Japan – News Stories About Japan - Page 62

Japanese 'Herbivores'
Shun Sex, Machismo

Jul 27, 2009 5:07 AM CDT

Japanese 'Herbivores' Shun Sex, Machismo

They're out to pasture early

(Newser) - Turning their backs on sexual conquest, macho posturing, and corporate ladder climbing, a growing number of Japanese men are seeking a quiet, non-competitive life, reports Reuters. A Japanese marketing firm found almost half of 1,000 men aged 20-34 surveyed identified themselves as so-called "herbivores," a term that...

Here Comes
the Robot Bride

Jul 24, 2009 1:38 PM CDT

Here Comes the Robot Bride

(Newser) - A Japanese fashion designer has enlisted a humanoid robot to model wedding dresses on the runway, the Sun reports. The robot, “Miim,” took to the catwalk like a pro, strutting and casting glances at the audience like her human counterparts. “We hope she can work in fashion...

American, Japanese
Climbers Die on Mt. Fuji

Jul 24, 2009 4:33 AM CDT

American, Japanese Climbers Die on Mt. Fuji

(Newser) - An American climber and his Japanese colleague have been found frozen to death on Mount Fuji, AP reports. Authorities believe the men, reported missing last weekend, perished on their way down from the summit. The deaths on the famous mountain follow those of ten elderly hikers who died of exposure...

Japan Faces Historic
Change as Election Opens

Jul 21, 2009 7:16 AM CDT

Japan Faces Historic Change as Election Opens

(Newser) - Japanese PM Taro Aso dissolved parliament today to begin a watershed election that could break his party's 50-year grip on power, Reuters reports. In a nationwide TV address, Aso apologized for his shortcomings as a leader and for internal squabbling that cost his conservative party at recent local elections. Opposition...

Gadget Translates
'Woof' into
Words

Jul 20, 2009 2:33 PM CDT

Gadget Translates 'Woof' into Words

Japanese toymaker debuts dog translator next month

(Newser) - Ever wonder what your dog is thinking? The “Bowlingual Voice” from Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy claims to be able to tell you just that, the Telegraph reports. The device is made up of a microphone and transmitter on the collar that categorizes the dog’s utterances into one of...

Why Don't We Have Cool Japanese Cell Phones?

Jul 20, 2009 11:31 AM CDT

Why Don't We Have Cool Japanese Cell Phones?

Makers stifled by hardware too advanced to leave country

(Newser) - Able to surf the internet, stand in for credit cards, and check body fat, Japan’s smartphones make ours look primitive—yet we’re sticking with what we have. That’s because Japan’s phone makers have been “a little too clever,” writes Hiroko Tabuchi in the New ...

Fashion's Issey Miyake Haunted by Hiroshima

OPINION

Jul 14, 2009 9:08 AM CDT

Fashion's Issey Miyake Haunted by Hiroshima

Obama's disarmament talk inspires A-bomb survivor to speak up

(Newser) - Issey Miyake’s clothes are famous for color and exuberance, but the Japanese designer has a tragic past: He survived the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Miyake has declined to talk about the blast, “preferring to think of things that can be created, not destroyed,” he writes in...

Facing Defeat, Japan PM Sets Election Date

Jul 13, 2009 4:20 AM CDT

Facing Defeat, Japan PM Sets Election Date

Aso's fall could mark dawn of 2-party system

(Newser) - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has agreed to hold a general election on August 30, following stinging losses for his Liberal Democratic Party in a local Tokyo race yesterday, reports the Financial Times. The LDP has ruled Japan for all but one year since the 1950s, and a heavy defeat...

Smile, Japan:
The Boss Is Watching

Jul 11, 2009 2:28 PM CDT

Smile, Japan: The Boss Is Watching

(Newser) - A Japanese rail company is going the extra mile to ensure its employees keep up a sunny disposition. The company is employing computerized scanners that can measure the curvature of employees' mouths to make sure they’re smiling, the BBC reports. A hospital in Osaka and a truck stop will...

French Are
World's Worst
Tourists: Survey

Jul 9, 2009 3:20 PM CDT

French Are World's Worst Tourists: Survey

Poll of 40,000 hotels ranks visitors on politeness, generosity

(Newser) - The French are the world’s worst tourists, AFP reports. A global survey asked staff at 40,000 hotels to rate tourists on categories ranging from politeness to generosity to willingness to learn local languages—and the French finished last in several categories. Japanese tourists took honors in just as...

