Japan

[ad_1] Wajima, Ishikawa Pref. – Pressing his gloved hands together and bowing his head, Seiji Yoshimura, helmeted and sporting a bright orange jacket over his jumpsuit, offers a silent prayer toward a crushed home from which he helped recover the body of an elderly woman. She was among the now 215 casualties of the giant earthquake that rocked the Noto Peninsula in central Japan at 4:10 p.m. on Jan. 1. […]

[ad_1] Japan welcomed 25 million tourists in 2023, the largest number since 2019, as a weak yen helped attract post-pandemic visitors in a boost to the nation’s fragile economy.The number of inbound tourists last year increased dramatically from 3.8 million in 2022, Japan’s National Tourism Organization reported Wednesday. December also marked the seventh consecutive month in which the number of foreign visitors exceeded 2 million, for the highest figure in […]

[ad_1] A U.S.-bound All Nippon Airways plane had to return to Tokyo after an intoxicated passenger allegedly bit a flight attendant mid-journey, the Japanese carrier said Wednesday.The passenger, reportedly a 55-year-old American man, sunk his teeth into the crew member's arm while "heavily drunk," leaving her mildly injured, an ANA spokesman said.The attack prompted pilots of the plane with 159 passengers on board to turn back over the Pacific to […]

[ad_1] Japan Airlines said Wednesday that Senior Managing Executive Officer Mitsuko Tottori will become the company's president effective April 1. Tottori, who joined JAL in 1985 as a cabin attendant and ascended to become the second woman to serve as a representative director at the airline, will become its first female president. The reshuffle comes as the airline seeks to recover from the pandemic-era downturn and as tourists flock back […]

[ad_1] Ozeki Takakeisho withdrew from the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday after exacerbating a neck injury that will require around two weeks to heal. Takakeisho suffered the setback during his second-day victory over No. 1 maegashira Atamifuji on Monday at the 15-day meet at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan, according to his stablemaster Hitachiyama. "I want to give him a good rest as his body is all that matters," Hitachiyama […]

[ad_1] Japan's benchmark 225-issue Nikkei stock average briefly surged to a fresh 34-year high above 36,200 on Wednesday before erasing gains to finish lower.The Nikkei average closed down 141.43 points, or 0.40%, from the previous day at 35,477.75 after climbing as high as 36,239.22 — its highest level since February 1990 — as a weaker yen buoyed the outlook for corporate profits, overshadowing the impact from overnight Wall Street declines […]

[ad_1] The nature of climate misinformation on Google-owned YouTube is evolving, according to a new report. Videos espousing climate denial are declining across nearly 100 YouTube channels, while videos attacking solutions such as wind and solar are proliferating.The nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) identified 96 YouTube channels that frequently disseminate what it described as misleading climate talking points, including the channels for libertarian think tank the Heartland Institute, […]

[ad_1] Wajima, Ishikawa Pref. – Ryotaro Nakashima, the 35-year-old owner of a long-established sake brewery devastated by the Jan. 1 earthquake that struck central Japan, has mixed feelings about rebuilding his business.Nakashima is the eighth-generation owner and tōji master brewer of Nakashima Shuzoten in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, which has been in business for more than 150 years.Its key brewing building, reconstructed after it was destroyed by an […]

[ad_1] WASHINGTON/DAVOS – The U.S. military carried out new strikes in Yemen on Tuesday against anti-ship ballistic missiles in a Houthi-controlled part of the country as a missile struck a Greek-owned vessel in the Red Sea.Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in the region since November have affected companies and alarmed major powers — an escalation of Israel's more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza. […]