Transport authorities launched a full-fledged investigation Sunday into the derailment of a bullet train on the Akita Shinkansen Line in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, on Saturday afternoon.
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 ...
Pope Benedict XVI leaves the Catholic Church in unprecedented limbo as he becomes its first leader in 600 years to resign, exiting with an extraordinary pledge to obey his successor.
On an April 2009 visit to the Italian mountain town of Sulmona, Pope Benedict XVI solemnly placed his pallium, the vestment symbolizing his papal authority, on the tomb of Celestine V. The medieval pontiff’s abdication in 1294 had resulted in imprisonment by his successor ...
Britain's highest-ranking Catholic leader resigns and removes himself from the upcoming conclave, saying he does not want allegations that he engaged in improper conduct with priests to be a distraction during the solemn process of choosing the next leader of the church's 1.2 billion-member ...
Pope Benedict XVI delivered an emotional final Sunday prayer in St. Peter’s Square, saying God had told him to devote himself to quiet contemplation but pledging not to “abandon” the church. Tens of thousands of supporters turned out for Benedict’s weekly Angelus prayer, his ...
Of the long list of problems the next pope will inherit once the white smoke rises in Rome, few on the diplomatic front can rival the bitter, intractable relationship between the Vatican and the Chinese government. The two powers have long battled for control ...
Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric, who is due to vote on Pope Benedict XVI’s successor, has been reported to the Vatican over claims of inappropriate behavior, the Observer newspaper reported on Sunday. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, contests ...
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 ...
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 ...
How much weight does an endorsement from a lame-duck pope carry in the upcoming election? No, not that election — the one to pick the next leader of the Catholic Church. Another key ballot is looming even closer, when Italians go to the polls ...
Documents detailing the dubious fundraising practices of a disgraced Roman Catholic religious order called the Legion of Christ were released to the public Friday, showing how the organization took control of an elderly woman’s finances and persuaded her to bequeath it $60 million. The ...
Inside a 13th-century monastery in a sleepy village north of Rome, the Rev. Salvatore Palumbo was allegedly serving more than one higher authority. Italian prosecutors say a Ferrari-driving lawyer who defrauded insurance companies used the priest as a front man, with Palumbo stashing the ...
Electing a successor to Benedict XVI will involve a centuries-old procedure steeped in secrecy that will offer few signals about the identity of the 266th pope until white smoke wafts over St. Peter’s Square. Only the 118 of the 210 members of the College ...
