Japanese police are renewing their call for people not to play the hugely popular smartphone game Pokémon Go while driving a car or riding a bicycle.The National Police Agency is making the appeal after drivers and cyclists have caused 36 accidents since the game debuted in Japan last Friday. Four of them resulted in injuries. […]
A shark is believed to have attacked a 29-year-old man Sunday evening when he was surfing in shallow waters off Irino Beach, a popular surfing spot in Kuroshio, Kochi Prefecture. The local Japan Coast Guard office quoted the man as saying a creature that seemed to be a shark bit his left leg and tried […]
A Japanese council for cultural affairs endorsed on Monday Christian churches and related sites in the southwestern prefectures of Nagasaki and Kumamoto for addition to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2018. Following cabinet approval, the Japanese government is set to submit the recommendation to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee by Feb. 1, 2017, for […]
A traditional ritual at a shrine in Fukushima Prefecture saw participants attempting to catch free-running horses with only their bare hands.The event took place on Monday, the last day of a 3-day traditional summer festival, in the Odaka district of Minamisoma City. Earlier this month, the government lifted an evacuation order on the district. It […]
Fountain at the park resembles a Poke ball when viewed from above. Hundreds of Pokemon Go players have been flocking to a park here since Saturday night, dubbing the hotspot “sacred ground” due to the resemblance one of the park’s features has with a key part of the game. Players were glued to their smartphones as they […]
The Miss Mikawa 2016 was held on Sunday (24), at Tatsumigaoka Hall, Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture, in the first edition of this contest organized by Lobo Plus, gathering beautiful women from several regions in Japan. Sixteen contestants representing the cities of Toyota, Okazaki, Kariya, Anjo, Toyohashi, Toyokawa, Tahara, Nishio, Gamagori, Kota and Nagoya, as well as Gifu […]
Foreign tourism is on track to break the record set in 2015 after an estimated 11.71 million visited Japan in the first half, up 28 percent from a year ago, the Japan Tourism Agency said Wednesday. Last year saw 19.74 million people visit. The boom is being stoked by government tourism measures including eased visa […]
Yokohama District Court sentenced a 28-year-old Japanese male babysitter on Wednesday to 26 years in prison for charges including the murder of a two-year-old boy under his care in 2014. Presiding Judge Takao Katayama said, “The accused abused his position as a babysitter to commit a very malicious act.” At his trial with lay judges, […]
The Kyoto State Guest House in Japan’s ancient capital has begun accepting tourists all year round in a bid to draw more people from inside and outside the country.Japan’s second state guest house for welcoming foreign dignitaries was built in traditional Japanese style. Until now, the facility was open to the public for only about […]
A traditional Japanese hot-spring hotel opened on Wednesday in the heart of Tokyo’s business district.The luxury Hoshinoya Tokyo has 84 tatami-mat rooms and a natural-spring spa pumping thermal waters from a depth of 1,500 meters. Guests are required to remove their shoes at the first-floor entrance. Traditional Japanese lodging is rare in this area of […]
