Japan

Stories 1441 - 1460 | << Prev   Next >>

Whales Fall as Hunt Resumes
Whales Fall as Hunt Resumes

Whales Fall as Hunt Resumes

With Greenpeace gone to refuel, fleet harpoons 5 more

(Newser) - Japanese whalers have resumed their hunt in Antarctic waters, killing at least five whales when protest ships pulled back to refuel, the Australian News Network reports. Witnesses reported seeing the whales harpooned in the Southern Ocean after ships from Greenpeace and another protest group withdrew. In Tokyo, the Australian foreign...

Japan Sends Out Sushi Squad
Japan Sends Out Sushi Squad

Japan Sends Out Sushi Squad

Tokyo to certify 'authentic' restaurants around the world

(Newser) - Japan, worried that the globalization of sushi is embarrassing its national cuisine—think California rolls—is about to start certifying which of the estimated 25,000 Japanese restaurants around the world are authentic. Experts based in major cities, including London, Paris, and Los Angeles, will give eateries that pass muster...

Earth's Mystery Core Plumbed
Earth's Mystery Core Plumbed

Earth's Mystery Core Plumbed

Japanese geophysicist floats theory of lifecycle for Earth's plates

(Newser) - Climate change has sparked heated debate about the Earth’s surface, but a controversial new theory is directing scientists to its core, Der Spiegel reports. To explain why contintental plates drift on the surface of the Earth's molten mantle, Maruyama Shigenori, a leading geophysicist, argues that continents actually have life...

'Sushi Capital' Japan Isn't Sweating Tuna Scare

Sushi capital continues to eat up

(Newser) - New Yorkers may be in the throes of a sushi scare after the Times reported on the dangerous mercury levels in tuna, but the Japanese aren't batting an eyelid. One official's biggest concern was that the controversy would ignite "groundless rumors" about a healthy food, AP reports. "We're...

Nagasaki Mayor's Killer Confesses
Nagasaki Mayor's Killer Confesses

Nagasaki Mayor's Killer Confesses

Alleged gangster apologizes in court as trial opens

(Newser) - The Japanese man accused of killing the mayor of Nagasaki last April has admitted to the crime, the BBC reports. "I apologize to Mayor Iccho Ito and his family from the bottom of my heart," Tetsuya Shiroo said today on the first day of his trial. An alleged...

Asian Stocks Continue Plunge
Asian Stocks Continue Plunge
UPDATED

Asian Stocks Continue Plunge

Stocks tumble for second straight day

(Newser) - Jitters over the US economy led to a major sell-off in Asian markets for the second straight day, with Australia's benchmark index closing down 7.1%—the biggest single-day loss in nearly 20 years. India's Sensex index skidded 10%, triggering a shutdown, but rallied to close down 4.6%. Japan's...

Cell Phone Novels Take Japan by Storm

Audience, sales huge for works written, read on handsets

(Newser) - Japan’s literary world has been rocked by the ascendancy of cell phone novels: serial works written mainly by young women on their phone keypads. The New York Times reports five of 2007’s 10 bestsellers were cell phone novels reprinted as conventional books—despite the fact that the country’...

10 Best Bookstores on Earth
10 Best Bookstores on Earth

10 Best Bookstores on Earth

From the Netherlands to Japan to L.A., a Guardian scribe picks his faves

(Newser) - Not all bookstores are mega-style these days. Some are even built in churches, theaters, and 19-century buildings. A Guardian scribe lists his top 10 booksellers worldwide:
  1. Maastricht, Netherlands: Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen. Owners converted an 800-year-old church into a divine bookstore.
  2. Buenos Aires' El Ateneo. Once a theater, its stage is
...

Aussies Demand Whalers Release Eco-Warriors

Australian goverment moves to free men from belly of whaling ship

(Newser) - An Australian customs ship is steaming on it way to pick up two protesters being held on board a Japanese whaling ship, where they were lashed to a railing, CNN reports. The activists were seized by the ship's crew Tuesday after they boarded to deliver a protest letter saying that...

For Hurting US Companies, World Supplies Band-Aid

In economic sea change, 'we need the money,' one US Rep. says

(Newser) - The subprime collapse has US financial institutions in uncharted waters—asking for help from foreign investors and governments, the Wall Street Journal reports. Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley all have recently sought bailouts, a dramatic switch from a tradition that saw US banks coming to the “rescue of...

