The government on Friday denied rumors that the prime minister's official residence is haunted, in response to a question from an opposition lawmaker. Given that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has yet to move into the 80-year-old mansion five months after assuming power in December, Ken Kagaya, an upper house member of the Democratic Party of Japan, asked the government if rumors that the building is haunted are true.

TOKYO - Japan's top leaders are defending the economic strategies championed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, though the central bank chief acknowledged a need for better communication with financial markets, a day after Tokyo shares suffered their worst loss since the 2011 tsunami disaster. Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda acknowledged Friday the need for careful handling of aggressive monetary policies aimed at breaking the world's third-largest economy free of deflation and for stronger "communication and dialogue" with financial markets.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon will visit Japan from May 31 to attend a gathering of Japanese and African leaders on African development to be held in Yokohama, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Friday. During his four-day stay through June 3, Ban is scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.

The next round of Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations will be extended by a day as countries involved will welcome Japan as the 12th member of the talks in late July, a negotiation source said Thursday. As the current round in Peru nears its end on Friday, the 11 countries involved in the talks for creating one of the world's largest free trade areas have agreed to hold the round in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur July 15-25, adding one day to the initially planned 10-day schedule through July 24, the source told Kyodo News.