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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Setsubun is over and it is officially springtime in Japan. So what if it’s still cold — happy spring! And spring means cherry blossoms, a new school year and, of course, pilgrimaging! This spring, many people will set out on the pilgrimage of a ...
Uchujin, aka Adrian Storey, a British photographer and filmmaker based in Tokyo, drolly explains his rather unusual business moniker: "I'd rather be an alien than an outsider."
First there was “pink slime.” Then horse meat. And most recently, “desinewed meat.” Recent revelations that such products have reached dinner tables, including horse meat falsely labeled as beef in Europe, have cast an unappetizing light on the global food industry. Critics say the ...
J.League first-division side FC Tokyo announced Thursday they had acquired Japan forward Tadanari Lee from English Premier League club Southampton on loan through the end of June. “I had a lot of concerns, but I’ve made a firm decision to do this,” Lee said ...
Cristiano Ronaldo scored with a spectacular header Wednesday as Real Madrid was held to a 1-1 home draw by Manchester United in the last 16 of the Champions League due to a dominant performance by visiting goalkeeper David de Gea. After Danny Welbeck gave ...
The All Japan Judo Federation announced on Thursday the formation of a third-party advisory committee to handle crisis management in the wake of a whistle-blowing scandal in which 15 top female judo wrestlers accused their former coach of physical and verbal abuse. Haruo Kasama, ...
Koki Kameda will defend his WBA bantamweight title against Yonfrez Pareio of Venezuela in April, his gym announced on Thursday. The bout, to be fought on April 7 in Osaka, will be his sixth defense of the title since winning it when he beat ...
Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius was charged Thursday with the murder of his girlfriend who was shot inside his home in South Africa, a stunning development in the life of a national hero known as the “Blade Runner” for his high-tech artificial legs. Reeva Steenkamp, ...
Top seed and defending champion Victoria Azarenka scored a convincing 6-2, 6-3 victory over Switzerland’s Romina Oprandi on Wednesday to move into the third round of the Qatar Total Open. Playing on a windswept Centre Court at the Khalifa Tennis Center, Azarenka had her ...
Facing a wave of criticism from around the world, IOC President Jacques Rogge will meet with the head of wrestling’s governing body to discuss ways the ancient sport can fight to save its place in the Olympics. The IOC executive board dropped wrestling from ...
Like any first-year pro, Yuki Togashi must cope with the ups and downs of his new job. With only four games as a measuring stick, the Akita Northern Happinets guard has shown lots of potential. He has scored in double figures each time out ...
The San Antonio Spurs had all of their stars together for the first time in a month — and the game-winning shot still came from a role player. Kawhi Leonard made a 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds remaining to give San Antonio a 96-95 victory ...
The Ottawa Senators lost a lot more than a game. Star defenseman Erik Karlsson went down with a left Achilles injury when he was cut by a skate blade late in the second period in the Senators’ 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. ...
The last time a team brought Daisuke Matsuzaka into camp, it paid more than $100 million to get him. On Wednesday, the Cleveland Indians brought him into camp to compete for the back end of their rotation with a deal that will make him ...
Ski jumper Taku Takeuchi claimed a personal World Cup best with his second-place finish at a meet in Germany on Wednesday. The 25-year-old Takeuchi, whose only previous podium finish came at Innsbruck in January 2012, landed jumps of 133.5 and 130.5 meters to score ...
Richard Kahui, a 2011 World Cup winner with the All Blacks, has signed a two-year deal with Japan Top League side Toshiba Brave Lupus, his current Super Rugby team announced Wednesday. “I love being a Chief, but it is no secret that I have ...
An individual’s all-around game can flourish when attention to details and a commitment to defense are ever-present. Similarly, the pursuit of defensive excellence can transform a good team into a championship-contending team. Nile Murry and the Niigata Albirex BB share the same goal: to ...
A Pentagon probe into the presence of Agent Orange in Okinawa is set to support veterans' allegations of the clandestine burial of harmful chemicals — but deny the defoliant was among them.
Women packed stores Wednesday to buy Valentine’s Day chocolates for all the men in their lives — partners, friends and bosses — while the men sat back with nothing expected in return. The traffic in Japan is all one-way on Feb. 14, with men ...
A Japanese man hospitalized following a knife and vehicle attack in Guam dies, raising the death toll to three.
The economy remains mired in recession, shrinking 0.4 percent for the third straight quarterly contraction on feeble demand both at home and overseas.
Two gold ingots worth around ¥10 million have been sent to a fish market in the disaster-hit city of Ishinomaki in Tohoku by an unnamed donor.
A statue depicting U.S. military men raising their flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwojima in 1945 is going on sale. The original smaller version of the iconic statue is expected to fetch up to $1.8 million later this month at a New York auction ...
The dollar rose toward ¥93.50 in Tokyo trading Thursday, aided by expectations of additional monetary easing by the Bank of Japan in the future. The greenback stood at ¥93.43-48 at 5 p.m., up from ¥93.20-21 on Wednesday. The euro was at $1.3386-3388, down from ...
