JAPAN

A powerful earthquake jolted southern Japan on Sunday, killing an elderly woman and injuring at least 381 people, disrupting transport and prompting a tsunami warning that was later cancelled. Buildings swayed, and aftershocks continued to rattle the region. Genkai, an island off the coast of Kyushu, was evacuated after homes collapsed and roofs caved in.

Move over Michael. Here comes a former Japanese race queen raring to become a ”racing” queen in the man’s, man’s world of formula one. Keiko Ihara, who swapped the model’s leotard and make-up for a racing suit and helmet in 1999 at the age of 26, declares her goal to be Germany’s seven-time formula-one champion Michael Schumacher.

Japanese police have found the mummified body of a 107-year-old man, who died up to a decade ago, wearing a clean kimono at his house near Osaka, an official said on Wednesday. An official with the Itami city hall said the city is considering asking the man’s family to return gifts it has received since 1999 as a token of the man’s longevity.

Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova can’t wait to be back in Tokyo, where she won her first professional title, first WTA titles and this weekend triumphed at the Pan Pacific Open. But success has caught up with her and it will be at least one year before the skyrocketing Russian starlet is eligible to play again in her favourite city.

World number one Lindsay Davenport and Russia’s Elena Dementieva advanced to the quarterfinals of the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament with victories over Japanese opponents in Tokyo on Thursday. American top seed Davenport faced a tougher-than-expected challenge before beating Saori Obata 6-4, 6-3 in 64 minutes.

Japanese people who are too shy to work up the courage to say "I love you", or at least want a little surprise, have a new option: a bean plant that sprouts to read a special message. Japan’s second-largest toymaker will soon start marketing of the gift cans, which hold soil and the small plant bearing a message that sprouts up in about five days.

An earthquake registering 6,3 on the Richter scale shook the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido on Tuesday night, Kyodo news agency reported, citing the Japan Meteorological Agency. Earlier, a moderate earthquake measuring 4,6 on the Richter scale shook the central region of Niigata.

An enormous white zeppelin described as the world’s largest successfully completed its maiden flight on Friday in Japan. The German-made, 75m-long airship wafted into blue skies above the western port city of Kobe on Friday morning for half an hour before embarking on a five-hour flight to Nagoya in central Japan.

For all those concerned about the texture of their toast, a Japanese manufacturer said on Wednesday it has created a ”super toaster” that heats the bread a split-second after slicing it. Billed as a first, the super toaster can hold two loaves of bread and slice them with internal blades before making them crispy with infrared light.

Hidenobu Murakawa stops his tour for a moment and apologises for the interruption. It’s the midday crunch, and he doesn’t want to disturb the bereaved.
The crematorium is his pride and joy, and performs 15 000 cremations each year. With precious little space left in Japan for traditional graves, innovation has become important.

Japanese officials have urged the ageing nation to cut their rice cakes before eating them after three elderly people choked to death on the New Year’s delicacy. Tokyo residents aged 75, 79 and 80 died of suffocation and 27 others were hospitalised over the holiday weekend after failing to swallow down the thick white cakes.

The Japanese cult behind a deadly 1995 gas attack on the Tokyo subway will end a ritual in which followers spend long hours in scalding water after a sect member died in a bathtub, officials said on Monday. Wakashio Togashi (45), who had been a senior member of the Aum Supreme Truth cult, was found dead in the bathtub at another Aum follower’s house.

A Japanese man kept his 21-year-old girlfriend confined in handcuffs for 11 days in his apartment because he worried she may date other men, police said on Wednesday. Police said he told investigators: ”I was afraid that she may date other men if I left her by herself.”

Protective fibres woven into bulletproof vests for United States troops in Iraq are being put to the test outside the battlefield — by Japanese schoolchildren. Madre, a Japanese security firm, said internet orders in Japan have been trickling in for knife-resistant sweatshirts and windbreakers it makes for children.

A Japanese firm said on Wednesday it has created a jellyfish-shaped robot that can alert homeowners to burglars or housesit for their pets — and, when not at work, lounge about and be ”beautiful”. Roborior, a transparent robot that can glow blue or red, is equipped with a camera, speaker and hi-tech sensor.

The delicate, human side of Godzilla played by a real actor has drawn crowds for 50 years and shows that high-tech Hollywood doesn’t have all the answers, the creators of the Japanese monster’s latest instalment said on Wednesday. True to tradition, the film was shot almost entirely with a man dressed up as the fire-breathing giant reptile.

A team of tech-savvy but patient experts in their fifties and sixties has been set up to offer consultancy for Japan’s growing number of elderly small-business owners on their computer needs, the Japanese arm of IBM said on Thursday. The group includes 20 veterans of the information-technology industry between 52 and 67 years old.

Japan was on alert on Wednesday after a suspected Chinese nuclear submarine entered its territorial waters, setting off a chase on the high sea amid mounting disputes between the Asian powers. The incident comes amid a series of disputes between Japan and China, including friction over gas-exploration rights in the East China Sea.

A series of powerful tremors on Monday rattled a central Japanese region still reeling from last month’s earthquake, slightly injuring 13 people just as the last schools shut by the tragedy reopened. Nineteen tremors, with the strongest measuring 5,9 on the Richter scale and felt in Tokyo, struck in Niigata prefecture.

A British acupuncturist in Tokyo has promised to treat everyone who walks into his clinic for free the day after Tuesday’s United States election, if George Bush loses — even the would-be ex-president himself. Edward Obaidey, who treats about 20 people a day, said he stands to lose about 120 000 yen if Senator John Kerry wins.

A man allegedly broke in to a house in western Japan with the intention of robbing it, but was so drunk that he fell asleep in his victim’s home without stealing a thing, police said on Monday. The occupant returned to his home in Kobe city on Sunday afternoon to find the unemployed suspect asleep on the floor upstairs

African leaders pitched on Monday for more trade and investment from Asia, saying they were pushing through economic and political reforms that will open up business opportunities in the continent. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo told the opening of the two-day conference in Tokyo that the continent of more than 750-million people was rich with resources for Asian investors.

For four decades, Japan’s high-speed ”bullet” trains have moved millions of people through this earthquake-prone nation efficiently, at high speed and without a single derailment — until now. The 6,8-magnitude quake that ravaged northern Japan on Saturday knocked the Toki No 325 bullet train off its tracks.