Motoko Rich

Producers of “The Boyfriend” on Netflix hope it will encourage broader acceptance of the L.G.B.T.Q. community in Japan, which still has not legalized same-sex unions.

Across Asia and Europe, the event stoked concerns about American stability, both domestically and on crucial foreign policy issues like Washington’s commitment to alliances.

Emperor Naruhito is touring the famous botanic gardens this week as part of a state visit to Britain with his wife, Empress Masako.

His embrace of North Korea and deal making with Vietnam injected more potential threats into a region already strained by Taiwan tensions and South China Sea clashes.

A lawsuit challenges the onerous requirements for getting sterilized, calling the regulations paternalistic and a violation of women’s constitutional rights.

While the agreement rattled officials in South Korea and Japan, the two U.S. allies in recent years have been expecting growing security challenges from North Korea.

Already braced for uncertainty about the U.S. election, countries in Europe and Asia are now even more unclear about the future of American diplomacy.

A surprise television hit, now on Netflix, has people talking about what Japan has lost with today’s changed sensibilities.

Kei Kobayashi, who earned three Michelin stars in France, has come home to build an empire.

Employers have taken steps to change a male-dominated workplace culture. But women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.

The move blocked a resolution to support a status that Palestinians had long sought at the United Nations, where it is considered a “nonmember observer state.”

Born in Hawaii, he moved to Japan in 1988 and won 11 grand championships. His success drove a resurgence in the sport’s popularity.

Hovering over a state visit to Washington is the possibility of a swing in American foreign policy if Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Her movies try to explain why Japan is the way it is, showing both the upsides and downsides of the country’s commonplace practices. Her latest film focuses on an elementary school.

While some viewers lamented the movie’s exclusion of scenes from Hiroshima or Nagasaki, others said they recognized that it had another story to tell.

The trend lines may be grim, but the Japanese aren’t sweating them.

Goo Hara’s life was a struggle from the start. She ended it at 28, isolated and harassed online.

A 1980 adaptation of the best-selling novel cast it as the tale of a white hero in an exotic Japan. A new version tells a more kaleidoscopic story.

Some Japanese spectators are grumbling that foreign concertgoers visiting Tokyo don’t share their rather restrained local approach to taking in a show.

Moscow may be trying to help Pyongyang with access to the international financial system in exchange for missiles and ammunition, U.S.-allied intelligence officials suggest.

A behind-the-scenes look at “Perfect Days,” which features Koji Yakusho as a cleaner of public bathrooms in Tokyo.

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi has been one of Japan’s best-known entertainers for seven decades. At 90, she’s still going strong.

The survivor, who was in her 90s, was dug out from under a collapsed house, injured but responsive.

In addition to a well-trained crew and an advanced plane, the safe evacuation of 367 passengers came down to a relative absence of panic.

Japan Airlines said all 367 passengers and 12 crew members had safely evacuated the jet. But five crew members on a Japanese Coast Guard plane that collided with it were killed.

The authorities continued to look for people buried in the rubble of collapsed and burned buildings in the coastal epicenter of the disaster.

There were reports of collapsed buildings and people being trapped underneath them. The quake disrupted electricity and phone service, and initially raised fears of a tsunami.

This was featured in live coverage.

Officials ordered residents of the Noto Peninsula to leave for higher ground immediately, warning that there could be waves as high as five meters.

The policy change could shore up American supplies of the weapon, allowing Washington to send more to Ukraine to help in its war against Russia.

Tokyo appears ready to adjust rules to allow the export of the weapons to the United States, a move that could help Washington support Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

A shrinking, aging population poses an obstacle as the nation tries to counter security threats from China and North Korea.

He grew Soka Gakkai International’s following over two decades and helped create a coalition partner for the country’s dominant Liberal Democratic Party.

The incident comes three months after three Marines died in an Osprey crash in Australia.

To U.S. allies in Asia, the sudden focus on Gaza risks progress on America’s long-delayed pivot to the Indo-Pacific region.

The United Nations estimated that 15,000 civilians walked out of northern Gaza on Tuesday, three times as many as the day before, while Israeli troops battled Hamas in Gaza City.

This was featured in live coverage.

The suspect, said by the Japanese media to be 86, was held after the police stormed a post office once two employees had reached safety.

The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a legal clause requiring transgender people to undergo sterilization to legally change their gender identity.

The assassination of Shinzo Abe, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, shed light on the fringe group’s political ties and manipulation of its followers.

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The impish persona and insouciant attitude of the Formula 1 driver Yuki Tsunoda have overturned stereotypes. The next step? Showing he can keep up with rivals.

General Li Shangfu’s recent absence from the public eye, which follows the removal of two top commanders, has raised questions about Xi Jinping’s confidence in his military.

This was featured in live coverage.

This was featured in live coverage.

