Japan News
7 Feb 2012 at 2:57am
Cape Town based "zef-rapper" group Die Antwoord performed on the United States television talk show, the Late Show with David Letterman.
6 Feb 2012 at 11:57pm
A Hawaiian theme park that propped up the economy of a rural Japanese town in Fukushima prefecture for 40 years was forced to close after the March 11 earthquake.
6 Feb 2012 at 11:57pm
Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said the government is "cautious" ahead of talks today on joining an Asia-Pacific trade bloc that will include demands to eliminate tariffs on protected goods.
6 Feb 2012 at 11:57pm
The United States and Japan, hoping to break a stalemate over the U.S. military presence on Okinawa, are discussing a plan to transfer nearly 5,000 troops to Guam despite their failure to replace a major Marine base on the southern Japan island.
6 Feb 2012 at 10:57pm
Japan continued to conduct "stealth" interventions in the currency market after its highly publicized yen-selling campaign on Oct.
6 Feb 2012 at 9:52pm
This is the eighth and final installment in the second half of the first part of a series of articles examining ways to restore Japan's vitality.
6 Feb 2012 at 9:52pm
Japan aims to restart two nuclear reactors at Kansai Electric Power Company's Ohi power plant around April, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Tuesday, which would mark the first reactor restart since the Fukushima disaster almost a year ago.
6 Feb 2012 at 6:43pm
BEST WESTERN INTRODUCES ITS LATEST HOTELIN KOCHI, JAPANBest Western International expands its presence in Asia with a new property in Kochi on the beautiful tropical Island of Shikoku, the smallest, yet, best-preserved island in Japan.Best Western Kochi, a newly built 172-room hotel, is ideally located right in the very city center of Kochi, home ... (more)
6 Feb 2012 at 2:33pm
The Japanese aren't big snackers. Indeed, it's frowned upon to eat while walking.
6 Feb 2012 at 2:33pm
With a few hesitant steps and the swoosh of kimono against a tatami-mat floor, it isn't long before Awagiku finds her rhythm, moving with what comes close to perfection by the end of another exhausting practice session.
6 Feb 2012 at 1:28pm
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has received assistance money from two Chinese cities and two Japanese cities worth over Bt28 million for flood-hit communities, BMA spokesman Wasan Meewong said yesterday.
6 Feb 2012 at 10:18am
Construction Products Holding Company was the strategic sponsor of the Japanese Saudi Business Opportunities Forum.
6 Feb 2012 at 5:59am
Sapporo snow festival, one of the biggest annual snow festival in Japan, officially kicked off on Monday, marking the beginning of the winter tourist season in Hokkaido.
6 Feb 2012 at 1:49am
At least 14 prefectures will review or are considering reviewing their rules for closing floodgates, prompted by the deaths of many volunteer firefighters while closing floodgates after the Great East Japan Earthquake.
5 Feb 2012 at 9:39pm
The US 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 regardless of the debate over moving a disputed airbase.
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News On Japan
7 Feb 2012 at 6:03am
A Hawaiian theme park that propped up the economy of a rural Japanese town in Fukushima prefecture for 45 years was forced to close after the March 11 earthquake. Almost a year later, the hula girls have returned.
The Spa Resort Hawaiians in Iwaki will open its indoor pools and host wedding parties and Hawaiian luaus in a new hotel from Feb. 8. Structural damage from the magnitude-9 temblor and concerns about radiation leaking from the Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant 60 kilometers (37 miles) to the north closed the resort, a semi-roofed complex six times the size of Tokyo Dome and surrounded by rice fields and hot springs.
The spa, featured in the award-winning 2006 film "Hula Girls," offers a rare example of a community bouncing back from a catastrophe that left almost 20,000 dead or missing in the Tohoku region of northeast Japan, and forced about 160,000 to evacuate areas within 30 kilometers of the plant. The disaster accelerated a trend toward shrinking and aging populations in the countryside even as big cities grow. (Bloomberg)
7 Feb 2012 at 5:27am
The ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has come under fire for using a catchphrase in an anti-suicide campaign that evokes images of popular all-girl group AKB48.
During discussions in the Diet on Monday, a DPJ member called the anti-suicide slogan "deeply inappropriate," TBS reported.
