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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Sara Takanashi is poised to win the women’s ski jumping World Cup title next weekend in Slovenia after the Japanese teen wonder swept a doubleheader at Zao on Sunday, tying a record for most victories in a season. The 16-year-old Takanashi picked up her ...
Chinese maritime surveillance vessels are spotted traveling near the Senkakus for the first time since the Japanese government accused China of targeting weapons radar at a Japanese destroyer.
Combined group pretax profits at major nonfinancial firms are expected to rise a moderate 3.4 percent in fiscal 2012 from the previous year, a recent tally showed. A number of domestic companies have revised their earnings estimates upward following the yen’s decline against major ...
A former senior official of the Nuclear Regulation Authority held at least 30 meetings with power company executives in violation of the new watchdog’s internal rules, it was learned Saturday. Tetsuo Nayuki, who served as director general of the NRA secretariat, met with representatives ...
The government may disclose evidence about two Chinese frigates that allegedly locked their weapons-guiding radar on a Japanese destroyer and helicopter.
Just when Tokyo got a boost in its campaign to host the 2020 Olympics, a judo coaching scandal within Japan's sporting culture threatens to undermine the bid.
Economic policy minister Akira Amari says the government will step up efforts so that the benchmark Nikkei index jumps an extra 17 percent to 13,000 points by the end of March.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday visits Iwate, one of the three prefectures hit hardest by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and vows to accelerate efforts to rebuild its shattered communities.
Recruit Co. founder Hiromasa Ezoe, who was at the center of a major shares for political favors scandal in the 1980s, dies at age 76 in Tokyo.
The South African Rugby Union says former Springbok flanker Jan Ellis has died from cancer a month after his 71st birthday. Ellis played 38 tests and all but one of South Africa’s internationals from his debut in 1965 to his last test 11 years ...
Vegalta Sendai have signed Brazilian midfielder Diogo on loan from Brazil’s Sport Recife, the J. League first division club said on Saturday. The 26-year-old Diogo, whose real name is Antunes De Oliveira, was loaned out by Sport Recife for six months of last year ...
Soccer agent Leon Angel, whose clients include England coach Roy Hodgson, was warned by FIFA about his future conduct on Friday after breaking rules in a transfer involving Brazil goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes. Angel breached two clauses in its players’ agents regulations during the deal ...
Sue Paterno is defending her late husband as a “moral, disciplined” man who never twisted the truth to avoid bad publicity. The wife of the former Penn State coach is fighting back against the accusations against Joe Paterno that followed the Jerry Sandusky scandal. ...
New York Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner says he’s concerned about the latest drug allegations swirling around third baseman Alex Rodriguez, but that the matter is being looked at by Major League Baseball. The Miami New Times reported late last month that the ...
London Olympic organizers say they remain on course to break even on their operating budget. Local organizing committee LOCOG, forecasts total revenue and expenditure will both be £2.4 billion ($3.8 billion). The privately financed LOCOG budget, which covers the running of the games, is ...
Saturday’s ski jumping World Cup competition was completely canceled after strong winds continued to howl at Zao Ski Resort. Sunday will feature a doubleheader, with the first competition starting at 8:30 a.m. Friday’s official training had also been canceled because of heavy snowfall. Overall ...
On Jan. 16, Islamic militants believed led by the elusive commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar struck a natural-gas processing plant in Ain Amenas, Algeria. In the rescue attempt by units of Algeria's army, as many as 81 people may have died, among which were 10 Japanese ...
"The evolution of political thought in this relatively isolated island nation during the period in question is unique to the point of being somewhat freakish,” writes political thought scholar Hiroshi Watanabe of the University of Tokyo.
It’s the most celebrated and notorious fish in the world, certainly in culinary circles. Now the puffer fish — one of Japan’s most enigmatic creatures — meets some of biology’s deepest questions: Why did sex evolve? Why are there two sexes? Why is the ...
