Foreigners' poor test grades force rethink on nurse tests
Non-Japanese applicants hoping to become certified nurses could see the government's notoriously rigorous exams get easier with the inclusion of English-language tests and a new set of communication...
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A winter's tale: cold homes, poor lives in wealthy Japan
Question: What am I doing outside my home at 6 a.m. with a gas can, a pump, and stalactites under my nose? Answer: I'm swearing. I know, this is only half the answer, but at zero degrees Celsius my...
View ArticleJapan's pension problem
In its manifesto for the 2009 Lower House election, the Democratic Party of Japan proposed introducing a minimum monthly pension of ¥70,000 or more. In their recent outline for tax and social welfare...
View ArticleA worrisome trade deficit
Japan's trade balance went into the red in 2011 - the first since 1980 when soaring oil prices caused a trade deficit. But the current account balance is still in the black thanks to income generated...
View ArticleFukushima pets in no-go zone face harsh winter
Dogs and cats that were abandoned in the Fukushima exclusion zone after last year's nuclear crisis have had to survive high radiation and a lack of food, and they are now struggling with the region's...
View ArticleJapan firms in deal to create big new shipbuilder
Two major Japanese conglomerates announced a deal to create one of the country's biggest shipbuilders Monday as the industry faces increasingly tough competition. Heavy machinery giant IHI and...
View ArticleAir Force sergeant pleads guilty in murder
A U.S. airman in Japan pleaded guilty Monday to plotting with the wife of a service member to kill her husband and then slitting the man's throat. U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Nicholas Cron, 26, of the...
View ArticleFujifilm seeks tie-up with Olympus
Japanese film and camera maker Fujifilm has offered scandal-hit Olympus a capital and business tie-up, it said Monday as it announced a slump in third-quarter profits. Fujifilm said it has formally...
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Search goes on for thousands of Japan's tsunami missing
Leaden winter skies lour on a coastguard boat as it cuts its way through the seas off Japan's tsunami-wrecked shores. Somewhere under these unforgiving grey waters lie hundreds, perhaps thousands of...
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Japan's next asteroid probe approved for development
Japanese government officials last weeek gave the green light to Hayabusa 2, a robotic explorer due for launch in 2014 on a journey to retrieve and return rocks from a near-Earth asteroid. The Space...
View ArticleChina protests Japan's plan to name uninhabited islands
China said it has filed a protest with Japan over Tokyo's plan to name uninhabited isles near the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, calling the move "illegal and void." Foreign Ministry...
View ArticleDespite first loss in 30 years, Nintendo is still a contender
Late last month, Nintendo signaled that for the first time in more than 30 years it was posting an annual loss - of $845 million - something that until recently had seemed virtually impossible. For...
View ArticleJustice minister feels signing off on hangings just part of job description
Toshio Ogawa is the first justice minister to tacitly support capital punishment since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in September 2009 and has no intention of engaging in the debate over...
View ArticleDefense Ministry endures another Okinawa fracas
The Defense Ministry came under fresh fire Tuesday for allegedly trying to meddle with the upcoming mayoral election in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, the host city for the Futenma U.S. air base. Defense...
View ArticleMother held in daughter's slaying
A 37-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing her 12-year-old daughter to death at their home in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, police said. The slaying occurred Monday after the...
View ArticleDelicate wage negotiations
The annual wage negotiations for 2012 take place in a difficult situation marked by the effects of the March 11 disasters, the floods in Thailand, prolonged deflation and the strong yen. Labor and...
View Article51 deaths laid to blizzards; more snow forecast
Blizzard conditions had caused 51 deaths nationwide as of Tuesday, and most of the victims died while trying to remove snow accumulations, the government said. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency...
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Hello Kitty's citizenship controversy: Is she British or Japanese?
Hello Kitty is beloved all around the world, but nowhere is she more revered, celebrated, and protected than in Japan. In fact, she was named Tourism Ambassador to China and Hong Kong by Japan's...
View ArticleJapan jobs treadmill grinds down workers and firms
Third year university student Saki Fujii flips through a meticulously kept diary of her six-month job hunt and eyes the busy week of interviews ahead -- another step on the treadmill for one of Japan's...
View ArticleNuclear crisis bolsters Japan push for utilities reform
Mayor Nobuto Hosaka had more than saving taxpayers' money on his mind when he recently invited bids from rivals of giant utility Tokyo Electric Power Co to supply power to his ward in Japan's capital....
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