Couple held after causing bomb scare
A couple in their 60s were arrested early Saturday after a police bomb squad was deployed to check out suspicious items dumped along two expressways spanning five prefectures that later turned out to...
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The Scot who shaped Japan
This coming Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, marks the centenary of the death in his opulent home in the Shiba Park area of Tokyo's central Azabu district of the Scottish-born trader Thomas Blake Glover, who...
View ArticleFirms facing labor shortages at Vietnam plants
Japanese companies that built plants in Vietnam to capitalize on its lowly paid workforce are finding the country is no longer such a cheap and abundant source of labor. Wages have risen steeply in...
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Chilling out in a warm Kume Island way
The first thing a good beach does is immediately make you want to take your watch off. But what makes a really great beach is when you do that - and then kick off your shoes as well. That's exactly...
View ArticleMeiji ignored tipoffs on cesium in formula
Meiji Co. was tipped off on three separate occasions in mid-November that its milk formula may be contaminated with radioactive cesium, but ignored the information for about two weeks, sources said....
View ArticleWild monkeys to carry forest fallout monitors
Fukushima University researchers plan to measure forest radiation levels in Fukushima Prefecture by placing special monitoring collars on wild monkeys, in light of the nuclear crisis. Each of the...
View ArticleH-IIA radar satellite launch delayed
The launch of a radar satellite aboard an H-IIA rocket has been pushed back a day after inclement weather was forecast for Sunday, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Saturday. The launch from...
View ArticleGovt decides tax cut plan for next year / Focus on car owners, 'eco' home buyers
After struggling until late Friday night to come to an agreement with a Democratic Party of Japan tax panel, the government decided early Saturday on an outline of a set of tax changes for fiscal...
View ArticleIchikawa hindering Okinawa tasks
With Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa remaining in his post despite the passage of a censure motion against him, further turmoil over the relocation of the U. S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in...
View ArticleFukushima gov. given details of recovery bill
Tatsuo Hirano, state minister for reconstruction, explained the gist of a bill on the special measures law on Fukushima Prefecture's restoration and revitalization in a meeting with Fukushima Gov....
View ArticleJapan apologizes to Canadian war prisoners
The Japanese government on Thursday apologized to former Canadian prisoners of war for their suffering during the Second World War, according to a Canadian statement. The apology was delivered in Tokyo...
View ArticleBadminton: 16-year-old Okuhara becomes youngest national badminton champion
Nozomi Okuhara became the youngest champion ever at the national badminton championships Sunday at 16 years, 8 months, when five-time winner Eriko Hirose withdrew about 10 minutes before the women's...
View ArticleNoda welcomes road map for new climate-talks framework
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda welcomed Sunday the outcome of just-ended U.N. climate talks, citing its adoption of a road map for launching a new framework in 2020 to tackle greenhouse gas...
View ArticleResearchers develop method to form blood platelets from stem cells
A team of researchers from Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo has worked out a method using artificially created stem cells to produce a large volume of cells from which blood platelets can...
View ArticleAfter Japan's apology, Canada's Hong Kong vets remember
Ian Englehart says his father hated Christmas Day. On Dec. 25, 1941, his father Harold was one of the nearly 2,000 Canadian soldiers who surrendered to the Japanese while fighting in Hong Kong. The...
View ArticleJapan consumer mood worsens in Nov, govt cuts view
Japanese consumer confidence in November worsened from the previous month, a Cabinet Office survey showed on Monday, suggesting that turmoil from Europe's debt crisis and slowing global growth are...
View ArticleNikkei gains on Europe deal; stops short of 75-day avg
The Nikkei average gained on Monday after European leaders agreed to draft a new treaty for deeper economic integration, but market players said the short-covering bounce may not last as the deal was...
View ArticleJapan launches new spy satellite
Japan launched a new spy satellite into orbit on Monday amid concerns over North Korea's missile programme and to monitor natural disasters in the region, officials said. The Japanese H-2A rocket...
View ArticleChristian Bale defends film on Nanjing Massacre
Oscar winning actor Christian Bale defended his upcoming Nanjing Massacre film "The Flowers of War," by China's most famous director, Zhang Yimou, as more than an anti-Japanese propaganda film. In the...
View ArticleNuclear utilities face Y50 billion disaster fee
Nuclear power utilities might be ordered to chuck about ¥50 billion into the entity that's financing Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s compensation payments for the Fukushima disaster, government sources said...
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