Pushing a walker through a television studio in central Tokyo earlier this week, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi slowly climbed three steps onto a sound stage with the help of an assistant who settled her into a creamy beige Empire armchair. A stylist removed the custom-made sturdy boots on her feet and slipped on a pair of high-heeled mules. A makeup artist brushed her cheeks and touched up her blazing red li

TOKYO — Nearly three months after Shinzo Abe, Japan’s most influential and longest-serving prime minister, was gunned down in broad daylight at a campaign stop, his death is still reverberating, though in ways few would have predicted. An outpouring of anger prompted by the assassination has been directed not at the killer, his ability to make and deploy a firearm in a country where guns are tight

TOKYO — The day before Shinzo Abe was assassinated, Tetsuya Yamagami sent a letter saying that the Unification Church had ruined his life, “destroying my family and driving it into bankruptcy.” Mr. Yamagami’s mother had been a member of the church for over two decades, making prodigious donations over her family’s objections. “It’s no exaggeration to say that my experience with it during that time

TOKYO — The last time a Japanese entry won the Oscar for best international film 13 years ago, it was something of an upset, surprising the forecasters who had barely heard of “Departures,” Yojiro Takita’s story about an accidental undertaker, before the ceremony. Japanese cinema, after all, had long since faded from its mid-20th century glory, when critics and other filmmakers from around the glo

Shinzo Abe, then the prime minister of Japan, and his wife, Akie Abe, in 2020. Ms. Abe was linked to a real estate deal that had become a national scandal.Credit...Omani News Agency/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images TOKYO — When Masako Akagi’s husband killed himself in the spring of 2018, he left behind a note that put her on a collision course with Japan’s most powerful politicians. Under press

Ten years after a devastating earthquake and tsunami led to a nuclear meltdown in northern Japan, residents are readjusting to places that feel familiar and hostile at once. FUKUSHIMA, Japan — After an earthquake and tsunami pummeled a nuclear plant about 12 miles from their home, Tomoko Kobayashi and her husband joined the evacuation and left their Dalmatian behind, expecting they would return ho

TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said on Friday that he was resigning because of ill health, thrusting his country, during a global pandemic, into a new period of political uncertainty after a record-setting tenure that provided unaccustomed stability at the top. Mr. Abe, 65, announced his decision to step down just four days after he had set a record for the longest uninterrupted run as

As Japan Nears 1,000 Daily Coronavirus Infections, It Shies From Restrictions 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. Visitors in the Kabukicho district of Tokyo on Friday. Most of Japan’s recent coronavirus cases have been among people in their 20s and 30s, who tend to suffer only

TOKYO — Susumu Kataoka was just looking for a diversion from long days sheltering at home with his family during the coronavirus outbreak. He grabbed his drone and took it for a spin around their Tokyo house, snapping some pictures and posting them on Facebook. His wife, Aki, was not amused. If he had time to play around like that — revealing their household clutter, no less — shouldn’t he have ti

TOKYO — For months, Japan has confounded the world by reporting a relatively low rate of coronavirus infections without imposing the kind of stringent measures used by other nations. As the country now declares a state of emergency in the face of a worrisome rise in cases, medical experts are wondering whether the move on Tuesday has come just in time to avoid calamity, or is too little, too late.

People were out and about in Osaka, Japan, on Wednesday. Japan has seemed to contain the coronavirus without broad lockdowns or widespread testing.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

TOKYO — After weeks of criticism that Japan was bungling its reaction to the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took the drastic step on Thursday of asking all the country’s schools to close for about a month. With the number of cases steadily rising and Japan suddenly confronting talk that the Tokyo Olympics may have to be canceled, Mr. Abe is eager to show that he is moving agg

YOKOHAMA, Japan — The captain came over the intercom early in the evening: A passenger who had left the ship nine days earlier had tested positive for the new coronavirus sweeping through China. While the guests on board were unnerved, it was the final night of their two-week luxury cruise aboard the Diamond Princess. The revelry continued as the ship headed toward the port in Yokohama, Japan’s se

NAGORO, Japan — The last children were born in the remote mountain village of Nagoro 18 years ago. Now, just over two dozen adults live in this outpost straddling a river on the Japanese island of Shikoku. The elementary school closed its doors in 2012, shortly after the last two students completed sixth grade. But on a recent bright autumn Sunday, Tsukimi Ayano brought the school back to life. It

For two decades, women have accounted for about 20 percent of enrollment at the University of Tokyo. The gender disparity extends across many top schools.Credit...Andrea DiCenzo for The New York Times TOKYO — From a young age, Satomi Hayashi studied hard and excelled academically. It seemed only natural that she would follow in her father’s footsteps and attend the University of Tokyo, Japan’s mos

TOKYO — Ikuo Sato stood in front of a Tokyo court in April and told the world he was gay. To a packed room, he described the anxiety he had felt as a young man, struggling to express his sexuality in Japan’s restrictive society. If the law is changed to allow same-sex marriage, he said, perhaps “we’ll make a society where the next generation doesn’t have to feel that way.” Somewhere in the courtro