Japan faces an existential threat with its birth rate at an all-time low, yet the island nation has still to fully embrace immigration as a solution to the population decline. To tackle the problem, the government has slowly turned to bringing in foreign workers. We take a closer look.

Police are trying to confirm the identities and nationalities of the two men. They were caught in an avalanche in the Nagano region.

With looming threats from China and North Korea, Japan has approved a military buildup that's one of its largest defense shakeups since World War II. East Asian countries are responding to the challenges of the changing status quo in the region.

A Tokyo court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage. However, it also deemed the lack of a legal system for same-sex couples "unconstitutional" and a human rights violation.

Starting in April, wide-eyed delivery robots will be allowed to use Japan's roads to deliver food and parcels. FRANCE 24's Solange Mougin explains how this could help the country's ageing workforce. But first, Disney cuts 7,000 jobs in a bid to make its streaming business profitable. Plus, Alphabet's stock tumbles as its newly presented AI-powered search bot makes a mistake in a demo video.

The two island nations have taken a first step in what could become a wide-ranging defensive cooperation. It comes amid rising tensions and Chinese influence in the region.

Restaurants serving Japan's most famous dish are pushing ahead with prosecutions against people seen interfering with meals for social media likes.

The Japanese government said it intends to purchase 400 Tomahawk missiles from the US. Tokyo recently updated its largely pacifist security policy, citing the challenges posed by China.

At a meeting of foreign ministers, Germany's Annalena Baerbock urged Israel to abandon a plan to start executing terrorists. Her Israeli counterpart, meanwhile, warned that Iran now poses a threat to Europe.

Many believe capital punishment is needed to deter people from committing serious crimes though critics say there is no evidence for this. India refuses to abolish capital punishment but the number of executions is low.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has signed a law imposing the death penalty on civil servants and army personnel convicted of high treason.

It's been 12 years since a powerful quake and a resultant tsunami sent three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into meltdown. Now Tokyo's plan to begin releasing treated water from the plant is raising alarm in the local fishing industry and the region.