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Pope Francis’ fascination with the devil took on remarkable new twists Tuesday, with a well-known exorcist insisting Francis helped “liberate” a Mexican man possessed by four different demons despite the Vatican’s insistence that no such papal exorcism took place. The case concerns a 43-year-old ...
Kazuhiro Shiraishi, 66, is a guest-house manager in the Izu-kogen Highlands, a famous resort area on the Izu Peninsula of Shizuoka Prefecture. Looking out onto the Pacific Ocean, and just 90 minutes by train from Tokyo, Izu has a warm climate all year round ...
“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, ...
Guitarist Dustin Wong hesitates for a split second. It’s a pause that would go unnoticed during most other sets, but Wong has spent the last 40 minutes seemingly in a trance while playing guitar and looping the notes via an array of pedals in ...
Tim Duncan saves the day as the Spurs hold off the Grizzlies in overtime
For the fourth consecutive year, Japan’s land prices have fallen. Prices decreased an average 2.6 percent in 2011, but the decline was smaller than the 3.0 percent in 2010 as the economy bounced back from the 3/11 disasters. Commercial land prices slipped 3.1 percent ...
“Destination Tohoku,” the tourism campaign to help promote and revive tourism in the Tohoku region, started March 18. The Japan Tourism Agency and the local governments and tourism industry in the region hope that the campaign will bring tourists back to the region, which ...
One year after the massive earthquake and tsunami hit the Tohoku region, harvesting of wakame seaweed has started in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures. But the 3/11 disasters have left deep scars in fisheries of the region’s Pacific coastal areas. The central and local governments ...
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto in mid-February explained his pet idea of creating an Osaka metropolitan government to the local government system panel of the internal affairs ministry. His explanation was still rather vague. He should present a concrete idea as soon as possible so ...
One year since the 3/11 disasters, the devastated areas face many difficult problems. One big problem is how to dispose of the large amounts of debris that the massive earthquake and tsunami left. The central and local governments need to cooperate to accelerate the ...
A report made public Feb. 27 by a private-sector independent panel set up by the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation reveals in detail how the government handled the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Citing factors that exacerbated the ...
Two murders in Nagasaki Prefecture in December 2011 show that the police are ineffective in preventing stalking-related crime. Police nationwide need to improve their methods for deterring stalkers, including how and when to share information with different police units. They should not forget that ...
Voters in Otsu, Shiga elected Japan’s youngest-ever female mayor last week. Congratulations go out to Ms. Naomi Koshi, who is only 36, almost half the age of the outgoing mayor, Mr. Makoto Mekata, 70. Mr. Mekata held the post for two terms supported by ...
Japanese have been taught over the centuries that loyalty is the supreme virtue. Loyalty to Japan and to the emperor was inculcated into every child in prewar Japan. The emphasis now seems to be on loyalty to the company employing you, loyalty to your ...
Confusion surrounded the submission to the Okinawa prefectural government of an official document related to the Japan-U.S. plan to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the densely populated Ginowan to the less populated Henoko in Nago, both on Okinawa Island. This indicates ...
Choosing the word of the year for 2011 must not have been easy, but kizuna, meaning bonds or ties, was an excellent choice that will be important in this coming year as well. The Japan Kanji Association announced its choice at Kiyomizu Temple in ...
In November 2006, fishermen from Nagasaki, Saga, Fukuoka and Kumamoto prefectures around Ariake Sea filed a lawsuit, demanding removal of the dike in Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture or at least the opening of the dike’s gates. They said dike construction had caused their ...