Taiwan President Lai Ching-te showed his support for Japan on Thursday with a lunch of Japanese-sourced sushi, after China indicated it would ban all imports of the country's seafood in an escalating dispute over the Chinese-claimed island.

Residents in the northern region of Akita are living in fear after dozens of assaults on humans. Riot police and the army have been sent to help.

Firefighters and army helicopters battled a fire that burned through old wooden houses in a fishing town in southwestern Japan.

An off-the-cuff remark by new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that triggered Japan's biggest bust-up in years with powerful neighbour China was not meant to signal a new hardline stance.

Tension between Japan and China has escalated over the new Japanese leader's suggestion Tokyo could intervene militarily if Beijing attacks Taiwan.

A Tokyo Electric Power Co. employee mishandled confidential security documents at Japan’s biggest nuclear power plant, according to the nation’s atomic watchdog, in the latest security breach to affect a facility that’s close to getting approval to restart.

Japan's government will include temporary payouts to families with children in a planned stimulus package that will likely exceed 20 trillion yen ($127 billion), the Asahi newspaper reported on Thursday.

Bear sightings and attacks have increased in parts of Japan, especially in municipalities close to or adjacent to populated zones,” the U.S. Embassy said in a wildlife alert.

China and Japan are two of Asia’s most powerful nations and the region’s biggest trading partners. Yet centuries of intense rivalry mean their economic embrace can never be taken for granted.