Increasing the number of foreign visitors and turning this into economic growth — this goal of making Japan a tourism-oriented nation will require combined efforts by the public and private sectors.

Japan's prime minister vowed Tuesday to “expel by force” any Chinese landing on islands at the center of a territorial row, after eight Chinese government vessels sailed into the disputed waters.

The former longtime Los Angeles Times' Tokyo bureau chief, Sam Jameson, who lived in Japan for half a century and had a deep personal bond with the country, has died. He was 76.

Three Chinese government ships moved into territorial waters off disputed Tokyo-controlled islands late Monday, Japan's coastguard said.

South Korea's foreign minister cancelled a trip to Japan on Monday after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an offering to a shrine seen as a symbol of Japan's former militarism, a South Korean government official said.

Japanese voters maintain strong support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as his “Abenomics” economic policy helps weaken the yen and boost share prices, but have little interest in his plan to revise the pacifist constitution, newspaper polls showed on Monday.

Two Japanese cabinet ministers visited Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni war shrine Sunday while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has dedicated equipment used in rituals in moves likely to anger China and South Korea.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe outlined the next steps of his grand plan for restoring Japan's economic power in a news conference Friday, naming a slew of initiatives he said would help awaken the country's “sleeping opportunities.”

A strong earthquake and about 20 smaller temblors struck a small volcanic island south of Tokyo on Wednesday, slightly injuring three people but causing no danger of a tsunami.

Organizers of Japan's Nagano Marathon said Tuesday they will go ahead with the race as planned this weekend, despite the blasts in Boston that killed at least three people and wounded more than 100.