Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 48
TOKYO (AP) — The recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize is a fast-dwindling group of atomic bomb survivors who are facing down the shrinking time they have left to convey the firsthand horror they witnessed 79 years ago. Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was awarded for its decadeslong activism against nuclear weapons. The survivors, known as hibakusha, see the prize and the international attention as their last chance to get their message out to younger g...
TOKYO (AP) — One person died and nearly 150 others were sickened after eating grilled eel prepared by a restaurant chain and sold at a department store near Tokyo, officials said. Among those sickened, two required hospitalization. Keikyu Department Store said 147 customers as of Monday had reported symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea after eating grilled eel dishes sold in the grocery section of the department store based in Yokohama, near Tokyo, between July 24 and July 25. Japan has a tradition of eating roasted eel as a tonic for the hea...
TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo elects a new governor this weekend, but residents say personal publicity stunts have overtaken serious campaigning to a degree never seen before, with nearly nude women in suggestive poses, pets, an AI character and a man practicing his golf swing. It's impossible to ignore. With internet campaigning still relatively new, candidates traditionally use designated election billboards — more than 14,000 of them — to promote themselves. The makeshift billboards are set up only during the short campaign season and are valuable spac...
FUJIKAWAGUCHIKO, Japan (AP) — The town of Fujikawaguchiko has had enough of tourists. Known for a number of scenic photo spots that offer a near-perfect shot of Japan's iconic Mount Fuji, the town on Tuesday began constructing a large black screen on a stretch of a sidewalk to block the view of the mountain. The reason: misbehaving foreign tourists. "Kawaguchiko is a town built on tourism, and I welcome many visitors, and the town welcomes them too, but there are many things about their manners that are worrying," said Michie Motomochi, o...
TOKYO (AP) — Japan said Sunday its experts have held talks with their Chinese counterparts to try to assuage Beijing's concerns over the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea. The discharges have been opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries especially China, which banned all imports of Japanese seafood. China's move has largely affected Japanese scallop growers and exporters to China. During the talks held Saturday in the northeastern Chinese city of D...
TOKYO (AP) — As Japan's space agency prepares for its first moon landing early Saturday, it's aiming to hit a very small target. The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, a lightweight spacecraft about the size of a passenger vehicle, is using "pinpoint landing" technology that promises far greater control than any previous moon landing. While most previous probes have used landing zones some 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide, SLIM is aiming at a target of just 100 meters (330 feet). It's the fruit of two decades of work on precision technology by t...
TOKYO (AP) — Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after a U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into waters off the southern coast during a training mission, officials said Thursday. Tokyo has also asked the U.S. military to stop all Ospreys operating in Japan except for those searching for victims of crash. A senior Defense Ministry official, Taro Yamato, told a parliamentary hearing that Japan plans to suspend flights of Ospreys for the time being, but there were few other immediate details. A U.S. Air Force Osprey based in J...
TOKYO (AP) — An 18-year-old army trainee shot three fellow soldiers at a firing range on a Japanese army base Wednesday, killing two of them, officials said. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder at the scene in Gifu prefecture in central Japan, police said. The suspect fired a rifle at the soldiers during a shooting exercise at the Hino Kihon firing range, police said. The Ground Self Defense Force, Japan's army, confirmed that two of those wounded were later pronounced dead at a hospital. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Y...
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese police have arrested two men who posted a video on social media showing one eating pickled ginger with his chopsticks directly from a communal container at a famous beef bowl restaurant chain, part of a series of pranks that have hit sushi chains and became known as "sushi terrorism." Osaka prefectural police on Wednesday said Ryu Shimazu and Toshihide Oka were arrested on suspicion of obstructing business and destroying and dirtying property. In a video shot by Oka and shared on social media, Shimazu is seen holding a c...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired at least six missiles into the sea on Thursday, including an intercontinental ballistic missile that triggered evacuation warnings and halted trains in northern Japan, adding to a recent barrage of weapons tests. The ICBM test was followed by launches of two short-range ballistic missiles in the morning, drawing swift condemnation by North Korea's neighbors and the United States, which reacted by extending ongoing joint air force exercises with South Korea. South Korea's military said North Korea l...
TOKYO (AP) — A volcano on Japan's main southern island of Kyushu erupted Sunday night, spewing ash and rocks. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in nearby towns but residents were advised to evacuate. Japan's Meteorological Agency said Sakurajima volcano erupted at around 8:05 p.m., blowing off large rocks as far as 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) away in the southern prefecture of Kagoshima. Footage on Japan's NHK public television showed orange flames flashing near the crater and dark smoke of ash billowing from the m...
TOKYO (AP) — Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, an arch-conservative and one of the country's most divisive figures, was shot and critically wounded during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan. He was airlifted to a hospital but officials said he was not breathing and his heart had stopped. Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of the shocking attack in a country that's one of the world's safest and has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Abe was in "severe condition" a...
TOKYO (AP) — A man with a knife stabbed at least 10 passengers on a commuter train in Tokyo on Friday and was captured by police after fleeing, fire department officials and news reports said. NHK public television said one passenger was seriously injured. It said the suspect left his knife behind as he fled and later gave himself up at a convenience store. The Japanese capital is currently hosting the Olympics, which end Sunday. The Tokyo Fire Department said nine of the 10 injured passengers were taken to nearby hospitals, while the tenth w...
TOKYO (AP) — Hiroshima on Friday marked the 76th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing, as the mayor of the Japanese city urged global leaders to unite to eliminate nuclear weapons just as they are united against the coronavirus. Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged world leaders to commit to nuclear disarmament as seriously as they tackle a pandemic that the international community recognizes as "threat to humanity." "Nuclear weapons, developed to win wars, are a threat of total annihilation that we can certainly end, if all nations work t...
TOKYO (AP) — Authorities in Tokyo announced nearly 500 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, the biggest daily increase in the Japanese capital since the pandemic began, amid a nationwide spike in infections and as the country discusses with Olympic officials how to safely host next summer's games. The Tokyo metropolitan government said there were 493 new cases, surpassing the city's previous high of 472 recorded on Aug. 1, during the peak of Japan's earlier wave of infections. The record number of new cases came as International Olympic C...
TOKYO (AP) — Considered something of a lightweight on foreign policy issues, Japan's new prime minister has spent much of his career in the shadows, supporting previous leader Shinzo Abe with backroom bureaucratic maneuvers and in largely scripted, sometimes prickly dealings with the media. That will change Saturday morning (Friday afternoon at the United Nations) when Yoshihide Suga makes his very public debut, albeit virtually and in a prerecorded video, at the U.N. General Assembly, the world's premier international gathering of leaders. D...
TOKYO (AP) — Seventy-five years after the end of World War II, more than 1 million Japanese war dead are scattered throughout Asia, where the legacy of Japanese aggression still hampers recovery efforts. The missing Japanese make up about half of the 2.4 million soldiers who died overseas during Japan's military rampage across Asia in the early 20th century. They are on remote islands in the South Pacific. They are in northern China and Mongolia. They are in Russia. As the anniversary for the end of the Pacific War arrives Saturday, there is l...
TOKYO (AP) — A United Arab Emirates spacecraft rocketed away Monday on a seven-month journey to Mars, kicking off the Arab world's first interplanetary mission. The liftoff of the Mars orbiter named Amal, or Hope, from Japan marked the start of a rush to fly to Earth's neighbor that includes attempts by China and the United States. The UAE said its 'Amal' space probe was functioning after launch as it heads toward Mars. Omran Sharaf, the project director of Emirates Mars Mission, told journalists in Dubai about an hour and a half after the l...
TOKYO (AP) — Hospitals in Japan are increasingly turning away sick people as the country struggles with surging coronavirus infections and its emergency medical system collapses. In one recent case, an ambulance carrying a man with a fever and difficulty breathing was rejected by 80 hospitals and forced to search for hours for a hospital in downtown Tokyo that would treat him. Another feverish man finally reached a hospital after paramedics unsuccessfully contacted 40 clinics. The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine and the Japanese Society...
YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — About 500 passengers left the Diamond Princess cruise ship Wednesday at the end of a much-criticized two-week quarantine that failed to stop the spread of the new virus among passengers and crew. The quarantine's flop was underlined as Japanese authorities announced 79 more cases, bringing the total on the ship to 621. Results were still pending for some other passengers and crew among the original 3,711 people on board. Japan's government has been questioned over its decision to keep people on the ship, which some expert...
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automakers on Thursday urged government officials to do more to support the key industry and their business after their government signed a trade deal with the U.S. that only kept auto tariffs unchanged. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Donald Trump, both attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York, signed a trade agreement covering agricultural, industrial and digital trade. Japanese auto industry has been a main U.S. target of blame, and industry officials were hoping to see auto tariffs eliminated, b...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and Russia accused each other of unsafe actions on Friday after an American guided-missile cruiser and a Russian destroyer came within 165 feet (50 meters) of each other in the Philippine Sea. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters that the U.S. will file a formal diplomatic complaint about the incident and will have military to military conversations with the Russians. He added that the encounter will not deter the U.S. from conducting naval operations. The U.S. 7th Fleet said the Russian d...
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's new Emperor Naruhito will perform his first ritual Wednesday hours after succeeding his father on the Chrysanthemum Throne. Naruhito will receive the Imperial regalia of sword and jewel as proof of succession at the ceremony and later will make his first address. His wife, Empress Masako, a Harvard-educated former diplomat, and their daughter Princess Aiko, are barred from the first ceremony, where only adult male royals can participate. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet earlier Wednesday approved the male-only ritual as...
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's soon-to-be-anointed new emperor is a musician and historian, both mild-mannered and quietly tenacious, a team player and a loyal husband and friend who will bring an unusually global perspective to an ancient institution when he ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1. Because Naruhito, 59, will be more distanced from the World War II shadows that his 85-year-old father, Akihito, labored under, he may also enjoy greater liberty in shaping the contours of his reign. Japan's constitution gives the emperor only symbolic s...
TOKYO (AP) — The operator of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant has begun removing fuel from a cooling pool at one of three reactors that melted down in the 2011 disaster, a milestone in the decades-long process to decommission the plant. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday that workers started removing the first of 566 used and unused fuel units stored in the pool at Unit 3. The fuel units in the pool located high up in reactor buildings are intact despite the disaster, but the pools are not enclosed so removing the units to safer g...
