Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft released a small rover on Thursday that will land on the surface of an asteroid as part its final mission before heading back to Earth, Japan's space agency said.

The asteroid-chasing spacecraft pulled off another daring heist, scooping up samples from near-Earth asteroid Ryugu.

The manager of a chain of hot spring hotels bid 1.2 million yen, or around $11,000, for 24 Ruby Roman grapes, which are prized for their juiciness, high sugar content and low acidity.

Ever wanted a robot tail? Developed by researchers at Keio University in Japan, this artificial biomimicry-inspired tail is designed to help improve the balance of wearers. Here's how it works -- and why its creators think it could one day be used as a serious work tool.

Demographics are also a key driver of the national budget. Japan has run hefty national budget deficits for the last quarter century. The country’s working age population peaked in the late 1990s, and has been falling since. With a decline in its workforce, Japan’s GDP growth also declined, and this appears in turn to have led to lower domestic interest rates. At the same time, Japan’s elderly population has been soaring.

Hawaii’s ties with Japan are strong today, but they could have been much stronger if King Kalakau’s secret plan to form a political alliance had succeeded in 1881.

Written 1,000 years ago, the epic story of 11th-Century Japan, The Tale of Genji, was written by Murasaki Shikibu, a woman.

Japan has decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in a bid to resume commercial whaling, government sources said Thursday. However, the country is unlikely to catch whales in the Antarctic Ocean even after its IWC pullout, as the government is mulling allowing Japan's commercial whaling only in seas near Japan as well as the country's exclusive economic zone, the sources added.

One conservation group warns that the move shows "a troubling disregard for international rule".

Japan’s Olympic organisers have unveiled a proposal to make medals out of recycled mobile phones and discarded computers. The move is part of the organisers’ efforts to create an environmentally “sustainable” foundation for the summer games, which will take place in the Japanese capital in 2020. The proposal will result in gold, silver and bronze medals being created from recycled precious metals obtained from discarded electronics, ranging from phones to computers.

Japan is in the grip of an elderly crime wave. Poverty and loneliness are two of the possible causes.

A man on trial for the theft of a large number of shoes has admitted he committed the crimes because he gets his sexual kicks from sniffing people’s used footwear, police said Tuesday. Makoto Endo, 40, is suspected of stealing 70 pairs of shoes worth about ¥300,000 in Saitama and Tochigi prefectures between June 2017 and August last year, according to the police. He is being tried for some of the thefts.

Katsu ika odori-don came to global attention in 2010 thanks to a YouTube video that went viral. But how did this unique phenomenon come about?

A probe touched melted nuclear fuel debris in a destroyed reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The Japanese government will for the first time formally recognize the Ainu people of Hokkaido as an indigenous people of the country.

Keio University in Tokyo says a baby with a birth weight of 268 grams has returned home healthy from its hospital after increasing to a weight of 3,238 grams, becoming the smallest boy in the world to have survived.

Soy sauce is one of the most important ingredients in Japanese cooking, but chances are you've never tasted the real thing.

New data shows Japanese citizens prefer whale watching to whale meat.

Have you ever eaten wasabi? If you answered “yes” to that question, you are likely mistaken. Most sushi eaters—even in Japan—are actually being served a mixture of ground horseradish and green food coloring splashed with a hint of Chinese mustard. Worldwide, experts believe that this imposter combination masquerades as wasabi about 99% of the time.

Japan’s environment minister has announced he will “in principle” oppose any new plans to build or expand coal-fired power stations, as further signs emerge of a dramatic energy pivot by Australia’s top export market for thermal coal. Guardian Australia reported in March that Japan had cancelled a large percentage of planned investments in coal-fired power, while Japanese investment vehicles were ditching coal projects and instead seeking to back large-scale renewable projects across Asia.