A Japanese toy maker will launch a karaoke machine measuring a mere 7cm this year, letting pop star wannabes hone their skills on the go.
Heads of 100 of the world’s biggest companies will on Friday call on political leaders to agree huge cuts in greenhouse gases.
Hundreds of troops sifted through the splintered remains of a resort hotel in Japan on Sunday in search of survivors after a powerful earthquake.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7,2 struck rural northern Japan on Saturday, killing at least three people.
A firefighter in Japan lost his job after city officials found out he had been driving ambulances and fire trucks for over 20 years without a driver’s licence, an official in Takaoka City, central Japan, said on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old man arrested on Sunday for stabbing seven people to death on a Tokyo street warned that he was about to kill indiscriminately in messages to an online notice board.
The Akihabara district attracts its share of troubled types — typically, socially inept young men who view the world through the prism of manga comics and computer games. But while thousands go there to find acceptance and a kind of camaraderie, Tomohiro Kato arrived there on Sunday for very different reasons.
A loner who was ”tired of life” killed at least seven people and injured 10 others in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon in a frenzied knife attack that sent shock waves across Japan.
A man drove a truck into a crowd of pedestrians in a popular Tokyo shopping district and then went on a stabbing rampage on Sunday.
Group of Eight energy ministers on Sunday looked inward for solutions to oil’s unrelenting rally.
United States Energy Secretary Sam Bodman called on Saturday for more countries to scrap fuel price subsidies that stoke oil demand.
A paralysed man using only his brain waves has been able to manipulate a virtual internet character, Japanese researchers said on Monday, calling it a world first. The 41-year-old patient used his imagination to make his character take a walk and chat to another virtual person on the popular Second Life website.
A Japanese man puzzled by food mysteriously disappearing from his refrigerator got a shock when he found out a woman had been living in his home for months without permission, police said on Friday. The 57-year-old man living alone — or so he thought — installed a security camera and called the police when he saw images of someone walking around his home while he was out.
African leaders and Japan pledged on Friday to get to work to ramp up food production, calling it ”critical” for the continent’s development amid a crisis over soaring prices. Japan also pledged to step up foreign aid and investment to Africa, at a three-day summit with 51 African nations in Yokohama, near Tokyo.
Kenya President Mwai Kibaki said on Wednesday that his country has learned its lesson from post-election violence and promised to focus on improving the economy. Kenya, long considered one of Africa’s most stable countries, suffered weeks of political violence that claimed at least 1 500 lives after the disputed December general elections.
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda pledged on Wednesday to double Tokyo’s aid to Africa by 2012 to spur growth and attract private investment — a model that helped propel post-war Japan into economic prosperity. Japan will provide up to -billion in flexible, low-interest ”soft loans” to Africa over the next five years.
A Japanese brewery on Tuesday said it was planning the first "space beer", using offspring of barley once stored at the International Space Station. Researchers said the project was part of efforts to prepare for a future in which humans spend extended periods of time in space — and might like a cold beer after a space walk.
Environment ministers from the G8 rich nations on Monday urged their leaders to set a global target to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a small but vital step in the fight against climate change. But they stopped short of suggesting specific interim targets ahead of 2050, a key demand of developing countries in tough United Nations-led talks to forge a new treaty on global warming.
One of the travellers who arrived at Tokyo’s Narita airport over the weekend may have picked up an unusual souvenir from customs — a package of cannabis. A customs official hid the package in a suitcase belonging to a passenger arriving from Hong Kong as a training exercise for sniffer dogs on Sunday.
A Japanese plumber was arrested for calling a toll-free number around 500 times so he could hear a taped female voice, police said on Monday. Hiroyuki Nomoto, a 38-year-old Tokyo resident, was arrested on suspicion of obstructing the business of the company, a food firm based in the city of Takasaki north of the capital.
A stray parrot was reunited with its owner in Japan after repeating his name and address at the local veterinary clinic that took it in, police said on Wednesday. Police captured the red-tailed African Grey parrot earlier this month after a woman called to say it was sitting on a fence in her backyard outside Tokyo, a Chiba police official said.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stressed his company’s independent spirit on Monday, after a report the social networking site might be sold to software giant Microsoft, which is hunting for ways to beef up its internet business. Asked specifically about the prospect of a sale, Zuckerberg declined to comment.
Drivers in Japan can check on their pets, turn lights off and on and lock their front door, all from inside their cars — with a new car navigation system from Panasonic. The Strada F-Class guides drivers with maps to destinations, but the gadget also links to your home through an internet-linking cellphone.
Meteorologists may not always feel appreciated, but at the Beijing Olympics at least they will have their own contest. Weather agencies from eight countries or territories plan to hold their own competition during the Games in August, squaring off on which one can most accurately predict conditions in Beijing, the Japanese side said on Friday.
Microsoft chairperson Bill Gates on Wednesday played down the chances of a fresh takeover bid for Yahoo!, saying the United States software giant would focus on an independent strategy. "We put a lot of effort into talking to Yahoo! and the conclusion was reached that we should pursue our own independent path," he told reporters during a visit to Tokyo.
Japanese team Super Aguri are pulling out of Formula One racing after prolonged financial difficulties, founder Aguri Suzuki said on Tuesday. ”I have been very happy that I was able to achieve a miracle and become a team owner, but I have to make the difficult decision to withdraw,” Suzuki told a news conference.
Japan and China will cooperate in a -million project to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from a thermal power plant, a Japanese daily reported on Saturday. Under the plan of the project, emitted carbon dioxide from a thermal power plant will be injected into a major Chinese oil field to extract more crude oil, the report said.
Thinking of throwing out your old cellphone? Think again. Maybe you should mine it first for gold, silver, copper and a host of other metals embedded in the electronics — many of which are enjoying near-record prices. It’s called ”urban mining”, scavenging through the scrap metal in old electronic products in search of such gems as iridium and gold.
Crowds of Chinese students waving red flags and signs such as ”One World, One Dream, One China” scuffled with pro-Tibet protesters in the latest leg of the Olympic torch relay in Japan on Saturday. Commenting on the turmoil that has bedevilled the global relay, International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge urged the West to stop hectoring China over human rights.
World business chiefs gathered in Tokyo on Thursday to discuss ways to tackle global warming as transatlantic tensions emerged over how far industry should go to reduce emissions. The heads of the business federations of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations agreed that climate change needs serious attention.
Old dentures can be stained and unsightly, but for a project raising money for charity, they’re a potential gold mine. The Japan Denture Recycle Association started in December 2006 and so far has recycled 30 000 dentures, generating 18-million yen ( 500) for charity.
Japan has more than 38 000 unofficial middle- and high-school websites that are not overseen by the schools, and harassment, sexual content and violent slang are prevalent among them, an Education Ministry survey showed. ”We didn’t really know what exactly was going on out there,” said a ministry official.