pain relief during childbirth.

Tokyo’s top government spokesman on Monday described the series of ‘intrusions into territorial waters’ around the Diaoyu Islands as ‘an extremely serious matter’.

It’s been 10 years since washoku, literally ‘Japanese cuisine’, was added to the Unesco list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. What is it actually? The definition is unclear, and opinions differ greatly.

Being drunk and apologising for one’s misbehaviour are, it seems, steps on the path to absolution in the eyes of many Japanese.

Pyongyang told Japan it intends to launch the satellite by June 4. Rocket debris could fall near the Korean peninsula and Philippine island of Luzon.

Tokyo policymakers could have been driven by security needs and strong domestic opposition against atomic weapons when structuring post-World War II nuclear policy.

The use of make-up has spread to older generations, with spending on cosmetics jumping among people in their 40s and 50s.

The first fire ants discovered in Japan were at ports in 2017, with the insects apparently entering via shipments from mainland China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

Jitsuko Katsumata, daughter of late manga master Fujuko F. Fujio, says she is excited to see first-hand how Hongkongers will engage with exhibition of Doraemon figures.

Rescue dog, Kabosu, whose photo inspired a generation of oddball online jokes and the US$23-billion Dogecoin cryptocurrency, has died.

The pact allowing Manila and Tokyo’s defence forces to train in each other’s territories is expected to be signed next month.

Japan’s growing role as a security provider in Asia is necessary, with the US preoccupied with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, analysts say.

Anwar, who is attending a Nikkei annual conference in Tokyo, said China is an important neighbour as it grows economically and militarily.

The Chinese ambassador said the ‘Japanese people will be dragged into the fire’ if they continue to support Taiwan’s independence, similar to comments he made last year.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang will meet in Seoul on May 26 and 27.

Several opinion polls show public anger against the ruling LDP is growing over issues ranging from corruption to Japan’s population decline.

Janet Yellen expected to restate American call for firms and financial institutions in China and elsewhere to ‘cease’ backing Moscow’s defence complex.

Iwao Hakamada, now 88, spent 46 years on death row – a stretch recognised by the Guinness World Records – after being convicted in 1968 of murdering a family.

New hotels in Tokyo’s Toranomon Hills and at Fuji Speedway offer guests a choice of stories: the first an entertainment hub, the second both something for nature-lovers and motorsport fans

Flights leaving Tokyo dominate the list of the roughest long-haul services as Japan has high levels of mountain- and ocean-induced turbulence.

Japan’s new whaling mother ship, the Kangei Maru, set sail on its maiden hunting voyage heralding a new era for the controversial practice defended by the government as an integral part of national culture.

The live version of Hayao Miyazaki’s hit anime Spirited Away has found new fans in London’s West End – the three-hour play is filling the London Coliseum and its run has been extended by five weeks.

Decora, a fashion subculture popular in the Harajuku district in Tokyo that had fallen out of favour by the end of the 2010s, is seeing a resurgence thanks to a new generation who network online.

Nurseries and the police suspect the thieves are stealing to order for unscrupulous collectors in China, Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.