While it seems politics is all that comes to mind when talking about China these days, the current New Year’s holiday shows what a remarkable breadth of culture the country has. It just so happens that Yokohama is home to one of the biggest ...
In power for barely more than a year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has adhered overwhelmingly to the policies of his father, using a familiar mix of internal repression and nuclear showmanship while all but dashing hopes he would emerge as a Deng ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed Thursday to seek a new U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing tougher sanctions against North Korea, in response to Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test conducted in defiance of international opposition. Abe told Obama on the telephone ...
The Lower House on Thursday approved a draft ¥13.1 trillion extra budget for fiscal 2012 to finance a huge economic stimulus package aimed at shoring up the recession-hit economy. The vote, dominated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition, came ahead of ...
The European Union and the United States announced Wednesday that they have agreed to pursue talks aimed at achieving an overarching trans-Atlantic free-trade deal. The 27-country EU said such an agreement, first announced in Tuesday’s State of the Union address by President Barack Obama, ...
Beginning with 2001′s “Ichiban Utsukushi Natsu (Firefly Dreams),” a Yasujiro Ozu-esque drama about a friendship that develops between a rebellious teenage girl and an elderly former actress in the countryside, John Williams has been directing films in Japan with Japanese talent that do not ...
The Lower House on Thursday formally approved the appointment of five experts who have been serving as the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s commissioners since September. Following the endorsement, the Upper House is also expected to approve the appointments of NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka and four ...
Tohoku Electric Power Co. sought government approval Thursday to raise household electricity rates by an average of 11.41 percent from July 1 to offset its worsening business due to the shutdown of its atomic reactors due to the March 2011 megaquake, tsunami and nuclear ...
Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso is preparing to go to Seoul as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s special envoy to attend the inauguration of South Korean President-elect Park Geun Hye later this month, a government source said Thursday. The move is aimed at improving Japan-South ...
The Nikkei 225 average rose Thursday, helped by buybacks on the back of the yen’s weakening. The benchmark index gained 55.87 points to close at 11,307.28. On Wednesday, the Nikkei tumbled 117.71 points. The Topix, however, sagged 2.14 points to end at 954.88 after ...
Skiers and snowboarders who pass through JR Nagano Station should make the effort to take a short side trip to nearby Zenkoji Temple during the week starting Saturday. Wooden buildings that line the street approaching the popular temple will be lit up in five ...
Japan and emerging Asian economies agreed Thursday to share their experience in economic development and regional integration with the Palestinian Authority for its nation-building efforts, with the focus on developing the private sector.
Officials in Britain say a mysterious virus related to SARS may have spread between humans as they confirmed the 11th case worldwide of the new coronavirus in a patient who probably caught it from a family member. The new virus was first identified last ...
Fast Retailing Co. is aiming to open its first Uniqlo clothing store in Indonesia in May or June. The clothing giant plans to open nine additional outlets in the capital as part of its bid to expand operations in emerging Southeast Asian markets, Naoki ...
Some doctors’ families in India are having more sons than daughters, a new study in the U.S. journal Demography claims, implying that they, too, may be using illegal sex-selective practices that are thought to be widespread in the country. Female feticide among not only ...
American Airlines and U.S. Airways have agreed to a merger that will create the world’s biggest airline. The deal caps a turbulent period of bankruptcies and consolidation that leaves the U.S. airline industry dominated by four big carriers. The boards of American parent AMR ...
PSA Peugeot Citroen posted a record €5 billion ($6.7 billion) loss last year after Europe’s car market forced France’s largest automaker to book a €3 billion financial charge. As well as falling demand, which led to a 12.4 percent slump in new vehicle sales ...
Adding weight to its announcement of a nuclear upgrade, Tehran has shown U.N. officials high-tech equipment positioned at its main uranium enrichment site meant to vastly accelerate output of material that can be used for both reactor fuel and atomic arms, a senior envoy ...
A section of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine collapsed under the weight of snow, officials said Wednesday, raising new concerns about the condition of the facility, which suffered the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe. There were no injuries after Tuesday’s accident or any ...
Nothing gives me greater pleasure, as a California native, than to discover a new burrito shop. I'm not talking about the kind of burritos served on a plate in a restaurant.
Ground Self-Defense Force personnel boarded MV-22 Osprey aircraft for training for the first time Wednesday. During a joint drill open to the media, about 50 members of the GSDF Western Army Infantry Regiment for defending Japan’s remote islands boarded four of the tilt-rotor aircraft ...
A Welshman who moved to Nagoya in 1988 and has been based in Japan ever since, John Williams is the rare foreigner who has worked in the Japanese film industry in not only the usual facilitator roles, as line producer and translator, but has ...
Tokyo Dome Hotel baseball plan The Japanese pro baseball season starts March 29. The Tokyo Dome Hotel, located right next to the Tokyo Dome, home ground of the Yomiuri Giants, is offering a special accommodation plan for which it has started accepting reservations. The ...
