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Spring Break in Tokyo!
It is nice to have a little break off, watching the views especially the place where we live in. First time to stroll around Tokyo and we had lots of fun! :D[*]
Sumo - Some Photos of Day 13 of the January 2012 Tournament
Here are a few photos from Day 13 of the January 2012 Sumo Tournament (Basho). I caught the last hour of it but it was really exciting. With today's victory, Estonian-wrestler Baruto won his first basho with 13-0 as of Friday. The Yokozuna match was...
Dezuiri 2012 - Yokozuna (Sumo Champion) New Year Ring-Entering Ceremony at Meiji...
Every year on January 6th, to celebrate the coming year, the current sumo champion(s), Yokozuna, come to Meiji Shrine and perform a Dohyo-iri or ring-entering ceremony. For Yokozuna there are two styles - Unryu the more common is seen as a defensive...
Joma Shinji - Japanese Archery Exorcism Ritual in Kamakura
Joma Shinji is a New Year's Japanese Archery Ritual for driving away evil for the coming year. Six archers dressed in formal samurai kimono known as kariginu shoot two arrows a piece at a large circular target. On the back of the target is painted an...
Can Web-savvy activist moms change Japan?
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's nuclear crisis has turned Mizuho Nakayama into one of a small but growing number of Internet-savvy activist moms. Worried about her 2-year-old son and distrustful of government and TV reports that seemed to play down radiation ri...
North Korea names Kim Jong Un Supreme Commander of Military
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea announced Saturday that Kim Jong Un has been officially named supreme commander of the military, further strengthening his authority after the death of his father, longtime North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Of...
Anti-whaling boat damaged while chasing Japanese fleet
A boat belonging to the anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd was damaged by a rogue wave in the Southern Ocean while chasing the Japanese whaling fleet about 1,500 miles south of Fremantle, Australia. The boat, called Brigitte Bardot, was chasing...
New Year’s lucky bag sells in Japan for $250,000
Anyone with $250,000 to spare can buy an unusual New Year present from a Japanese department store: a “fukubukuro”, or lucky bag, stuffed with expensive jewellery. The bag, a feature of New Year in Japan, will go on sale on January 2. It will cost Y2...
Japan’s stock exchange finished 2011 at a 29-year low
Japan's main index Nikkei-225 has finished the year 17 percent lower level than one year ago and at its lowest since 1982. The index finished on Friday at 8,455.35 points, down 17.34 per cent from the 2010 close of 10,228.92 points. In 1982, the Nikk...
PM Noda on planned tax rise: “We will not deviate”
Japan’s prime minister Yoshihiko Noda has vowed to push forward his plans of raising the sales tax, despite the pressure from his own party, where nine members said they would quit as a sign of protest. In a statement delivered at New Delhi, during h...
Japan welcomes back Wendy's
The American hamburger chain Wendy’s, has reopened in Japan after two years of halting operations in the country. The very first Wendy’s restaurant reopened at Omotesando in Tokyo, flocked by an unanticipated number of Japanese. The reopening of the...
New point-based rating system for immigrants to Japan
Japan will introduce a point-based rating system to evaluate some of its prospective immigrants in order to value those with higher education and professional skills, according to press reports. Japan’s new system would be similar to those implemente...
Kim Jong Un is now 'supreme leader' of North Korea
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea's power brokers publicly declared Kim Jong Un the supreme leader for the first time at Thursday's massive public memorial for his father Kim Jong Il, cementing the family's hold on power for another generatio...
First execution-free year since 1993 in Japan
2011 is the first in the last 19 years when Japan would not carry out any death penalty execution, despite the fact that the number of convicts on the death-row has reached the highest since World War II. There has been at least one execution every y...
10,000 free flights to Japan: CANCELLED
Japan takes a complete turnaround from its initial offering of 10,000 free flights for foreigners visiting the country in 2012 as recent announcement says the country is no longer giving such freebie. Back in October this year, the proposal to offer...
DPJ clashes with own members to double sales tax
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) proposed a plan to double the sales tax by 2015, while a number of members are opposing and threaten to leave the organization. Japan’s ruling party intends to raise the tax from the current level of 5 percent to 8...
China blames 54 officials for bullet train crash
BEIJING (AP) — A long-awaited government report said design flaws and sloppy management caused a bullet train crash in July that killed 40 people and triggered a public outcry over the high cost and dangers of China's showcase transportation system....
North Koreans line streets for Kim Jong Il's funeral
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Tens of thousands of North Koreans lined snow-covered streets on Wednesday, wailing and clutching their chests as a black hearse carried late leader Kim Jong Il's body through the capital for a final farewell that ended...
