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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Mourners from New Zealand, Japan and several other countries gathered Friday at the site of a TV building in Christchurch that collapsed during a massive earthquake that hit the city two years ago, killing 115 people. The New Zealand Herald said the fenced-in site ...
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday described the absence of a peace treaty between Japan and Russia as an “abnormal situation” and expressed his readiness to resolve the long-running dispute over a group of Russian-held islands off Hokkaido. Putin also said his remarks last March ...
It’s a bit premature to say the Ryukyu Golden Kings need to push the panic button. Their 24-8 win-loss record is the league’s best (based on winning percentage), the same as the Yokohama B-Corsairs’ through Sunday. But after a magical 15-0 start, the reigning ...
In India's worst bombing in more than a year, a pair of bombs explodes in a crowded shopping area in Hyderabad, killing at least 12 people and wounding scores of others.
Google is adding a new and more expensive touch to its line of Chrome laptops in an attempt to outshine personal computers running on software made by rivals.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is making final preparations to announce Japan's entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade pact after holding talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.
A car bomb exploded Thursday near Syria’s ruling party headquarters in Damascus, killing at least 53 people and scattering mangled bodies among the blazing wreckage in one of the bloodiest days in the capital since the uprising began almost two years ago. Elsewhere in ...
Organist Cameron Carpenter, known for his wild performances and appearance, plays the organ like no one else — hitting the keys with frantic energy and a rockstar-like attitude. Carpenter, born in Pennsylvania in 1981, was a child prodigy, performing Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier” when he ...
Juvenile delinquency. Intersexuality. Terminal-illness treatment. These are the kinds of social issues theater troupe Fukinkobo has fearlessly tackled over the years, giving it a reputation for having the courage of its convictions to spotlight the predicament of people with marginalized social status. This time ...
There is no better time than February and March to visit Kairakuen, the picturesque garden just south of Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, that was built in the 1840s by the seventh daimyo of the Mito clan, Tokugawa Nariaki. For starters, the 3,000-plus plum trees that ...
How accurate is “Zero Dark Thirty”? Is “Lincoln” an epic of historical re-creation or a high school history lesson? What did you think of “Django Unchained”? Can we get Anne Hathaway something to eat, already? As a crop, this year’s nine Best Picture nominees ...
Every time David Karashima took a Japanese author to New York or London to do a reading, the local audiences would ask two questions: “Who’s the next Haruki Murakami?” and “Why isn’t there an international literary festival in Tokyo?” “Finally I thought, OK, let’s ...
InterContinental to open in Osaka The InterContinental Osaka, which will open in June, has started an advanced reservation service this month for the period from July 1 through the end of this year. The hotel is located in the large-scale business and shopping complex ...
After an unusually cold winter, the sight of spring produce is particularly welcome, especially the bright yellow-green of nanohana.
Every Monday night at 7, Japanese TV viewers are treated to the sight of comedians being locked inside a fast-food restaurant. Formica tables take the place of iron bars, and instead of three square meals a day the cast is fed a steady diet ...
A Congressional Research Service reports says the United States "could become directly involved in a military conflict" between Tokyo and Beijing over the Senkaku Islands.
A U.S. foundation sponsored by top U.S. business executives said Wednesday it has selected 11 researchers, including Japanese stem cell researcher and Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka, as inaugural winners of the newly launched Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for their past achievements in the ...
Bando Tamasaburo has dedicated his life to the intimate study of women; the way they walk, the way they move, the way they hold their hands. And he is good at it. So good that France on Tuesday bestowed on Tamasaburo the Commander of ...
When the catastrophic earthquake of March 11, 2011, struck the Tohoku region, Makoto Yanagisawa was researching stem cells at a university laboratory in the United States. “I was thinking of returning (to Japan) someday, but decided to do so sooner after I kept seeing ...
The instant messaging app Line is already dominating the lives of young smartphone users in Japan and has spread rapidly elsewhere in the world, but its developer is eyeing even more aggressive growth. Unlike global giants like Facebook and Twitter, the nascent social networking ...
Toyota Motor Corp.’s success in selling Thai-made vehicles to the Middle East and Latin America is fueling a boom for car carriers. Exports of Hilux pickup trucks and Fortuner SUVs helped the Southeast Asian nation overtake China as Toyota’s third-biggest global production hub last ...
“I would like to create a system that would allow people to end their lives with dignity and doctors to respond to such requests,” he said Wednesday in an Upper House Budget Committee meeting. “It is important not to link the issue with medical ...
The focus of the lawsuit was whether the court would approve the right of about 620 plaintiffs living around Nago, the envisioned relocation site of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, to express opinions about the plan in the environmental assessment procedure. The plaintiffs ...
Shozaburo Jimi, leader of the three-Diet-member Kokumin Shinto (People’s New Party), asked the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday to absorb his small opposition force apparently so he can run in this summer’s Upper House election on the LDP’s ticket. LDP sources said their ...
