Japan’s newest bullet train line, now a year old, has led to a better-than-expected threefold increase in the number of rail passengers traveling between Tokyo and Hokuriku and lifted that region’s tourism industry. Monday marked the first anniversary of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, which is jointly operated by East Japan Railway and West Japan Railway. It connects […]
The Philippines is the world’s second largest producer of coconuts. Last week, the Philippine coconut was showcased in the Food Philippines pavilion at Foodex Japan, the largest food and beverage trade show in Asia, held in Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan. Coconut is a top dollar earner in the agricultural export industry. Its products include coconut […]
The number of foreign residents in Japan came to 2,232,189 at the end of 2015, rewriting an all-time high, the Justice Ministry said Friday. Of the total, 665,847 were from mainland China, 457,772 from South Korea and 229,595 from the Philippines. The 2015 sum of medium- to long-term foreign residents and specially permitted permanent residents […]
Police in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, said Sunday they have arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of stabbing his mother to death with a kitchen knife. Police said the boy called 110 at around 7 p.m. Saturday and said he had stabbed his mother, Fuji TV reported. The 52-year-old woman was rushed to hospital where she […]
Tokyo police have arrested 4 members of a criminal gang affiliated with Japan’s largest yakuza syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, in possible connection with an ongoing conflict between groups.Investigators say the four allegedly beat up a 35-year-old man in the Kabukicho entertainment district in Shinjuku on February 15th. The attack was caught on video and posted online. […]
The Imperial Household Agency says it will increase opportunities for the public to visit the grounds of the Imperial Palaces in Kyoto and Tokyo.The Agency says it will open the palace compound in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto year-round instead of only for 5 days each in the spring and fall.The palace includes buildings where […]
Honda has put on sale a new fuel-cell vehicle that can travel 30 percent longer on a single charge of hydrogen, compared with previous models.Fuel-cell vehicles run on electricity generated by combining hydrogen in a storage tank with oxygen in the air. The tail pipe emits water only. Honda engineers say the new model can […]
Police in Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture, said Thursday that a 73-year-old woman was found dead at her home with a cord tied around her neck. At around 10 p.m., on Thursday, Katsuyo Sugiura was found dead, face up in a tatami room on the first floor of her residence, Fuji TV reported. Her son, who lives […]
A ceremony of remembrance has been held in Tokyo for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on March 11th, 2011.About 1,200 people attended the government-sponsored event on Friday, the 5th anniversary of the disaster that also triggered the nuclear plant accident in Fukushima.Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, and Prime Minister Shinzo […]
According to the board, some cities in Chiba Prefecture, including Kashiwa, Nagareyama, Noda and Abiko, are considering entirely abolishing kumitaiso. Injuries from kumitaiso, a form of physical education in which people use their bodies to express shapes, including human pyramids, numbered 432 cases in the last fiscal year at elementary and junior high schools in […]
