It’s the latest headache for Japan’s longest-serving premier, who has already weathered two cronyism scandals in recent years
Japan’s prime minister will use a Cabinet reshuffle to try to mend fences with China and to boost his flagging popularity ahead of general elections.
Japan’s centre-left Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, tearfully resigned on Wednesday, just nine months after a stunning election win.
Hundreds of troops sifted through the splintered remains of a resort hotel in Japan on Sunday in search of survivors after a powerful earthquake.
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/ 9 November 2005
As he escorts yet more visitors through Shari, a town of fish and icebergs on the northern tip of Japan, tour guide Yoshiji Ishii stops and folds inward his outstretched arms. "When entering an abode of the gods, you have to pray like this," explains Ishii, one of Japan’s indigenous Ainu people.
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/ 24 October 2005
Surrounded by a crowd of admirers, 24-year-old Jack has no idea how close his home came to being shut down a decade ago as he dangles from a rope, scratching his shaggy red fur. The orangutan plays happily at a zoo in northern Japan that was saved from the brink of closure and redesigned as a playground for animals that is now the country’s top wildlife attraction.