Political reforms are happening because the military/political leaders wanted to end their nation's isolation and benefit from having a more prosperous economy.
Bruce Willis says he’s against new gun-control laws that could infringe on rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution. The “Die Hard” star also dismisses any link between Hollywood shootouts and real-life gun violence. “I think that you can’t start to pick ...
The U.S. media has turned a spotlight on itself after three news organizations admitted keeping the location of a drone base in Saudi Arabia secret at the request of the U.S. administration. The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Associated Press this ...
An industry ministry panel will propose a set of power industry reforms to the government that would enable households to select electricity suppliers from 2016 and force utilities to separate their energy generation and transmission businesses between 2018 and 2020. The measures, which would ...
Two vending machines at the Marunouchi Line's subway stop in Tokyo's Shinjuku Station are passing out free chocolate, attracting swarms of customers ahead of Valentine's Day.
Four elderly women died and another woman and a man remained unconscious Saturday after a fire broke out the evening before at a Nagasaki nursing home for patients suffering from dementia, police said. They were among 12 people aged between 56 and 95 who ...
BONES OF CONTENTION: Animals and Religion in Contemporary Japan, by Barbara R. Ambros. University of Hawaii Press, 2012, 255 pp., $29 (paperback) Bumping into a Japanese acquaintance on the street recently, I inquired where he was going on his day off dressed in a ...
Tohoku Electric Power Co. plans to hike household electricity rates by around 11 percent on average from July, the first increase in 33 years, as its financial position has worsened amid ballooning fuel costs from thermal power generation, sources said. The utility may possibly ...
Smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd. has confirmed it has no plan at present to sell its new handsets in Japan, although it denied it is abandoning one of the world’s most tech-savvy nations. Having fallen far behind Apple Inc. and lost ground to other smartphone ...
Kudos to Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese player in the major leagues, on his recent appointment as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. “Mashi” is highly qualified to take the leadership role in supporting charities and, having been acquainted ...
A few moments after getting hit in the face, LeBron James was shaken up to the point where he didn’t even bother contesting a jump ball. It was about the only play he took off all night. James scored 30 points in another efficient ...
Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany bounces back from a disappointing World Cup season to win the super-combined at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
Sporting short hair and black specs he doesn’t need but chooses to complete his new look, Tim Lincecum hardly resembled the hard-throwing San Francisco pitcher the Bay Area has come to know for his shaggy ‘do and strong arm. Lincecum drew comparisons Friday ranging ...
Removing a sport from the Olympics is one of the IOC’s most sensitive tasks. After months of evaluation, a decision will come next week. The century-old competition of modern pentathlon appears the most at risk. The IOC executive board will meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, ...
Rafael Nadal put himself through a twin workout on Friday to test his sore left knee, defeating fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-1, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the VTR Open. Nadal, who is making his comeback to the tour after seven months off ...
When Manchester United made a losing start to the season for the first time in eight years, it seemed to indicate just how tough it would be to regain the Premier League trophy. But the record 19-time English champions face Everton again on Sunday ...
The company that supplied electricity to the Super Bowl says the blackout that halted the big game was caused by a device it installed specially to prevent a power failure. But the utility stopped short of taking all the blame and said Friday that ...
Mao Asada lands a triple axel and wins the women's short program at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.
After five decades under military rule, Myanmar faces many challenges in building a robust democracy. The election of Aung San Suu Kyi and 41 other members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in parliamentary by-elections last April has stoked a degree of euphoria ...
The Stars finally got their power play going. Twice in one period, in fact. After managing just one goal in 16 opportunities over the previous five games, the Stars got goals from Trevor Daley and Jamie Benn on the man-advantage in the first period, ...
The Niigata Albirex BB made exactly 50 percent of their shots from inside the 3-point arc on Saturday in their series opener against the host Tokyo Cinq Reves. And they were even better from beyond the arc, knocking down 13 of 25 shots (52 ...
Joy Division played only three years’ worth of gigs and released a whopping total of two studio albums.