By exaggerating the risks from Japan’s discharge of treated wastewater, Beijing hopes to cast Japan and its allies as conspirators in malfeasance, analysts say.

China said it would suspend imports of Japanese seafood in response to what it has called an unsafe plan to dispose of the wastewater.

In the face of regional and domestic objections, the country plans to proceed with a discharge at Fukushima that will eventually reach more than a million tons of water.

“I don’t want people to struggle like me,” said Shinjiro Atae, making an announcement that is extremely unusual in conservative Japan.

Japan says that by blending ammonia with coal in its boilers, it can make coal less damaging to the planet. But the technology faces many hurdles.

Across North America, Europe and Asia, hundreds of millions of people endured blistering conditions. The U.S. special envoy for climate change called it “a threat to all of humankind.”

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The decision represents some forward momentum in L.G.B.T.Q. rights in Japan, which lags behind other G7 nations in extending them.

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s final report declared the treated water from the destroyed nuclear plant had met its safety standards. Critics continue to demand more transparency.

A group representing the Indigenous people has sued to regain the right, lost over a century ago, to freely fish for salmon in a Hokkaido river.

Japan’s previous laws on sexual assault did not mention permission and required that the crime include physical force. The new law also raises the age of consent to 16, from 13.

The North’s rocket was said to carry a spy satellite, enabling it to watch its enemies more closely. But it said Wednesday that the launch had failed.

A case involving a graduate student and her art history professor illustrates the tangled state of sexual power dynamics in Japan.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine received vows of resolute support and promises of further weapons shipments even as Russian forces claimed to have seized the war-torn city of Bakhmut.

While it “wouldn’t be fair” to compare Hiroshima to what is happening in his country, Ukraine’s president said the city’s atomic bomb museum offered grim echoes of fresh devastation.

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The U.S. ambassador has enthusiastically embraced his host country. But critics say he has overstepped diplomatic bounds with his advocacy on equality.

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More than 1.2 million people were told to leave as the storm brought heavy rain to the country.

He urged his supporters to stay the course and tried to convince fence sitters like India and Brazil that there is no middle ground.

This was featured in live coverage.

This was featured in live coverage.

The U.S. finds itself caught between defending President Biden’s climate change agenda and aiding allies intent on increasing their access to fossil fuels.

This was featured in live coverage.

As a G7 summit nears in Hiroshima, Japan is under pressure to show greater support for equality. A national Shinto group has spread a more hostile message.

As Japan’s prime minister failed to deliver a direct apology for the era of colonial rule, South Korea’s president urged his nation to focus on present problems, not history.

The Florida governor is finishing a whirlwind trip from Asia to Israel to London, asserting a muscular foreign policy voice, especially in Jerusalem, as the spotlight on him grows brighter.

The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, had a chance to buff up his foreign policy credentials, after criticism from fellow Republicans over his comments on Ukraine.

In the pantheon of yokai, spooky beings of Japanese folklore embody anxieties ancient and modern. On Shodoshima, an art contest helps bring new ones to life.

The book is often described as the world’s first novel and a touchstone of Japanese literature. But some of its themes, including its take on gender and power, have echoed over centuries.

There have been several major English translations of Murasaki Shikibu’s 11th-century classic. Motoko Rich, The Times’s Tokyo bureau chief, discusses how she approached them.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was about to give a campaign speech in the western Japanese city of Wakayama when a loud explosion was heard.

Think of Tokyo as a warren of concealed gems: Wander down side streets and be richly rewarded.

Both sides face potential political snags, as well as a delicate balancing act in a region where the United States and China are competing for influence.

The visit, the first of its kind in 12 years, is the latest sign of a diplomatic thaw. North Korea launched a missile hours before the countries’ leaders were to meet.

Icy relations between the two have long been a headache for Washington. South Korea made a significant step in improving ties this week, perhaps indicating progress to come.

Yusuke Narita says he is mainly addressing a growing effort to revamp Japan’s age-based hierarchies. Still, he has pushed the country’s hottest button.

A big white orb has pushed the rival superpowers back to diplomatic distance, showing that peace may be frighteningly fragile.

I’m The Times’s Tokyo bureau chief. Here are five things I've been watching, reading and listening to.

The two leaders discussed tensions with China, North Korea and Russia and plans for deterrence in Asia with U.S. troops and missiles.

Across East Asia, populations are graying faster than anywhere else in the world, and while younger generations shrink, older workers are often toiling well into their 70s and beyond.

Seven writers describe how they started the new year with celebrations big and small.

Japan reopened its borders just in time for the winter season. The Niseko area is straining to meet the pent-up demand.

The contests reflect a culture that often judges women by their appearance and slots them into rigid, gender-defined roles.

It was the latest in a series of increasingly provocative weapons tests in recent weeks, and drew condemnation from Japan and the United States.