Japan has taken some steps forward since the one-two punch of the earthquake and tsunami that hit the country in March. But the long-term health of the economy, which has continued to decline over the ...

Mina Watanabe has made it her life’s work to tell the stories of the women who were sexually enslaved by the Japanese military before and during World War II. By Vivian Morelli Reporting from Tokyo ...

In 2023, women occupied just 8.3 percent of senior positions in private corporations in Japan, and among the top 1,643 firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime market in 2024, only 0.8 percent ...

Members of a university kanto club perform in Akita Prefecture, Japan. Tradition and religion dictate that only men are allowed to be sashite or pole carriers. Anthony Kuhn is NPR's correspondent ...

TOKYO — The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first ...

On my first morning in Tokyo, a barista in a café near Ueno Station served my coffee with a big smile and two short bows. The cashier was just as kind and patient, though I do not speak Japanese.

Families in the U.S. and around the world are having fewer children as people make profoundly different decisions about their lives. NPR's series Population Shift: How Smaller Families Are Changing ...

TOKYO (AP) — The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first ...