IMF boosts Japan's growth estimate
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday raised its growth estimate for Japan and the world economy this year and in 2013, due partly to eased risks in the eurozone, while prodding Japan and the...
View ArticleFukushima miscarriage rate stable
Counter to rumor, Fukushima Prefecture has not seen rising rates of miscarriages or abortions due to radiation exposure - or fear of it - since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 last year, a...
View ArticleTeen prostitute case goes to prosecutors
Police have turned over to prosecutors a case of a brothel manager suspected of employing a 13-year-old junior high school girl as a prostitute in Kobe, sources said. Chikara Kamimura, 44, already...
View ArticleEdano apologizes for remarks on active reactors
Industry minister Yukio Edano apologized Tuesday for his recent remarks that the nation will be without operating nuclear reactors only "momentarily" from May 6, when the last currently active reactor...
View ArticleWhy good Wi-Fi is so hard to find in Japan
Friends visiting Japan often ask me why there are no, or very few, Wi-Fi hotspots available at hotels and cafes in Tokyo. They mention that in their countries, many places offer free Wi-Fi for guests -...
View Article1.8 million students take unified tests
Around 1.8 million sixth-grade elementary and third-year junior high school students nationwide took unified achievement tests Tuesday after they were suspended last year in the wake of the Great East...
View ArticleActivists start hunger strike against reactors
Around 10 members of a citizens' group began a hunger strike Tuesday in front of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to protest the government's plan to restart two reactors at the Oi nuclear...
View ArticleBank of Japan deputy signals further easing as rate review nears
The Bank of Japan is ready to ease monetary policy further if necessary to help the economy recover and escape deflation, a deputy governor said on Wednesday, giving the strongest signal yet for...
View ArticleObama to welcome Japanese PM on April 30
United States (US) President Barack Obama will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in Washington on April 30, for their first meeting since North Korea's rocket launch, the White House...
View ArticleJapan's overseas hunt grows
Fueled by the strong yen, cheap borrowing and ample cash, Japanese firms are going after everything from trading houses to pharmaceutical companies to technology companies. Toshiba Corp.'s $850 million...
View ArticleTsunami simulations scare Japan
Japan's government is heeding a key message from last year's Tohoku earthquake and tsunami: the underwater faults that encircle the country can unleash much greater devastation than previously...
View Article'Soapland' manager arrested for hiring 13-year-old girl
Police said Tuesday they have arrested the 44-year-old manager of a "soapland" in Kobe's Fukuhara district for hiring a 13-year-old girl. According to police, Chikara Kamimura, the manager of the...
View ArticleNikkei up 2 pct as Spain, global growth worries ease
Japan's Nikkei index rallied 2.1 percent on Wednesday on robust U.S. corporate earnings, firm demand for Spanish debt and an upbeat German economic sentiment survey, with signals that the Bank of Japan...
View ArticleJapan study raises hopes of cure for baldness
Japanese researchers have successfully grown hair on hairless mice by implanting follicles created from stem cells, they announced Wednesday, sparking new hopes of a cure for baldness. Led by professor...
View ArticleNoda leaps in with hint of buying Senkakus
The central government will consider buying the disputed Senkaku Islands, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Wednesday, adding fuel to a fire already lit by Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara. Noda's...
View ArticleJapan's Mitsubishi, Mitsui ink US gas deal
Japan's Mitsubishi and Mitsui said Wednesday they will import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, amid a push to boost energy sources after last year's nuclear crisis. The country's two...
View ArticleNo monkeying around for Japan man, fastest on four legs
In the suburbs of Tokyo lives Kenichi Ito, the world's fastest man on four legs. For nearly a decade, the 29-year-old Ito, long a fan of simians, has been perfecting a running style based on the wiry...
View ArticleJapan may foot 3.1 bil. dollars for U.S. marines' move
Japan may shoulder as much as 3.1 billion dollars (250 billion yen) in relocating U.S. Marine Corps personnel from Okinawa Prefecture to Guam, up 300 million dollars from an initial agreement in 2009,...
View ArticleOlympus seeks approval for board to move past $1.7 billion fraud
Olympus Corp. shareholders are being asked to vote on new management and let the company put behind it an accounting fraud that wiped $4.2 billion off its market value and sparked criminal probes in...
View ArticleBurger King Japan lets you quintuple the bacon on your burger
Burger King's Japan restaurants recently introduced the option of super-sizing just the bacon portion of their famed Whoppers, according to a post on Gawker. For around 100 yen (which is about $1.25)...
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