AP A car bomb exploded outside a mosque Sunday, killing at least 37 people and wounding another 141 in a mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhood in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi — the third mass-casualty attack on the minority sect in the country this ...
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
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One of two packages of photos of Iran's famed simian space traveler depicts the wrong monkey, prompting an official to insist one really did fly into space and return safely to Earth.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority cans a senior official for leaking information to Japan Atomic Power Co. about a likely active fault running beneath the firm's Tsuruga nuclear plant.
The Japanese Olympic Committee says it will investigate the physical abuse of elite female judo athletes by their disgraced former coach and will broaden the probe to all other Olympic sports.
The Japan Coast Guard arrests the captain of a Chinese boat on suspicion of illegally fishing for coral in Japan's exclusive economic zone near an island in Okinawa.
Washington does not want Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to bring up the issue of collective self-defense at the Japan-U.S. summit scheduled for later this month.
On Dec. 14, 2012, two days before the Lower House election in which the Democratic Party of Japan headed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was eclipsed as the conservative Liberal Democratic Party swept back to power in a landslide, a one-page advert with a ...
At least 60 percent of the anchor bolts used in Yamanashi Prefecture’s Sasago Tunnel weren’t as strong as they were designed to be, the infrastructure ministry has learned after surveying the site of a fatal ceiling collapse. Nine people were crushed by concrete roof ...
The economy is estimated to have grown for the first time in three quarters in the three months through December, climbing an annualized real 0.6 percent on the back of brisk consumer spending, according to a survey by Kyodo News. The average forecast of ...
Osaka Evessa bench boss Bill Cartwright reveals what he thinks are important traits for the team leader after landing his first head coaching job since guiding the Chicago Bulls from 2001-03.
Manga legend Reiji Matsumoto celebrated 60 years in the business at France’s international cartoon festival and confessed that the experience left him feeling like a time traveller “with the strange sensation of finding myself in one of my stories.” The author of numerous cult ...
In December several celebrities were forced to apologize publicly for stating on their personal blogs that they had “won” items on so-called penny auction websites when, in fact, they hadn’t. Penny auction sites, which first appeared in Germany in 2005, offer people the chance ...
After the resignation of two of her most senior ministers prompted a Cabinet reshuffle ahead of a national election, Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Saturday denied that her government was in shambles. Saturday’s announcement that the two ministers had quit came only three days ...
Former Yomiuri Giants pitcher Masumi Kuwata held a lecture for teachers on corporal punishment in Osaka, where a high school student committed suicide last year after being slapped by his basketball club adviser. Kuwata, who was invited by the Osaka City Board of Education ...
Phil Mickelson made a mess of his final hole in the second round of the Phoenix Open, costing him another shot at history. A day after his putt for a 59 curled 180 degrees and stayed out, Lefty missed a chance to break the ...
A suicide bomber killed a Turkish guard in what U.S. officials called a terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara on Friday, but current and former diplomats credited increased security with preventing more deaths. Turkey, a key NATO ally, blamed the assault on ...
The U.S. job market is proving surprisingly strong and raising hopes that the economy will be resilient enough this year to withstand a budget standoff in Washington and potentially deep cuts in federal spending. Employers added 157,000 jobs last month, and hiring turned out ...
China is poised to take over operational control of a strategic deep-water Pakistani seaport that could serve as a vital economic hub for Beijing and perhaps a key military outpost, according to officials. The construction of the port, in the former fishing village of ...
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic steered Serbia to the brink of the Davis Cup quarterfinals Friday, easing past Belgium’s Olivier Rochus on a makeshift court he described as the worst he’s ever encountered. Australian Open champion Djokovic needed just 1 hour and 39 minutes ...
An umbrella body to help Fukushima Prefecture recover from the 2011 quake, tsunami and nuclear triple whammy began its first day of work Saturday, following its official launch the day before. The Fukushima Directorate General, based in the prefectural capital, the city of Fukushima, ...
Ed Koch, the tough, fast-talking mayor of New York in the turbulent 1970s and ’80s who is credited with rescuing the largest city in the United States from financial ruin, died Friday at age 88. A witty and larger-than-life figure who remained a frequent ...
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wants to share the blame. “Safety,” he said at his annual Super Bowl news conference, “is all of our responsibilities.” Not surprisingly, given that thousands of former players are suing the league about its handling of concussions, the topics of ...
Working separately, John and Jim Harbaugh each guided their team to the Super Bowl. They will be on opposite sidelines Sunday, John as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens and Jim with the San Francisco 49ers. Imagine how effective they could be if working ...
An Egyptian was shot dead as security forces battled protesters throwing gasoline bombs at the presidential palace in Cairo on Friday and President Mohammed Morsi vowed “decisive” police action, a senior medic said. The 23-year-old victim died of a gunshot wound, said Ahmed al-Ansari, ...
