A collision between a Japanese destroyer and a South Korean container ship in the waters off western Japan caused severe damage to both vessels.
The NHK World reports, “Japan’s Defense Ministry says the 5,200 ton Kurama and the 7,400 ton South Korean-registered Carina Star collided shortly before 8 PM on Tuesday, Japan Time, in [...]
In a story from asahi.com, “Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s Cabinet on Friday froze 2.9259 trillion yen in programs listed in the supplementary budget for fiscal 2009 passed by the previous administration.
The figure was just short of Hatoyama’s goal of 3 trillion yen in spending cuts.
Still, Hatoyama seemed pleased by the results, saying [...]
[thestar.com]– If you want to go to Japan, you gotta go before boarding.
One Japanese carrier, All Nippon Airways, is asking its passengers to take a trip to the bathroom before climbing aboard to reduce weight, and therefore fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
The carrier is testing the policy on 42 flights, starting last [...]
[Kyodo News]– Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Friday he has no intention of simply extending the refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of U.S.-led antiterrorism operations after the law authorizing it expires in January and that his government is looking to help the Afghan people in a way that [...]
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed Monday to continue negotiations on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.
Okada, appointed foreign minister last week after the Democratic Party of Japan swept into power, has made the bases issue a priority, vowing to tackle it during [...]
Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday was chosen as Japan’s 93rd prime minister, taking over a country with a sluggish economy and a populace demanding results from his bold promises of change.
Hatoyama, 62, will form his Cabinet this evening to begin work on a mountain of issues, including the widening new swine flu epidemic.
This is the first [...]
Taiwan sent coast guard vessels to disputed waters in the East China Sea where Japan arrested a Taiwanese skipper, accusing him of illegal fishing, officials on both sides said yesterday.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said it had dispatched five patrol boats to the area, 110 nautical miles (200km) east of Taiwan, after Japanese officials said [...]
A man accused of setting a fire at a video parlor that killed 16 people pleaded innocent Monday, saying prosecutors falsely painted him as a suicidal failure with an intent to kill.
“I did not set fire to the establishment,” Kazuhiro Ogawa, 47, said during his first hearing at the Osaka District Court.
He said the fire [...]
Court-sanctioned real estate auctions have nearly doubled in number since spring last year, largely due to an upswing in homeowner failures to repay loans amid the economic downturn.
In July, 7,229 properties were auctioned at courts nationwide, up from 3,773 in March 2008, according to industry association Fudosan Keibai Ryutsu Kyokai.
Of the July total, 3,512 were [...]
North Korea wants the next Japanese administration after the upcoming general election to drop Tokyo’s ”hostile” policy toward Pyongyang through the lifting of sanctions and other ice-thawing measures, a North Korean official in charge of Japanese affairs said Wednesday.
In an interview with Kyodo News in Pyongyang, Ro Jong Su, a director-level researcher at the Foreign [...]
