Japan

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Japan Loses Its Taste for Luxury

From food to handbags, high-cost items are suffering

(Newser) - Hundred-dollar melons and pricey designer handbags used to sell so well in Japan that companies considered luxury goods a mass-market sector. But while the Japanese kept on shopping through previous recessions, this one has produced a sea change. The luxury industry has been hard hit, and the change may be...

Japan Cops Get Tough on Subway Gropers

Tokyo launches 'groping prevention week'

(Newser) - Japan has dispatched undercover police officers across Tokyo's commuter rail system to make sure men with wandering hands feel the strong arm of the law, the Guardian reports. Sexual harassment has long been a problem for Tokyo's subway, with two-thirds of young women saying they have been inappropriately touched while...

The Human Condition Is 9.5 Hours, in Japanese...
The Human Condition Is
9.5 Hours, in Japanese...
DVD REVIEW

The Human Condition Is 9.5 Hours, in Japanese...

...and 'the greatest film ever made'

(Newser) - The Criterion Collection re-release of Masaki Kobayashi’s The Human Condition does high-definition justice to the WWII film critic David Shipman has called “unequivocally the greatest film ever made,” according to Very Short List. The movie follows a good—and handsome—man through the “innumerable trials in...

Hatoyama Confirmed as Japan's New PM

Shift in power marks end of 50 years of conservative rule

(Newser) - Japan's parliament formally voted in Yukio Hatoyama as the country's new prime minister today, ending an almost half-century of rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, CNN reports. The LDP's Taro Aso and his cabinet resigned en masse earlier in the day. Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide election...

Japanese Cove Town to Release Dolphins

(Newser) - The Japanese town that triggered a furor after a documentary highlighted its dolphin slaughter is granting a reprieve to 100 of the animals, reports AP. Some 50 dolphins will be sold to aquariums, and the remainder of the 100 trapped for yesterday's first hunt of the season will be released...

Japanese Mull Noisier Hybrids to Protect Blind

Survey finds blind people are unnerved by silent vehicles

(Newser) - Japanese automakers are looking into ways to make their super-quiet hybrid cars a lot louder after more than half of blind people surveyed said they were terrified of the vehicles, AP reports. The automakers are considering equipping the vehicles with radar to sense pedestrians and make sounds like engine noises...

Japan's First Lady Boasts of 'UFO Trip to Venus'

She rode on 'triangular' ship to 'really green' planet, Hatoyama writes in book

(Newser) - Japan's quirky new first lady boasts years of colorful experiences, including time as a dancer in the famed Takarazuka troupe—and a trip to space aboard a UFO, according to a book she wrote last year. "While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped...

New Leader Hails Japanese 'Revolution'

Yukio Hatoyama gets to work after historic opposition victory

(Newser) - Japan's incoming prime minister hailed a democratic "revolution" as more complete results confirmed a sweeping victory for the center-left Democratic Party. Yukio Hatoyama will lead a bloc of more than 300 parliamentary members, more than three times its previous representation, after what the Times of London calls the...

Trounced, Japan's Ruling Party to Quit

Left-wing Democratic Party ousts Liberal Democrats

(Newser) - A top official in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has announced that he and other officials plan to step down after the party's apparent crushing defeat in today's parliamentary elections. LDP Secretary-General Hiroyuki Hosoda said that he and two other top officials plan to submit their resignations to Prime Minister...

Japanese Voters Head to Polls to Boot Leaders

Half century of power expected to end today

(Newser) - Japanese voters began casting ballots today in a general election expected to clean house, reports the Financial Times. The Democratic Party of Japan will almost certainly thump the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled the nation 11 months out of the last 54 years.

Defeat All but Certain for Japan's Aso, Ruling Party

Sunday election likely to end 54 years in power

(Newser) - Sunday will likely mark a milestone in Japanese politics as voters dump the Liberal Democratic Party after more than a half-century in power, the Washington Post reports. Even senior LDP leaders acknowledge that Yukio Hatoyama will probably trounce incumbent Prime Minister Taro Aso, and polls predict a staggering turnout with...

US Rep Headed to North Korea for Nuke Talks

Bilateral negotiations would be first directly between nations

(Newser) - The US diplomat in charge of North Korea policy will visit Pyongyang next month for the first bilateral nuclear negotiations between the countries, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo reports today. Amid signs from reclusive Kim Jong Il of a thaw in relations, Stephen Bosworth will lead a delegation that will...

Ancient Rite Fades in Japan: Communing With the Dead

(Newser) - Far from Japan's hypermodern cities, a few old, blind women are among the last of a centuries-old tradition—they are mediums, or the "itako," calling forth the spirits of the dead for paying visitors. In medieval times, Japan was full of women communing with spirits, but now so...

Japan McDonald's Turns Geek Joke on US

(Newser) - Meet Mr. James, the star of McDonald's new ad campaign in Japan: He's a wacky white guy in nerd glasses who speaks broken Japanese, hitches his pants up to his armpits, and probably strikes out with the ladies. Americans living in Japan call the Mr. James campaign racism, while the...

South Korea Scrubs Satellite Launch

(Newser) - South Korea scrubbed a planned satellite launch minutes before liftoff today, citing an unspecified technical error, reports the BBC. Seoul has been itching to join the Asian space race and has already produced 10 satellites for other countries' rockets. But the event had threatened to strain recently improved relations with...

Japan Says 'Sayonara' to Downturn

(Newser) - Japan appears to be pulling out of its recession, posting its first economic growth in more than a year, reports the New York Times. The world’s second-largest economy grew by 0.9% in the last three months ending June 30—equivalent to 3.7% annualized growth. Exports grew 6....

Mel's Babymama: Don't Judge!
 Mel's Babymama: Don't Judge! 
GOSSIP ROUNDUP

Mel's Babymama: Don't Judge!

Plus, Angie: hot or too skinny? It's anyone's guess.

(Newser) - Oksana Grigorieva may be carrying Mel Gibson’s love child, but she wants “to be judged by my art, by my music,” she tells Reuters in her first interview. “How can I be judged for falling in love? We live in the same city. I don’t...

Taiwan Mudslide Buries 500 in Wake of Typhoon

Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, China hit; at least 35 dead

(Newser) - A typhoon-spawned mudslide engulfed a mountain village in southern Taiwan, burying up to 600 people, a police official and a rescued villager said today. Earlier, Typhoon Morakot had struck the Philippines, leaving at least 22 dead. Another typhoon slammed into Japan's west coast today, bringing heavy rain that triggered floods...

7.1 Earthquake Rocks Tokyo
 7.1 Earthquake Rocks Tokyo 

7.1 Earthquake Rocks Tokyo

No casualties, or threats of a tsunami, reported

(Newser) - A 7.1 earthquake rattled Tokyo and surrounding areas today, AP reports. The strong quake, which struck just before 8 pm local time, disrupted trains and a professional baseball game, but so far there are no reports of damage or casualties, and no threat of a resulting tsunami. Japan is...

Twitter Plans Japanese Cell Phone Site

(Newser) - Twitter is planning to launch a service aimed at Japanese cell phone users, Marketwatch reports. The new site will be specifically designed for easy mobile access and browsing via handsets. Twitter and its Japanese partner, Digital Garage, are expected to approach Japanese mobile operators to support the site, according to...

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