Shares retreated Friday in Asia, with benchmarks in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea falling more than 2% after Wall Street indexes fell sharply on doubts over the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.

"I'm scared…but all I want to do is to talk about the truth", Shiori says in the opening scene of her Oscar-nominated documentary Black Box Diaries. Shiori became the face of Japan's MeToo movement after she accused a prominent journalist Noriyuki Yamaguchi of rape.

The number of babies born in Japan last year fell for a ninth straight year to a record low, according to health ministry data released Thursday. The faster-than-predicted decline suggests government measures have not effectively addressed the country's fast-aging and declining population.

It seemed like an extraordinary display of patriotism and unity: Japan’s biggest companies would come together to save their own, whether ailing carmaker Nissan Motor Co. or besieged convenience store giant Seven & i Holdings Co.

Japan and its allied Philippines agreed to a "strategic dialogue" as a means to bolster defense tech and equipment cooperation, both nations announced Monday.