From Tokyo to Wakayama to Okinawa, Japan on edge as COVID-19 spreads
Japan was on high alert Friday due to the rising number of confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide, including that of two taxi drivers and a doctor, as well as the nation's first death blamed on the virus. The latest cases bring the number of people who ...
Nippon Steel to halt Wakayama blast furnace and shut down Hiroshima plant
Japan's largest steel-maker, Nippon Steel Corp., said Friday it will halt two blast furnaces, one in the city of Wakayama and another in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, to accelerate a cutback in output amid deteriorating market conditions. The steel-maker's Kure Works in Hiroshima has two blast ...
A month of ice and fire: Japan's best winter festivals
Winter this year may have been relatively warm, but February brings a host of festive events across the country for snow-lovers and heat-seekers alike.
Cat under the kotatsu: Wakayama chicken meat seller runs fruity campaign to help felines
A store that sells chicken meat has launched a kooky social media campaign to leverage Japanese people's seemingly unrelated love of mikan (mandarin oranges), kotatsu heated tables and cute felines to raise funds for a network of shelter cat cafes. Nakata Chicken in Wakayama Prefecture ...
Looking to boost regional revitalization and work-style reform, local governments across Japan have entered an alliance to promote the "workation" concept of telecommuting from resorts and other vacation spots. The alliance brings together seven prefectural and 58 municipal governments to spur migration from urban to ...
On a recent summer evening, tranquility reigned in this small neighborhood in Wakayama, where nothing but the occasional barking of dogs and chirring of grasshoppers broke the peaceful silence. This rural idyll, however, was somewhat marred by the eerie sight of an empty lot that ...
Tokyo court rules against 2016 deportation order for 'Cove' dolphin activist Ric O'Barry
The Tokyo District Court ruled Thursday against a government deportation order issued to a U.S. activist opposing dolphin hunts when he tried to enter Japan three years ago. The government had argued that when Richard "Ric" O'Barry, 79, who featured in the Oscar-winning documentary "The ...
Fleet of boats return empty on first day of Taiji's dolphin hunting season
The hunting season for dolphins using a controversial "drive-hunting" method began Sunday in the whaling town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture, this time without the usual protests from animal-rights groups. While local police officers were on high alert for anti-whaling campaigns, 12 boats left the ...
Two people were injured Tuesday when a college rowing cutter capsized between Tomogashima groups of islands near the city of Wakayama and Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture, pitching the 23 people aboard into the ocean. One crew member clung to the hull and was rescued ...
First whale meat auction held since restart of Japan's commercial hunt
Whale meat auctions were held Thursday in different areas of Japan, the first since the country ended its 31-year commercial whaling hiatus earlier this week, with some cuts selling for over ¥10,000 per kilogram. A whaling fleet left Kushiro in Hokkaido on Monday to hunt ...
Doing the 'I turn': Japan taps tourism to lure city dwellers to emptying villages
Yoshifumi Yano was tiring of the high cost of living and long hours of work at a travel firm in the city of Osaka when he heard of a hotel for sale in a small town nearby in Wakayama Prefecture that was known for ...
The kids aren't all right: Japan struggles to protect its most vulnerable children at group homes
Miwa Moriya was 6 when social workers told her she was going to a Christmas party but instead moved her into a group home for about 60 children in a small city in western Japan. The "party" turned into more than eight years of living ...
