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Japan's isle of white in Sapporo
Wild and remote, cold and barely inhabited, Hokkaido is unlike any other place in jam-packed Japan. Most of the country's northernmost island consists of wilderness, hot springs, forests and national...
View ArticleJapan study: Big quake could hit Tokyo 'within 4 years'
Japanese researchers have warned of a 70 percent chance that a magnitude-seven earthquake will strike Tokyo within four years, a report said Monday -- much higher than previous estimates. Researchers...
View ArticleJapan manufacturers brace for euro zone breakup: Reuters poll
Japanese manufacturers are bracing for a possible breakup of the euro zone, according to a Reuters poll released on Monday, with 65 percent saying they see a need to prepare for the currency block's...
View ArticleForeign minister to handle parental abductions
Responsibility for collecting data on parental abductions to Japan and settling cross-border child custody disputes resulting from failed international marriages will rest with the foreign minister,...
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Japanese filmmakers tackle the 3/11 tragedy
"If one was to be poisoned by radiation, if he or she did so out of their own will and conviction I believe it to be perfectly fine. But you can't force that onto the children. The children, you must...
View ArticleHealth ministry aims to get smoking rate down to 10%
The health ministry is drawing up a plan to reduce the smoking rate in Japan to around 10 percent, almost half the 23.4 percent in 2009, officials said Monday. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry...
View ArticleSchool says it's responsible for deaths / Principal admits failure to protect...
The Ishinomaki municipal board of education and the principal at Okawa Primary School in the city of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, have admitted responsibility for events that led to the deaths of up...
View ArticleTainted stone tied to 60 buildings so far
Crushed radiation-tainted stone quarried near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant was used to build 60 houses and condominium buildings in Fukushima Prefecture. The number could climb to over...
View ArticleJapan puts reserves to work in global financing role as economy slips
Japan is crafting ways of using the $1.2 trillion it holds in currency reserves, the world's second-largest, to help bolster its role in international finance as economic stagnation diminishes its...
View ArticleTokyo 'has 70% chance of powerful earthquake within four years'
Experts in Japan have warned that the chances of a powerful earthquake striking Tokyo in the next four years could be as high as 70%, a more alarming scenario for the city's 13 million people than...
View ArticleHitachi to outsource flat-screen TVs
Hitachi Ltd. said Monday it will end in-house production of flat-screen TVs by the end of September and outsource them to foreign manufacturers as it downsizes its TV business. The major electronics...
View ArticleBase worker admits traffic death guilt
A civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force in Okinawa indicted over a fatal vehicle collision last January pleaded guilty Monday at the opening of his trial, which is a first under a new bilateral...
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Brothers reunited in Japan after 6 decades apart
They no longer speak the same language, but two brothers separated nearly 60 years each think the other hasn't changed a bit. Japanese-American Minoru Ohye celebrate his 86th birthday Monday with his...
View ArticleWomen chase opportunities overseas
The cosmopolitan cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong are attracting motivated Japanese women who are disillusioned by the hidebound culture of the business world at home. Many Japanese women trying their...
View ArticleIs this Japan's favourite western cosplayer? Maybe!
Whenever Japanese bulletin boards discover bad Western cosplay, forum users begin piling on the bad cosplay photos, saying foreigners just cannot cosplay. (This is incorrect.) But then, inevitably,...
View ArticleInternet goes underground
Japanese etiquette frowns upon the use of mobile phones in buses or trains, and it is rare to see someone speaking on a phone while using public transport, despite the excellent coverage in urban...
View ArticleJapan premier announces sales tax hike plan
Japan's prime minister told parliament Tuesday he will move to double sales tax, warning that the future of the world's third-largest economy depends on turning the rising tide of public debt....
View ArticleExporter Japan eyes first trade deficit in 3 decades
Japan probably produced its first trade deficit last year in more than three decades as energy imports surged to cover for the loss of nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster, a major blow to an...
View ArticleBOJ sees recovery delayed as Europe bites but skips easing
The Bank of Japan forecast the economy will contract in the current fiscal year but kept policy steady on Tuesday, expecting exports to emerging markets and reconstruction after last year's earthquake...
View ArticleJapan stocks up on weaker yen, receding worries over eurozone
Japanese shares edged up Tuesday after market sentiment was lifted by the yen's fall against the euro and receding fears about the eurozone debt crisis. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained...
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