Brazil legend Marta returns for Japan friendlies

Legendary Brazil striker Marta will return to the national team aged 39 after a nine-month absence for two friendlies against Japan, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said Tuesday. Widely considered…

Japan’s Kawasaki down Ronaldo’s Al Nassr to reach Asian Champions League final

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr crashed out of the Asian Champions League Elite semi-finals on Wednesday when they were beaten 3-2 by Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale. Ronaldo, a five-time winner of the…

Japan deploys 2,000 firefighters to tackle forest blaze

More than 2,000 firefighters are battling Japan’s biggest forest fire in three decades, officials said Monday, as some 4,600 residents remain under an evacuation advisory. One person died last week…

Honda and Nissan to launch merger talks

Japanese auto giant Honda and its struggling rival Nissan agreed Monday to launch talks on a merger seen as a bid to catch up with Chinese rivals and Tesla on…

Japanese atomic bomb survivor group Nihon Hidankyo wins Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Japan’s Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors pushing for a nuclear weapons ban, as states like Russia threaten…

Hiroyuki Sanada: actor and producer driving TV’s ‘Shogun’

Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada’s star turn in “Shogun” earned him a nomination for the Emmys, which take place on Sunday, but he was also a driving force behind the huge…

Alain Delon: A ‘god’ in Japan

French movie star Alain Delon, who died Sunday aged 88, said that in Japan he was like a deity. It wasn’t an exaggeration, local fans told AFP on Monday. “In…

Strong quake, small tsunamis hit southern Japan with minor damage

A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 shook southern Japan on Thursday but no major damage was reported and only relatively minor tsunami waves lashed the coast. The quake…

World Cup holders Spain win women’s Olympic football opener

Reigning Ballon d’Or Aitana Bonmati scored one goal and helped create another as World Cup holders Spain came from behind to beat Japan 2-1 in their first game of the…

A-bomb saga ‘Oppenheimer’ finally opens in Japan

Oscar best picture winner “Oppenheimer” was finally released on Friday in Japan, where its subject — the man who masterminded the creation of the atomic bomb — is a highly…