The catchphrase, which was unveiled last month, has already been criticized by mental health professionals, as well as members of both the DPJ and opposition parties for the way in which it apparently handles the issue of suicide, while simultaneously leveraging the popularity of AKB48. (Japan Today)
7 Feb 2012 at 5:27am
 Few countries are as passionate and proud of their food as Japan. Each of its 47 prefectures is fiercely tribalistic about one dish or another, and noodles are particularly contentious. In Shikoku they argue about who produces the best udon (fat, chewy wheat-flour noodles), while on Kyushu ramen (slobbery Chinese-style wheat noodles) is the most popular. When it comes to soba (slippery, often cold, buckwheat noodles) almost every prefecture in northern Honshu claims to be its authoritative home.
As an uninitiated gaijin (foreigner), it's impossible for me to say which is the best, but this much I know: eating soba is never more fun than in Iwate - specifically, when ordering the unfortunately named wanko soba.
There are several theories about the origins of wanko soba, but one of the most likely is that a gluttonous feudal lord dropped in unexpectedly on some local peasants. Without much in the pantry, they sheepishly offered cold, plain soba noodles, fully expecting the lord to fly into a rage. But he loved them, asking for more and more and piling up small bowls as he wolfed the food down. (guardian.co.uk)
7 Feb 2012 at 5:27am
Sony Corp., Panasonic Corp. and Sharp Corp. all said last week that they now forecast hundreds of billions of yen in net losses for the current fiscal year through March. Toshiba Corp.'s outlook was much brighter: It only expects net profit to tumble 53%.
But Hitachi Ltd. stood out from its peers: In an industry wracked by overcapacity, the strong yen and cheaper competition it didn't cut its net profit outlook, sticking to a forecast of Y200 billion this fiscal year, which would be a 16% drop from a year earlier.
It wasn't always like this. In the wake of the global financial crisis, Hitachi, whose operations span everything from consumer electronics to electric power infrastructure, posted an eye-popping Y787.34 billion net loss for the fiscal year through March 2009 - over $10 billion at current exchange rates and the biggest loss ever reported by a Japanese manufacturer. (If Panasonic's loss forecast of Y780 billion for this fiscal year proves accurate, it would be the second biggest after Hitachi's 2009 figure.) (Wall Street Journal)
6 Feb 2012 at 11:51pm
Tokyo's newest landmark, the Tokyo Gate Bridge, will open to traffic on Feb 12.
The 2,618-meter-long truss bridge is 87.8 meters high and spans Tokyo Bay, linking Wakasu in Koto Ward with the Jonanjima Seaside Park in Ota Ward. The central span is 440 meters.
The bridge has been nicknamed the "dinosaur bridge" by Japanese media because of its unusual shape. It looks like two dinosaurs facing off. It has four lanes and walkway that is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The bridge spans a major sea lane into Tokyo Port, but its height had to be restricted to below 100 meters because planes fly over it on their way to and from Haneda Airport.
(Japan Today)
6 Feb 2012 at 11:45pm
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said Monday that the water temperature in the No. 2 reactor at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has risen from 45 degrees on Jan 27 to 69.2 degrees on Monday.
One of three thermometers in the reactor has shown that the temperature has risen by 20 degrees in the last four days, NTV reported. TEPCO said it is continuing to pump more water into the troubled reactor to cool it down, but so far, the utility has not been able to pinpoint the exact cause of the rising temperature.
A TEPCO official told a news conference that the replacement of a water pipe might have caused a change in the water circulation and that the temperature might be rising in areas where the water flow isn't smooth, NTV reported. (Japan Today)
6 Feb 2012 at 11:33pm
The 'Santa Claus' rally in global equity markets towards the end of 2011 has extended well beyond the first few weeks of January.
The broadbased S&P 500 index is approaching its 2011 highs on the back of better-than-expected jobs data released on Friday and the US Federal Reserve mandate to keep interest rates near zero until 2014.
European markets too have been moving up along with the euro, which is again above the key 1.3 level versus the dollar, as European leaders are finally sending out a strong message that they are serious about resolving the sovereign debt crisis.