Japan to take part in three Indian infrastructure projects
Three major infrastructure projects are set to start as cooperation between Japan and India, according to officials who organize the upcoming visit of Japan’s prime minister Yoshihiko Noda to New Delhi. The building of a solar power generation system...
Japan experiences “mancession” in the job market
Japanese families are experiencing a social role reversal, with many wives and daughters making up for the largest part of the income, while male workers are being pushed away from the job market. Factories and building companies lay off workers and...
Japan clears the way for weapons exports
Japan will ease some of the restrictions it applies to weapons exports in an effort to assist the national defense industry. The government announced the new policy on Tuesday. It said it would allow weapons exports for international projects, but th...
Japan’s quake in 13 best-photos selection
A series of 13 images from the largest photo agencies in the world – AP, Reuters, AFP, Getty – were published in a special section of the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, called “The best images from the aftermath of Japan's earthquake and tsun...
Lady Gaga to guest in Japan’s New Year’s Eve show
American singer and song writer, Lady Gaga will be guesting in NHK’s New Year’s Eve musical program “Kohaku Uta Gassen” (Red and White Song Contest). The appearance of Lady Gaga will include her singing and delivering encouraging messages in the wak...
Russia makes longest sushi in the world [UPDATED]
[ Sushi picture has been added ] A Japanese restaurant at the city of Yekaterinburg in Russia breaks Guinness Book of World Records for longest sushi which spans an incredible 2.5 kilometer (1.55 mile). Laboring for 15 hours, about 60 chefs made the...
Rice contamination not linked to soil radiation: survey
Now it can be told: rice contamination is not related to soil radiation; at least that’s what a government survey showed. The survey jointly conducted by the Fukushima Prefectural Government and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries re...
Japanese whisky: a promising export?
Japanese whisky can now join the leading line-up of Japanese export products- from autos to electronics, and from bullet train technology to anime. As the year is nearing the end stretch, Nikka Whisky Distilling Co., a unit of the Asahi Group Holding...
Sony, Samsung dissolve panel joint venture
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Sony and South Korean rival Samsung are dissolving their joint venture in liquid crystal display panels as Sony tries to stanch years of losses in its TV business. Samsung Electronics Co. will buy all of Sony's shares in the join...
Japan probe finds nuclear disaster response failed
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's response to the nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 tsunami was confused and riddled with problems, including an erroneous assumption an emergency cooling system was working and a delay in disclosing dangerous radiation lea...
Toyota aims a rebound, targets record-breaking cars for 2012
Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s leading automaker, is aiming to produce a record-smashing 8.48 million vehicles in 2012. The target, which would be a record high for the auto firm, is based on predicting 20 percent growth from this year’s sales, it said....
Japan lowers forecast for 2012 growth
Japan has downgraded its economic expectations for next fiscal year, to 2.2 percent, due to the record-strong yen, the effect of the natural disasters and the financial crisis which affects Europe, the government said. The previous forecast indicated...
Japan’s PM will ask China for two pandas
Japan prime minister Yoshihiko Noda said that during his visit to China he will ask Beijing to lease two pandas to the Japanese city of Sendai, to bring relief to the children of the city heavily struck by the March tsunami. Noda is scheduled to visi...
North Korea’s next leader secretly visited Japan as a child
North Korea’s future leader Kim Jong-Un secretly visited Japan in the early 90s, when he was a child, according to intelligence sources quoted by the Japanese media. In May 1991, he entered Japan accompanied by another boy, believed to have been his...
Lady Gaga is spending the holidays in Tokyo
Lady Gaga is spending the holiday season in Japan. Prior to her flight off LAX Airport in Los Angeles outbound to Tokyo on December 19, the "Edge of Glory" singer expressed excitement in spending the holidays in the Land of the Rising Sun. “Well I’l...
Japan’s Merry Project brings smiles to the world
In his ardent belief that a smile is the sole universal means of communication, a Japanese artist is enthusiastically taking the world by smiles. Koji Mizutani, an art director, graphic designer and winner of numerous awards created the “Merry Proje...
Japan to acquire two thirds share of TEPCO
The government of Japan is planning to acquire two thirds of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) in a de-facto nationalization. Sources were quoted as saying the Japanese government will put in about $13 billion into the utility firm in a de facto nati...
Hesitant launch questions success of PlayStation Vita
Sony has launched the PlayStation Vita in Japan but a series of bugs has forced the company to release an apology statement soon after. Analysts now wonder if the Vita will have the expected success for Sony, which is battling Microsoft and others on...
