Japan

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'It's Like Somebody Hit Me In the Face With a Shovel'

Canadian Rocker stunned to get back guitar stolen in 1976

(Newser) - An amateur internet sleuth needed a project for the pandemic lockdowns, so he took a break from researching the DB Cooper mystery to help an aging Canadian rocker reunite with his favorite guitar. William Long is a fan of Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive guitarist Randy Bachman. He heard the...

They Were Promised 'Paradise.' The Destination: North Korea

Lawsuit in Japan seeks retribution for decades-long repatriation program

(Newser) - Some 93,000 people moved from Japan to North Korea in the latter half of the 20th century, many believing they would encounter a "paradise." North Korea—desperate for labor amid efforts to rebuild following two tragic wars—suggested these migrants, many of whom were ethnic Koreans who'...

'I, Fumio Kishida, Have a Special Skill of Listening to People'

He is now Japan's new prime minister

(Newser) - Update: Fumio Kishida has officially replaced Yoshihide Suga as prime minister of Japan. The country's parliament formally elected him to the position Monday, after Suga's resignation earlier in the day, the AP reports. Our original story from Sept. 29 follows: Former Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida won the...

Princess Mako Will Still Marry a Commoner, but With a Hitch

Japanese princess will forgo $1.35M payment to give up royal status

(Newser) - It's been a bumpy road for Japan's Princess Mako and her fiance, college sweetheart Kei Komuro, as they've prepared for their wedding over the past three-plus years, with controversy swirling over the finances of Komuro's family. At least the couple, both 29, could console themselves with...

Japan's Prime Minister Is Stepping Down

Yoshihide Suga is out of the running for governing party's leadership

(Newser) - Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says he won’t run for the leadership of the governing party at the end of this month, paving the way for a new Japanese leader. Suga told reporters Friday that he will not run in the Sept. 29 leadership race for his governing...

2 Men Die After Moderna Shot, Japan Is Investigating

Shots came from different lot than one that had contaminants in it

(Newser) - Two Japanese men died days after getting the Moderna vaccine against COVID. Their doses came from a lot that was pulled from use. Three lots were pulled because contaminants were found in one of them, but the men who died got their doses from a different lot in which no...

Fukushima Has a Plan for Its Tainted Water

Nuclear plant will build an undersea tunnel and pump it out

(Newser) - The Fukushima nuclear plant is going to run out of room soon to store radioactive water that keeps building up. Solution: Japan will build an undersea tunnel and starting pumping the tainted water into the ocean, reports AFP . The water will be treated to remove most, though not all, of...

Japan Sentences Yakuza Mobster to Death

Sentence for Kudo-kai kingpin Nomura Satoru is the first of its kind

(Newser) - The head of one of Japan's most violent organized crime groups has been sentenced to death by hanging. Nomura Satoru, leader of a Yakuza crime syndicate based in the southern city of Fukuoka, was convicted of ordering four attacks, one of which killed the former chief of a fishing...

Roller Coaster Shuts After Riders Report Broken Bones

Japan's Do-Dodonpa roller coaster goes from zero to 112mph in 1.56 seconds

(Newser) - A roller coaster that can go from zero to 112mph in 1.56 seconds: What could go wrong? Something, perhaps. The Do-Dodonpa roller coaster at the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park in Japan has been indefinitely put on ice while officials investigate whether riders sustained injuries because of it—and fairly...

He Dropped Out of School, Helped Popularize This Famous Puzzle

Maki Kaji, known as the 'Godfather of Sudoku,' has died at age 69

(Newser) - Maki Kaji, who helped popularize the numbers puzzle sudoku, and whose life's work was spreading the joy of puzzles, has died, his Japanese company said Tuesday. He was 69 and had bile duct cancer, reports the AP . Known as the "Godfather of Sudoku," Kaji wanted the puzzle...

Downpours Swamp Japan
Downpours Could Last a Week
photos
Aug 14, 2021 5:35 PM CDT

Downpours Could Last a Week

More than 5M residents have been advised to evacuate

(Newser) - Heavy rains are causing floods, landslides, and evacuations in Japan, with millions of people advised to flee. The nation's meteorological authority issued evacuation warnings Saturday covering more than 5 million people, CNN reports. The agency warned that the rain front could remain over Japan for a week. The southwest...

Lambda Variant Turns Up in Japan, Linked to Olympics

Japanese health ministry didn't disclose case until after Games ended

(Newser) - The delta variant is spreading in the population and in the news. But the lambda variant of the virus that causes COVID, which popped up in South America, is definitely attracting the attention of researchers, who fear it might be more resistant to vaccines than other variants. And now it’...

Hurdler Who Won Gold Thanks Volunteer Who Got Him to the Race

Hansle Parchment almost missed his chance at Olympic medal after he went to wrong venue

(Newser) - If your mother always told you give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport, or to your Olympic 110-meter hurdling competition, we hope you've listened. Hansle Parchment will likely leave the house way early from now on, after the Jamaican hurdler almost missed his chance to compete...

IOC Says It's Replacing Medal Munched by Mayor

Nagoya mayor apologizes for biting softball pitcher Miu Goto's medal

(Newser) - An Olympic athlete in Japan is getting a new gold medal to replace one that a mayor decided to chomp on during a ceremony last week. Tokyo 2020 organizers say they will give softball pitcher Miu Goto a new medal to replace the one Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamure bit into...

Family Member Have a Baby? Hug a Bag of Rice

It's a workaround in Japan for relatives who can't visit with newborns during the pandemic

(Newser) - Congratulations, you're the proud new grandfather of a bouncing baby ... bag of rice? That's the idea behind a product created by Kome no Zoto Yoshimiya, a rice company in Japan owned by Naruo Ono. Relatives who can't visit new parents due to the pandemic will instead receive...

Feds: $5.8K Bottle of Whiskey Given to Pompeo Is Missing

It was a gift from the government of Japan

(Newser) - A recent notice in the Federal Register list dozens of gifts from foreign governments to federal employees in 2019, all with the same reason for acceptance: "Non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and US government." But the annual accounting of gifts contains one mystery: The whereabouts of a...

Fleeing the Games, Sprinter Made a Last-Minute Switch

Wary of security, Belarus sprinter changed flight plans from Warsaw to Vienna at last minute

(Newser) - Change of travel plans for Krystsina Tsimanouskaya—she's headed to Vienna instead of Warsaw, at least initially. The Washington Post reports on the continuing drama swirling around the 24-year-old Olympic sprinter, who boarded a plane bound for Poland on Wednesday, less than three days after Belarus authorities took her...

Japanese Macaque Shatters Monkey Glass Ceiling

Yakei, 9, bested her group's alpha and now gets to eat peanuts first

(Newser) - A monkey in Japan got first crack at some peanuts and made history. Yakei, a female macaque monkey at the Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden on Kyushu, is the alpha of a troop of 677 monkeys. When her troop let her eat peanuts put out by keepers at the park, it...

Japan Had Never Hit 10K COVID Cases— Until Yesterday

Country expands its virus emergency

(Newser) - Japan expanded a coronavirus state of emergency to four more areas in addition to Tokyo on Friday following record spikes in infections as the capital hosts the Olympics. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared an emergency in Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba, near Tokyo, as well as in the western city of...

Osaka's Loss Draws Criticism, Questions in Japan

Nation's cultural diversity issues resurface after Olympics match

(Newser) - Naomi Osaka's third-round loss at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday did more than defy her image as a local tennis star certain to win the gold medal. It shook Japan's notions of its racial and cultural identity, and many people let her know it, the New York Times...

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