Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is supported by Yasufumi Tanahashi, a former state minister for science and technology, and junior party colleagues. On Wednesday night party members urged Koizumi to run for the party's presidential race. Aso, the LDP's No. 2 leader and runner up to Abe in last year's race, is considered one of the leading candidates to replace him.

Abe had visited Keio University Hospital in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward earlier in the day, where he was examined by doctors, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano said

Ex-Japan PM Junichiro Koizumi may come out of retirement to possibly lead new Japanese cabinet.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his resignation on Wednesday, following an upper house election defeat and controversy over his country's support for Afghanistan operations.

The space agency of Japan announced that it decided to delay the launch of its lunar space probe for a few days. The orbiter is to be launched later this week due to anticipated bad weather, an official said Tuesday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is brushing away all calls to resign - and is trying to rally the nation behind his administration's support of coalition forces in Afghanistan. He vowed Monday to extend the mission.

Japan and North Korea have opened rare one-on-one talks in Mongolia, as part of a broader diplomatic effort to end the North's nuclear weapons programs. Although the two countries are seeking a normal relationship, some bitter issues from history pose major diplomatic challenges.

Water containing small amounts of radioactive contamination has leaked from the Ohi nuclear power plant on a Japanese island, Kansai Electrical Power announced Tuesday.

A Japanese court has ruled that late comedy icon Charlie Chaplin still holds the copyright for his work until 2015. The decision came as the Tokyo District Court ruled that two Tokyo-based DVD producers violated the copyrights of nine Chaplin movies by duplicating and selling cheap DVDs.

Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched a major cabinet reshuffle, shifting his foreign minister to a top party job as part of a shake-up aimed at salvaging his government.

India and Japan have agreed to lay down a road map for giving a new dimension to a global and strategic partnership and reaffirmed their commitment to sign the comprehensive economic partnership agreement.

A passenger plane has caught fire on the runway at Naha airport on the Japanese island of Okinawa.