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P/CLOUDY
NTT DoCoMo Inc., despite being Japan’s biggest mobile phone carrier, has been struggling against tough smartphone competition from KDDI Corp. and Softbank Corp., which is leading in that area. But one edge that the cellphone behemoth — it has more than 60 million subscribers ...
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 ...
If you don’t get into the ring once or twice, then you’re a coward, Geoffrey Ima says as he describes people’s attitudes toward boxing in his hometown in Uganda. Ima has been in the ring hundreds of times and came to love boxing so ...
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, ...
The 27-year-old defender says he was ready for a change of scenery after helping Sanfrecce Hiroshima win theJ. League title last season.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. on June 20 released its final report on the disaster at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Tepco stated that the main cause of the accidents was the enormous scale of the tsunami that hit the plant, saying that ...
The ruling and opposition parties have respectively submitted bills designed to allow prefectures and other local governments to set up “special wards” — similar to those that exist in Tokyo — to the Diet. Behind this is a move by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, ...
The government on Saturday finally gave the go-ahead to Kansai Electric Power Co.’s plan to restart the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at its Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture. The decision ignores the crucial lesson from the accident at Tokyo Electric Power ...
Cancer took the life of lawyer and journalist Mr. Kazuo Hizumi on June 12 at the age of 49. Although he died young, he has left behind a persuasive analysis of contemporary Japanese society from the viewpoint of protecting and promoting freedom of expression ...
Tokyo Electric Power Co. has picked Mr. Fumio Sudo, the top official at Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK), as one of its six outside directors. The chairman of NHK’s board of governors said he has no intention of leaving his NHK post. If he serves ...
Tokyo Skytree, the world’s tallest broadcast tower, opened to visitors Tuesday, and Tokyo Skytree Town, which includes the tower, is now in full swing. The opening of the tower is a bright spot for Japan, still reeling from the effects of the 3/11 earthquake ...
Trade and industry minister Yukio Edano Wednesday approved a 10-year comprehensive business plan which Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the government-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund on April 27 submitted to the government for restructuring the power company in the wake of the nuclear ...
Japan and the United States on April 27 issued a joint statement — an interim report on the review of the 2006 plan to realign U.S. armed forces in Japan. The statement hints at the possibility of exploring new options concerning the plan to ...
The government on April 19 picked Mr. Kazuhiko Shimokobe, a bankruptcy lawyer with vast experience in corporate restructuring, as chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Co. He headed the decision-making body of the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund, a public entity that injects funds into ...
After a disaster, most Japanese companies apologize, make reparations and make changes to ensure the same problem does not recur. Tokyo Electric Power Co. appears to be the exception. Most recently, Tepco has declined a request from the timber industry in Fukushima Prefecture to ...
The first section of the Shin-Tomei Expressway opened on April 14 in Shizuoka Prefecture, a 162-km stretch between Gotenba and Mikkabi junctions. The expressway will eventually link Tokyo and Nagoya when it is completed in 2020. The Shin Tomei runs through areas that are ...
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, trade and industry minister Yukio Edano and two other Cabinet ministers on April 13 concluded that the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai Electronic Power Co.’s Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture are safe enough to restart even ...