Shares close 2.0% higher
Tokyo shares rose 2% Monday, buoyed by positive U.S. jobs data that lifted US and European markets while the yen also weakened. (Japan Today)
View ArticleSendai Tanabata Festival gets under way
Colorful streamers were hung from hundreds of bamboo poles in shopping arcades near Sendai Station in Miyagi Prefecture on Monday morning to mark the opening of the Sendai Tanabata Festival. (Japan Today)
View ArticleWorld champions Japan reach women's soccer final
World champions Japan weathered a storming fightback from France to win 2-1 in an action-packed match at Wembley on Monday and reach the women's Olympic soccer final. (Reuters)
View ArticleJapan needs strategy for northern claims
Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, agreed during their recent meeting held in Sochi, a resort in southern Russia, to continue talks on the disputed...
View ArticleJapan making neighbors nervous
For much of the postwar era, numerous U.S. security officials and analysts argued that Japan was a "free rider" in its alliance with the United States. Yet although the alliance is unequal, this charge...
View ArticleEpic battle of the Pacific, forgotten in Japan
When dignitaries and guests gather on the remote island of Guadalcanal this week to commemorate the epic battle where Japan's relentless advance in World War II was finally halted, one group will be...
View ArticleTsunami recovery has inflamed the generational war in Japan
Many in Japan were taken aback recently by the news that, for the first time since 1985, Japanese women have lost their crown as the world's longest-living people--their average life expectancy fell to...
View ArticleAirport automated face recognition tests begin
A facial recognition test program began at automated gates for immigration at Narita and Kansai airports on Monday. In the tests, the faces of incoming and outbound travelers will be automatically...
View ArticleEx-Aum member Kikuchi indicted
Naoko Kikuchi, a former member of the Aum Supreme Truth cult, was indicted Monday for her suspected involvement in a parcel bomb attack on the Tokyo metropolitan government in May 1995. (Yomiuri)
View ArticleJapan, China to promote 47 projects
Japan and China agreed Monday to jointly promote 47 energy-saving projects as part of economic cooperation between the two countries. (Yomiuri)
View ArticlePrius top-seller for 14th month
Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius hybrid in July topped the list of domestic car sales for the 14th consecutive month with 33,398 units sold, up 37.9 percent from a year earlier, industry bodies said Monday....
View ArticleTepco airs internal crisis footage
Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Monday began allowing journalists to view 150 hours of teleconferencing footage between its headquarters and the Fukushima No. 1 plant, showing how executives interacted...
View ArticleNoda hints abolition a theoretical energy option
As nationwide outrage mounts over the decision to allow two nuclear reactor restarts in Oi, Fukui Prefecture, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Monday that he will look into the challenges Japan would...
View ArticleCurbs afoot as narcotic quasi-legal herbs slip through regulatory cracks
The use of "dappo habu" (quasi-legal herbs) that are dried and mixed with stimulants to make narcotics is spreading, and many people are ending up in hospitals for drug poisoning. (Japan Times)
View ArticleJapan accused will be tried as adult
A 19-year-old American accused of the murder of Irish exchange student Nicola Furlong in Tokyo should be tried as an adult, a court has ruled. (irishecho.com)
View ArticleA survival skill in shrinking Japan: Learn English
Japanese billionaire Hiroshi Mikitani decided two years ago that the employees at his company, Rakuten Inc., should work almost entirely in English. The idea, he said, was a daring and drastic attempt...
View ArticleJapan's female footballers hope for business class
Japan captain Aya Miyama says she hopes the women's football team will be flying home in business class after guaranteeing the country an Olympic medal. (sfgate.com)
View ArticleJapan and the atom
THIS IS a ghostly time of year in Japan. Not only is it the annual Obon season, when the spirits of the dead return home. August 6th is also the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945,...
View ArticleShares close 0.88% higher
Shares closed 0.88% higher on Tuesday, after gains in Europe and on Wall Street on hopes that the European Central Bank may soon take action to ease the continent's debt crisis. (Japan Today)
View ArticleJapan's tax hike set to clear last hurdle; early election pressure
Japan's ruling Democrats agreed with opposition rivals to hold a final vote on their tax hike plan on Wednesday, which if passed would be a victory for embattled Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, but...
View Article
