Col. Goro Matsumura of the Ground Self-Defense Force is proud of his 500-member contingent, with whom he endured three months of harsh conditions while providing humanitarian aid in southern Iraq and survived five rocket attacks on their camp. While saying the Self-Defense Forces will continue ...
Tomoko Onishi's photo albums show dozens of snapshots of her and foreign students from around the world. In one, she stands next to a 1.8-meter-tall American who overshadows her petite figure like a giant. In another, she giggles with a Vietnamese girl like they were ...
Children don't lie. For Chechen journalist Zara Imaeva, children were the best chroniclers of the realities of war in Chechnya in her documentary "No Children's Story." With the international spotlight focused on Iraq, Imaeva has come to Japan to raise awareness on the desperate situation ...
The brand image of Japan's most prestigious universities has long been regarded as a guarantee of an elite career. But the recent arrest of five students from such universities for alleged gang rape has set off alarm bells and suspicions that some people have been ...
Yachtsman Kenichi Horie, who has twice circumnavigated the globe, will take up a new challenge in October 2004 when he embarks on a solo nonstop voyage around the world eastbound around Cape Horn in a boat made of recycled materials. Horie, 64, said he will ...
A transsexual presented candidacy documents Tuesday to an election administration committee for a preliminary check, a major hurdle in her bid to run for the assembly in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. Aya Kamikawa, 35, who has gender identity disorder and now considers herself a woman, left ...
The mystery of the geisha, with their painted faces and elaborate kimono, has long been a source of fascination for people worldwide. But it has also led to fantasies and misunderstandings about their true roles. Celebrated as the most successful geisha of her generation, Mineko ...
Yokohama Chinatown, proud of its 140-year history as a symbol of the city since the early days of the port's opening, is gearing up for a makeover that it hopes will draw tourists back to its streets. A group of restaurant and shop owners in ...
Award-winning Japanese artist Mamoru Suzuki, who has collected more than 400 birds' nests from around the world, will hold an exhibition between Sept. 5 and Sept. 28 in New York to share what he considers to be nature's architectural wonders. The exhibition coincides with the ...
Asian engineers from outside Japan participating in an exchange program aimed at promoting urban development and international relations said at a presentation at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building Wednesday that they had generally favorable impressions of Japanese people. The 24 participants -- from Beijing, Jakarta ...