Inflation in emerging market heavyweights China and India is believed to have peaked out and interest rate easing cycle is set to begin. But looking further east, things are not looking so bright in the land of the rising sun - Japan, which faces a lot of headwinds and fundamental challenges in 2012. (firstpost.com)
6 Feb 2012 at 11:33pm
 With a few hesitant steps and the swoosh of kimono against a tatami-mat floor, it isn't long before Awagiku finds her rhythm, moving with what comes close to perfection by the end of another exhausting practice session.
Global PostBut Awagiku can be forgiven the occasional loss of timing. She is one of three young women who are just months into their careers as aspiring geisha.
There is a lot riding on their success: if they make the grade they will not only have fulfilled a personal ambition to enter the "flower and willow world" of Japan's traditional entertainers. They are also part of an ambitious project launched by the town of Shimoda to use public money to prevent the local geisha tradition from disappearing.
Shimoda, a hot spring resort on Japan's Pacific coast, was home to about 200 geisha in the 1950s. Now just five are left in the town which, like other seaside towns along this picturesque stretch of coast, has fallen victim to the era of cheap foreign travel and declining interest in geisha life among young Japanese women. (salon.com)
6 Feb 2012 at 11:33pm
 Unlike China, Japan's population is in danger of shrinking dramatically. The main reasoning behind this development is what is being called "herbivore men."
This type of man is said to have no desire in having sex or developing relationships. About 36 percent of males from ages 16-19, according to the Japan Family Planning Association, have said that they do not desire to have that sort of relationship; however, young men are not the only ones to develop those feelings. Fifty-nine percent of women in the same age group report not wanting to have sex.
There have been different reasons given as to why these people do not want to have sex. Answers from men in this generation varied. They said that developing a relationship causes too much work, and that it would also take away from how they normally like to spend their time. Other speculations about the decrease in sex interests are that the individuals are becoming more obsessed with technology and virtual relationships than real ones. (bangstyle.com)
6 Feb 2012 at 11:33pm
Regular green tea drinkers have a lower risk of developing functional disability, researchers from Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Functional disability refers to problems with daily chores and activities, such as bathing or dressing.
As background information, the authors explained that prior studies had found that consuming green tea reduced the risk of diseases associated with functional disability, such as osteoporosis, cognitive impairment and stroke. Although most experts believed the risk of incident functional disability would be lower for regular green tea drinkers, no direct studies to prove this had ever been carried out.
Yasutake Tomata and team set out to determine whether regular green tea consumption might reduce incident functionality disability in older people. (medicalnewstoday.com)
6 Feb 2012 at 11:33pm
Within the Japanese business community there are whispers of a sense of paralysis or "hopelessness", and the fear that if decisive action is not taken, some of the companies that were the engine for Japan's postwar growth could fall into irreversible decline. "Japanese companies cannot keep doing what they have been doing," says Hiroshi Mikitani, the founder of e-commerce giant Rakuten, equivalent to the Japanese version of Amazon.com
The country's electronics sector has been hit by the success of South Korea's Samsung and LG, which assemble products in lower-cost countries such as China, Indonesia and Thailand. There have also been lack of ambitions since the bubble burst, for instance, Japan already had web-surfing handsets nearly a decade before the iPhone, yet local producers failed to tap overseas markets.
Japanese electronics giant NEC has just announced it would cut 10,000 jobs as it projected to lose more than a billion dollars (100 billion yen) for the fiscal year ending this March. Gaming giant Nintendo unnerved investors by reporting a US$838 million losses (its original projection was $260 million losses), the worst year since it began making games 30 years ago. (zimbabwemetro.com)
6 Feb 2012 at 11:24pm
Over a thousand people gathered on the outskirts of Tokyo, shovels and ladders in hand. Their goal: to dig their way to victory in the Japan All-National Hole Digging Competition, and claim the coveted Golden Shovel.
The annual contest, now in its 12th year, drew 259 teams from around the country at the weekend to test their hole-digging prowess and claim awards for the deepest hole, the most creative hole and the most original costume worn during the digging.
At the shriek of a whistle, contestants -- some dressed as skeletons or wearing Arabian-style headgear -- began digging frantically, tossing earth behind them as their shovels bit into the soil.
