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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Japan

Japan stories: 377 news summaries

361 - 377 of 377 Stories | << Prev 1 ... 15 16 17 18 19

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Quake Triggers Wave of Nuke Plant Fears

Japanese disaster boosts movement for tighter control of power sources

Jul 18, 07 5:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - New fears about the safety of nuclear power are rattling Japan after radioactive material leaked from a reactor damaged in this week's magnitude 6.8 earthquake. Plants must be built to withstand a 6.5, but stronger quakes are common on the Pacific Rim, and this year all 12 of... More »

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nuclear power • Japan • nuclear reactor • Pacific Rim • nuclear power plant • earthquake

Japanese Don't Want Their Day in Court

Traditional values clash with forthcoming jury-style system

Jul 16, 07 7:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - Japan is switching to a jury-style system in 2009, but according to polls, 80% of Japanese don't want to serve. The new system clashes with traditional Japanese values, including deferral to authority and a reluctance to argue in public. To help win over the public, mock trials are being held... More »

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Japan • trial

Quake Rocks Japan

Six killed, hundreds hurt;
Kashiwazaki is hardest hit

Jul 16, 07 8:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Japan early Monday, killing six people, injuring hundreds, and causing a fire in a nuclear power plant. The quake hit Kashiwazaki the hardest—2,000 people were evacuated from the city. "I almost fainted by the fear of shaking," a shopkeeper there... More »

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Japan • Kashiwazaki • earthquake • aftershock

Typhoon Drowns Southern Japan

40 ft waves and 150mph winds; at least 17 injured,100,000 homes without power

Jul 13, 07 1:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - A massive typhoon is pummeling the Japanese island of Okinawa, stirring up 40 foot waves and 150mph winds which are overturning trucks and ripping trees from the ground. Super typhoon Man-yi has injured at least 17 people and cut the electricity to nearly 100,000 homes. "This is one... More »

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weather • Japan • storm • winds • typhoon • Typhoon Man Yi • Southern Japan • Okinawa • Tokyo • rain • waves • flights

Mystery Man Dumps Cash in Bathrooms

Flush benefactor has Japanese investigators following the money

Jul 12, 07 12:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - The yen is in the toilet once again. Someone has left over 400 bundles, each containing about $80 worth of the stuff, in men's bathrooms all over Japan. The cash is being discovered in the powder rooms of government offices, along with notes enjoining the lucky gentleman who finds the... More »

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philanthropy • Japan • yen • bathroom

Japanese TV Is Losing to Wii

Nintendo system
steals prime-time audiences as families play together

Jul 11, 07 5:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - Ratings are plummeting for Japanese prime-time TV shows as audiences increasingly turn to playing games on Nintendo's Wii system. Wii, which dominates the nation's $30B video games market, has stolen TV's "golden hour,"  thanks in part to parents who are choosing to share family time on Wii's... More »

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television • Japan • Nintendo Wii • parents • Playstation 3 • audiences • TV shows • primetime TV • Japanese • video games

Japanese Airline Bans Bulldogs

All other breeds remain off summer no-fly list

Jul 7, 07 10:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - Japanese airline JAL has imposed a ban on bulldogs after heat-related deaths, the BBC reports. The problem isn't in the cargo hold, where they ride in climate-controlled baskets, but sitting on the toasty tarmac, or in baggage handling areas that aren't air conditioned. All other dog breeds, 60,000 of... More »

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Japan • airline • dog

Japanese Pol Resigns Over A-Bomb Gaffe

Defense minister
said WWII bombings were inevitable

Jul 3, 07 8:08 AM CDT
(Newser) - Japan's defense minister has resigned in a storm of protest over remarks he made last weekend that the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified. Fumio Kyuma said he understood the US decision to drop the bombs, and that "it couldn't be helped." He also suggested that... More »

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Japan • Fumio Kyuma • Hiroshima • Nagasaki • atomic bomb

Hot-Dog-Eating Champ Out With Strained Jaw

5-year wiener reign could end July 4

Jun 29, 07 5:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - Will the 4th of July ever be the same? For 5 years, the day has belonged to Takeru Kobayashi, the unstoppable winner of Nathan's annual hot dog eating contest. But the chow champ—a Japanese professional eater nicknamed "tsnuami" for his technique—is in a pickle. He can barely... More »

