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 ...
Takahiko Inoue, yakuza boss and Buddhist priest, died Feb. 10 at age 65. The police determined that he fell from the seventh story of the building where his office was located. When the ambulance arrived, Inoue told the crew: “I’m fine. Just take me ...
A man in his 30s, a former yakuza, dropped by to see Yukako Fukushima, 41, a prosthetics maker, to tell her some good news. “I got a job thanks to you,” said the man, who was wearing a pinkie Fukushima had made for him. ...
The United States on Wednesday put the Inagawa-kai, Japan’s third-largest yakuza group, and its two top bosses on a list of groups and individuals subject to financial sanctions for involvement in drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud and other crimes. The addition means Japan’s top ...
Osaka police arrested a senior member of the major underworld syndicate Yamaguchi-gumi as well as a mob-connected former world champion boxer on suspicion of fraud for allegedly playing golf by concealing their gangland status in violation of ordinances. Arrested were Hirofumi Kyo, 65, a ...
