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The head of an official inquiry into the deadly collapse of a Bangladesh factory complex said the building’s owner was the “main culprit” for the disaster because he violated construction codes. The cave-in of the eight-story Rana Plaza outside the capital last month killed ...
Throughout most of Japan, June is the rainy season. While all that rainfall is great for rice paddies so that we can have delicious new harvest rice in the fall, it makes it a rather dull month for seasonal produce: The summer’s bounty of ...
“I was stopped by two men in a government-registered vehicle, blindfolded and dragged off the street. They took me away to a house in a place I did not know. I was forced into a room with blood all over the walls and floor, ...
Claude Regy says the team at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) threw him the “best birthday party ever” when he arrived in Japan just days after the actual May 1 occasion. The 90-year-old French director is hoping for an even better birthday gift, ...
As far as debuts go, Shohei Otani's delivered. The celebrated rookie pitched fairly well on Thursday night, and though he finished outside the decision, he left the mound with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters well within striking distance of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
PELINDABA, South Africa — Grrrr . . . grrrr . . . grrr . . . I couldn’t help feeling a little nervous while hoping that the deep dog-growl sound emanating from the magnificent cheetah under my sweaty palm was actually a purr. Luckily ...
HLUHLUWE-UMFOLOZI, South Africa — The ample white rhino sighted on a visit to Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park might lead one to believe that they are plentiful in the wild. Well, yes and no. Here, yes. South Africa is home to over 80 percent of Africa’s rhinoceros, ...
Painter Michael Hofmann says his best work starts and finishes before he’s even realized it. “In my eyes, the work that’s most successful comes as a gift. I may not even know it’s coming, or it may happen when I’ve given up. Some paintings ...
HOEDSPRUIT, South Africa — There are lots of animals inside fenced enclosures at Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, but the education in wildlife one gets here is very different from what one gets at a zoo. A few hours visiting with the very knowledgeable and ...
Trekking through the bush on an African safari can make for a fair amount of physical rigor and a lot of excitement. You’ll see plenty of wildlife — mostly their tail ends, as they run away from you. But for those who’d like to ...
When thinking of traveling in South Africa, many people imagine safari-style ventures into the bush to spy elephant, rhino and cheetah. For people who like a challenge, though, the skill it takes to spot and identify the astonishing variety of local birdlife will make ...
KYOTO — Many foreigners new to Japan feel the pulls and strains of adapting to the feeling of demanding but hidden rules in this country, trying to understand things that seem generally accepted but never quite articulated. One wonders, when people in this society ...
PRETORIA — Praised as the best wildlife law-enforcement agency in all of Africa, South Africa’s Endangered Species Protection Unit combines perilous undercover investigation and hardline law enforcement with a passion for one of Africa’s most precious resources — its wildlife. Despite a successful decade-long ...
One might not imagine that Lesley Downer — author of books on Basho’s travels, Japan’s richest family and now geisha — started out in the culinary arena. A vegetarian living in gaijin-scarce, small-town Japan in the early 1980s, Downer gradually built up a collection ...
TSURUI VILLAGE, Tokushima Pref. — Still hidden away in Shikoku’s remote Iya Valley, the thatch-roofed home made famous in Alex Kerr’s “Lost Japan” is taking out a new lease on life — one that may alter this country’s approach to conservation and development. Kerr ...
KOBE — Traditional Japanese art aficionados in Kansai will have a rare chance to learn the finer points of both Bizen pottery and ukiyo-e woodblock prints through a double exhibit of John Wells’ Bizen works and Peter Ujlaki’s ukiyo-e collection at the Community House ...
BANGKOK — As Thailand rapidly converts from agrarian state to economic dragon, a growing number of Thai people are looking for solutions to modern society’s own brand of ills. The Bangkok-based Spirit in Education Movement (SEM) points to the country’s traditional Buddhist roots for ...