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Japan • Takeru Kobayashi • Joey Chestnut • hot dogs • Nathan's • contest • competition • world record

Tuna Shortage Triggers
Sushi Crisis

Japanese chefs resort to deer and even
horse meat

Jun 25, 07 4:21 AM CDT
(Newser) - Plummeting supplies of tuna have become a recipe for disaster in Japan, where sushi lovers eat 60,000 tons of the fish a year. Desperate chefs are experimenting with increasingly bizarre sushi substitutes, including deer and even horse, the New York Times reports. But sushi without tuna in Japan is... More »

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food • Japan • tuna • fish • horse • deer • sushi

Japan Renames Iwo Jima

Old name evokes bitter memories of bloody battle

Jun 21, 07 4:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - Iwo Jima, the Japanese island that hosted one of the most horrific battles of World War II, is getting a new handle. The BBC reports the Japanese government is officially rechristening the island Iwo To, which was its name until 1944. Iwo Jima is best known for photographer Joe Rosenthal's... More »

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Japan • Iwo Jima • Iwo To • Joe Rosenthal • Mt. Suribachi • Clint Eastwood • World War II

Pension Flub Could Doom Japanese PM

Government loses track of 64M checks, enraging voters

Jun 14, 07 1:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - A pension scandal rocking Japan threatens to bring down the ruling party, and it could take PM Shinzo Abe with it. Sixty-four million pension payments—in a country of 130 million—have gone missing, and that's riling Japan's growing gray-haired population. The pensioners may pay Abe back with a vote... More »

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Japan • pensions • Shinzo Abe • Liberal Democratic Party • Social Security • scandal

Scandal-Plagued Japanese Minister Dead

Matsuoka's suicide is another blow to Abe government

May 28, 07 8:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - Facing questioning in an investigation of political contributions, the Japanese agriculture minister hanged himself at his Tokyo home today. Toshikatsu Matsuoka had refused calls to resign or explain reports of financial improprieties, but embattled PM Shinzo Abe had stood by him. Abe faces a serious challenge to his Liberal Democratic... More »

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suicide • Japan • Shinzo Abe • Toshikatsu Matsuoka • Liberal Democratic Party • election • scandal

Suicide Takes A Communal Turn

Japanese groups
gather in online chat rooms to plot very
real suicides

Apr 23, 07 2:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Of all the things initiated in anonymous online chat rooms, group suicide has to be the most macabre. David Samuels explores  why hundreds of Japanese adults, previously unknown to each other, have gathered to die together in small groups, often asphyxiating themselves in cars by carefully placing charcoal burners to... More »

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suicide • depression • Japan • group suicide • chat room • death

Mobster Guns Down Nagasaki Mayor

Officials attribute slaying to grudge against city

Apr 18, 07 1:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - The mayor of Nagasaki was murdered yesterday by a gangster affiliated with Japan's largest organized-crime syndicate. The assassin, who shot Iccho Ito twice in the back, reportedly was steamed that the city refused to pay for damages to his car after he drove it into a hole at a construction... More »

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Japan • organized crime • Iccho Ito • Yakuza • murder • Nagasaki • Tetsuya Shiroo

Matsuzaka Fires Gem in Much-Hyped Debut

$103 million Japanese rookie strikes out 10 Royals as Red Sox win

Apr 6, 07 9:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Red Sox's $103-million man Daisuke Matsuzaka lived up to the hype last night, holding the Kansas City Royals to just one run on six hits in his Major League debut. In front of 200 Japanese media members, Matsuzaka dazzled the Royals hitters with a power fastball and his famed... More »

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sports • MLB • Boston Red Sox • Daisuke Matsuzaka • Kansas City Royals • Japan • Buddy Bell

THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT SUDOKU

The godfather of sudoku has hundreds more in the pipeline

Mar 21, 07 11:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - Nikoli, the Japanese publisher that turned sudoku into a blockbuster, has about 250 more where that came from, most of them unknown outside Japan. Founded by a college dropout with a horseracing habit, the company doesn't invent puzzles, it relies on its readership to submit ideas, as well as help... More »

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games • sudoku • Nikoli • puzzles • Japan

361 - 377 of 377 Stories | << Prev 1 ... 15 16 17 18 19


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