Japan

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'Japan's Beethoven' Admits 18-Year Fraud

Mamoru Samuragochi lost hearing at age 35

(Newser) - The success of 50-year-old composer Mamoru Samuragochi, who is deaf, has prompted the nickname "Japan's Beethoven." Trouble is, it turns out he hasn't written his own music in decades. "I started hiring (a) person to compose music for me around 1996, when I was asked...

Va. Governor in Deep Trouble Over ... Sea of Japan?

Textbook change sparks international incident

(Newser) - More than 100 people crammed the hallways outside a small subcommittee meeting room in Virginia's legislature yesterday, cheering as the bill under consideration moved forward, the Daily Press reports. The bill that raised such passion sounds innocuous enough—it would require textbooks to mention that the Sea of Japan...

Japan Launches Dolphin Slaughter
Japan Finishes Dolphin Slaughter—Under Cover
UPDATED
Jan 21, 2014 7:50 AM CST

Japan Finishes Dolphin Slaughter—Under Cover

Dozens slaughtered for meat amid protests

(Newser) - Japanese fishermen have wrapped up their annual dolphin hunt and slaughter in Taiji cove amid international protests . CNN reports that some 500 bottlenose dolphins were driven into the cove—a larger number than usual, though Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is sticking with its original claim that 250 or so dolphins...

Furor Erupts as Dolphins Set for Slaughter at Japan Cove

Annual hunt at Taiji again under fire as 200+ animals await slaughter

(Newser) - More than 200 bottlenose dolphins await their deaths in Japan's Taiji cove—made infamous in 2009 documentary The Cove —and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is doing its best to draw attention and outrage to the annual slaughter. As CNN reports, Japanese fishermen herded a pod of 250...

Japanese WWII Soldier Who Hid in Jungle 29 Years Dies

For Hiroo Onoda, war ended in 1974

(Newser) - Former Japanese Imperial Army soldier Hiroo Onoda has died at the age of 91—roughly 40 years after he stopped fighting World War II. Onoda, the last Japanese soldier to surrender, hid out in the jungles of the Philippines for almost 30 years after 1945, only coming out of hiding...

Japan to Tackle Space Junk With ... Giant Net

It's magnetic, and first trial run starts next month

(Newser) - The amount of dangerous junk floating around in space is by all accounts getting out of control . Next month, Japan's space agency will try to do something about it with a novel idea: It's launching a huge magnetic net, reports the South China Morning Post . The contraption is...

Japanese Firm Buys Jim Beam for $13.6B

$13.6B deal set to be 3rd-biggest in industry history

(Newser) - Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, and Knob Creek bourbons will soon have a second home in Japan. Beam, the owner of the whiskeys and the world’s fourth-biggest liquor company by sales, has reached a deal to be purchased by Osaka’s Suntory, a family-owned liquor company that’s No....

Radiation? Bah, Japanese Farmer Won't Budge

Masami Yoshizawa makes a stand after nuke plant disaster

(Newser) - A farmer is defying evacuation orders around Japan's Fukishima nuclear plant, saying he'll stay in the radioactive wasteland to keep cattle alive—even if it puts his health at risk, the New York Times reports. "These cows are living testimony to the human folly here in Fukushima,...

'Snoopy' Emerges From Japan's New Island

Island created by volcano expands, takes shape of Charlie Brown's pal

(Newser) - From the volcanic ash of Japan's newest island , the shape of a beloved cartoon figure is rising. When volcanic activity birthed a new island off the coast of Nishinoshima island in November, Japan waited to name it lest it disappear. But to the contrary, the island, since named Niijima...

Gangsters Hiring Homeless to Wipe Up Fukushima Mess

There's some shady stuff going on, Reuters finds

(Newser) - Nearly three years after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, the $35 billion effort to scrub an area of Japan bigger than Hong Kong of radioactive fallout has become an enormous operation involving some pretty shady dealings. A lack of oversight is part of the issue: Between top government contractors and...

17 Years Later, Okinawa OKs Relocation of US Base

And locals aren't too happy about it

(Newser) - As the AFP reports, it's been "a decades-long source of friction" between Japan and the US: More than 17 years ago, Tokyo and Washington decided to move the US Marine Corps base in Futenma out of the densely populated urban area. Today, the governor of Okinawa finally gave...

Japan PM Visits Shrine, Thumbs Nose at China, S. Korea

Both are enraged over deliberate WWII snub

(Newser) - Japanese PM Shinzo Abe set off a diplomatic furor today with a visit to a shrine to Japan's World War II dead—including no shortage of war criminals—that has China and South Korea sputtering in rage. Dressed to the nines and appearing on live television, Abe entered the...

Found on US Base in Japan: Decayed Corpse

Gender, date of death unclear

(Newser) - A corpse discovered at a US military camp in Okinawa, Japan is decayed "beyond recognition"—to the point where officials can't tell if it was male or female, nor do they know when the death occurred. What they do know is that the corpse appears to have...

New Island Isn't Disappearing— It's Growing

And it gets a name: Niijima

(Newser) - An island that sprouted out of the Pacific thanks to an undersea volcanic eruption some 600 miles south of Tokyo last month might just be here to stay. Scientists initially guessed the new island would soon sink below the surface— Pakistan's newest island is doing just that—but satellite...

Japan Slammed Over 'Secret Executions'

2 executed in secret hangings, common in country in support of capital punishment

(Newser) - Japan secretly executed two men today, in the fourth round of such executions since Shinzo Abe took power last December. Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki signed off on the secret orders for Mitsuo Fujishima and Ryoji Kagayama, both convicted murderers, who likely would have been told of their fates only hours...

At Issue in East Asia Dispute: Underwater Rock

Socotra is under Chinese, South Korean air-defense zones

(Newser) - As China, Japan, and South Korea feud over sea and sky, what's underwater is also a matter of contention. Both China and South Korea lay claim to a submerged rock between the countries—one that's the subject of Korean legend. In English, it's called Socotra Rock. Koreans...

Biden Stirs Pot in Beijing as Tensions Simmer

He begins China visit amid soaring regional tensions

(Newser) - Joe Biden has landed in Beijing for what was meant to be a trade mission but has become a high-stakes bid to calm soaring regional tensions over China's new air-defense zone over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
  • The vice president has been attacked in state media for
...

Guy Switched at Birth Gets $317K to Make Up for It

He was born to rich family, but ended up raised in poverty

(Newser) - Imagine it: You're raised in a tiny apartment by a single mom and grow up to be a truck driver ... only to find out you were actually born to a wealthy family and accidentally switched at birth, and the baby raised in your place grew up to be the...

Japan Sparks Furor With Bill to Boost Secrecy

Newspapers, demonstrators protest leak-prosecuting measure

(Newser) - Looking to boost Japan's role in the region and the world, the country's conservative prime minister has sparked an uproar with his plan to increase state secrecy. A bill that just passed the lower house of parliament would raise penalties on civil servants and journalists who leak sensitive...

Japan, S. Korea: We Defied China's New Zone, Too

Both countries say they flew into it unannounced

(Newser) - The US may not be the only country to have dipped a toe in China's newly declared air defense zone: Japan and South Korea now say they've both flown planes through it, unannounced, as well. A rep for the Japan government describes its activity as routine "surveillance"...

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