As Hong Kong prepares to usher in the Year of the Snake, an increasing number of the reptiles are slithering their way into local households, with sales of the uncuddly pet rocketing. Keeping snakes has become increasingly popular in the densely populated city in ...
When the Chinese-speaking world ushers in its new year Sunday, its 12-year zodiac will turn from the dragon to one of the world’s most despised animals, the snake. As undeserved as the snake’s reputation might be, its last two years did not go so ...
After years of research, the first bionic eye has seen the light of day in the United States, giving hope to the blind worldwide. Developed by Second Sight Medical Products, the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System has helped more than 60 people partially recover ...
Some fans can’t get enough of AKB48, and NHK understands this, so on Monday it is broadcasting “Mitchaku: Akimoto Yasushi 2,160-jikan” (“Intense Coverage: 2,160 Hours of Yasushi Akimoto”; BS Premium, 9 p.m.), a two-hour special (presumably just the highlights then) in which NHK’s cameras ...
This restive Sunni town, the first to rebel against U.S. troops a decade ago, is rising up once again, this time against the government the Americans left behind. In an echo of the Arab Spring protests that have overturned regimes elsewhere in the region, ...
Prime Minister David Cameron claimed victory in his battle to slash the EU budget Friday, saying marathon talks proved that his promise of a referendum on EU membership had not left Britain isolated. Cameron had vowed to accept nothing less than a real-term freeze ...
Britain’s food scare over lasagna with horse meat spread to several other European countries Friday, and officials said they suspected criminal activity was behind the growing scandal. Swedish food giant Findus pulled various frozen meals from store shelves in France and Sweden, a day ...
The Secret Service said Friday that it is investigating the theft of numerous personal emails from members of the Bush family, after an apparent hacker leaked the emails and Bush family photos to the Smoking Gun news website. The Smoking Gun’s report, posted late ...
The before and after photos of Anna Grodzka show how much she — and her country — have transformed. As a man, she once wore a thick beard. Now Poland’s first transsexual lawmaker favors big dangly earrings, her hair in a bob. Grodzka attracted ...
Egyptians threw Molotov cocktails and rocks at the main presidential palace in Cairo on Friday as thousands rallied against President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood in protests that ignited clashes across the country. The army put up barbed wire, and the Republican Guard ...
My eyes have been carefully trained on the barren fields outside Izumi Crane Park Museum for at least 20 minutes, but I've yet to spot any of the locality's most famous feathered friends.
China overtook the United States as the world’s largest trading nation in 2012, with two-way trade in merchandise totaling $3.867 trillion, according to data released by China and the U.S. China logged $3.9 billion more in trade with the rest of the world last ...
Actual spending, or “payments” in EU jargon, was set at €908.4 billion ($1.2 trillion), with an absolute ceiling of €960 billion for spending “commitments” ― the maximum amount that can be allocated to programs. The commitment figure is just 1 percent of the bloc’s ...
A Kashmiri separatist was executed Saturday over his role in a deadly attack on Parliament in New Delhi in 2001, an episode that brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of war. Afzal Guru, a former fruit seller, was hanged at Tihar Jail ...
One of the most iconic paintings in French history, Eugene Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People,” was defaced by a woman with psychiatric problems but escaped permanent damage. The 28-year-old woman, who was being held by police Friday, is accused of using a black marker ...
In 2015, Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar’s current president, Thein Sein, will both turn 70, so a great deal depends on future leaders. On a recent visit I caught up with two promising aspirants who focus on the “politics of the daily.” On ...
Two days of face-to-face meetings between Canada’s trade minister and his EU counterpart, ending late Thursday, failed to break a deadlock on the last stumbling blocks to reaching a free-trade pact. “Progress was made in several of the areas that remain outstanding. However, further ...
She wore a tight red dress, a new pair of high heels and a matching handbag. He wore a suit, bright tie and a chunky watch. He thought she looked older and heavier compared with her page on the dating site. She thought he ...
