Not all gloom for dept stores in 2011
Sluggish consumer spending caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake exacerbated declining department store sales last year, but sales at some stores in quake-hit areas showed signs of growth after the...
View ArticleNepalese man's DNA not found on victim
New evidence submitted to the Tokyo High Court has revealed that DNA samples taken from the clothes of a murdered Japanese woman did not match the DNA of a Nepalese man convicted of killing her,...
View ArticleJapan sees first urination-based computer game
Sega has created a number of urination-based games for people to play while they spend a penny. The computer games company has revealed bars in Japan have been installing its Toylet devices in their...
View ArticleJapan to lead adoption of connected TVs
Connected TVs will account for over 80% of televisions shipped globally by 2015, compared to 27% in 2011, according to a new report from UK firm Futuresource Consulting. On a regional level, Japan is...
View ArticleJapan's oldest elephant turns 65
A female elephant named Hanako in Tokyo's Inokashira Park Zoo has turned 65, making her the oldest elephant in Japan, zoo officials said. A gift to Japan from Thailand, Hanako was born in Bangkok in...
View ArticleA peep into hell
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) released the first pictures of the interior of the number 2 reactor containment vessel at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The images, taken on...
View ArticleTable tennis: Fukuhara captures national title
Table tennis icon Ai Fukuhara finally won a national singles title Saturday, defeating 2011 champion Kasumi Ishikawa four games to one in the final. Fukuhara, making her 13th appearance at the national...
View ArticleMixed response to autumn enrollment plan
National universities are evenly split over an autumn enrollment system proposed by the University of Tokyo, with about half considering a similar change to their calendars but others skeptical...
View ArticleTSE Olympus decision rapped
The Tokyo Stock Exchange's decision not to delist scandal-ridden Olympus Corp. was lambasted by critics who said the company's concealment of huge losses for many years constituted breach of trust....
View ArticleRightist rams car into SDP's head office
A 41-year-old man was arrested Sunday morning for ramming his car several times into the shuttered entrance of the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party in Tokyo, police said. Takuya Ueno, who...
View ArticleIt's Murphy's Law if you don't get the joke in Japanese
If you miss the punch line to a Japanese joke, don't feel bad. It's simply unrealistic to use something as elusive as humor to measure your ability to understand a foreign language. On the other hand,...
View ArticleAinu take aim at Upper House with new party
Members of the Ainu indigenous ethnic group launched a political party in Ebetsu, Hokkaido, on Saturday, resolving to field 10 candidates in the House of Councilors election. The Ainu Party of Japan,...
View ArticleSumo: Hakuho calls time on Baruto's perfect record
Yokozuna Hakuho drew a line in the sand Sunday, beating ozeki Baruto to deny the Estonian goliath a 15th win on the final day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament. Baruto was trying to become the...
View ArticleOsaka mayor orders officials to bow to flag
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has instructed high-ranking officials of the city government to always bow to the Hinomaru national flag as they take a seat in the municipal assembly's main conference hall...
View ArticleChina, Japan celebrate Lunar New Year
Celebrations rang out in Beijing and Tokyo on Sunday night to mark the start of the lunar new year. In Beijing, fireworks exploded into the sky to celebrate the year of the dragon, which begins on...
View ArticleJapanese stores go extra mile to attract Chinese during New Year holidays
A visitor to the VenusFort shopping mall in Tokyo's Odaiba district over the weekend could be forgiven for thinking they had stumbled into Chinatown. Posters in Chinese celebrating the Lunar New Year...
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Battle over no-alcohol beer heats up in Japan
The head of Japanese beer giant Kirin Brewery Co. has fired a warning shot over the bows of the company's biggest rival in the increasingly fierce battle for the growing market for alcohol-free beer....
View ArticleNikkei rises for fifth day, Olympus climbs
Japan's Nikkei share average was set to extend gains for the fifth straight session on Monday, although the failure over the weekend of Greece and its private creditors to reach a deal on avoiding a...
View ArticleJapan elects youngest woman mayor
Voters in Japan have elected a 36-year-old woman as the country's youngest female mayor, in a nation where older men make up the vast majority of politicians. Naomi Koshi, a graduate of Harvard law...
View ArticleTennis: Nishikori wins, makes history for Japan
Kei Nishikori keeps accumulating the tennis milestones for Japanese men, always remaining conscious of but not concerned about the expectations being heaped upon him. Nishikori notched another mark...
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