Seoul will retaliate if Tokyo sends a senior official to an event held by Shimane Prefecture to promote Japan’s claim to a pair of South Korea-controlled islets, the South’s foreign ministry warns.
Police on the Pacific island of Guam have beefed up patrols in the wake of the Feb. 12 rampage by a 21-year-old local man at a key tourist spot that left three Japanese tourists dead and 11 other people wounded. Guam police Chief Fred ...
Nicolas Clavel, portfolio manager at commodities fund Scipion Capital Ltd., is brushing aside worries about impacts on investment in Africa from last month’s terrorist attack on a natural gas complex in Algeria. “In terms of investment in Africa, I don’t essentially think that there ...
The past few months have put the Japan Coast Guard and Air Self-Defense Force to the test, as they defend the nation’s territorial waters and airspace around the Senkaku islets in the East China Sea, a flash point for potential military clashes with China. ...
City officials of Satsumasendai in Kagoshima Prefecture announced this week that a piece of fossilized tooth believed to be that of a herbivorous dinosaur under the Ceratopsidae species has been unearthed from 80-million-year-old strata on Shimokoshiki Island in the city. This is the first-ever ...
A Tokyo company said Thursday it will start a new business that sends pregnant women to the United States to check if they have conceived babies with chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome. The business by Cell and Genetic Laboratory is expected to arouse ...
The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will begin deliberations on introducing an income limit for tuition waivers for public high schools in fiscal 2014. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party criticized the free tuition program, a key policy introduced by the previous government of the ...
The lawmakers raised the issue two days before a White House visit by the conservative Abe, whose previous prime ministership was dogged by historical issues but who is now seen as increasingly pragmatic. Rep. Mike Honda, who spearheaded a 2007 House resolution that took ...
U.S. aerospace giant Boeing is set to propose repairs to the battery problems in its grounded 787 Dreamliner jets that could have them fly again within two months, The New York Times said Thursday. The Times, citing industry and federal officials, said Boeing has ...
Police took action against 648 minors for sex-related crimes in 2012, up 23 percent from the year before, the National Police Agency said Thursday. Data compiled by the agency revealed a notable increase of offenders among junior high school students. “They may have been ...
A panel of experts under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has confirmed its plan to urge Kansai Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co. to make more cuts in their fuel and personnel spending, a move that will likely lead to ...
The last words that a Fukushima dairy farmer said to his wife in the Philippines over the phone on the morning of June 10, 2011, was to make sure that she and their children ate well, stayed healthy and didn’t return to Japan. Later ...
Lance Armstrong will not interview under oath with the agency that exposed his doping and took his seven Tour de France titles. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency told Armstrong he would have to reveal all he knows about doping in cycling — a process officials ...
International Olympic Academy (IOA) president Isidoros Kouvelos on Wednesday called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to respect the historical roots of the Olympics and not remove wrestling from the Olympics starting in the 2020 edition. “Wrestling remains inseparable from the concept of the ...
Mike Tyson is suing a financial services firm affiliated with Live Nation, claiming it cost him more than $5 million due to a former employee’s embezzlement and mismanagement. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles claims an adviser from SFX Financial Advisory Management Enterprises ...
The best 64 golfers in the world got together for the first time this season and a snow fight broke out. In the most bizarre episode of a PGA Tour season already filled with wacky weather, the opening round of the Match Play Championship ...
Joe Garagiola, the ballplayer-turned-announcer who was honored by the Hall of Fame for his on-air work, is ending his broadcast career after nearly six decades. The 87-year-old Garagiola said Wednesday that he’s retiring as a part-time television analyst for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He said ...
North Dakota has suspended men’s basketball play-by-play radio announcer Paul Ralston for two games after he used the phrase “choke job” following an overtime loss to Northern Arizona. The Grand Forks Herald reports Ralston used the words during his interview with coach Brian Jones ...
Manchester United chief executive David Gill said Wednesday he will step down in June after a decade running one of the world’s most valuable teams. His move will deprive long-time manager Alex Ferguson of one of his closest confidants at the soccer club, taken ...
Lindy Ruff is out as coach in Buffalo, meaning the slow-starting, inconsistent and sometimes lethargic Sabres have now become Ron Rolston’s mess to clean up. Rolston was promoted from the Sabres’ minor-league affiliate, AHL Rochester, to finish out the season as Buffalo’s interim head ...
Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska led a parade of top seeds into the Dubai Championships quarterfinals on a Wednesday overshadowed by the abrupt withdrawal of Serena Williams with a back injury. Williams, who became the oldest top-ranked woman on Monday, said she’s had a sore ...
Barcelona’s hopes of winning the Champions League for the fourth time in eight seasons hangs by a thread after a 2-0 defeat to AC Milan.
