Japanese gaming company behind Final Fantasy series secures deal with Sweden-based Embracer
The Japanese gaming company behind Final Fantasy is selling off three studios, including the rights to hit franchises including Tomb Raider, in a $300m (£240m) deal.
Tokyo-based Square Enix has sold US-headquartered Crystal Dynamics and Canada-based Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal to the Nasdaq-listed Swedish gaming group Embracer.
Continue reading...Japan reports child with acute liver disease of unknown origin, and Canada investigating similar cases, with nearly 200 now recorded worldwide
A mysterious liver disease that has infected children in a dozen countries around the world has reached Asia, with a case reported in Japan.
The case in Japan of acute hepatitis – or inflammation of the liver – of unknown origin was flagged by local authorities on 21 April in a child who had tested negative for adenovirus – a possible cause being investigated worldwide – and Covid-19.
Continue reading...Wartime emperor removed from video on Russia’s invasion, which also featured Hitler and Mussolini, after angry reaction from Japan
Ukraine’s government has apologised after it included a photograph of Japan’s wartime emperor, Hirohito, in an anti-fascism video alongside images of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
Officials removed Hirohito from the video after pressure from the Japanese government, which has imposed sanctions on Russia, provided $300m (£235m) in loans for Ukraine and accepted hundreds of refugees.
Continue reading...Fifteen remain missing as questions grow as to why the Kazu I sailed in rough weather off the hazardous Shiretoko peninsula
Rescuers searching since a tour boat carrying 26 people apparently sank off far north-eastern Japan have found the body of an 11th victim – a child – as questions intensify about why the vessel sailed in rough weather at a known hazardous location.
The child was found late Sunday and later confirmed dead, the coast guard said Monday. The bodies of 10 victims – seven men and three women – were found earlier Sunday.
Continue reading...Twenty-six people were on board vessel before crew reported it sinking off island of Hokkaidō and authorities lost contact
Nine people, most of them unresponsive, have been found by rescuers after a tour boat sank off Japan’s northern coast with 26 people on board a day earlier.
“As of 11am (0200GMT), coastguard aircraft have rescued four people, local police aircraft rescued four people and a Self Defence Force aircraft rescued one person from waters or rocky coastal areas,” Japan’s coastguard said in a press release on Sunday.
Continue reading...Two large mascots, dancing to sorrowful music, helped welcome the New Zealand prime minister on her first trip overseas since the pandemic began
New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has been met in Japan on her first trip outside the country in two years by a duo of enormous, mournfully dancing kiwifruit.
The two large mascots welcomed the prime minister with a gentle swaying routine, set to a piece of slow, somewhat sorrowful chamber music. They had a sombre audience of suited men.
Continue reading...Device uses a weak current to artificially amplify the taste of salt, as part of efforts to reduce sodium levels in popular dishes
Diners in Japan could soon be able to savour the umami of a bowl of ramen or miso soup without having to worry about their salt intake.
In what they claim is a world first, researchers have developed chopsticks that artificially create the taste of salt, as part of efforts to reduce sodium levels in some of the country’s most popular dishes.
Continue reading...Concerns raised over development costs for ‘integrated resort’, as well as crime and gambling addiction
The focus of Japan’s quest to open its first casino is a human-made island in Osaka that, if the city’s government gets its way, will end decades of wrangling over the country’s fraught relationship with poker tables and slot machines.
On a recent weekday morning there was little to suggest that Yumeshima – “Dream Island” – could, by the end of the decade, be the site of an unprecedented experiment with gambling in the world’s third biggest economy.
Continue reading...Takeshi Ebisawa accused of planning to purchase surface-to-air missiles for rebel groups in Myanmar and distribute drugs in US
US authorities have arrested a leader of a Japanese crime syndicate on charges of plotting to distribute drugs in the United States and purchase weapons including US-made surface-to-air missiles.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Takeshi Ebisawa, who they described as a leader in a network of Japanese crime families known as yakuza, and a co-conspirator agreed to buy the missiles for rebel groups in Myanmar during conversations with an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
Continue reading...Six members receive brief suspensions after years of eating free ‘navy curry’ they were not entitled to
A keen appetite for curry has landed six members of Japan’s maritime self-defence forces (SDF) in trouble, after it emerged that they had been tucking into the dish without paying for up to three years.
The SDF members, including an officer in his 50s, helped themselves to free curry at Hachinohe air base in north-east Japan, apparently ignoring rules requiring them to pay, according to Japanese media reports.
