The Dutch version of St. Nicholas arrived Saturday in the Netherlands in an annual children's party that has become the backdrop for increasingly acrimonious confrontations between supporters and opponents of his sidekick, Black Pete. White people often don blackface makeup to play the character in ...
Trump's tariffs on European wine and cheese look to dash holiday hopes of small U.S. retailers
The tariffs the Trump administration is about to impose on wine, liquor and cheese from Europe couldn't come at a worse time for small retailers. "It's kind of scary in the sense that we're getting to the holiday season," says Joseph Kakos, owner of Kakos ...
Walmart seen subsidizing vendors in online holiday price war with Amazon
Hold on to your smartphone — the holiday price wars between Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are heating up. Walmart, the world's largest retailer, has introduced a program to temporarily lower the price consumers pay for some items on its marketplace site, where third-party vendors ...
Domestic travelers dropped during Japan's Bon summer holidays thanks to typhoon
People who traveled in Japan by rail, air and road decreased from a year earlier during the Bon summer holidays due to a heavy storm. The six passenger service companies of the Japan Railways Group said 13.56 million people used bullet and other express trains ...
13 die across Japan while taking part in leisure activities during public holiday
Thirteen people died and at least 27 were injured across the country during leisure activities Monday, a public holiday, according to a Kyodo News tally collected Tuesday. At a beach in Tahara, Aichi Prefecture, a pair of elementary school-aged brothers were found to be drowning, ...
Stations, airports, expressways congested as travelers leave for summer vacations
With thousands of people heading off for their summer vacations on Saturday, many places, such as railway stations, expressways and airports, were crowded with travelers. The annual Bon holiday season began the same day. Many shinkansen bullet trains reached over 100 percent occupancy in unreserved carriages, ...
O-Bon holiday could last nine days for some Japanese workers, but not everyone is happy about it
For many in Japan, this year's Bon holiday period in mid-August may be expanded to nine consecutive days, but not everyone is excited about the idea of a long break due to fears that their work will keep piling up. Mountain Day, a national holiday ...
JTB travel agency predicts record 3 million will go abroad during Japan's summer holiday period
The number of people who will travel overseas from Japan during this year's summer holiday period is estimated at 2.99 million, the most since JTB Corp. began compiling such data in 2000, the firm said Thursday. The figure represents a rise of 3.5 percent from ...
Back to the grind: Workers in Japan return after extended Golden Week holiday
The nation went back to work following this year's unprecedented 10-day Golden Week holiday on Tuesday — the first working day of the Reiwa Era. Naoto Tokunaga, 24, showed up at his office near Tokyo Station 30 minutes earlier than usual because he was impatient ...
Drop while they shop: Osaka firm offers room to weary dads in no mood for Golden Week shopping
In Osaka's busy Minami downtown district, a rental office company offered a special service targeted at fathers and children just for Golden Week — a special room for rent where they could rest while other family members shopped. The firm, Naniwa Midosuji Hall, offered space ...
Japan begins 10-day Golden Week holiday ahead of Imperial succession
An unprecedented 10-day Golden Week holiday started Saturday ahead of the Imperial succession, with bullet train stations, airports and expressways crowded with travelers heading to their hometowns, major cities and overseas destinations. From the morning, there were long lines at check-in and luggage drop counters ...
