Fukushima to test milk from 10,000 mothers
The breast milk of about 10,000 mothers residing in Fukushima Prefecture, home to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, will be tested for radioactive contamination, prefectural officials...
View ArticleTokyo stocks close lower as Germany data fuel eurozone worries
Tokyo stocks fell Thursday after two straight days of gains as weak Germany economic data left investors concerned about the outlook for the eurozone economy. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended...
View ArticleEmperor recounts visit to tsunami-devastated shores in New Year's poem
Emperor Akihito recounted his visit to areas devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in a poem recited at the annual New Year Poetry Reading Ceremony at the Imperial Palace on Thursday....
View ArticleSumo: Hakuho swats down Miyabiyama on fifth day
Yokozuna Hakuho continued to dominate Miyabiyama on Thursday, improving to 5-0 at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament with an easy win over the hapless komusubi. Hakuho defeated Miyabiyama (0-5) for the...
View ArticleAnalysis: Ageing, indebted Japan holds lessons for others
An asset price bubble pops, hitting bank balance sheets and tax revenues. As growth weakens and the economy flirts with deflation, the real burden of servicing debt increases. Companies race to pay off...
View ArticleRenault-Nissan likely placed third in sales in 2011: Ghosn
The Renault-Nissan Alliance may have placed third in 2011 global new car sales with about 8.03 million vehicles, a figure including those sold by the Renault-financed AvtoVAZ of Russia, according to...
View ArticleMETI bigwig nabbed in insider trading via wife's name
Prosecutors arrested a senior official at the trade ministry Thursday over insider trading in a 2009 state-led bailout for chip-maker Elpida Memory Inc. Masaaki Kimura, 53, is suspected of repeatedly...
View ArticleRecord number of new convenience stores to open in FY12
Three major convenience store chains will open a total of about 3,000 outlets in fiscal 2012--a record annual number--bringing the total number of convenience stores in the nation to over 45,000,...
View ArticleGovt to start preliminary TPP talks with 3 nations
The government will start preliminary consultations toward its participation in talks over the Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral trade agreement with three of the countries already involved in...
View ArticleSurplus plunges 85% in Nov. / Year-on-year fall to 138 billion yen marks...
The nation's current account surplus declined 85.5 percent in November from the same month a year earlier to 138.5 billion yen, shrinking for the ninth straight month, according to a Finance Ministry...
View ArticleWater, blankets ready for Tokyo subway commuters
Tokyo Metro Co. has stocked enough water bottles and blankets for 100,000 people at all of its 170 stations as part of its efforts to prepare for a possible disaster such as a major earthquake. As...
View ArticleJapan's trade balance
Imbalances are not for ever. In the 1980s and 1990s, Japan's huge trade surplus was a popular target for American and European protectionists. No longer. Provisional estimates suggest that Japan's...
View ArticleNiseko, Japan's own St. Moritz
I am barefoot and naked padding along a stone path in the depths of Japanese winter, surrounded by snow-laden pine trees. I slip into a hot pool fed by natural underground springs. Huge, slow-moving...
View ArticleEscaped convict caught in Hiroshima
Police recaptured a Chinese fugitive Friday, two days after he escaped from Hiroshima Prison dressed only in his underwear. Li Guolin, 40, fled Wednesday by scaling a 5-meter prison fence that was...
View ArticleCultist who harbored fugitive had Y8 million in cash
The ex-Aum Shinrikyo follower who sheltered senior cult fugitive Makoto Hirata for nearly 17 years had ¥8 million in cash when she turned herself in Tuesday, investigative sources said. Police hope to...
View ArticleAsia's new tripartite entente
The launch of trilateral strategic consultations among the United States, India and Japan, and their decision to hold joint naval exercises this year, signals efforts to form an entente among the...
View ArticleTokyo foreigners get disaster drill
A total of 150 non-Japanese took part Friday in an annual emergency drill for foreign residents in Tokyo looking to learn or reaffirm how to deal with a disaster like the one that hit March 11. With...
View ArticleSumo: Yokozuna Hakuho improves to 13-0 against Goeido
Yokozuna Hakuho outclassed Goeido to stay perfect through six days, leading an unbeaten group of three at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Friday. Hakuho made it 13-for-13 against Goeido in the...
View ArticleNoda hoping latest reshuffle bucks trend of dismal failures
Cabinet reshuffles are generally called a gamble prime ministers take to reverse dismal approval ratings, but in recent years most of them have failed miserably. Since Junichiro Koizumi left office in...
View ArticleNoda skips Davos to tackle reforms
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will not attend an annual meeting of the World Economic Forum that starts Jan. 25 in Davos, Switzerland, and instead will focus on domestic affairs ahead of the Diet...
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