News

[ad_1] ABOARD JS OSUMI – Staff Sgt. Hikari Maruyama, Cpl. Runa Kurosawa and Capt. Sawaka Nakano are part of an elite force: Japan's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB), meant to lead assaults from the sea in a possible future war.They are also three of about 40 women in their 2,400-person unit.Living alongside a close-knit group of other female service members aboard the JS Osumi, a Maritime Self-Defense Force tank landing […]

[ad_1] TAINAN, Taiwan – The collection of American memorabilia, vast and well-lit in a busy area of City Hall in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, reflected decades of eager courtship. Maps highlighted sister cities in Ohio and Arizona.There was a celebration of baseball, an American flag laid out on a table. And in the middle of it all, a card sent to the United States that seemed to reveal […]

[ad_1] As the popularity of lifestyle vehicles rises in Japan, domestic automakers are introducing overseas-made models to offer more options to domestic consumers looking for cars suitable for camping and skiing. Mitsubishi Motors will sell the newest iteration of the Triton pickup truck in Japan starting Feb. 15, bringing back the model, popular in Southeast Asia, to the country after a 12-year hiatus. The latest model of the four-wheel drive […]

[ad_1] Lamar Jackson threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more on Saturday as the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens pulled away from the visiting Houston Texans in the second half for a 34-10 victory in the AFC divisional round.The Ravens will host either the Bills or Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. Buffalo and Kansas City are set to play Sunday in the other AFC contest.Baltimore broke the game open […]

[ad_1] After playing in the National League for the first time last season, veteran infielder Rougned Odor is set for more change after signing a contract with the Central League's Yomiuri Giants, Hochi Sports reported. Odor, 29, played in 59 games for the San Diego Padres in 2023 before he was released in July, batting .203 with four home runs and 18 RBIs. Over 10 major league seasons with the […]

[ad_1] Where are we going, where is civilization taking us? Maybe we should have stayed savage?The word need not be pejorative. European “discoverers” of America in the 15th and 16th centuries conquered, massacred and pitilessly enslaved the “subhuman” “Indians” — “Indians” because Columbus thought he was in “the Indies” — but accorded them too a grudging respect out of which grew the concept of the “noble savage.” Columbus wrote of […]

[ad_1] A few months back, I was up in Yoichi, Hokkaido, to lend a hand with the annual grape harvest. One evening, I found myself at Gangara, an izakaya (traditional Japanese pub) known for its selection of local wine sold only by the bottle. I was dining solo and didn’t quite have it in me to polish off a whole bottle, so as I was about to leave, I offered […]

[ad_1] Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has taken the risky gamble of dissolving his Liberal Democratic Party faction in a bid to shore up rock-bottom public support for his Cabinet amid a political funds scandal.Kishida's unilateral decision to dissolve the faction, known as Kochikai and established in 1957, led two other factions, including the one once headed by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to also decide to disband.Meanwhile, voices […]

[ad_1] Seoul – Seoul's chief of police has been charged with professional negligence over the deadly 2022 Halloween crush that killed nearly 160 people, prosecutors in the South Korean capital said.On Oct. 29, 2022, tens of thousands of people — mostly in their 20s and 30s — had been out to enjoy post-pandemic holiday celebrations in Seoul's Itaewon nightlife district.But the night turned deadly when people poured into a narrow, […]