Japan must be ready to expand stimulus: IMF official
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) should be ready to expand monetary stimulus and intervention is an option if the yen moves excessively, an IMF official said in Tokyo. "Intervention could be an option," if yen...
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Japanese city takes on its gangsters
Two years ago, the authorities in this gritty rust belt region declared war on the yakuza, Japan's entrenched organized crime syndicates. And that is exactly what they got. Since this city and other...
View ArticleA taste of old Japan in a mountain ryokan
The Japanese clearly value tradition, yet for one reason or another - fire, natural disaster, the second world war, an enthusiasm for progress - there aren't many towns left that truly encapsulate the...
View ArticleAmerican's death in Osaka probed
An American resident in Osaka died Saturday after a passer-by found him lying unconscious on a street in the busy Minami area in Chuo Ward earlier in the day, police said. The Osaka Prefectural Police...
View ArticleSales tax may be raised higher than 10% due to welfare reforms: Noda
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Saturday said the sales tax could be raised higher than the 10 percent rate currently proposed, due to the radical overhaul of the welfare system he is pushing. "There...
View ArticleImmigration cuts lengthy detention for foreigners
The number of foreign nationals detained by immigration officials for one year or more has dropped significantly since a more flexible approach was adopted in response to harsh criticism of long-term...
View ArticleKobayashi wins chicken wing crown
Multiple hot dog eating champion Takeru Kobayashi has won an annual chicken wing eating contest in Philadelphia, downing a record 337 wings in 30 minutes. At Wing Bowl XX, the 33-year-old Kobayashi on...
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Our woods may be home to a 'new ' spider species
An apparently new species of spider has been found in our woods, even though the creature has probably been around since long before humans came to Japan. To be specific, our spider researcher, Koji...
View ArticleStudents' retreat from English
A recent education ministry survey of third-year middle school students nationwide found most students have an ambivalent and contradictory attitude toward English. Of the 3,225 students surveyed, most...
View ArticleSony: can a new CEO save the struggling tech giant?
Look around most living rooms and the chances are there's a Sony product somewhere: whether it's a television, a DVD player, an ageing video recorder or a hifi, the Japanese corporation has dominated...
View ArticleUS, Japan agree to partial Marine transfer from Okinawa
The United States and Japan have agreed to tweak a six-year-old agreement on Marines based on the southern island of Okinawa, allowing Washington to deploy forces to the Pacific island of Guam...
View ArticleReform bill gets bogged down
The Democratic Party of Japan is in a bind over whether an administrative reform bill it plans to submit should specify a 20 percent cut in overall personnel costs of central government officials....
View ArticleFlu vaccine helps, but no cure-all, doctors say
Don't rely too much on a flu vaccine, but do wash your hands regularly. That's the advice from doctors at a time when a flu epidemic has infected an estimated 1.7 million people--mainly children--this...
View ArticleSumo: Hakuho wins one-day tournament
Yokozuna Hakuho came back from the brink of defeat, toppling Goeido with a powerful throw in the final of a one-day exhibition tournament on Sunday. In the first one-off contest in two years after the...
View ArticleOlympus ex-CEO Woodford sees more revelations, to attend EGM
Official investigations into a massive fraud at Japan's Olympus Corp are highly likely to lead to further revelations on the scandal soon, according to the firm's former chief executive, Michael...
View ArticleCat cafes in Japan let patrons rent a pet for the day
Starbucks may have staked out over 900 shops in Japan, but the major coffee franchise, whose retail locations are popular leisure spots, better watch its back. A new kind of hangout- one with whiskers...
View ArticleJapan to suffer sovereign downgrade this year: experts
The Japanese economy, which has been suffering from a huge national debt for a long time, could see a sovereign downgrade this year, many experts say. Amid such fears, they warn of the prospects of the...
View ArticleJapan sees extremely poor eel catch, prices soar
Prices of juvenile eels have surged to their highest levels amid extremely poor catches so far this year, likely leading to an unprecedented third straight year of bad hauls and prompting the...
View ArticleAnalysis: Japan's stay-at-home firms finally spread their wings
Japanese companies are again venturing offshore, and this time a new breed of business is striking deals overseas. Japan Inc splurged a record $70 billion on foreign acquisitions last year, taking...
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Priests peer into future on frozen Nagano lake
A Shinto ritual was held Monday on the frozen surface of Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture to make predictions on weather, social trends and crop harvests based on a streak of elevated ice cracks observed...
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