Three Earthquakes Rattle Japan’s Capital
Japan Meteorological Agency(TOKYO) — A series of earthquakes rocked Japan early Saturday, waking up nervous residents near Tokyo.The strongest quake was a magnitude 5.5 near Mt. Fuji, just hours outside the capital city.No tsunami warning was issued, …
Report: Japanese Officials Withheld ‘Worst-Case Scenario’ Docs
STR/AFP/Getty Images(TOKYO) — New reports say Japanese officials hid documents that laid out the worst-case scenario during the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year because they didn’t want to scare the public.Kyodo News reports that government …
Japan Could See Another Big Quake, Researchers Say
Jason Reed/Ryan McVay/Photodisc(TOKYO) — It’s been nearly a year since a catastrophic earthquake struck Japan – but scientists say another big one could be on the way.Researchers at the University of Tokyo say there’s a 70-percent ch…
Michigan Man Missing on Japan’s Frigid Mount Fuji
TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images(TOKYO) — Japanese rescue teams searching Mount Fuji for a Michigan businessman have been hampered by deep snow and frigid temperatures.Matt Johnson, 33, was in Japan on business, and reportedly left Saturday for an …
Kim Jong Il’s Eldest Son Predicts Failure for North Korea
JoongAng Sunday/AFP/Getty Images(TOKYO) — The eldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il questions his half brother’s ability to lead the reclusive regime, and predicts failure in a new book set for release in Japan this week.Titled My F…
Radioactive Concrete Is Latest Scare for Fukushima Survivors
STR/AFP/Getty Images(TOKYO) — The Japanese government is investigating how radioactive concrete ended up in a new apartment complex in the Fukushima Prefecture, housing evacuees from a town near the crippled nuclear plant.The contamination was first d…
Japan’s Prime Minister Reshuffles Cabinet
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images(TOKYO) — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reshuffled his cabinet on Friday, just four months after taking office, in an effort to win bipartisan support for an unpopular sales tax hike.Noda replaced fiv…
Worker at Japan’s Crippled Nuke Plant Collapses, Falls into Coma
TR/AFP/Getty Images(TOKYO) — Since a 9.0-magnitude earthquake crippled Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last March, spurring a nuclear crisis, three workers have died. Now, a man in his 60s is the latest plant worker to have fallen …
Bluefin Tuna Sells for Record $736K at Toyko Fish Market
YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images(TOKYO) — If the price of premium tuna is any indication of the country’s economic state, then Japan’s finances are in good order for 2012.At Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market a bluefin tuna caught off the n…
Japanese Fugitive Turned Away by Police
This undated file picture shows a former member of Japan’s Aum Supreme Truth doomsday cult Makoto Hirata, 46, who was arrested in Tokyo on Jan. 1, 2012 after almost 17 years on the run. JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images(TOKYO) — Until New Year’s Eve, …
Japan Tweets Way to Record in New Year
SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images(TOKYO) — It didn’t take long for Twitter users to set a new record for tweets per second in the New Year.The social-network site ground to a halt just after midnight in Japan, as users there sent out a record 16,197 t…
Japan Tourism Agency’s Free-Flight Proposal Slashed in Budget Cut
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(TOKYO) — It was a nice idea proposed by the Japan Tourism Agency, but ultimately it failed to get off the ground. In a desperate attempt to lure tourists back to a country plagued by radiation fears and constant earthquakes, the…