The big questions on Japan’s final day of training camp on Thursday all revolved around the fitness of Hiroshima Carp right-hander Kenta Maeda.
Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss loved to win. He especially relished beating the Boston Celtics.Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss loved to win. He especially relished beating the Boston Celtics.
When Japan manager Koji Yamamoto named his team for the upcoming World Baseball Classic, he said the two-time defending champs would need to win low-scoring games. But if that is going to happen, some of his pitchers are going to have to improve on ...
focus North Korea’s prison camps are a closed-off world of death, torture and forced labor where babies are born slaves, according to two survivors who liken the horrors of the gulags to a Holocaust in progress. “People think the Holocaust is in the past, ...
Plenty of Japanese directors make films about socially awkward or marginal guys: Given all the on-screen examples (as well as their many real-life inspirations), it seems that the onetime country of the samurai has become the land of the otaku and freeter (unemployed or ...
Astronomers on Wednesday said they had found the smallest planet ever spotted beyond our solar system, a scorched and uninhabitable world tinier than Mercury. The planet is the innermost of three that orbit a sunlike star called Kepler-37, named after the Kepler telescope, which ...
Pope Benedict XVI may enact a new law governing the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope amid continued uncertainty over when the voting can begin. The Vatican’s spokesman said Wednesday he didn’t know for sure if the law would address the timing of ...
Sometimes life falls off its dreary grid and takes on the texture and flavor of strawberry chiffon cake. That’s kind of what happens when watching “Silver Linings Playbook”: The more this romantic comedy-drama about an ex-teacher with mental-health problems and the people around him ...
A man being tried on allegations that he planned attacks on Israeli tourists in Cyprus has admitted being a member of the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah and staking out locations that such visitors frequent, his lawyer said Wednesday. Hossam Taleb Yaacoub’s admissions follow accusations ...
Stocks fell Thursday, pressured by profit-taking and falls in overseas equities. The Nikkei 225 average dropped 159.15 points, or 1.39 percent, to finish the day at 11,309.13. On Wednesday, the key market gauge gained 95.94 points. The Topix eased 10.84 points, or 1.11 percent, ...
A U.S. senator has said an estimated 4,700 people, including some civilians, have been killed in the contentious bombing raids of America’s secretive drone war, media reported Wednesday. It was the first time a lawmaker or any government representative had referred to a total ...
The dollar lacked direction against the yen in Tokyo on Thursday ahead of major events, while the euro weakened on dwindling risk appetite in financial markets. At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted at ¥93.45-47, up from ¥93.35-36 at the same time Wednesday. The ...
In a disheartening signal to world powers at upcoming Iran talks, Tehran has started installing high-tech machines at its main uranium enrichment site that are capable of accelerating production of reactor fuel and — with further upgrading — the core of nuclear warheads.
Printing out body parts? Cornell University researchers have shown it is possible by creating a replacement ear using a 3-D printer and injections of living cells. The work, reported Wednesday, is a first step toward one day growing customized new ears for children born ...
You’re fed up with your family, your upbringing, your school, your social class. You don’t fit in and are reminded of it. The rules and social norms that other people seem to follow so blindly seem to you phony, trite, suffocating. You develop an ...
The fallout from Europe’s horse-meat scandal has spread far outside the continent, with an imported lasagne brand pulled from shelves in Hong Kong on Wednesday. A host of top players have been caught up in the spiraling scandal, including Nestle, the world’s biggest food ...
Take a walk through a human brain? Fly over the surface of Mars? Computer scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago are pushing science fiction closer to reality with a wraparound virtual world where a researcher wearing 3-D glasses can do all that ...
Popular pressure is mounting in the U.S. and Italy to keep California Cardinal Roger Mahony away from the conclave to elect the next pope because of his role shielding sexually abusive priests, a movement targeting one of the most prominent of a handful of ...
Describing what it called “the most severe crisis of enforced disappearances in Latin America in decades,” the U.S. organization Human Rights Watch issued a new report Wednesday with grim implications for the thousands of Mexican civilians who have gone missing in the country’s shadowy ...
Call it a case of honey laundering. U.S. officials said Wednesday they had mounted a sting operation against two major firms illegally importing honey from China and selling it on the American market, avoiding $180 million in antidumping duties. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ...
In an extraordinary public statement only days before Kenya’s high-tension national election, the chief justice Wednesday said he had received a letter warning of dire consequences if the judiciary doesn’t allow a top candidate indicted by the International Criminal Court to run. Chief Justice ...
Scientists have discovered a 200-km-wide impact zone in the Australian Outback they believe was caused by a massive asteroid smashing into Earth more than 300 million years ago. Andrew Glikson, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University, said Wednesday the asteroid measuring 10 ...
The son of a prominent U.S. civil rights leader entered a guilty plea Wednesday in federal court to criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. Under a plea deal with prosecutors, he faces 46 ...
