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Japan's tsunami refugees brace for harsh winter
As the mercury plunges in Japan's disaster-hit northeast, thousands of people in temporary homes are digging in for what could be a long, hard and very cold winter. Swirling snow and driving winds will...
View ArticleNikkei falls, cautious ahead of Italian bond sale
Japan's benchmark Nikkei slipped on Thursday ahead of an Italian debt sale that could prove challenging in thin volumes, while the euro's tumble against the yen to a 10-year low pressured exporters....
View ArticleOlympus plans to fill half of board with outside directors
Olympus Corp. is planning to double the number of outside directors to constitute as much as half of its board to help reinforce oversight of management, sources said Thursday. The step is a response...
View ArticleHometown rush jams roads, trains
The annual yearend vacation rush to peaked Friday as people jammed trains, airports and expressways nationwide in an effort to get to hometowns or resorts to spend the New Year's holidays. Most...
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Heian Period 'Godfather' brought to life on NHK
Marlon Brando's title character in the 1972 film "The Godfather" might not be the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of 12th century warlord Taira no Kiyomori, but the comparison has proven...
View ArticleU.S. hails delivery of Futenma environmental impact report
The United States on Wednesday welcomed the delivery of Japan's environmental impact report to the Okinawa Prefectural Government on the relocation of the Futenma base, calling the move "significant...
View ArticleLacking powerhouses, it was a lean year for Japanese movies
Some years, the top four or five Japanese films quickly leap off my short list to my annual Best Ten. But this was not a great year for the local film industry, in terms of either box office or major...
View ArticleDNA used to ID 2,383 in Tohoku
DNA analysis was used to identify 2,383 disaster victims in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, a survey by the National Police Agency said Thursday. After finding it difficult to identify...
View ArticleNomura outduels Goldman
Nomura Holdings Inc. pulled ahead of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to hold on to the top spot for mergers and acquisitions advisory work in Japan in 2011 after the two competed neck and neck during the last...
View ArticleJapan, India agree to boost maritime security cooperation
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on Wednesday signed a joint statement enhancing cooperation in maritime security activities in the Indian Ocean. Noda and Singh...
View ArticleTokyo to help 10,000 youths study abroad
The Tokyo metropolitan government has announced a project to help 10,000 young people study abroad over eight years starting in fiscal 2012 to rectify their increasingly inward-looking mind-sets....
View Article45% on death row given meds for stress
According to the Justice Ministry, nearly half of death row inmates were on continuous medication for mental stress as of late November. However, a ministry official said no inmates were insane. The...
View ArticleSea Shepherd anti-whaling ship damaged while chasing Japanese vessel
It's that time of year again: whaling season. And for the past 25 years, whaling season has been accompanied by anti-whaling season. The latest? A boat - part of the whaling fleet's nemesis, the Sea...
View ArticleKorean group in Japan holds memorial for Kim
About 10,000 Korean residents in Japan attended a memorial in Tokyo Thursday to mourn the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s late leader Kim Jong-il, organizers said. The event, organized...
View ArticleSoftbank to release record-long TV ad featuring 'White Family'
Japanese cell phone giant Softbank Mobile will release a record-long 5-minute, 30-second-long television commercial featuring the "White Family" - the multiracial, multispecie nuclear family that has...
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Japan's Nikkei at lowest year-end level since 1982
Japan's main share index has closed at its lowest end-of-year level since 1982. The Nikkei 225 index finished Friday up 0.7% to 8,455.35 Stocks have been hit by a weak global economy, as well as a...
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Sony PlayStation Vita sales fall sharply after Japanese launch
Sales of the PlayStation Vita have fallen by nearly 80 percent during the week that ended on December 25 according to tracking firm Media Create. Sony sold approximately 325,000 Vita units on December...
View ArticleJapan indicts Chinese skipper for illegal fishing
Prosecutors have indicted the skipper of a Chinese fishing boat for illegally operating in Japanese waters, a local official said Friday. The Nagasaki District Public Prosecutors Office has finalised...
View ArticleTrade deficit not necessarily problematic, but is for Japan
Japan has finally joined the ranks of countries running a trade deficit! According to a Dec. 21 announcement made by the Finance Ministry, the country posted a trade deficit of 680 billion yen for the...
View ArticleJapan's wartime sex slavery, Gwangju uprising included in high school textbooks
The education ministry on Friday approved a set of revised guidelines for high school history textbooks that mention Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery for Japan's World War II soldiers....
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