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by Quentin Tyberghien Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — At least two people have been killed and 18 others are missing in huge floods that are surging through southern Japan, with authorities warning hundreds of thousands of people to flee. Unprecedented torrential rain has caused rivers to burst their banks, sweeping away roads and houses, and destroying schools. Thousands of soldiers and other rescuer workers were scrambling Thursday to reach people cut off by […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Rescuers were being scrambled Thursday to reach areas in southern Japan hit by flash flooding, officials said, with several people feared missing and reports of houses swept away after torrential rains swelled rivers and triggered landslides. Emergency personnel were being deployed from early Thursday following the inundations overnight that caused authorities in Kyushu island and nearby areas to issue emergency evacuation orders to hundreds of thousands of people. The city of […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A 67-year-old former policeman with the world’s biggest Hello Kitty collection has become the envy of little girls everywhere with a quarter of a million dollars worth of moon-faced memorabilia. Masao Gunji, who spent his working life on the trail of hardened criminals, now spends his retirement tracking down pink and white soft toys to keep in a Hello Kitty-themed house, which he built specially and has become a magnet for […]
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party suffered a historic defeat in an election in the Japanese capital on Sunday (July 2), signalling trouble ahead for the premier, who has suffered from slumping support because of a favouritism scandal. On the surface, the Tokyo Metropolitan assembly election was a referendum on Governor Yuriko Koike’s year in office, but the dismal showing for Abe’s party is also a stinging rebuke of his […]
WASHINGTON DC, United States (AFP) – The United States and Japan are united in their efforts to clamp down on North Korea’s “growing threat,” as the regime ramps up its nuclear drive and other belligerent efforts, the White House said Sunday. During a phone call, President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe “reaffirmed that the United States-Japan Alliance stands ready to defend (against) and respond to any threat or action taken by North […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The Artificial Intelligence Expo opened its doors in Tokyo on Wednesday (June 28) for the first time ever, showcasing a variety of next-generation technologies from a robotic sommelier to an emotion analyzer. Japanese logistics solution company VINX collaborated with AI developer Sensy to create the “robot sommelier” which can suggest the best bottle to satisfy a customer’s specific tastes by asking them to fill out a questionnaire following a short tasting […]
by Natsuko Fukue Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) – Three former executives at Fukushima’s operator stand trial this week on the only criminal charges laid in the 2011 disaster, as thousands remain unable to return to homes near the shuttered nuclear plant. The hearing on Friday comes more than a year after ex-Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 77, and former vice presidents Sakae Muto, 66, and Ichiro Takekuro, 71, were formally charged with professional […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Toshiba said Wednesday it has not yet reached a deal to sell its prized chip business to a consortium of United States, Japanese and South Korean investors, as the troubled conglomerate holds a shareholder meeting. The sale, reportedly worth some 2.0 trillion yen ($18 billion), is seen as crucial for the cash-strapped company to plug massive losses at its US nuclear division, Westinghouse Electric. Last week, Toshiba said it has entered […]
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) – Japan’s youngest professional shogi player, Sota Fujii, set a historical record of 29 consecutive victories on Monday (June 26) after sitting through an 11-hour game held in Tokyo. The 14-year old has gone undefeated ever since he made his debut last December, stirring renewed public excitement over the traditional game. The board game, often described as “Japanese chess,” is played on a nine-by-nine board with 20 tiles, where the goal is […]
YOKOSUKA, Japan (Reuters) – More than two thousand people in Yokosuka participated in a memorial service held on Tuesday (June 27) for the seven sailors who died when the USS Fitzgerald collided with a Philippine-flagged container ship. Participants, who included local residents, United States and Japanese military personnel, lined the streets and saluted a row of buses and cars carrying the family members and shipmates of the seven dead sailors, according to the US Navy. Multiple US […]
Japan’s largest warship, the Izumo, steamed into the South China Sea this week in defiance of China, with military guests from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on board to witness helicopters looping over the tropical waters and gunners blasting target buoys. China claims most of the energy-rich sea through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, much of it to and from Japanese ports. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Tokyo shares opened higher Tuesday as the yen’s fall boosted exporters including Toyota and Panasonic, while markets awaited Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s speech later in the day. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.46 percent, or 92.01 points, to 20,245.36 in morning trading, while the Topix index of all first-section issues gained 0.45 percent, or 7.31 points, to 1,619.52 yen. In currency markets, the dollar firmed to 111.92 yen, against […]
