Japanese rugby officials are changing eligibility rules that will limit opportunities in the domestic league for foreign-born players, even those who have Japanese passports.

Thousands of survivors of a powerful earthquake in southwestern Japan have spent Friday in crowded shelters or sleeping in cars as they face shortages of water and fuel and punishing summer temperatures that have stoked fears of heat-related illness.

By Anton Bridge, Yuka Obayashi and Joseph Campbell KUMAMOTO, Japan, July 29 (Reuters) - Workers in a mall in southern Japan described being thrown to the floor or enveloped in a disorienting cloud of dust by a massive 7.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 has shaken Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu, killing at least three people and leaving dozens of others missing or injured

N. Korea said an expanded U.S. military command in Japan made a regional clash increasingly likely and justified its nuclear weapons development.

Nearly 20% of global earthquakes measuring 6.0 or higher occur in Japan. Since 2011, when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns at three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japan has significantly strengthened its earthquake warning systems and evacuation protocols.

Japan launched intelligence coordination bureau, but it still lacks independent overseas human intelligence and covert-operation capabilities.

By Fabiola Arámburo and David Lawder Aug 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury bought yen on Friday to support the battered Japanese currency, the Financial Times reported, marking Washington's first yen-buying intervention with Tokyo in more than a decade as it languishes near 40-year lows.