Bird-like promotional character to become Osaka's core representative but fellow yuru-kyara face mass extermination Poor Moppy. He's a cuddly fellow with avian roots, eyes like dinner plates and a beak fixed in a permanent smile. Yet most Japanese wouldn't recognise him if he went up and gave them a big hug. But Moppy has reason to count himself lucky because he is expected to escape a cull planned...
Police found five plastic guns, 3D printer and gun-making blueprints in suspect's home in first such case in Japan A 27-year-old Japanese man has been arrested for illegally possessing handguns made by a 3D printer , local media has said, marking the first such case in Japan, a country that takes pride in its low crime rate. Police in April found five plastic guns and a 3D printer at the suspect's...
In an attempt to combat loneliness, a restaurant in Japan is offering its solo diners enormous stuffed animals to sit opposite Hate staring blankly at that empty restaurant seat? Always end up spilling food on your book? A restaurant in Japan has found the solution to lonely solo dining by offering its customers the option of eating opposite large stuffed animals. Let's face it, finding a cuddly date...
Thresholds for investment in Australian farms and rural businesses to be a fraction of $1bn figure for general investment National party MPs have been told the newly negotiated free trade deal with Japan will contain the same farmland investment thresholds as Australia negotiated with South Korea. Internal government briefing material seen by Guardian Australia suggests the Abbott government has told...
Proportion of over-65s reaches all-time high at a quarter of country's 127 million people The number of children in Japan has fallen to a new low, while the amount of people over 65 has reached a record high as the population ages and shrinks, the government said. There were an estimated 16.33 million children aged under 15 as of 1 April, down 160,000 from a year earlier, the internal affairs and communications...
Fifteen years after being built the average home in Japan is worth nothing, creating a perverse market where construction is booming but housing barely increases It's time to move to a new city. You look at houses you might want to buy and finally settle on one that's in the right location and appeals to you. But in Japan, that appeal hardly matters: the average home only lasts for 30 years. That's...
Japanese electronics giant cuts its operating profit forecast to ¥26bn from a previous estimate of ¥80bn, with net losses expected to widen to ¥130bn from ¥110bn Sony slashed its operating profit estimate by nearly 70% for the financial year ended March 31, saying it expects its exit from PCs to add nearly $300m in extra costs as it struggles to stem losses on electronics. The Japanese consumer electronics...
Shepherd's Bush Empire, London Hyper-cute and sweeter than a candy-floss overdose, Kyary gets screams Avril Lavigne can only dream of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's European tour couldn't be timelier. Just last week, Avril Lavigne's Hello Kitty video caused a social media furore for its stereotypical some said racist representations of the Harajuku style, including, among other things, expressionless backing...
Citizens may be able to see the world more clearly than narrowly focused professional economists You wouldn't have guessed it, given the fanfare surrounding the 0.8% growth figure for the first quarter of 2014, but people in the United Kingdom have been living through a period worse than Japan's infamous "lost decade" of the 1990s . During that time, Japan's per capita GDP grew at 1% per...
At the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Tokyo, Japan the concentration on the ball is so intense. As these close-up pictures of the players at the tournament show, dropping the ball or taking your eye off it is not part of this sport Continue reading... ...
Some historians believe as many as 200,000 women were sent to frontline to be sexually abused between 1932 and 1945 China has released documents it claims offers "ironclad proof" that the Japanese military forced Asian women to work in frontline brothels before and during the second world war. Almost 90 documents from the archives of the military police corps part of Japan's Kwantung army,...
Hopes of supporting pivot to Asia flounder after round-the-clock talks deadlocked over farm produce and cars President Barack Obama wrapped up a state visit to Japan on Friday during which he assured America's ally that Washington would come to its defence, but failed to clinch a trade deal key his "pivot" to Asia and to prime minister Shinzo Abe's reforms. Obama and Abe had been seeking...
Although the singer said sorry to his Chinese fans for visiting a Japanese memorial, he forgot to include his equally upset Korean admirers Justin Bieber seems to have bungled his recent apology for visiting Japan's controversial Yasukuni war shrine. Although the singer said he didn't mean to offend his Chinese fans, he forgot to acknowledge South Korea for whom visiting the Tokyo site is also considered...
Barack Obama is challenged to a game of football with a Japanese robot while on a presidential visit to Japan. Asimo, a humanoid robot manufactured by Honda, is on display at a Tokyo innovation museum. The US president is in Asia for four days, leaving for South Korea on Friday Continue reading... ...
President on state visit to Japan warns against challenge to Tokyo's administration of Senkaku islands The US is duty-bound to come to Japans aid in the event of a conflict with China over a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea, Barack Obama declared at the start of a tour of Asia aimed at reassuring Washingtons allies in the face of threats to stability from North Korea and an increasingly...
Singer removes photo of himself at Yasukuni shrine, which China and South Korea regard as symbol of Japanese militarism Justin Bieber has apologised after posting a photograph that showed him standing in front of the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo. The Canadian pop singer removed the image but only after it had been tweeted to his 51.1 million followers and attracted 660,000 likes on Instagram....
Toyota remained at the top in global vehicle sales for the first quarter of this year, outpacing rivals GM and VW Toyota kept its position at the top in global vehicle sales for the first quarter of this year, outpacing rivals General Motors and Volkswagen. Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday that it sold a record 2.583m vehicles in the January-March period, putting the Japanese automaker ahead of...
Japanese ship boarded in Malacca Strait and diesel pumped into waiting vessels before raiders fled taking three crew with them Armed pirates raided a Japanese oil tanker in the Malacca Strait, pumping out much of its cargo and taking three crew away, Malaysian maritime police have said. Six pirates in a speedboat boarded the Naninwa Maru 1 at 1am local time on Wednesday off the coast of west Malaysia,...
US president to hold talks with Japanese PM on first stop of eight-day tour of Asia taking in South Korea and Malaysia Barack Obama is expected to offer guarded support for Japan in its bitter territorial dispute with China over a group of islands in the East China Sea, as Washington seeks to reassure its Asia-Pacific allies of its commitment to regional security in the face of an increasingly assertive...
US officials asked Asian countries not to seek to take commercial advantage of sanctions against Russia on eve of Obama Asia trip The White House has warned of the danger of worsening tension in Ukraine setting precedents for other territorial disputes around the world as it reacted for the first time to fresh clashes over the weekend with pro-Russian forces. Speaking on the eve of a trip to Japan...