Japan's Mobile Network Buckles Under Porn Demand

Jul 7, 2009 3:43 AM CDT

Japan's Mobile Network Buckles Under Porn Demand

(Newser) - Japan's mammoth 3G wireless network is beginning to buckle as users download world-record amounts of porn, Bloomberg reports. Mobile carriers have been forced to restrict the heaviest users of their "unlimited plans" to prevent outages. Privacy laws prevent the firms from saying what is being downloaded, but porn providers...

Giant Ant Colony
Spreads Across World

Jul 2, 2009 2:10 PM CDT

Giant Ant Colony Spreads Across World

Insects from different continents treat each other as family

(Newser) - In what may be a first for the animal kingdom, one giant family of ants has established itself in different parts of the world, the BBC reports. Researchers studying the species known as Argentine ants in Europe, the US, and Japan found that they had a strikingly similar chemical profile,...

Japan's Latest Fad:
Spouse-Hunting

Jun 29, 2009 10:59 AM CDT

Japan's Latest Fad: Spouse-Hunting

Bars, bras, and baseball games get in on 'konkatsu'

(Newser) - Some call it a passing fad, but in Japan, konkatsu—"marriage hunting"—has inspired events in venues ranging from bars to baseball stadiums, the Wall Street Journal reports. A book that uses the word, punning on the words for “marriage” and “activity,” has sold 170,...

Live With It:
Retirement
Must Shrink

OPINION

Jun 26, 2009 12:13 PM CDT

Live With It: Retirement Must Shrink

Longer lifespans, older population mean quitting age has to rise

(Newser) - With people living longer and having fewer children in developed countries, the population is aging even as the workforce shrinks. And with retirement ages in the 60s, retirees are living longer on pensions. Those demographic shifts make a policy shift inevitable: we’re all going to have to work longer,...

World's Oldest Man Dies at 113

Jun 19, 2009 3:48 AM CDT

World's Oldest Man Dies at 113

(Newser) - The world’s oldest man died today at the age of 113, AFP reports. Tomoji Tanabe, who suffered from a chronic heart problem, died of heart failure at his home in Miyakonojo City, Japan. Tanabe—who had eight children, 25 grandchildren, 53 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren—said his secret to...

Japanese Law Prevents Boy's Life-Saving Transplant

Jun 14, 2009 4:35 PM CDT

Japanese Law Prevents Boy's Life-Saving Transplant

(Newser) - A Japanese law prevents 11-year-old Hiroki Ando from receiving the heart he so desperately needs, CNN reports. Ando suffers from cardiomyopathy and will likely die—as his sister did 5 years ago—without a heart transplant. But the minimum age for organ donations in Japan is 15. "This stipulation...

Airbus 330 Makes
Emergency Landing in Guam

Jun 11, 2009 9:47 AM CDT

Airbus 330 Makes Emergency Landing in Guam

Cockpit fire forces move; plane same type as in Air France crash

(Newser) - An Airbus 330 carrying 203 people has made an emergency landing in Guam after an electrical problem sparked a small fire in the cockpit, airline officials said. There were no injuries. Though it's the same type of plane as the Air France flight that crashed last week in the Atlantic,...

For Rent: 'Cheery, Clean' Fake Friends

Jun 10, 2009 11:22 AM CDT

For Rent: 'Cheery, Clean' Fake Friends

Japanese firm pads guest lists; wedding toast costs extra

(Newser) - Why bother making friends when you can rent them? A Tokyo-based company allows you to do just that, hiring out fake friends for any occasion, even the happiest day of your life. Need to pad your wedding guest list? The rent-a-friend will attend for just $200; for an extra $100,...

Ambassadors: Rich People in Useless Jobs

OPINION

May 29, 2009 2:11 PM CDT

Ambassadors: Rich People in Useless Jobs

If posts are just plums for political donors, why have them?

(Newser) - Barack Obama opted for politics as usual in his ambassador appointments yesterday, writes David Rothkopf for ForeignPolicy. Like recent predecessors, Obama turned to deep-pocketed campaign donors; hence Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, will deal with a tech lawyer whose sole qualification seems to have been his ability to raise...

Only Trade Can Rescue World Economy: Brown

OPINION

May 28, 2009 8:35 AM CDT

Only Trade Can Rescue World Economy: Brown

'A banking crisis has become a trade crisis,' writes British PM

(Newser) - The banking crisis has stabilized, according to Gordon Brown, but a new calamity has replaced it: "a trade crisis" that is killing jobs in industrialized nations and exacerbating poverty in developing ones. Globalization has compounded the downturn, but it can also accelerate the pickup, the British PM writes in...