John Key will have to pick his way through a diplomatic minefield when he hosts Japan PM Shinzo Abe in Auckland on Monday during his first formal visit to New Zealand.

Japan's cultural barriers may seem immense but Sarah MacDonald finds getting to know the locals in the busy city can be easy.

Thousands of flights in Japan could be cancelled this summer as the country's rapidly ageing population leads to a nationwide shortage of airline pilots.

Hayden Donnell discovers the dangers - and exhilaration - of Sapporo Beer Garden.

Can a Kiwi cyclist out-sprint a hungry brown bear? In Japan Victoria Clark fixates on this point while pedalling through Hokkaido's forests. She need not have worried.

Rugby players from a top school have been caught shoplifting at a world championship in Japan.

An extremely rare female deep-water megamouth shark has been caught off the coast of Shizuoka in Japan, in what is believed to be only the 58th known sighting of the animal on record.

This resort in Hokkaido prefecture, 1000km north of Tokyo, gets enough snow to allow skiing for seven months of the year.

For further information see 360niseko.com.

Japan, the world's third-biggest economy, has a long and notorious history of protectionism.

Japan expects its whaling programme in the Southern Ocean will resume next year, court documents indicate.

Much hangs on whether the Japanese Government sides with its future-focused Foreign Ministry or its inwards-looking pro-whaling fisheries agency, writes John Armstrong.

China carries out more executions than any other country, a new report has estimated.

A Japanese court has decided to release a man who was sentenced to death in 1980 in a high-profile murder case based on new DNA evidence.

Scientists are to check whether NZ muttonbirds that spend the winter off the coast of Japan have been exposed to radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Ian D. Robinson dresses in traditional clothes to watch equally traditional Japanese theatre.

Toyota has agreed to increase base wages in Japan for the first time since 2008 as the nation's largest carmaker heads for record profits.

A future where our elderly have faithful robot servants to look after them might be closer than we think, with the Govt offering researchers new cash to push the concept forward.

An increase in the number of giant squid being caught along the Sea of Japan coast is leading fisherman to fear it may be some kind of omen.

Exhausted, bloodied and burned by the Indonesian sun, five Japanese divers are recovering after being pulled from the waters off Bali.

Tokyo has elected a new governor despite a "sex strike" held by a group of women in protest against men who voted for him.

Due to their illegal status, casinos in Japan have traditionally been small, seedy, backroom-style places found in the same neighbourhoods as hostess bars or massage parlours.

A majority of voters want NZ to keep out of any conflict that could flare up in the East China Sea.

Washington and Tokyo have been drawn into an unexpected diplomatic spat over the annual slaughter of dolphins in Taiji.

On March 12, 2011, the day after a huge tsunami hit Japan's northeast coast, the USS Ronald Reagan entered the Sea of Japan on a humanitarian mission.

A fisherman has become a phenomenon in his native Japan after catching a four-metre giant squid off the coast of Sadogashima Island.

Australia will be monitoring Japan's whale hunt from the air instead of the sea in a decision both the Greens and whaling protesters have called a broken election promise.