Sture Bergwall used to be considered Sweden’s worst serial killer after confessing to more than 30 murders over three decades, and being convicted of eight of them. Years later, however, he changed his mind and said his ghastly tales of slaughter, rape and even ...
The way Blake Griffin saw it, a sloppy effort by the Los Angeles Clippers only made things easier for Rudy Gay and the fired-up Raptors. Gay wowed a sellout crowd by scoring 20 points in his Toronto debut, leading the Raptors to a 98-73 ...
The Tampa Bay Lightning continued their high-scoring ways. Cory Conacher had two goals and an assist to lead the Lightning past the Winnipeg Jets 8-3 on Friday night. “We’ve got a lot of guys hungry for goals,” Conacher said. Tampa Bay also got goals ...
The tenacious wolverine, a snow-loving carnivore sometimes called the “mountain devil,” is being added to the list of species threatened by climate change — a dubious distinction that puts the species in the ranks of the polar bear and several other animals that could ...
Why then did the Englishman who had it all decide to throw away his successful 30-year career at the Japanese corporate icon to blow the whistle on his fellow directors?
She was an English language tutor with an easy smile and an independent streak. He was a gym receptionist who wanted to better himself. They met for English lessons, swapped views on life and fell in love. Three months ago, a notary married them ...
Will this be the season the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles make it to the Pacific League Climax Series for the second time in their nine years of existence? Hardline disciplinarian manager Senichi Hoshino got the team bumped up a notch in 2012, moving from ...
Second-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia reached the Pattaya Open semifinals by beating Elena Vesnina 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 Friday. Kirilenko, who last year lost to Ana Ivanovic in the final, was scheduled take on Sorana Cirstea of Romania on Saturday. Cirstea defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, ...
It took months for anyone to discover that an eccentric man known simply as Radkin had died, crushed under a tractor-pulled horse trailer on his property on the shores of Lake Champlain in northern Vermont. But it didn’t take long for looters to ransack ...
Greg Jamison was unable to pull together the funds and investors he needed to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes before a deadline with the city of Glendale expired. His bid to buy the team from the NHL may not be over, though. More complicated, yes, ...
A blast that collapsed the lower floors of a building in the headquarters of Mexico’s state-owned oil company, crushing at least 33 people beneath tons of rubble and injuring 121, is being looked at as an accident although all lines of investigation remain open, ...
U.S. markets pushed close to new records last week, a stunning rebound after the steep crash of 2008 wiped trillions of dollars from Americans’ pocketbooks and retirement accounts. The thrust past 14,000 by the Dow Jones industrial average Friday, the first time since Oct. ...
DEPRESSION IN JAPAN: Psychiatric Cures for a Society in Distress, by Junko Kitanaka. Princeton University Press, 2011, 264 pp., $29.95 (paperback) Twenty-first century Japan is in the throes of a depression epidemic. Until the late 1990s, mental depression was not widely diagnosed or treated ...
Yuki Togashi won’t technically be an adult for almost six more months, at least that’s true according to Japanese custom. In his bj-leauge debut, the Akita Northern Happinets rookie point guard played well beyond his years in a 88-78 victory over the host Toyama ...
Sara Takanashi finished 12th in a women’s World Cup meet on Saturday for her worst placing in over a year. The second jump was delayed and eventually canceled due to high winds at Sapporo’s Miyanomori-Schanze’s K-90 normal hill. The 16-year-old Takanashi, who leads the ...
Iran is stepping up its support for Syria while Russia is still arming President Bashar Assad’s regime and Israel has fired missiles into the country, heightening fears that the conflict may spill over its borders, U.S. officials say. The assessments came as U.S. Vice ...
Middleweight Ryota Murata, who became Japan’s first Olympic boxing champion in 48 years last summer at the London Games, revealed Saturday he is thinking of turning pro. “It’s true that I have been thinking about that world,” the 27-year-old told reporters. “But the truth ...
The plea from Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng to British Prime Minister David Cameron has worked: Funding will be restored to the country’s Olympic basketball program. Britain’s men’s and women’s basketball squads were told in December they’d receive no funding for the 2016 Rio ...
Hong Kong announced measures Friday to curb the amount of baby formula that mainland Chinese visitors can buy as anger grows at shortages in the city’s stores ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. Chief among the measures is a plan to change the ...
Louis Luyt, the former head of the South African Rugby Union who presided over the Springboks’ return to international rugby and their victory at the 1995 World Cup has died. He was 80. SARU said Luyt, a former player, administrator, newspaper proprietor, businessman and ...
In 1983, I talked myself into a marvelous job with a Japanese magazine. I set off in the early summer, when the days would be long and the nights short, to tour around Scotland with cameraman Moriyama Touru.
A Texas jury has sentenced the 22-year-old son of former NBA guard Nick Van Exel to 60 years in prison in the shooting death of a longtime friend. Nickey Maxwell Van Exel received the punishment Friday after his father wept on the witness stand ...
