After years of relative calm, the yakuza have recently captured the public imagination in Japan. Shoko Tendo’s story, <i>Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter</i>, has become a surprise bestseller in Japan in 2004, shining a light into a dark and little-understood corner of modern Japan.
Japan’s hot-dog eating champion headed on Thursday to New York to defend his world-famous United States title despite suffering a serious jaw injury. Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi is suffering from jaw arthritis and cannot open his mouth wide enough to even fit in two fingers.
Muggles from all corners of Japan descended on Tokyo on Thursday as Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe swept up the red carpet to the delight of a huge crowd at the premiere of his new film. Japanese ticket winners were the first general viewers in the world to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
The chief architect of Sony’s PlayStation game console stepped down on Tuesday as the Japanese company struggles to defend its dominance in the video-game industry and revive its reputation as an electronics pioneer. Ken Kutaragi (56) stepped down as Sony Computer Entertainment’s chairperson and group chief executive.
A 111-year-old Japanese engineer born at the end of the century before last was awarded official recognition on Monday as the world’s newest oldest man, and joked he was sorry for still being alive. Tomoji Tanabe, a teetotaller who has repeatedly said that avoiding alcohol was a secret of his longevity, was given a certificate from the <i>Guinness Book of World Records</i>.
Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said on Thursday that it had started renting out its "<i>wakamaru</i>" robots to work at the front desk of offices, hospitals and other places in need of the humanoid touch. The robot, which is 1m tall and weighs 30kg, is available to rent for a mere 120Â 000 yen ($1 000) a day for up to five days.
A scandal-tainted minister in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet committed suicide on Monday, compounding problems for the Japanese leader whose support has slumped ahead of a July election. It was the first suicide by a Japanese Cabinet minister since the days after Japan’s defeat in World War II, according to officials at the national library.
Japan’s Agricultural Minister attempted to hang himself amid a scandal over his use of official funds, media reports said on Monday. Toshikatsu Matsuoka (62) was unconscious and his heart had stopped, public broadcaster NHK reported. Japanese police could not immediately comment.
North Korea fired several short-range missiles on Friday morning, even as the United States sounded optimistic about getting six-party talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear-arms programme back on track. Nippon Television said the missiles were surface-to-ship types, and public broadcaster NHK quoted government officials as saying they would not pose a threat to Japan’s security.
Toyota on Thursday launched what it called its most advanced hybrid vehicle yet as part of a drive to roll-out more eco-friendly cars that have helped it become the world’s top-selling automaker. ”Without protecting the environment, there is no future,” Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe said as he showed off the new sedan.
A 17-year-old brought a severed head to a police station on Tuesday and confessed to killing his mother, Japanese media reports said. ”It is in here,” the high-school student who was carrying a bag told officers in the central city of Aizuwakamatsu. Inside, police found a woman’s head.
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4,4 shook buildings in Tokyo on Tuesday. Fire department officials said there were no reports of damage or injuries. No tsunami warning was issued. The quake was centred in Ibaraki prefecture, slightly north of Tokyo, and the focus was at a depth of 40km.
Darth Vader has metamorphosed from an innocent boy to one of cinema’s quintessential symbols of evil. But now he’s getting back to his roots — in Japan. A Tokyo-based traditional doll maker, arguing that Darth Vader was inspired by Japan’s samurai knights, has designed a pitch-black set of armour fashioned after the Galactic Empire’s dreaded enforcer.
Sharks were the wedding witnesses on Thursday as a Japanese couple tied the knot surrounded by water and fish in a unique ceremony at an aquarium. The bride, Nami Arakawa (28), and groom Kosuke Sugiura (29) chose to tie the knot inside a 20m transparent tunnel running through the aquarium.
Japan’s leading toilet maker, Toto, is offering free repairs for 180 000 bidet toilets after wiring problems caused almost 30 units to catch fire or send up smoke, the company said on Monday. The electric bidet accessory of Toto’s Z series caught fire in three separate incidents between March last year and March this year.
Even superheroes get the blues, as Spider-Man discovers in this latest sequel during which he confronts a mutant made of sand, a vengeful former friend and, ultimately, himself. In the sequel, Peter Parker, played by Tobey Maguire, is finally enjoying life with the beautiful Mary Jane Watson, played by Kristen Dunst, when he discovers a mysterious black suit that gives him special powers.
