Japan

A working group within the Ministry of Justice has proposed raising the age of consent from 13 to 16, part of a wider review of Japan's sex crime laws, after several rape acquittals in 2019 sparked protests

Academic Yusuke Narita's words, recently published by the New York Times, have aroused great controversy for his bold statement on the country's ageing: "it seems to me that the only solution is quite clear: isn't it mass suicide of the elderly?"

The country will consider downgrading COVID-19 to the same category as seasonal influenza and then review the related measures in spring this year

Japan and the US space agency have signed an agreement at NASA Headquarters for deep space exploration

Emperor Naruhito offered prayers for people’s happiness and world peace as him and his family waved to crowds of New Year’s well-wishers from the balcony at the Imperial Palace in the celebration halted for the past two years

Heavy snow blanketed many parts of the country yesterday, with some western cities renewing records; Engaru in Hokkaido registered a record December snowfall with over 80 cm in a 24-hour period

Tokyo-based Japanese start-up ispace's spacecraft was launched yesterday on the country's first lunar mission and the first of its kind by a private company; so far, only the United States, Russia and China have succeeded in bringing a robot to the moon

The Japanese premier wants the defence budget to reach 2% of GDP by 2027, up from a level that has long hovered around 1%

Nearly a quarter of major companies in Japan are considering raising prices of their products in 2023 or later due to increasing material costs and a weaker yen, a Kyodo News survey showed, while 49% said they were undecided

The country plans to develop unmanned underwater vehicles for laying and sweeping mines, with the aim of achieving maritime superiority in the event of a contingency near the southwestern Nansei chain of islands