Singer Koda, rocker KENJI03 to wed
Singer Kumi Koda announced Tuesday on her official website that she will marry KENJI03, the vocalist of rock band Back-On. "He accepts the whole of artist Kumi Koda and provides a space where I can...
View ArticleRecovery boosted pollution by 3.9%
Greenhouse gases equivalent to 1.256 billion tons of carbon dioxide were emitted in Japan in fiscal 2010, up 3.9 percent from the year before and the first surge in three years amid an economic...
View ArticleSilent apps help creeps peep / Disabling camera shutter sound makes...
Cases of secretly photographing unsuspecting targets using smartphones have been on the rise as users exploit apps that disable the camera shutter sound, but there is no legal impediment to creating...
View ArticleSupport for Noda Cabinet falls to 42%, disapproval rises to 44%
The approval rating for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has dropped to 42 percent, falling below the Cabinet's disapproval rating of 44 percent for the first time since the Cabinet was...
View ArticleInterim storage facilities planned for near N-plant
The Environment Ministry plans to build interim facilities to store soil and ash contaminated with radiation from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, in the prefecture's Futaba county, sources...
View ArticleJapan foreign minister to visit Myanmar
Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said on Tuesday he will visit Myanmar later this month, in the latest high-profile diplomatic trip to try to propel reforms in the isolated nation. Gemba's...
View ArticleJapan minister questions radioactive water dump
Japan's industry minister Tuesday rejected a plan by the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to release low-level radioactive water into the sea without approval by local fishermen. "It...
View ArticleJapan lifts beef trade restrictions
Australian beef exporters face competition after Japan agreed to allow more beef from "mad cow disease" affected nations. There had been trade restrictions on beef from the US, Canada, France and the...
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Google's Street View shows Japan before and after tsunami
Laptop explorers, prepare to take a sobering visit to Japan. Google has digitally archived the areas of northeastern Japan that were hit hardest by the massive earthquake and devastating tsunami that...
View ArticleHigh radioactive cesium levels found at Tokyo school
Radioactive cesium more than 10 times the standard for waste disposal has been detected on lawn covers that had been placed in a schoolyard from mid-March until early April at Horinouchi Elementary...
View ArticleBaseball: Kiyotake files lawsuit against Giants, Yomiuri
Former Yomiuri Giants general manager Hidetoshi Kiyotake has filed a lawsuit against the baseball club, the club's chairman and The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, claiming he was dismissed from the post...
View ArticleOsaka pref. eyes ordinance against child sex offenders
Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui said Wednesday he plans to propose to the Osaka prefectural assembly next year an ordinance requiring people with records of sexual crimes against children to register their...
View ArticleUS, Japan, Australia? Mars probe will hit Earth in January
The ill-fated Phobos-Grunt probe that got stuck in the orbit after an unsuccessful launch will fall to Earth on January 11, probably affecting four continents, the US Strategic Command shared its...
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Christmas in Japan
Although it is said that most Japanese are Shinto and Buddhist, few people are aware the Japanese also participate in "commercialized Christianity" in order to take advantage of those fun Christian...
View ArticleJapanese business confidence turns sour
Japanese business mood turned pessimistic in the three months to December, the central bank's tankan survey showed, a sign the stubbornly strong yen, Europe's debt crisis and slowing global growth were...
View ArticleDaio Paper to buy up stock held by founding family to reduce influence
Daio Paper Corp. plans to commit up to 10 billion yen ($129 million) by March to buy up stock held by the founding family as a means of reducing its influence over company matters. Mototaka Ikawa, the...
View ArticleDisaster-hit children convey messages to the world
One child sent words of encouragement to his father overseas. A girl lamented about canceled school activities. And another child told his grandfather, who died in the March 11 tsunami, not to drink...
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Despite cover, Japan snaps up Jobs' biography
Amazon recently declared Walter Isaacson's biography of Apple Inc. co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs the best-selling book of the year. In Japan though, it didn't even make the top five. But that...
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Hackers breach servers of Japan's Square Enix
Japanese game developer Square Enix said that servers containing data on 1.8 million customers had been hacked, but said the extent of the damage was not yet known. The producer of hit titles such as...
View ArticleNikkei down 1.7 percent, breaks support at 25-day average
Japan's Nikkei share average fell to a two-week closing low on Thursday, breaking below its 25-day moving average as worries about European debt woes hit risk appetite, with investors looking to a...
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