Some went for creativity, carving a heart out of the ground. Others aimed at depth, using buckets to haul up the earth. (Reuters)
6 Feb 2012 at 11:24pm
The United States said on Monday it has struck a deal sparing U.S. exporters from hundreds of millions of dollars in European and Japanese trade retaliation in a dispute over how Washington calculates anti-dumping duties on steel and other goods.
"I am proud to announce today that we have finally put these burdensome and potentially damaging trade disputes behind us," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement on the "zeroing" deal struck with the European Union and Japan.
"What this means for the American people and the country as a whole is that American farmers and businesses can invest in job-creating export markets without the uncertainty of possible trade retaliation," Kirk said.
The United States has lost numerous cases at the World Trade Organization in the past decade over a practice called "zeroing" used to calculate anti-dumping duties on products it says are being sold in the United States at less than fair value. (Reuters)
6 Feb 2012 at 11:21pm
The government is strengthening its economic diplomacy by utilizing foreign exchange holdings to help stem Europe's ongoing financial crisis and prevent sharp declines in the value of Asian currencies.
The expanded use of the foreign exchange reserves is also aimed at addressing criticism that the huge amount of funds are not being used effectively, observers said.
The government had used most of its foreign exchange reserves to buy U.S. Treasury bonds, which are regarded as a safe investment.
But faced with increasing international requests for the nation's contribution to resolve the European sovereign debt crisis, the government has started using its foreign exchange pool to contribute to the International Monetary Fund's plan to expand financial resources. (Yomiuri)
6 Feb 2012 at 11:21pm
A majority of people expect the Nadeshiko Japan women's soccer team to win a medal at the London Olympic Games scheduled to start on July 27, according to a recent Yomiuri Shimbun poll.
Following Nadeshiko Japan's victory at the FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany last summer, 52 percent of respondents picked women's soccer as the most likely category for Japan to win a medal among women's events to be held at the Olympics.
Respondents were allowed to pick multiple sports fields in the survey.
Among other women's sports, the marathon was second most popular with 33 percent, followed by judo with 28 percent and volleyball with 18 percent. (Yomiuri)
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Yahoo! News: World - Japan
7 Feb 2012 at 2:59am
AP - Prosecutors say Taiwanese-Japanese starlet Makiyo has been barred from leaving Taiwan pending a probe into her alleged involvement in the beating of a taxi driver in Taipei.
7 Feb 2012 at 2:43am
Reuters - Attempts to find five workers missing in an underwater tunnel at a refinery in western Japan were suspended on Tuesday due to poor visibility that posed a risk to rescue divers, police said.
7 Feb 2012 at 1:37am
 AP - Toyota's quarterly profit slid 13.5 percent on production setbacks caused by last year's tsunami disaster and the flooding in Thailand, but Japan's top automaker raised its annual earnings forecast, saying a recovery is on track.
6 Feb 2012 at 11:21pm
AP - The United States and Japan, hoping to break a stalemate over the U.S. military presence on Okinawa, are discussing a plan to transfer nearly 5,000 troops to Guam despite their failure to replace a major Marine base on the southern Japan island.
6 Feb 2012 at 1:46pm
Reuters - The United States said on Monday it has struck a deal sparing U.S. exporters from hundreds of millions of dollars in European and Japanese trade retaliation in a dispute over how Washington calculates anti-dumping duties on steel and other goods.
6 Feb 2012 at 6:09am
Reuters - Over a thousand people gathered on the outskirts of Tokyo, shovels and ladders in hand. Their goal: to dig their way to victory in the Japan All-National Hole Digging Competition, and claim the coveted Golden Shovel.
5 Feb 2012 at 1:22am
Reuters - 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 regardless of the debate over moving a disputed airbase.
3 Feb 2012 at 10:38pm
Reuters - Three Japanese towns would be willing to restart their nuclear reactors if they pass government stress tests, two were against the idea but most were undecided, a newspaper survey suggested Saturday.
3 Feb 2012 at 2:28pm
ContributorNetwork - States-side fans of video game consoles, from the first Nintendo Entertainment System to its modern successor the Wii, know what it's like for a game that looks awesome to only come out in Japan.
