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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Japan

Japan stories: 377 news summaries

21 - 40 of 377 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... 19 Next >>

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 Japan Loses Its 
 Taste for Luxury 

From food to handbags, high-cost items are suffering

Sep 21, 09 7:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hundred-dollar melons and pricey designer handbags used to sell so well in Japan that companies considered luxury goods a mass-market sector. But while the Japanese kept on shopping through previous recessions, this one has produced a sea change. The luxury industry has been hard hit, and the change may be... More »

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Louis Vuitton • shopping • Japan • recession • Tokyo • luxury • Japanese economy

 Japan Cops 
 Get Tough 
 on Subway 
 Gropers 

Tokyo launches 'groping prevention week'

Sep 18, 09 3:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - Japan has dispatched undercover police officers across Tokyo's commuter rail system to make sure men with wandering hands feel the strong arm of the law, the Guardian reports. Sexual harassment has long been a problem for Tokyo's subway, with two-thirds of young women saying they have been inappropriately touched while... More »

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Japan • Tokyo • groping • commuter train

DVD REVIEW

The Human Condition Is
9.5 Hours, in Japanese...

...and 'the greatest
film ever made'

Sep 16, 09 5:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Criterion Collection re-release of Masaki Kobayashi’s The Human Condition does high-definition justice to the WWII film critic David Shipman has called “unequivocally the greatest film ever made,” according to Very Short List. The movie follows a good—and handsome—man through the “innumerable trials... More »

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film • Japan • World War II • movies • film criticism • The Human Condition • Masaki Kobayashi • Criterion Collection

Hatoyama Confirmed as Japan's New PM

Shift in power marks end of 50 years of conservative rule

Sep 16, 09 5:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Japan's parliament formally voted in Yukio Hatoyama as the country's new prime minister today, ending an almost half-century of rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, CNN reports. The LDP's Taro Aso and his cabinet resigned en masse earlier in the day. Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide election... More »

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Japan • Liberal Democratic Party • Democratic Party of Japan • Taro Aso • Yukio Hatoyama • Japanese election

(Newser) - The Japanese town that triggered a furor after a documentary highlighted its dolphin slaughter is granting a reprieve to 100 of the animals, reports AP. Some 50 dolphins will be sold to aquariums, and the remainder of the 100 trapped for yesterday's first hunt of the season will be released... More »

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Japan • dolphin • Ric O'Barry • dolphins • Flipper • Taiji • The Cove

 Japanese Mull 
 Noisier Hybrids 
 to Protect Blind 

Survey finds blind people are unnerved by silent vehicles

Sep 8, 09 4:08 AM CDT
(Newser) - Japanese automakers are looking into ways to make their super-quiet hybrid cars a lot louder after more than half of blind people surveyed said they were terrified of the vehicles, AP reports. The automakers are considering equipping the vehicles with radar to sense pedestrians and make sounds like engine noises... More »

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Japan • Toyota • Honda • automaker • blindness • hybrid car • pedestrian

 Japan's First Lady 
 Boasts of 'UFO 
 Trip to Venus' 

She rode on 'triangular' ship to 'really green' planet, Hatoyama writes in book

Sep 3, 09 2:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - Japan's quirky new first lady boasts years of colorful experiences, including time as a dancer in the famed Takarazuka troupe—and a trip to space aboard a UFO, according to a book she wrote last year. "While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped... More »

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Japan • UFO • space travel • Venus • first lady • Yukio Hatoyama • Miyuki Hatoyama

 New Leader Hails 
 Japanese 'Revolution' 

Yukio Hatoyama gets to work after historic opposition victory

Aug 31, 09 4:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - Japan's incoming prime minister hailed a democratic "revolution" as more complete results confirmed a sweeping victory for the center-left Democratic Party. Yukio Hatoyama will lead a bloc of more than 300 parliamentary members, more than three times its previous representation, after what the Times of London calls the... More »

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Japan • Liberal Democratic Party • Democratic Party of Japan • Yukio Hatoyama • Japanese election

 Trounced, 
 Japan's 
 Ruling 
 Party 
 to Quit 


Left-wing Democratic Party ousts Liberal Democrats

Aug 30, 09 8:34 AM CDT
(AP) - A top official in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has announced that he and other officials plan to step down after the party's apparent crushing defeat in today's parliamentary elections. LDP Secretary-General Hiroyuki Hosoda said that he and two other top officials plan to submit their resignations to Prime Minister... More »

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Japan • Democratic Party of Japan • Taro Aso • Liberal Democrats • parliamentary elections

Japanese Voters Head to Polls to Boot Leaders

Half century of
power expected
to end today

Aug 30, 09 5:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - Japanese voters began casting ballots today in a general election expected to clean house, reports the Financial Times. The Democratic Party of Japan will almost certainly thump the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled the nation 11 months out of the last 54 years. More »

