Japan is the only nation where married couples must use the same surname. Critics say it violates women's rights and, unless the rule is scrapped, all Japanese could be surnamed Sato in 500 years.

Japan's falling population is owed, in part, to a spike in the success of women in the workforce. A greater percentage of Japanese women hold jobs than their American counterparts.

Japan's population has been shrinking for 15 years, with huge implications for the country's economy, national defense, and culture. Now, policymakers are working to boost birth rates.

Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world, given its location within the Pacific Ring of Fire, a 25,000-mile-long belt of seismic and volcanic hot spots that loops around ...

Japan is staring down a demographic cliff. The population has shrunk for 15 straight years, with births hitting a record low of 730,000 last year and deaths a record high of 1.58 million. It now ...

Japan’s “major earthquake” warning has put much of the country on high alert, even as some experts cast doubt on whether such an advisory is necessary or accurate.

The price of rice in Japan has doubled in the last year. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with University of Pittsburgh scholar Kay Shimizu about what's behind the shortage in the homeland of sushi.

Decisions by the Bank of Japan reverberate around the world, especially in American markets. Interest rates in the United States are well above Japan’s — yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes ...