Tag Archives: Japan

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump embarked on the longest trip of his presidency Friday — a five-country, 10-day tour of Asia designed to strengthen diplomatic and economic partnerships while contending with North Korea’s nuclear threat. The president heads overseas during a time of what some experts see as a decline of U.S. influence in the region and they suggest …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that “all options are on the table” in terms of a U.S. response to North Korea’s launch of a missile over Japan. In a terse, written statement Tuesday, Trump said that with the missile launch North Korea has “signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, …

Newsweek reports: Toxic waste produced by one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters will be dumped into the sea, according to the head of the Japanese company tasked with cleaning up the radioactive mess, despite protests from local fishermen. Takashi Kawamura, chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), told foreign media that nearly 777,000 tons of water tainted with tritium, …

The Japan Times reports: Thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people paraded through Tokyo’s Shibuya district on Sunday to express hope that Japan will further embrace gender equality and diversity. The LGBT parade was the finale to the annual Tokyo Rainbow Pride festival, and this year’s theme was “Change.” “I believed that nothing would change. But, little by little, …

Reuters reports: North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, ahead of a summit between U.S. and Chinese leaders who are set to discuss Pyongyang’s increasingly defiant arms programme. The missile flew about 60 km (40 miles) from its launch site at Sinpo, a port city on North Korea’s …

NBC News reports: North Korea fired four banned ballistic missiles into Japanese waters on Monday, an act that officials in Seoul and Tokyo said represented a grave threat to their countries’ security. The missiles were launched at about 7:36 a.m. Monday (5:36 p.m. Sunday ET) off North Korea’s eastern coast, and traveled about 620 miles, a South Korean military official …

The New York Times reports: North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward the sea off its eastern coast on Sunday, in what South Korea called the North’s first attempt to test President Trump’s policy on the isolated country. The projectile took off at 7:55 a.m. from Banghyon, a town near North Korea’s northwestern border with China, and flew 310 miles …

The New York Times reports: The Japanese public pays careful attention to the words and deeds of Caroline Kennedy, the United States ambassador to Japan and one of the State Department’s best-known diplomats. But Ms. Kennedy generated an unusual buzz in Tokyo this week by doing something that is almost certainly not in her job description: wearing a Santa suit …

An early report from the Associated Press: An earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 7.3 has struck off the coast of Fukushima prefecture in Japan. A tsunami warning for waves of up to three meters (10 feet) has been issued. The Japan Meteorological Agency says the quake struck around 6 a.m at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). Fukushima prefecture …

As always, Trump is being advised by the “best people.” The Telegraph reports: Donald Trump has savaged Japan, one of America’s closest allies, stating that if the US is attacked, all Japan would do is “sit home and watch Sony television”. He expressed his frustration that the US is bound by treaty to defend the Asian nation but that if …

The twitterverse is snickering at what CNN just did to Trump. Via Mediaite: Trump has a habit of insisting he didn’t say things that he has very clearly and that we have very reliable proof of, but what good does that knowledge do when his speeches and denials are being broadcast live with no context? CNN has finally found a …

CNN reports: Barack Obama on Friday became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where he called for a “world without nuclear weapons” during his remarks at the city’s Peace Memorial Park. Obama said that “71 years ago on a bright, cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed.” “A flash of light and a …

Less than a month after last year’s landmark ruling from the Supreme Court, Freedom To Marry held its “going out of business” gala and has since closed its offices. But founder Evan Wolfson is far from retired from fighting for LGBT equality. From the US Embassy in Tokyo: “To mark the beginning of Tokyo Rainbow Week starting tomorrow, here’s a …

From The Japan News: Starting this summer, the government will test a system in which foreign tourists will be able to verify their identities and buy things at stores using only their fingerprints. The government hopes to increase the number of foreign tourists by using the system to prevent crime and relieve users from the necessity of carrying cash or …

This is major, especially for a Japanese corporation. Rocket News 24 reports: Panasonic, the Japanese electronics producer and one of the Olympic Games’ biggest sponsors, announces sweeping policy changes. LGBT rights in Japan have been in the headlines quite a bit the last few years, but today it looks like the LGBT community can count another win: Osaka-based Panasonic has …

Yeah, this is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Via the New York Daily News: The competition to find a finishing move better than Joey Ryan’s is gonna be stiff. The wrestler won his match with Danshoku Dino in Osaka, Japan, by using penis power. Dino grabbed Ryan’s crotch and the mustached mauler disapprovingly shook his head — “No, …

Bloomberg reports: A majority of Japanese support changing the country’s laws to allow same-sex unions, with the highest backing coming from younger respondents, according to a poll. Fifty-one percent of people polled by researchers from universities and the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research back such partnerships, the Asahi newspaper reported. Support exceeded 70 percent among respondents in …

Screen Rants recaps: Attack on Titan features an all-Japanese cast and will only receive a limited theatrical release in North America, courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment, so the marketing materials so far have all been in Japanese. For those who had difficulty following the events of the previous trailer, we can now offer the first Attack on Titan trailer with English …

The BBC reports: A Japanese magnetic levitation train has broken its own world speed record, hitting 603km/h (374mph) in a test run near Mount Fuji. The train beat the 590km/h speed it had set last week in another test. Mag-lev trains use electrically charged magnets to lift and move carriages above the rail tracks. Central Japan Railway (JR Central), which …

Uncanny valley, anyone?