Japan

[ad_1] URASOE, Okinawa Pref. – Third baseman Munetaka Murakami is eager to put his anti-climactic 2023 season behind him and put the Tokyo Yakult Swallows back on track with another Triple Crown this year.Two years ago, Murakami led the Central League with 56 home runs, 134 RBIs and a .318 batting average to power the Swallows to a second straight pennant. Afterward, he received a three-year contract and spoke of […]

[ad_1] One Tokyo ward has begun testing an unprecedented project to combat rats using garbage bags infused with the smell of certain herbs. Chiyoda Ward has faced growing rat problems in recent years, receiving around 200 complaints from residents per year in fiscal 2019 to 2022, a surge from around 50 until fiscal 2018. The increase may be because "some restaurants do not manage food waste properly and due to […]

[ad_1] Japan is set to offer driver's tests for taxi and bus licenses in foreign languages amid a shortage of drivers in the country, with the police agency distributing sample questions in the coming weeks. The National Police Agency will issue sample exam questions in 20 languages to prefectural police forces nationwide by the end of March, allowing them to formulate their own questions based on local needs, an official […]

[ad_1] UTSUNOMIYA – The operator of coal-fired steam locomotives in the tourist spot of Nikko is testing biofuel as a way to cut its carbon dioxide emissions, the first such initiative in the country. Tobu Railway said it started the trial, set to last around one year, on Jan. 31, partially replacing the coal used by its SL Taiju locomotives with biocoke, made from buckwheat chaff, wood chips, coffee grounds […]

[ad_1] Islamabad – Pakistan police warned Sunday they would come down hard on illegal gatherings after the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan urged supporters to protest against alleged rigging in last week's election.Independent candidates — most linked to Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Party — took the most seats in the polls, scuppering the chances of the army-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to win a ruling majority.However, independents […]

[ad_1] Monet Technologies, a Japanese mobility service firm partly owned by Toyota Motor, plans to test a self-driving taxi service in Tokyo's Odaiba district, starting in July, people familiar with the matter said Sunday. The test will start with Level 2 partially automated driving technology and will examine the feasibility of Level 4 technology that provides fully automated driving under certain conditions. The robotaxi service, partly designed to address serious […]

[ad_1] Japan's Mitsuki Ono won her third straight snowboarding halfpipe World Cup event Saturday in Calgary to clinch the women's overall title for the second season in a row.Compatriot Ruka Hirano joined Ono in claiming back-to-back overall titles after finishing second in the fifth and final round of the men's circuit in Canada.Ono scored 89.00 points on the first of her three runs, which would have been enough to win […]

[ad_1] Japan will pledge ¥15.8 billion ($106 million) in aid to Ukraine at a conference to be held in Tokyo on Feb. 19, Kyodo News reported Sunday, citing unidentified sources. The funding will be used for reconstruction in seven areas, including agriculture and the disposal of rubble, Kyodo said. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal are set to attend the conference, along with government and industry […]

[ad_1] “A murder!” Ryouji Shimada exclaims. We’re in Kasai Rinkai Park in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward on a chilly Sunday morning. I rush over, binoculars swinging around my neck, my ill-chosen heavy leather shoes clumping on the ground. As Shimada picks up a feather from an array of them scattered messily across the grass, he shows me how the quill hasn’t broken, so the culprit is unlikely to be a tanuki. […]