NBA players put union chief Billy Hunter on an indefinite leave Friday, two weeks after a report they commissioned questioned Hunter’s leadership and criticized him for bad decisions and questionable business practices. The union is forming an interim executive committee and an advisory committee, ...
King Abdullah appointed one of his brothers, Moqren bin Abdul Aziz, as deputy prime minister, on Friday, making him second in line to the throne, the official SPA news agency said. “Prince Moqren bin Abdul Aziz, adviser and special envoy of the king, has ...
Nearly 180 million Americans will settle in front of TV sets with beer and chicken wings this weekend and, over four hours, watch commercials interrupted by a football game. Well, all right, the gridiron showdown Sunday in New Orleans between the Baltimore Ravens and ...
WILD: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed. Knopf, 2012, 336 pp., $25.95 (hardcover) In this hugely entertaining book, Cheryl Strayed takes the redemptive nature of travel — a theme as old as literature itself — and makes it ...
What did our cities' natural landscapes originally look like? In a sprawling metropolis such as Tokyo, with concrete encrusting almost every inch of earth, walling every riverbank and towering up to the skies, it is almost impossible to imagine.
According to the National Police Agency (NPA), Japan’s annual total of suicides dipped below 30,000 people for the first time in 15 years in 2012 — to 27,766. While the fall is great news, part of me wonders: Has there really been a drop ...
Though there are professional competitive eaters, one doesn’t have to be certified to participate in such contests. The TV personalities on this week’s two-hour special edition of the variety show “Ikinari! Ogon Densetsu” (“Out of the Blue! Gold Legend”; TV Asahi, Thurs., 6:53 p.m.) ...
Article 18 of Japan’s Constitution states, “No person shall be held in bondage of any kind. Involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime, is prohibited.” And Article 97 declares, “The fundamental human rights by this Constitution guaranteed to the people of Japan are fruits ...
South Korea and the United States will hold a joint naval exercise this week, a report said Saturday, in a move seen as a warning to North Korea ahead of its widely expected nuclear test. The three-day exercise involving a U.S. nuclear submarine and ...
A Milan appeals court on Friday vacated acquittals for a former CIA station chief and two other Americans, and instead convicted them in the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian terrorism suspect from a Milan street as part of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program. The ...
To boost tourism, Tokyo Station will be declared a sister station of New York City’s Grand Central Terminal in the first such partnership involving Japanese and U.S. train stations, East Japan Railway Co. said. The move will commemorate the 100th anniversaries of Grand Central ...
With somber ceremonies, the United States on Friday commemorated the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew on the 10th anniversary of the disaster. Columbia, NASA’s first space shuttle orbiter to be put into service, disintegrated during re-entry on Feb. 1, ...
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan announced his retirement Friday, bringing to a close a turbulent period for the law enforcement agency that included a South American prostitution scandal and a pair of White House gate-crashers. In nearly seven years as director, Sullivan had to ...
Toyota Motor Corp. led major automakers in sales growth in the United States last month, partly aided by the launch of the Avalon luxury sedan. The automaker’s sales of new cars and light trucks jumped 26.6 percent from the year before to 157,725 units, ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he will consider attending Tokyo’s presentation to the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires in September to support the capital’s bid to host the 2020 Summer Games. “I’d like to consider (taking part) in a proactive manner, depending on ...
Colombia’s FARC rebels on Friday said they were committed to peace talks with the government amid rising tensions and renewed clashes involving Latin America’s longest-running insurgency. The conflict flared up over the week, with four soldiers and five rebels killed in separate clashes even ...
Two bungling British hit men who went to the wrong address and stabbed a teenager to death instead of their intended victim were convicted of murder Friday. Ben Hope, 39, and Jason Richards, 38, were paid £1,000 ($1,600) each to kill a man who ...
An Indian government scientist said Friday that air quality in New Delhi worsened last week and is now “very poor,” although he added it should not be compared to China’s capital, which has been reeling under severe air pollution. Gurfan Baig of the state-run ...
The Obama administration proposed new rules Friday that would guarantee widespread access to contraceptives under the Affordable Care Act, but seemed unlikely to head off legal battles that could return a part of the health care law to the Supreme Court. The regulations allow ...
Twitter says hackers may have gained access to information on 250,000 of its more than 200 million active users. In a blog posting Friday, Twitter said it had detected attempts to gain access to its user data. It shut down one attack moments after ...
Google resolved a compensation fight with French news publishers Friday that will see the U.S. Internet search giant setting up a €60 million ($82 million) fund to help France’s media develop online sources of revenue. The deal follows two months of mediation with French ...
Russia’s Bolshoi ballet Friday postponed one of its most eagerly anticipated premieres of the year, a new version of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” after the acid attack on its artistic director, Sergei Filin. The Bolshoi had invited British choreographer Wayne McGregor to ...
