Japan’s lack of public trash cans often surprises visitors, but cultural norms and safety concerns explain why travelers carry their trash all day.

Lately a diplomatic spat with China has begun depressing the number of people coming to Japan from that country—but even this does not seem to have much deterred Japan’s leaders from their course. Three related trends have fuelled what anxious Japanese have come to call the “foreigner problem”.

Japan's real wages fell in November at the fastest pace since last January, dragged down by a sharp drop in one-off bonus payments, preliminary government data showed on Thursday. The underlying trend of inflation outpacing wage growth,

Over recent years, the chewy rice cakes have killed and hospitalized hundreds of people in Japan, where it is eaten to celebrate the new year.

Seventy-six per cent of the WSL’s broadcast audience last season came from outside of the UK, according to figures supplied by the WSL, but Japan is a particular hotbed of potential. Outside of the UK, Japan is second only to the U.S. in terms of WSL fanbase size, according to the latest YouGov report on the WSL’s international appeal.

Beijing turned up the heat on Tokyo this week by banning all dual-use shipments for military use Read more at The Business Times.

China’s access to Japan’s coveted industrial-use goods – especially a critical chipmaking ingredient – may face hurdles if Tokyo imposes export restrictions in the event of a prolonged political dispute, though trade is holding steady for now, analysts and a trade organisation said.

For a decade, Vietnamese worker Minh did tough jobs like sandblasting ships and welding steel, helping address rapidly ageing Japan's dire labour needs.He considers his internship a success, despite his "extremely dirty" task of sandblasting rust off ships,