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 ...
Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. of Japan, a state-backed body tasked with Japan Airlines Corp.’s rehabilitation, is expected to decide within this month whether and how it will save the nation’s largest airline. A major focus is whether the program will be a court-led bankruptcy ...
The Bank of Japan plans to pump around ¥10 trillion into the banking system to rein in deflation and the surging yen. Here are some questions and answers about the ramifications: Why has the BOJ introduced the measure? The central bank expects the measure ...
Bowing to calls to resign, most adamantly by Shizuka Kamei, state minister in charge of postal services, charismatic former banker Yoshifumi Nishikawa officially stepped down Wednesday as president of Japan Post Holdings Co. and was replaced by former Vice Finance Minister Jiro Saito. Experts ...
Transport minister Seiji Maehara’s controversial proposal floated this week to turn Tokyo’s Haneda airport into a 24-hour international hub caused a firestorm of anger in Chiba Prefecture, where Narita International Airport is a key part of the economy. The plan would mark a huge ...
To rescue cash-strapped small firms and households, financial services minister Shizuka Kamei is preparing to submit a bill at the extraordinary Diet session this month that will pressure financial institutions to ease loan conditions for borrowers. The proposed debt moratorium program has sparked opposition ...
The government revealed a list of products and services Friday that can be exchanged for Eco-points, a type of currency to stimulate consumption and promote use of energy-efficient goods. The campaign is boosting replacement demand at electronics retailers as consumers flock to accumulate Eco-points ...
Scholars and Liberal Democratic Party members have been urging the government to print its own money to counter the once-in-a-century crisis buffeting Japan. While advocates claim the measure should at least be considered as an option, senior government and central bank officials are adamantly ...
Orix Corp.’s purchase of 70 Kampo no Yado hotels from Japan Post Holdings Co. for the fire sale price of ¥10.9 billion has been making headlines for the past month and drawing the scorn of internal affairs minister Kunio Hatoyama. The incident seems to ...
The credit crunch brought about by the collapse of the U.S. housing market is spreading throughout the world and has begun choking off funding to small and midsize Japanese companies. Fearing the squeeze will accelerate bankruptcies of smaller firms, especially in rural regions, the ...
With Prime Minister Taro Aso’s government and ruling coalition lawmakers busy compiling a second economic stimulus package by the end of this month, the latest political catchphrase has become “Kasumigaseki maizokin,” or buried funds in the Kasumigaseki district, the seat of the central government. ...
Shinginko Tokyo, Japan’s first bank created by a local government, was set up by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in April 2004 and started operations a year later to realize Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara’s pet idea of supporting struggling small and medium-size companies in the ...
This week saw the dollar slip to its lowest level against the yen in over 12 1/2 years. Despite bouncing back Wednesday, economists expect the greenback to keep trending downward. The prospect of a U.S. financial industry meltdown has many here fearing the negative ...
