The book is often described as the world’s first novel and a touchstone of Japanese literature. But some of its themes, including its take on gender and power, have echoed over centuries.

The manga artist won international fame with a story that inspired a trading card game rivaling Pokemon as one of Japan’s most recognizable cultural exports.

Yusuke Narita says he is mainly addressing a growing effort to revamp Japan’s age-based hierarchies. Still, he has pushed the country’s hottest button.

Men in Japan do fewer hours of housework and child care than in any of the world’s richest nations. That keeps women from getting better jobs and holds back the economy.

Men in Japan do fewer hours of housework and child care than in any of the world’s richest nations. That keeps women from getting better jobs and holds back the economy.

Isoko Mochizuki’s interrogations of government officials have made her something of a folk hero in Japan, where the press is known for being clubby and compliant.

In America, masks have become a weapon in the culture wars. In Japan, wearing one is no big deal, and deaths have stayed low.

Yoshiro Mori suggested women’s speaking time in meetings should be limited “or else we’ll never be able to finish.” He apologized, but said he would not resign.

The coronavirus pandemic is exposing like never before the severe disparities in how Japanese couples divide household work.

Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima 75 years ago, has used the power of her personal story to try to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Female workers remain largely shut out of management jobs, and many take part-time work because of overwhelming family responsibilities, despite policies that Mr. Abe said would elevate their...

“I don’t want people to struggle like me,” said Shinjiro Atae, making an announcement that is extremely unusual in conservative Japan.

A Tokyo court ordered damages worth about $30,000 in a ruling that the victim called a milestone in the country.

Enrollment of women at the University of Tokyo has remained about 20 percent for years, an imbalance that extends across many top Japanese colleges.

During the pandemic, many people have been unable to make it to the bedside of their dying relatives. I was one of the lucky ones.

The percentage of women who work in Japan is higher than ever, yet cultural norms have not caught up. More and more, women are rejecting the double standard.

The Japanese author’s intensely popular fiction plays at the boundary between the real and the surreal, between regular life and irregular happenings.

The notorious Aokigahara Forest looms large for Japan, with its high national suicide rate, though patrols and other steps are helping lower the toll.

The selection of Seiko Hashimoto as president represented an abrupt turn after the Olympic committee had apparently intended to name another man in his 80s.

Is Japan becoming more welcoming to mixed-race people?

Tadataka Unno, a New York-based Japanese jazz pianist, was assaulted by eight youths at a subway station on Sept 27. It’s now unclear whether the 40-year-old, who suffered serious injuries, including...

The percentage of women who work in Japan is higher than ever, yet cultural norms have not caught up. More and more, women are rejecting the double standard.

As a child, Katsumoto Saotome barely escaped the air raids over Tokyo that killed as many as 100,000 people. He has spent much of his life fighting to honor the memories of others who survived.

The coronavirus is particularly dangerous to older people, but the Japanese authorities have maintained strict constraints on testing for it.

Change may come slowly in Japanese society, but social media has offered an outlet for a younger generation stifled by a rigid hierarchy.

A documentary concludes that conservatives who deny the sexual enslavement of “comfort women” are “revisionists.” Conservatives interviewed in the film say they were defamed.

The tennis star, who lit the Olympic cauldron, took a drubbing on social media, with some questioning her identity or right to represent the country.

The move follows reports of double-digit increases in infections for the fifth straight day.

Mieko Kawakami, whose novel “Breasts and Eggs” was just published in English, has become something of a feminist icon in her male-dominated country.

Mr. Abe has been prime minister for nearly eight consecutive years, a significant feat in a country accustomed to high turnover in the top job.

Kyoto Animation is known for employing more women than most of its competitors do, and that was reflected in the toll from the apparent arson on Thursday.

Local officials said that an effort to bring in relief was underway.

Tokyo may have been lulled into complacency during the weeks when Japan contained the coronavirus while avoiding economically devastating lockdowns, our bureau chief writes.

Swimmer finished second in the 1,500-meter freestyle, and then won the news conference in fluent Japanese.

More than three days passed before Japan imposed a quarantine. That delay and other missteps helped produce the largest outbreak of the virus beyond China.

Case numbers are climbing fast, with virus clusters in nursing homes, schools and elsewhere. But fingers are being pointed at Japan’s so-called hostess bars.

At a solar farm in North Carolina, workers are bracing for the effect of a new tariff on imported solar cells and modules.

A case involving a graduate student and her art history professor illustrates the tangled state of sexual power dynamics in Japan.

The success of the new champion, daughter of a Haitian-American father and Japanese mother, is helping to challenge the country’s notions of racial purity.

The country has not widely tested. Its people are going about their lives, even crowding into clubs that had previous outbreaks. But now Japan is warning of the risk of rampant infection.

Tokyo may have been lulled into complacency during the weeks when Japan contained the coronavirus while avoiding economically devastating lockdowns, our bureau chief writes.

The coronavirus, a tanking economy, an aggressive China, a postponed Olympics, a U.S. election: That’s just the start. And any successor will confront those challenges without having the stature of...

In 1964, the Tokyo Olympics were held in October. There was a reason for that. It was hot then. It’s hotter now.

Long seen as one of the most insular of nations, Japan is surprising its neighbors (and perhaps itself) by opening its doors a bit wider to foreign workers.

The new empress, Masako, will be barred from attending the ascension ceremony of her husband, Naruhito — an example of the diminished status of women in Japan’s imperial family.

As a G7 summit nears in Hiroshima, Japan is under pressure to show greater support for equality. A national Shinto group has spread a more hostile message.