3 Feb 2012 at 2:15pm
Reuters - Mayor Nobuto Hosaka had more than saving taxpayers' money on his mind when he recently invited bids from rivals of giant utility Tokyo Electric Power Co to supply power to his ward in Japan's capital.
3 Feb 2012 at 11:30am
Reuters - Detroit automakers are urging President Barack Obama to reject Japan's bid to join talks on a regional free trade agreement, the head of an automotive group representing GM, Ford and Chrysler said on Thursday.
3 Feb 2012 at 11:08am
Reuters - A blindingly white room filled with a single wave of sound contrasts with a dark room that is pierced by a cone of light in the first German solo exhibition of Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda.
3 Feb 2012 at 10:02am
 AP - For an emerging generation of Japanese innovators, the dream isn't a job for life at a big company. They have new ambitions, and they're determined to go places. Especially Silicon Valley.
3 Feb 2012 at 9:20am
AP - Leaks of radioactive water have become more frequent at Japan's crippled nuclear power plant less than two months after it was declared basically stable.
3 Feb 2012 at 9:09am
The Motley Fool - In 1991, former MIT dean Lester Thurow wrote that "If one looks at the last 20 years, Japan would have to be considered the betting favorite to win the economy honors of owning the 21st century."
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Japan News latest RSS headlines - Big News Network.com
7 Feb 2012 at 2:30am
The Japanese government carried out five rounds of interventions into the foreign exchange market in the last three months of 2011, spending about 9.09 trillion yen (about $118.7 billion), data from t
6 Feb 2012 at 11:58pm
TOKYO -; The United States and Japan are discussing a plan to transfer thousands of troops to Guam despite their failure to replace a major U.S. Marine base on the southern Japan island of ...
6 Feb 2012 at 11:51pm
PHOTO/FILE A Mitsubishi Outlander sports model produced by NedCar, a Japan's Mitsubishi Motors production unit in the Netherlands. The Japanese car-maker has decided to withdraw production in ...
6 Feb 2012 at 11:13pm
yen ($14 billion at Tuesday's rate) worth of its currency over the first four days of November, according to the finance ministry data. The move followed the 8.07-trillion-yen operation on ...
6 Feb 2012 at 11:12pm
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Japan sold its currency five times in the final quarter of last year, the Ministry of Finance said on its website today, as the government moved to shield exporters’ ...
6 Feb 2012 at 11:12pm
TOKYO -- The Japanese finance ministry conducted stealth intervention in the currency markets to stem the yen's rise after its highly publicized yen-selling campaign on Oct. 31, data released ...
6 Feb 2012 at 11:04pm
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's trade minister said on Tuesday he had not set deadlines to resume operations at nuclear reactors after a media report said the government aimed to restart two reactors ...
6 Feb 2012 at 10:50pm
Nikkei share average pulled back from a three-month high on Tuesday as a delay in Greece's response to the painful terms for a new bailout tempered increasing optimism over the U.S. economic ...
6 Feb 2012 at 10:21pm
SAPPORO -- Tourists and locals bundled in mittens and scarves crowded the streets of central Sapporo on Feb. 6 as the 63rd Sapporo Snow Festival got under ...
6 Feb 2012 at 10:21pm
Three university professors on a government task force to draw up new nuclear power policy guidelines received substantial cash donations from the nuclear power industry and related companies or ...
6 Feb 2012 at 10:21pm
BEIJING -- China has been flexing its financial muscle in the infrastructure sector of European countries battered by the sovereign debt ...
6 Feb 2012 at 10:21pm
Japanese electronics makers, once the driving force of the country's economic growth, are piling up losses. The three electronics giants of Panasonic Corp., Sony Corp. and Sharp Corp. are ...
6 Feb 2012 at 7:15pm
Japan will not rule out taking any measures to battle speculative moves in currency markets, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said on Tuesday, after data showed Tokyo spent roughly 1 trillion yen ($13 ...
6 Feb 2012 at 7:13pm
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) --　Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average retreated from a three-month high as Greek politicians struggled to meet the conditions for a bailout, reviving concern the debt- ...
6 Feb 2012 at 6:53pm
But Awagiku can be forgiven the occasional loss of timing. She is one of three young women who are just months into their careers as aspiring geisha. There is a lot riding on their success: if they ...
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