The privatisation of Japan’s post office, which doubles as the world’s biggest savings bank, was hailed around the globe as a watershed free-market reform that would streamline the world’s number-two economy. But just months before the October kick-off date, a darker prospect looms over what will unseat Citigroup as the world’s biggest financial institution.
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7,1 jolted the coastal area of central Japan on Sunday, killing at least one person and injuring around 110, Japanese officials and media said. The focus of the tremor was at a depth of 50km below the seabed off the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture, about 300km from Tokyo.
Disgraced Japanese dot-com tycoon Takafumi Horie slammed his conviction and harsh sentence for securities fraud on Sunday, insisting he had committed no crimes and that he had more than paid for any mistakes by losing his company. ”I did not intentionally attempt to pad earnings, and there was no false accounting,” he said.
Japan’s chief weatherman bowed in apology on Wednesday after a computer glitch meant that Tokyo will have to wait a few days longer than expected to revel under the cherry blossoms. The cherry blossoms bloom for less than a week every year, a rite of spring that is an excuse for nationwide debauchery.
Asian stocks plunged on Wednesday after Wall Street chalked its second-biggest drop in four years and rattled already nervous markets worldwide. The tumble extended a couple weeks of international trading turmoil rooted in concerns about overheated global markets and slower growth in the American economy.
A Japanese construction worker has unearthed a plastic treasure box stuffed with 50-million yen (about R3,2-million), police said on Monday. The 43-year-old found the small box 20cm under the soil as he flattened a vacant lot with an excavator on Saturday in central Aichi prefecture.
Sony has unveiled plans for its own virtual universe for the PlayStation 3 where users will be able to socialise, shop and even go to the movies — all without setting foot outside in the real world. The free service, called <i>Home</i>, will allow PS3 users to set up an apartment for life-like virtual characters, or avatars, which can invite friends or strangers over.
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/ 23 February 2007
For people who want to ensure their words last for their progeny, Japanese scientists have found a way to put a message literally into genes. A Japanese research team said this week it had developed a technology for storing digital data in the DNA of bacteria, which can survive for millennia in the right conditions.
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/ 21 February 2007
United States Vice-President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday the US wants to finish its mission in Iraq and ”return with honour”, despite the war’s growing unpopularity at home and doubts among US allies. Cheney’s visit to Tokyo comes just weeks after Japan’s defence minister said starting the Iraq war was a mistake.
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/ 20 February 2007
Truck maker Nissan Diesel on Tuesday accepted a $1-billion buyout from its largest shareholder Volvo, bracing for growing costs as global rules tighten on gas emissions. Nissan has already cut its capital ties with the truck maker bearing its name to focus on more profitable, lighter vehicles.
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/ 16 February 2007
Japan said on Friday it will join in a United States complaint against China at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over Beijing’s industrial subsidies. "We are planning to participate in the complaint as a third-party country," Trade Minister Akira Amari told reporters. He said Japan decided to join the complaint after a request from Washington.
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/ 8 February 2007
As Japan frets that solid full-time jobs are becoming scarcer, even the mob is turning to part-timers. A police study out Thursday showed that part-time gangsters outnumbered full-time mobsters for the first time on record, even as overall mob membership went down.
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/ 7 February 2007
Japanese copyright holders on Wednesday urged YouTube to do more to tackle unauthorised uploads after the popular video-sharing website agreed to post an infringement warning in Japanese. YouTube’s current policy is to refuse users who violate copyrights three times.
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/ 6 February 2007
A Japanese man told police he stole a patrol car that had been left idling outside a post office in Gunma, north of Tokyo, because he was too tired to walk home. Police officers had left the vehicle in the car park with the engine running while they investigated a report that a stolen card had been used at the post office, the Mainichi newspaper said on Tuesday.
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/ 25 January 2007
A Japanese toymaker selling miniature buses has discovered an unexpected fan base — balding men. The toy is a replica of a bus that used to run in the 1980s to Mashike, a northern town known for herring. But the characters for the town’s name can also be read as "Zoumou", which in Japanese means "increasing hair".
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/ 25 January 2007
Microsoft plans to extend the free support period for its Windows XP Home Edition software at least one year longer than originally planned, a news report said on Wednesday. Darren Huston, president of Microsoft’s Japan unit, said in an interview that the company would extend the support period on a global basis until sometime after 2010.