Japan

Stories 941 - 960 | << Prev   Next >>

Now North Korea Lashes Out at Japan

New regime does not appear eager to improve relations

(Newser) - North Korea reprimanded Japan last night and today for what it sees as a failure to show respect for Kim Jong Il's death, the latest sign that a regime change in Pyongyang will not bring improved relations with rival countries. The state news agency last night admonished Japan for...

7.0 Quake Shakes Tokyo
 7.0 Quake Shakes Tokyo 
Jan 1, 2012 9:28 AM CST

7.0 Quake Shakes Tokyo

But no injuries, damage reported

(Newser) - A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck under the sea south of Japan today, shaking buildings in the capital but causing no apparent damage or tsunami. The quake struck near the uninhabited island of Torishima in the Pacific Ocean, about 370 miles south of Tokyo, and its epicenter was about 230 miles...

New Source of WiFi: Japanese Vending Machines

And it's totally free

(Newser) - Want some WiFi with that soda? A Japanese soft drink company has unveiled new vending machines that offer a free wireless Internet signal, TechCrunch reports. Users needn't register or even shell out for a drink: They can simply connect to the public signal for 30 minutes, landing on a...

Wendy's Return to Japan Marked by ... a $16 Burger

It comes topped with foie gras

(Newser) - For two years, Japan's fast-food lovers were forced to go without Wendy's. Now the chain is back—with a bang. Its first new store to open in the country will serve up the Foie Gras Rossini Burger, which, yes, is topped with foie gras and costs 1,280...

Japan, China Cut Currency Deal, Shun Dollar

Leaders also discuss North Korea

(Newser) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing today, and emerged with a number of deals—including one that will marginalize the US dollar in Asia. The countries agreed to promote direct yuan-yen trades, the Wall Street Journal reports; until now, the money has usually...

Bathroom Bling— It's the $130K Toilet

Crystal-covered commode ideal for those flush with cash

(Newser) - Some people can't help pissing away money. And for them, a Japanese company has introduced a $130,000, crystal-covered toilet, reports CNET . Called the Satis, this luxury commode is covered with 72,000 Swarovski crystals, and is on display at the company's Tokyo showroom. "2011 was a...

Japan: 40 Years to Fully Shut Down Fukushima

Removing nuclear fuel will require tech not yet invented

(Newser) - The predictions are getting worse: Japanese officials today said that it could take as many as 40 years to decommission the Fukushima nuclear plant, upping the previous estimate of 30 years. According to the detailed roadmap, TEPCO intends to spend the next two years clearing the spent fuel rods out...

Fukushima Plant Is Stable: Japan

Experts say it will still take decades to close the site safely

(Newser) - Japan's prime minister said today that the country's tsunami-damaged nuclear plant has achieved a stable state of "cold shutdown," a crucial step toward the eventual lifting of evacuation orders and closing of the plant. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's announcement was intended to reassure the nation...

Japanese Scientists Track Radiation With Monkeys

They'll gather data from collars attached to wild ones

(Newser) - Japanese scientists are recruiting some unusual agents to investigate the radiation levels in the forests around the Fukushima reactor: wild monkeys. A professor of robotic technology at Fukushima University is leading a team that plans to capture up to three wild monkeys and outfit them with a collar that will...

Google Street View Shows Tsunami Destruction

Images have been updated to reflect damage

(Newser) - Google Street View has been updated to show what Japan looks like after the tsunami and earthquake in March. Google also launched a site called Memories for the Future where users can compare before-and-after shots of the disaster zone. Between July and November, Google dispatched its camera-clad vehicles through 27,...

Japan Uses Disaster Budget to Fund Whaling Hunt

Official defends the controversial move

(Newser) - Of Japan's $230 billion in supplementary budgets meant for tsunami reconstruction, $29 million will be used for … a whaling hunt. An official confirmed the move today, and simultaneously defended it, noting that some whaling towns were hit badly by the March 11 tsunami, and the funding will help...

Radiation Found in Japanese Baby Formula

Levels not high enough to pose health risk, parents told

(Newser) - Nearly nine months after the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami wrought havoc on Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, the country's nuclear nightmare is continuing. Traces of radiation have been found in infant formula for the first time and while government experts say the levels aren't high enough to...

Reviled Japanese Admiral Hoped to Avoid War With US

Isoroku Yamamoto attacked Pearl Harbor after losing that argument

(Newser) - Isoroku Yamamoto was once one of the most reviled men in America, and no wonder: He was the Japanese admiral who devised and carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor. But author Ian W. Toll uses the 70th anniversary to point out that before the attack, Yamamoto led the debate...

No Wonder It Was So Bad: Japan Had Two Tsunamis

They merged into an ultra-powerful wave

(Newser) - This might explain why the tsunami that devastated Japan in March caused so much death and destruction: Scientists think it was actually two tsunamis that merged into one uber-powerful wave, reports CNN . Satellites show two wave fronts combining far out at sea to create a tsunami double the normal height...

New Leak Found at Fukushima
 New Leak Found at Fukushima 
Dec 5, 2011 5:49 AM CST

New Leak Found at Fukushima

Radioactive water may have already leaked into Pacific

(Newser) - A significant new leak of highly radioactive water has been discovered at Japan's crippled Fukushima power plant, and has possibly already oozed radiation into the Pacific Ocean. Some 12,000 gallons of contaminated water were discovered yesterday morning around a condensation unit of a water purification system, according to...

Chain-Reaction Crash Triggers Priciest Pileup Ever

8 Ferraris, 3 Mercedes, a Lamborghini Diablo turned into scrap

(Newser) - A chain-reaction crash of some of the priciest driving machines in Japan triggered the most expensive pileup in car-wreck history. Millions of dollars of luxe metal were crumpled when eight Ferraris, three Mercedes Benzes, and a Lamborghini Diablo slammed into one another on the Chugoku Expressway in southwestern Japan yesterday...

Buffet: Eurozone Not Working
 Buffet: Eurozone Not Working 
Nov 22, 2011 1:15 AM CST

Buffet: Eurozone Not Working

Billionaire investor hails Japanese business during Fukushima visit

(Newser) - The European debt crisis has exposed serious problems in the 17-country Eurozone that will require radical changes to fix, warns Warren Buffett. There is a "major flaw in the euro system," the billionaire investor said yesterday while on his first visit to Japan. "That flaw won't...

Missing Olympus Billions Tied to Yakuza Crime Gangs

$4.9B unaccounted for at Japanese firm

(Newser) - To make a serious financial scandal much, much worse, simply quadruple the sums involved and add gangsters. Investigators probing the shady accounting at Japanese camera maker Olympus believe that in addition to the $1.4 billion the firm paid in merger fees to mask losses, some $4.9 billion is...

Olympus Admits Hiding Decades of Losses

Accounting shenanigans could doom Japanese firm

(Newser) - Olympus has done an about-face after weeks of denials, and admitted to financial wrongdoing on a scale that could doom the Japanese camera and medical equipment maker. The company has admitted that it used acquisitions to hide over $1 billion in investment losses dating back to the 1990s, the New ...

Japan Plans &#39;Backup&#39; Tokyo
 Japan Plans 'Backup' Tokyo 
Nov 5, 2011 7:59 AM CDT

Japan Plans 'Backup' Tokyo

Tiny city would be a place for government to retreat in an emergency

(Newser) - The Japanese government wants to be prepared in case Tokyo gets hit with another natural disaster—so officials have devised a plan to build a miniature “backup” capital around an airport some 300 miles away. This little city would include all the buildings the parliament and ministry need to...

Stories 941 - 960 | << Prev   Next >>