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Japan • Liberal Democratic Party • Taro Aso • parliamentary elections • Japanese election

Defeat All
but Certain
for Japan's Aso,
Ruling Party

Sunday election likely to
end 54 years in power

Aug 27, 09 6:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Sunday will likely mark a milestone in Japanese politics as voters dump the Liberal Democratic Party after more than a half-century in power, the Washington Post reports. Even senior LDP leaders acknowledge that Yukio Hatoyama will probably trounce incumbent Prime Minister Taro Aso, and polls predict a staggering turnout with... More »

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Japan • Liberal Democratic Party • Democratic Party of Japan • Taro Aso • voter turnout • election • Yukio Hatoyama

US Rep Headed to North Korea
for Nuke Talks

Bilateral negotiations would be first directly between nations

Aug 24, 09 10:11 PM CDT
(Newser) - The US diplomat in charge of North Korea policy will visit Pyongyang next month for the first bilateral nuclear negotiations between the countries, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo reports today. Amid signs from reclusive Kim Jong Il of a thaw in relations, Stephen Bosworth will lead a delegation that will... More »

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China • North Korea • Japan • nuclear weapons • diplomat • Kim Jong Il • six-party agreement • Obama administration • Stephen Bosworth

(Newser) - Far from Japan's hypermodern cities, a few old, blind women are among the last of a centuries-old tradition—they are mediums, or the "itako," calling forth the spirits of the dead for paying visitors. In medieval times, Japan was full of women communing with spirits, but now so... More »

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Japan • spirituality • blindness • mediums • paranormal

(Newser) - Meet Mr. James, the star of McDonald's new ad campaign in Japan: He's a wacky white guy in nerd glasses who speaks broken Japanese, hitches his pants up to his armpits, and probably strikes out with the ladies. Americans living in Japan call the Mr. James campaign racism, while the... More »

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Japan • McDonald's • stereotypes • Mr. James

(Newser) - South Korea scrubbed a planned satellite launch minutes before liftoff today, citing an unspecified technical error, reports the BBC. Seoul has been itching to join the Asian space race and has already produced 10 satellites for other countries' rockets. But the event had threatened to strain recently improved relations with... More »

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China • North Korea • South Korea • India • Japan • satellite • space race

(Newser) - Japan appears to be pulling out of its recession, posting its first economic growth in more than a year, reports the New York Times. The world’s second-largest economy grew by 0.9% in the last three months ending June 30—equivalent to 3.7% annualized growth. Exports grew 6.... More »

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Japan • recession • economic recovery

GOSSIP ROUNDUP

 Mel's Babymama: Don't Judge! 

Plus, Angie: hot or too skinny? It's anyone's guess.

Aug 11, 09 11:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - Oksana Grigorieva may be carrying Mel Gibson’s love child, but she wants “to be judged by my art, by my music,” she tells Reuters in her first interview. “How can I be judged for falling in love? We live in the same city. I don’t... More »

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entertainment • Angelina Jolie • American Idol • Brad Pitt • Japan • Simon Cowell • celebrity • Arrested Development • Beyonce • Mel Gibson • Jessica Simpson • love child • earthquake • Twitter • Will Arnett • Oksana Grigorieva

  Taiwan Mudslide Buries 500 
 in Wake of Typhoon 

Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, China hit; at least 35 dead

Aug 10, 09 9:48 AM CDT
(AP) - A typhoon-spawned mudslide engulfed a mountain village in southern Taiwan, burying up to 600 people, a police official and a rescued villager said today. Earlier, Typhoon Morakot had struck the Philippines, leaving at least 22 dead. Another typhoon slammed into Japan's west coast today, bringing heavy rain that triggered floods... More »

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China • weather • Japan • severe weather • Taiwan • storm • evacuation • Philippines • typhoon • natural disaster • mudslide • Typhoon Morakot

 7.1 Earthquake Rocks Tokyo 

No casualties, or threats of a tsunami, reported

Aug 9, 09 8:37 AM CDT
(Newser) - A 7.1 earthquake rattled Tokyo and surrounding areas today, AP reports. The strong quake, which struck just before 8 pm local time, disrupted trains and a professional baseball game, but so far there are no reports of damage or casualties, and no threat of a resulting tsunami. Japan is... More »

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tsunami • Japan • Tokyo • earthquake

(Newser) - Twitter is planning to launch a service aimed at Japanese cell phone users, Marketwatch reports. The new site will be specifically designed for easy mobile access and browsing via handsets. Twitter and its Japanese partner, Digital Garage, are expected to approach Japanese mobile operators to support the site, according to... More »

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social networking • cell phones • Japan • Twitter

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