Simon Denyer

Dangerous encounters between bears and humans have risen sharply in Japan in recent years, with the animals increasingly coming down from mountain habitats in search of food.

The U.S. Central Command released a video and timeline suggesting that U.S. military assets observed Iranian vessels returning to one of the tankers to retrieve an unexploded mine.

But the country is facing growing pressure to closes down its ivory market. Conservationists hope to use the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as leverage.

Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui demanded the U.S. change its “political calculation” and drop “gangster-like” demands.

Work may have begun even before the breakdown of the Trump-Kim summit.

Japan has urged evacuees to return to areas once off-limits and rebuild their communities. Few have made the move.

The country hosts hundreds of thousands of foreign workers with a program to help ease Japan’s chronic labor shortage. But in practice, it often amounts to forced labor, according to the U.S. State Department.

Concern for the welfare of arctic and sea mammals hasn't dented the parks' popularity.