The government will step up efforts to urge firms and industry groups to actively deal in products made in Fukushima Prefecture, home to the crippled No. 1 nuclear power plant, informed sources said Saturday.
The government will make the request under new guidelines aimed at preventing rumors about agricultural and marine products from the prefecture and nearby areas arising from concern over radiation.
NASA is preparing a July 1 launch for its first satellite dedicated to measuring atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that plays a key role in climate change.
Carbon dioxide levels have reached their highest point in at least 800,000 years, according to the U.S. space agency.
Japan and the United States are set to expand the scope of rear area assistance the Self-Defense Forces would provide to the American military in contingencies involving the Korean Peninsula as they seek to revise their defense cooperation guidelines later this year, a government source said Saturday in Tokyo.
In the revised guidelines, the two countries also envision protection by the SDF of U.S. vessels vigilant for missile launches or transporting Japanese nationals in the event the United States comes under armed attack.
Scientists said last week that they had unraveled the genome of a eucalyptus tree, gaining insights into its fast growth and adaptability that could one day enhance forests grown for biomass and timber.
Eucalyptus is native to Australia, but has become the most widely-cultivated hardwood tree. It is an important source of paper, wood and essential oils grown in more than 100 countries on six continents.
AmerAsian School in Okinawa is opening its doors to students for summer school from July 22nd through August 15th for four whole weeks!
AmerAsian School summer School subjects include English, Japanese, social studies, math and even field trips.
中国の習近平（シーチンピン）国家主席が７月３、４の両日、韓国を訪問する。中韓関係筋が明らかにした。中国の最高指導者が、北朝鮮首脳との面会に先んじて韓国を訪れるのは、１９９２年の中韓国交正常化以来初めて。中国は核開発問題などを巡り金正恩（キムジョンウン）体制へのいらだちを強めており、「血で固めた」と称されてきた中朝関係の変質を印象づける外遊になりそうだ。
２０１２年夏、北朝鮮北部の慈江道満浦と中国吉林省集安が橋で結ばれた。その約１年前、金正日（キムジョンイル）総書記が自ら足を運び、建設を指示した「集安鴨緑江大橋」だ。だが、橋は今も運用されていない。吉林省の資料によると、中国政府が新たな通関窓口の設置を見送っているのが原因だ。
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might have avoided the nightmare he foresaw a year ago. But the market is reserving judgment on his growth strategy, questioning whether his deflation-fighting “Abenomics” policy will succeed in the long term after all.
Abe’s growth strategy is a plethora of deregulation steps and subsidies aimed at raising Japan’s economic growth potential, including a corporate tax cut, steps to help working women, the introduction of more foreign workers and the creation of a better business environment to attract foreign investors and entrepreneurs.
South Korea has notified Japan that it plans to conduct a “firing drill” Friday near two tiny disputed outcroppings it controls off Shimane Prefecture, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference Thursday.
The islets are claimed by Japan as Takeshima, but South Korea calls them Dokdo. The fire zone overlaps an area Japan claims as its territorial waters.
While Japan once again tops this year’s Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings, it is finding its traditional dominance in higher education increasingly challenged by China and South Korea, education experts say.
Japan held on to the No. 1 spot in this year’s rankings, released Thursday, with 20 schools listed in the top 100, but China now has 18 of its mainland institutions listed. And if six schools separately listed under Hong Kong, Beijing’s special administrative region, were included, China would lead the list with 24.
A member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly said Thursday she was hurt by sexist remarks made by male politicians during a session the previous day in which she was ridiculed for being unmarried and lacking children.
The remarks, allegedly uttered by members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, come at a time when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to make corporate Japan more women-friendly.
One of the greatest dynasties in modern soccer came to a shattering end when champion Spain lost 2-0 to Chile on Wednesday and crashed out of the World Cup with its glory days consigned to the history books.
On the day when Spain’s King Juan Carlos signed his abdication papers, the country’s players were forced off their throne as first-half goals from Eduardo Vargas and Charles Aranguiz earned Chile a stunning victory in front of thousands of their ecstatic fans in a 74,000 crowd at Maracana Stadium.
LOS ANGELES – Clayton Kershaw pitched his first no-hitter Wednesday night, striking out a career-high 15 and allowing his only baserunner on a throwing error by shortstop Hanley Ramirez in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 8-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
Kershaw’s gem gave the Dodgers the only two no-hitters in the majors this season. Josh Beckett tossed one May 25 in Philadelphia.
A steady rise in killings, torture and abductions by pro-Russia armed groups in eastern Ukraine has claimed hundreds of lives since last month, U.N. monitors in the region said Wednesday.
“A climate of lawlessness prevails in the east with an increase in criminality, killings, abductions and detentions by the armed groups,” said U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic.
Iraqi forces and Sunni militants battled fiercely for control of the nation’s largest oil refinery on Wednesday as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki went on a diplomatic offensive, reaching out in a televised address to try to regain support from the nation’s disaffected Sunnis and Kurds.
Meanwhile, the government asserted that it had retaken partial control of a strategic city near the border with Syria.
Japan once again tops this year’s Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings, released Thursday, but is finding its traditional dominance in higher education increasingly challenged by China and South Korea, education experts say.
The nation held on to its number one position in this year’s rankings, with 20 schools listed in the top 100, but China now has 18 of its mainland institutions listed. And if six schools separately listed under Hong Kong, Beijing’s special administrative region, were also included, China would lead the list with 24.
RIO DE JANEIRO – Spain’s long reign as the kings of international soccer came to a dramatic end at the World Cup on Wednesday, with the defending champions sent crashing out after a 2-0 defeat to Chile.
On a day when King Juan Carlos tearfully sealed his abdication after a four-decade reign, Spain’s players were booted from their own throne in 90 minutes.
The Diet voted Wednesday to outlaw possession of child pornography after years of international calls for a crackdown, but the change won’t impact sexually explicit manga and anime depicting young children.
Japan is the last OECD nation to criminalize possession of child pornography, although it outlawed production and distribution in 1999, and has long been considered a safe haven for those buying child pornography.