Judge Bans Japanese Whalers in Aussie Waters

Eco-warriors 'kidnapped,' tied to ship's mast

(Newser) - An Australian judge has banned hunting by Japanese whalers in a large section of their traditional grounds in Australian-claimed waters off Antarctica. The ruling came today just hours after crew members of a militant eco-ship boarded a Japanese whaling vessel in the Southern Ocean to deliver a protest note—then...

Greenpeace Ship Scatters Japanese Whalers

Hunt for 1,000 whales disrupted in sea chase

(Newser) - The Greenpeace pursuit of Japanese whaling ships continued yesterday after a ship operated by the environmental group earlier chased down and scattered a fleet of six Japanese whaling vessels in the waters off Antarctica. The Japanese fleet plans to hunt down 1,000 whales in what operators call a "...

Risky Showdown Looms as Eco-Ships Near Whalers

High noon on high seas as rival vessels battle to save mammoth creatures

(Newser) - Fears of a deadly battle increased yesterday as a Greenpeace ship began to close in on a Japanese whaling fleet intending to kill 1,000 whales. Also steaming through the Southern Ocean off Antarctica was a far more militant "eco ship," planning to ram the whaling vessels. "...

Japan Eyes Internet Crackdown
Japan Eyes Internet Crackdown

Japan Eyes Internet Crackdown

Tough new proposals protect children, copyrights

(Newser) - Japan has taken a relaxed approach to controlling the Internet in the past, but the government is planning to ratchet up regulation, Ars Technica reports. The communications ministry is looking at ways to bring web and mobile content in line with heavily regulated traditional media. Concerns are high about libelous...

Hello Kitty to Purr for Young Men, Too

Company will make girl-friendly product line palatable for teen boys

(Newser) - Will boys really say “Hello Kitty”? The company behind the sugary-sweet product line thinks so. Japan’s Sanrio Co. says it will plaster the cuddly cat on T-shirts, bags, watches, and other products for males. “We think Hello Kitty is accepted by young men as a design...

Fukuda in China to Thaw Frosty Relations

After strain, Japanese PM's charm offensive delights Beijing

(Newser) - Yasuo Fukuda is in Beijing, where the Japanese PM is hoping to solidify improved relations between two countries with a troubled past.  In contrast to his two predecessors, Fukuda is a pro-Asian leader; as he reminds his Chinese hosts, his own father brought in the Japan-China peace treaty 29...

Electronics Giants Join Forces
Electronics Giants Join Forces

Electronics Giants Join Forces

Panasonic, Hitachi, and Canon announce tie-up

(Newser) - Hitachi, Canon, and Panasonic have announced plans to work to together in moving flat-panel display technology forward, PC World reports. Competition is heating up in the industry, and the companies hope the alliance will accelerate development time. The firms will work together on LCD displays and organic light emitting diode...

Tree That Survived A-Bomb Sees 70th Christmas

Japanese family kept tree through calamities

(Newser) - A Japanese soldier's Christmas tree has stayed with his family through dark times, and even survived the atomic bomb that killed his brother in Nagasaki. This year marks the 70th Christmas that Warren Nobuaki Iwatake has put up the fragile, three-foot tree, which he calls "a shining light, because...

Will Japan Flip for the iPhone?
Will Japan Flip for the iPhone?

Will Japan Flip for the iPhone?

Tech-savvy nation may not be all that jazzed about Apple's bells and whistles

(Newser) - Japan’s tech-savvy market may be a tough sell for Apple’s iPhone, which will face more competition from handset makers there than it has anywhere else in the world, reports BusinessWeek. The market already has phones that send e-mail, browse the Internet, and, more important, are compatible with newer...

Japan Backs Down on Whaling
Japan Backs Down on Whaling

Japan Backs Down on Whaling

Australian pressure leads Tokyo to call off humpback hunt

(Newser) - In its first-ever turnaround on whaling, the Japanese government has dropped its plans to hunt humpbacks. The about-face is a victory for Kevin Rudd, the new Australian prime minister, who had objected strenuously and ordered a patrol of the humpback hunt. Tokyo said, however, that the fleet currently en route...

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