Japan has cleared up just five percent of the rubble left by last year's earthquake and tsunami, the government said Tuesday, amid fears it has been contaminated following the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Japan's crippled nuclear plant at Fukushima needs to beef up safety measures to face the risk of a large earthquake, scientists said on Tuesday.

OKUMA, Japan (Reuters) - Back home for just three hours, a tearful Miyoko Takeda sorted through her belongings. She left behind the kimonos she once wore as a traditional dancer, fearful they might be contaminated by radiation. Nearly a year has passed since a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan, Okuma town, but …

Sales of pianos in Japan jumped 11 percent last year, the first rise in 17 years, as people replaced instruments damaged in the country's devastating earthquake, a trade body said on Monday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's economy shrank a bigger-than-expected 0.6 percent in October-December, hurt by slowing global growth, Thai floods and a strong yen, casting doubt about expectations that growth will resume this quarter as Europe's debt crisis clouds the outlook. Domestic demand also weakened in a worrying sign …

Thousands demonstrated in Tokyo on Saturday against nuclear power generation, 11 months after a massive earthquake and tsunami sparked reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

FUKUSHIMA (Reuters) - On the snowy fringes of Japan's Fukushima city, now notorious as a byword for nuclear crisis, Zen monk Koyu Abe offers prayers for the souls of thousands left dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami nearly one year ago. But away from the ceremonial drums and the incense swirling around the …

A stadium hit by a massive earthquake last March is one of candidate venues for the under-20 women's football World Cup to be hosted by Japan this summer, the country's football chief said Thursday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Three Japanese towns would be willing to restart their nuclear reactors if they pass government stress tests, two were against the idea but most were undecided, a newspaper survey suggested Saturday. The stress tests are aimed at showing the reactors can withstand the scale of disaster that crippled the …

OTTAWA - There's nothing like a massive earthquake, a three-storey tsunami and a nuclear crisis to whet the appetite for Canadian cuisine.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Celebrated playwrights including Stephen Sondheim, Tony Kushner and Edward Albee have joined a fundraiser to mark the anniversary of a devastating earthquake in Japan.

(Reuters) - The risk to public health from a severe nuclear power plant accident in the United States is "very small" because reactor operators should have time to prevent core damage and reduce the release of radioactive materials, U.S. nuclear regulators said in a study on Wednesday. The study comes almost a year after …

TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co slashed its annual profit guidance to the lowest level in three years as it counted the cost of natural disasters in Japan and Thailand and a strong yen. But it forecast a healthy rebound next year. Japan's No.3 automaker was the slowest to recover from the supply chain disruptions after …

TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co is expected to report a double-digit slide in quarterly operating profit on Tuesday and forecast a still larger drop for the full year, as natural disasters in Japan and Thailand hit it harder than rivals. Japan's No.3 automaker was the slowest to recover from supply-chain disruptions after …

(Reuters) - Japan's stricken nuclear power plant has leaked more than 600 liters of water, forcing it to briefly suspend cooling operations at a spent-fuel pond at the weekend, but none is thought to have escaped into the ocean, the plant's operator and domestic media said. The Fukushima plant, on the coast north of Tokyo, …

TOKYO (Reuters) - A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 jolted eastern Japan on Saturday morning, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage and no tsunami warning was issued. The focus of the tremor was 20 km (12 miles) below the surface of the earth, in Yamanashi prefecture, west of Tokyo, …