Asia Pacific

Car bomb kills dozens outside Shiite mosque in Karachi

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 ...

Fever from the fields

At least five people in Japan have died of severe fever from thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), a virus infection said to be transmitted by ticks.

Language | BILINGUAL

Tense times in Japan’s relationships with its neighbors

by Michael Hoffman

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.

Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Everything you wanted to know about Western women (but were afraid to ask): No-holds-barred guide targets Japanese men

by Kaori Shoji

Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.

Review

‘A person and a possession’: Japanese women in history

by Kris Kosaka

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, ...

Baseball | World Baseball Classic

Maeda regains pitching form, holds China scoreless for five innings

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 ...

More Sports / Winter Sports

Bardal claims first ski jump gold

VAL DI FIEMME, ITALY – Norwegian ski jumper Anders Bardal won his first major championship title on Saturday by taking gold in the normal hill event at the Nordic skiing worlds.

Bardal had the longest jump of the day with 103.5 meters in the first round and finished with a total of 252.6 points. Overall World Cup leader Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria was 4.2 points back in second place, with Peter Prevc of Slovenia finishing 8.3 points behind in third.

The 30-year-old Bardal, who won the overall World Cup last year, had four previous silver medals at the world Championships and took bronze at the 2010 Olympics, but all those came in team events.