Japan Urges China to Reduce Pollution

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of Japan made energy and environmental issues the centerpiece of his visit to China.

89-year-old woman dies after 30 hospitals refuse to accept her in Osaka

The Osaka Municipal Fire Department said Friday that an 89-year-old woman died after 30 hospitals refused to accept her in Tondabayashi and neighboring cities in the prefecture on Christmas Day.

Fukuda tells Chinese Japan will 'look squarely' into wartime history

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told a Chinese audience on Friday his country will "look squarely" into its wartime militarism and pass it on to its children and grandchildren, saying he believes that is the only way to ensure mistakes are not repeated.

Japan Textbooks to Restore Reference to Wartime Suicides

Faced with protests, the education ministry said that high school textbooks would acknowledge the military’s “involvement” in the mass suicides during World War II.

Tatsuzo Shimaoka, 88, Master of Pottery, Is Dead

Mr. Shimaoka was designated a “living national treasure” in Japan for his mastery of his craft.

Under Pressure, Japan Delays Plan to Hunt the Humpback

Under pressure from the U.S. and Australia, Japan is delaying plans to kill 50 humpback whales as part of its already-contentious annual whale harvest near Antarctica.

Japan: It’s O.K. to Fire on Godzilla, Official Says

The minister of defense caused a media squall after joking about invasions by space aliens and movie monsters.

Japan’s First Encounter With Westerners

The West as seen through Japanese eyes, in an ambitious show at the Seattle Art Museum.

Excerpts From Interview With Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi

Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi, a 100-year-old Buddhist Zen master of the Rinzai school, does not often meet with the press. But during a visit in November, from his main California temple, to the fall training retreat at his Bodhi Manda Zen Center in Jemez Springs, N.M., Joshu Roshi — known to followers as Roshi, or “venerable teacher” — sat for interviews, through a Japanese interpreter, with Ralph Blumenthal of The New York Times. Following are excerpts of the interview, as recorded by The New York Times.

In Japan, Rural Economies Wane as Cities Thrive

Since the 1990s, a growing economic disparity has emerged between prosperous cities and depressed rural areas.