New Zealand Police have helped a grieving Japanese family to visit the Te Urewera site where their relative died in a fire nine years

Conservation group Sea Shepherd have photographed a Japanese whaling ship with a dead whale in protected waters.

The baying of young males on the wind, and the distant, delighted squeals of young girls on the pull, told me the New Year was imminent

China's growth is slowing, but its cities still battle over tall towers and speed records.

A Japanese man engaged in an epic sulk and refused to talk to his wife for 20 years after she upset him despite still living together.

The head of Japan's largest advertising agency has said he will resign following the "death by overwork" of a young employee who put in hundreds of hours in overtime.

Toshiba Corp. plunged by the most on record as the once heralded US nuclear renaissance turns into a nightmare for the Japanese company.

Shinzo Abe's historic visit to Pearl Harbour with Obama punctuates the Obama's multi-year effort to prod Japan and its neighbours to decrease tensions.

Real-time voice translation between Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean will be tested in Tokyo taxis.

An attractive companion will send you text messages throughout the day to ask how you are, and welcome you home with a kind word in the evenings.

Worlds with the mass of Neptune are the most likely planet to form in the icy outer realms of planetary systems, scientists have found in a pioneering new study co-authored by Kiwi researchers.

If you've been to Tokyo, you know the garbage collection system is no joke. Now there's an app to help foreigners understand it.

Sony has quietly dispatched a rival game to Pokemon Go with a popular mobile game called Fate/Grand Order.

Competition in Japan's online shopping market is intensifying.

Linda Lombardi savours oodles of noodles at museums devoted to Japanese obsession.

New Zealand students are performing below the international average when it comes to maths, a new study shows.

WATCH: If you've ever dreamed of combining a heart-racing roller coaster ride with a relaxing soak in a hot spring, Japan's latest theme park idea could be right up your alley.

A Japanese amusement park billed it as not only a unique game-changing tourist attraction for Japan, but "undeniably a world-first".

Thanks to this research, there has never been a better excuse to eat ice cream for breakfast.

A participant at a speed-eating contest has choked to death.

Yesterday's earthquake off the coast of Japan brought back memories of the 2011 disaster for many locals.

Residents were urged to "evacuate immediately" after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Fukushima prefecture in Japan, sparking a tsunami warning.

Victoria University earthquake scientist Dr John Townend says Kiwis shouldn't draw any connections between the Japan quake and last Monday's 7.8 Kaikoura quake.

'Early wake-up call' for former All Black Cory Jane as quake hits Japan.

WATCH: Tsunami warning lifted in Japan after major earthquake hits same region devastated by 2011 quake.

Here I am more than halfway into my trip and Tokyo greets me with bright lights and people everywhere.

While motorists around the world endure the misery of pothole damage, authorities in Japan fixed a huge sinkhole in just one week.

COMMENT: The navies of the United States, Australia and Canada are joining New Zealand's earthquake relief effort.

Japanese lawmakers are revisiting a plan to build a $6.7 billion natural gas pipeline from Russia ahead of a visit by President Vladimir Putin.

The shrines of Tokyo work wonders for the Warriors and Leicester, but not the locals, writes Dean Parker.