Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press

Iwao Hakamada’s acquittal Thursday by the Shizuoka District Court makes him the fifth death row inmate to be found not guilty in a retrial in postwar Japan.

The storm has caused at least three deaths as it crawls up the length of the archipelago and raising concerns of flooding, landslides and extensive damage.

Fumio Kishida, stung by his party’s corruption scandals, has suffered dwindling support ratings as low as under 20%.

Officials said they needed more time to analyze whether the spacecraft made a planned-for pinpoint landing.

Officials say five crew members aboard the coast guard plane were killed. All 379 people on the Japan Airlines flight got out safely.

Japanese coast guard officials say the cause of Wednesday’s crash and the status of the seven others on board were not immediately known.

The landmark decision on a 20-year-old law long criticized by international rights and medical groups has been welcomed by advocates as a sign of growing acceptance of LGBTQ+ rights.

The tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant is starting a controversial project that’s expected to last for decades.

The Japanese government says treated and diluted radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will be released into the ocean as early as Thursday.

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japanese waters Friday in its second major weapons test this month.

An investigation by Chief Itaru Nakamura’s own National Police Agency showed it did not adequately safeguard Shinzo Abe from a fatal shooting at a campaign speech last month.

Residents in Fukushima and Miyagi were cleaning their homes after a sleepless night following a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck off the northern Japanese coasts, smashing furniture, knocking out power and killing four people.

The twin decisions have turned the Olympics into a made-for-TV event in a move supported by the International Olympic Committee.

The Olympics risk becoming an incubator for “a Tokyo variant,” as 15,000 foreign athletes and tens of thousands officials, sponsors and journalists from about 200 countries descend on — and potentially mix with — a largely unvaccinated Japanese population.

The magnitude-9.0 quake that struck March 11, 2011 — one of the biggest on record — triggered a wall of water that swept far inland. Areas near the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are still off limits.