North Korea’s underground nuclear test shows it is making big strides toward becoming a true nuclear power. But the test may also reveal critical clues about how close — or how far away — the secretive nation is from fielding a nuclear weapon capable ...
Rie Sugiyama, 28, killed in a stabbing spree Tuesday on Guam, had been looking forward to her younger brother’s wedding ceremony in the U.S. territory scheduled for Thursday — Valentine’s Day. “I want my daughter back,” said Sugiyama’s father, whose name has not been ...
Warnings about the zombie apocalypse may seem pretty amusing, but officials are dead serious about figuring out who hacked into the U.S. public warning system to broadcast such messages in several states. So far, people in California, Michigan, Montana and New Mexico have heard ...
Pro-Pyongyang Korean schools in Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures will not receive a local subsidy for fiscal 2013 in light of North Korea’s nuclear test Tuesday, the governors of the two prefectures said. “It would be difficult to obtain our residents’ understanding over the continuance ...
Tempura and soba: Separately, they’re two essential elements of traditional Japanese food culture. Put them together side by side on the table and they add up to one of the all-time classic dishes. Even at its most basic — at a stand-and-slurp noodle counter, ...
News and financial information company Thomson Reuters said it’s slashing 2,500 jobs, or about 4 percent of its workforce, this year as it tries to reduce costs and turn around its largest division. CEO Jim Smith said Wednesday the company is eliminating the positions ...
Over the next month, Osaka restaurants will start preparing some award-winning dishes to serve up to lucky diners. The event is called Delice Restaurant Week, but the use of the word “week” is a bit of a misnomer. The event runs from Feb. 22 ...
Apple Inc. says it has lowered the price of its 13-inch MacBook Pro laptops by $200 and updated its processors. It also launched new models with faster processors and more memory. Apple said Wednesday that the MacBook Pro with Retina display and 128 gigabytes ...
The labor ministry has unveiled draft legislation to require companies to employ people with mental disorders in addition to those with physical or intellectual disabilities. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, which presented the outline to a meeting Wednesday of a Liberal Democratic Party ...
"Money shot" is a term that originally came from the pornographic-movie industry, referring to, ahem, a male actor fulfilling his contractual obligations.
Researchers have moved one step closer to clinical trials using adult stem cells in a therapy they hope will prove a cure for common vision problems, an official said Thursday. The ethics committee at the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation in Kobe on ...
Among the components that make up the conservative agenda advocated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, one stands out for its potential to inflame international relations: a review of Japan’s official stance on the forced recruitment of Asian and European women and girls into wartime ...
His obituary was not carried by major media, but Nobuyuki Ogasawara left a distinctive mark on Japanese journalism. Far from being a star journalist, he earned his living and secured his reporting expenses mainly as a writing course instructor at cram schools, but the ...
Now that a majority of the Diet appears to support joining the international treaty on settling cross-border child custody disputes, the government expressed determination Thursday to push for quick ratification of the 1980 Hague Convention. The Liberal Democratic Party’s joint foreign and legal affairs ...
The National Police Agency unveiled a bill Thursday that would crack down on repeat reckless bicyclists, unlicensed motorists and people who fail to disclose diseases such as epilepsy that could impair their driving. The bill to revise the 1960 Road Traffic Law would oblige ...
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that if you had to see yet another 20th-century action star, alive and well and kicking ass for the benefit of the over-40s crowd — and that star is Bruce Willis, whom you can remember as having ...
In a familiar scene of Russian daily life, Ivan Alexandrov smoked a cigarette outside a Moscow metro station as other commuters stepped out of the heavy doors and immediately lit up. But under a draft law already passed by Parliament banning smoking in public ...
Israel on Wednesday admitted for the first time that it had held an Israeli with dual citizenship under a false name for security reasons, and that he died in prison more than two years ago — details that shed new light on a case ...
Lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have agreed to call on the government to keep the party’s election pledge of refusing to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks if the abolition of tariffs without exception is a precondition. The move Wednesday came ahead ...
Dutch banking and insurance group ING has reported a 32.5 percent plunge in net profit last year and said it intends to cut 2,400 jobs in its operations in the Netherlands and Belgium. The group Wednesday reported a net profit for 2013 of €3.89 ...
Oscar can be fickle. At a ceremony in 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to take home the Academy Award for Best Director, for 2008′s “The Hurt Locker.” However, she was not nominated for the prize for this year’s Oscars, which will be ...
For a former schoolmate of Chad Ryan De Soto, the news about the 21-year-old allegedly driving his car into and stabbing Japanese tourists Tuesday night in a Guam tourist area was shocking not only because it was so horrible, but also because it was ...
The Bank of Japan on Thursday put off additional monetary easing while raising its assessment of the economy, saying it appears to have stopped weakening. After its two-day Policy Board meeting drew to a close, BOJ Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa told a news conference that ...
Toyota Motor Corp. maintained first place in Japan’s Best Global Brands rankings for the fifth straight year, U.S. consulting firm Interbrand Corp. said Wednesday. Toyota was followed by Honda Motor Co. and Canon Inc. in the 2013 rankings. The top nine remained unchanged from ...
