Japan’s prime minister will use a Cabinet reshuffle to try to mend fences with China and to boost his flagging popularity ahead of general elections.
China has accused Japan of violating its sovereignty as a territorial row simmers with Japanese carmakers cutting their Chinese output.
Japanese companies have closed shop in China after a weekend of violent protests over competing claims to a group of islands in the East China Sea.
Japanese firms have shut factories in China and urged expatriate workers to stay indoors in the wake of angry protests over a territorial dispute.
Thousands of protesters besieged the Japanese embassy in Beijing on Saturday, hurling rocks at the building as police struggled to keep control.
China has sent patrol ships to "assert its sovereignty" over islands at the centre of a row with Japan, which says it now owns the disputed territory.
The massive loss of life in last year’s tsunami disaster in Japan has trimmed the average life expectancy of the country’s women.
Historians will have to rethink the way the ancient world worked after Roman jewellery was found in a 5th Century Japanese tomb.
The world’s tallest tower and Japan’s biggest new landmark, the Tokyo Skytree, has been opened to the public.
The last working reactor in Japan is to be switched off Saturday and has sparked a debate on whether Japan needs nuclear power.
In a formal complaint to the WTO, the US, EU and Japan have accused Beijing of trying to hold down prices for its domestic manufacturers.
Japan has marked one year since an earthquake and tsunami killed thousands and set off a radiation crisis that shattered public trust in atomic power.
No image available
/ 26 February 2012
Hong Kong Airlines was under pressure Sunday to stop its live dolphin cargo business after an internal memo was leaked to the media.
Japan’s Emperor Akihito has been moved out of intensive care just two days after undergoing a successful heart bypass operation in Tokyo.
No image available
/ 31 January 2012
The UN’s nuclear watchdog gave its seal of approval to Japan’s reactor safety checks, but said utilities should beef up plans for managing disasters.
No image available
/ 24 January 2012
Experts in Japan have warned that the chances of a powerful earthquake striking Tokyo in the next four years could be as high as 70%.
Pretoria has yet to decide how it will respond to a call by the US to decrease oil imports from Iran — the source of 25% of SA’s overall supply.
Organised crime in Japan is under threat from new laws that will lead to the naming, shaming and fining of citizens who do business with the yakuza.
Anti-whaling activists claimed a small victory in their Antarctic campaign with the discovery of a harpoon ship, hampering the Japanese fleet’s hunt.
Japan’s response to the nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 tsunami was confused and riddled with problems, including erroneous assumptions.
European champions Barcelona beat Qatari club Al-Sadd 4-0 on Thursday to meet Brazilian champions Santos in the final of the Club World Cup.
No image available
/ 8 December 2011
Japan’s whaling fleet has left port under heavy guard, where more clashes are expected with members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
No image available
/ 2 December 2011
If you read the history of the development of all the great powers, it was steam then electricity generated by coal that fuelled industry and navies.
No image available
/ 16 November 2011
More firms face a tough choice over whether or not to move production in Japan overseas to escape the impact of the relentless rise of the yen.
No image available
/ 15 November 2011
Farmland in parts of Japan is no longer safe because of high levels of radiation in the soil, scientists say, following the Fukushima disaster.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde will be taking her European rescue talks to Russia in her first official foreign trip, before visiting China and Japan.
No image available
/ 6 November 2011
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is to announce Japan will join negotiations in Asia-Pacific trade agreement talks, despite opposition from farmers.
Concerns about safety in Japan because of
its natural disasters and radiation levels after the devastating earthquake in March are unfounded.
A Japanese MP has been bullied into drinking water collected from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to back up claims of decontamination progress.
No image available
/ 13 October 2011
A radiation hotspot has been detected in Tokyo, after researchers carry out stringent tests to map how far contamination has spread from Fukushima.
No image available
/ 13 October 2011
A "neural network" has been developed for robots that lets them learn how to perform a new task by "thinking" things through — or googling it.
No image available
/ 12 October 2011
Sony has suspended 93 000 accounts on its online networks in an access scare that comes months after a huge breach brought services to a halt.