Japan tsunami: Sweeping away the nightmare
Tsunami nightmares woke Chikako Suzuki at dawn on Sunday. "A year has gone by now ... It's safe," she says. "But those days [of the disaster] - every night as I go to sleep and every morning as I wake...
View ArticleBasketball: Ex-Hoosier Washington out of jail after Japan drug charges dropped
Former Indiana basketball player Lynn Washington has been released from an Osaka jail after charges he attempted to smuggle marijuana into Japan were dropped. The 33-year-old forward for Osaka Evessa...
View ArticleDusting off a geek fetish for all things maid in Japan
'Welcome home, master!' is the typical greeting at Maidolce cafe. In a country with no shortage of concept cafes, Maidolce in Osaka's Nipponbashi district, strives to create the concept of 'home'. That...
View ArticleMoney to study abroad
To combat the decline in Japanese students studying abroad, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry is finally taking action. Special five-year grants of ¥100 million to ¥200...
View ArticleSky Tree to offer world's highest bungee jump
Tokyo's newest and biggest visitor attraction, the 634-meter-high Tokyo Sky Tree in Sumida Ward, will open to the public on May 22. And if 11th-hour contract negotiations bear fruit, visitors to the...
View ArticleMaster of public finance brings life to numbers
Born the grandson of a once-prosperous textile manufacturer in Urawa, Saitama Prefecture, Naohiko Jinno says that when he was growing up he was told by his mother, over and over again, that money was...
View ArticleGovernment to slash hiring 56% in '13
The central government has decided to cut the number of new recruits for fiscal 2013 by 56 percent from 2009, when 8,511 fledgling bureaucrats were hired, government sources said Saturday. Deputy Prime...
View ArticleRugby: Japan defeated in three matches at Tokyo Sevens
Japan lost all three of its Group A matches on the opening day of the two-day Tokyo Sevens rugby tournament Saturday. Japan fell to England 15-5, Fiji 26-7 and France 24-5 at Prince Chichibu Memorial...
View Article9 power utilities expect net losses in fiscal 2011
Nine out of 10 major electricity suppliers in Japan expect group net losses for the fiscal year ending on Saturday due to soaring fuel costs. The shutdown of nuclear reactors across the country...
View ArticleJapanese fleet catches 267 Antarctic whales
The Japanese fleet caught a total of 267 whales in the latest season of the country's research whaling program in the Antarctic Ocean, the Fisheries Agency said Saturday. Of the total, up from 172 in...
View ArticleMcDonald's Japan to give free newspapers
McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) will provide customers with morning newspapers during the country's spring newspaper week from April 6 to 12. The joint promotional event with the Japan Newspaper...
View ArticleTsunami-hit areas switch to digital broadcasting
The three tsunami-hit prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima on Saturday became the last places in Japan to switch from analog TV broadcasting digital terrestrial TV broadcasting. The rest of the...
View ArticleTokyo Tower lights go off for Earth Hour but not Sky Tree
Tokyo Tower interrupted its sunset-to-midnight lighting for an hour from 8:30 on Saturday night to take part in the annual Earth Hour campaign-part of a global effort to raise awareness about climate...
View ArticleJapan declares support for US World Bank nominee
Japan today said it will support Mr Jim Yong Kim, the US nominee to be the next World Bank president, despite growing calls for the key multilateral development aid agency to be led by someone from the...
View ArticleSoccer: Japan's iron ladies miss U.S. hat-trick
World Cup holders Japan were held 1-1 by the United States in a women's soccer friendly on Sunday, failing in their bid to beat the Olympic champions for the third time running. Named after a frilly...
View ArticleJapan pension scandal shakes trust in system
Trucking company president Masazumi Ando said he was furious when he saw the head of an investment firm that lost $1.3 billion in pension money bow in apology at a parliamentary hearing last week....
View ArticleEntry ban lifted in parts of hot zone
An exclusion ban was lifted Sunday for parts of the city of Tamura and the village of Kawauchi in Fukushima Prefecture, allowing residents to enter freely without taking measures against radiation...
View ArticleNation's newest trust bank opens with record Y120 trillion asset base
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. opened for business Sunday as the nation's largest trust bank after three other lenders- Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co., Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking Co. and Chuo...
View ArticleBroadcaster launches first shows for smartphone, tablet PC crowd
A subsidiary of NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Sunday began offering the first TV channels aimed exclusively at users of smartphone and tablet computers. Mmbi inc.'s Nottv service offers access to three channels...
View ArticleMan's skeletonized body found in Saitama apartment
Police said Monday that the skeletonized body of a man was found Sunday in an apartment in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture. According to police, the owner of the apartment and a building management employee...
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