Continue reading...Rise in infections since quasi-emergency restrictions were lifted sparks concern that long-awaited hanami season could help fuel a resurgence
After two years of pandemic-related cancellations and restrictions, Japan is again observing the time-honoured ritual of hanami – cherry blossom viewing.
As the delicate pink flowers reached their peak, people who had previously avoided the crowds – or had their local viewing festivals called off – have turned out in large numbers to view Tokyo’s sakura petals.
Continue reading...Kenichi Horie became the first person to make a non-stop solo crossing of the Pacific in 1962 and has made multiple crossings
An 83-year old man is set to sail from San Francisco on Saturday and voyage alone across the Pacific Ocean to his home country, Japan.
Kenichi Horie, also known as “Japan’s most famous yachtsman”, became the first person to make a non-stop solo crossing of the Pacific in 1962. On that trip, he was still a 23-year old amateur seaman. Horie set off from Osaka and sailed across the ocean for 94 days, surviving on canned food and rice before arriving in San Francisco.
Continue reading...Japan calls testing ‘unforgivable’ as regime fires one of biggest missiles for first time since 2017
North Korea has launched what is thought to be its largest intercontinental ballistic missile to date, in a dramatic return to long-range testing that marks the regime’s most serious provocation for years.
South Korea’s military fired a missile barrage into the Sea of Japan in response to the ICBM launch – the first full-range test of Kim Jong-un’s most powerful missiles since 2017. The launch will lead to fears that the North has made significant progress in developing weapons capable of sending nuclear warheads anywhere in the US.
Continue reading...Report from Shoal on 2021’s newly described species shows ‘there are still hundreds and hundreds more freshwater fish scientists don’t know about yet’
Scientists are celebrating 212 “new” freshwater fish species, including a blind eel found in the grounds of a school for blind children and a fish named Wolverine that is armed with a hidden weapons system.
The New Species 2021 report, released by the conservation organisation Shoal, shows just how diverse and remarkable the world’s often undervalued freshwater species are, and suggests there is plenty more life still to be discovered in the world’s lakes, rivers and wetlands.
Continue reading...Plaintiffs say they endured decades of abuse after resettlement campaign in which Tokyo colluded
A Tokyo court has rejected a lawsuit filed by five people seeking compensation from North Korea for what they said was decades of abuse after they were lured there by Pyongyang’s false promise of living in the “paradise on Earth”.
The five plaintiffs, including ethnic Koreans and Japanese who moved to North Korea under a 1959-1984 repatriation programme and later fled, filed the lawsuit in 2018 seeking 100m yen (about £625,000 today) each in compensation over what they said was illegal “solicitation and detainment”.
Continue reading...The Ukrainian president thanked Japan for ‘leading the way’ in virtual address to MPs
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called on Japan to increase pressure on Russia by imposing a trade embargo on Russian goods, in a virtual address to MPs in Tokyo.
Zelenskiy, who has delivered carefully tailored speeches to lawmakers in the US, UK and other countries, thanked Japan for “leading the way” among Asian countries in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and imposing sanctions.
Continue reading...Tsunami warning cancelled after quake cut power to 2m homes and damaged some buildings
A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima in north-east Japan on Wednesday evening, leaving four dead, and plunging more than 2m homes in the Tokyo area into darkness.
The region was devastated by a deadly 9.0 quake and tsunami 11 years ago that also triggered nuclear plant meltdowns, spewing massive radiation that still makes some parts uninhabitable.
Continue reading...Public high schools and other educational institutions will drop five regulations, including one requiring students to have black hair
Controversial rules on hairstyles and underwear are to be scrapped at high schools run by the Tokyo metropolitan government, after pressure from students.
Almost 200 public high schools and other educational institutions will drop five regulations, including one requiring students to have black hair, from April, the Mainichi Shimbun said, citing official sources.
Continue reading...Japanese measures including turning down the heating and slower trains could ease pressure on British households, say experts
Britain could learn from Japan’s response to the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster by reducing energy consumption to deal with soaring global gas prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, academics have said.
Suggesting a coordinated response to record gas prices could help ease the pressure on households, experts told MPs on the Commons business committee that steps to reduce national demand for gas-fired power next winter could be deployed.
Continue reading...Legend has it there is an evil spirit trapped in the Sessho-seki stone, so what happens now that the stone is broken?
Predictions of dark forces being unleashed by an evil vixen hung over social media in Japan on Monday after a famous volcanic rock said to kill anyone who comes into contact with it was found split in two.
According to the mythology surrounding the Sessho-seki, or killing stone, the object contains the transformed corpse of Tamamo-no-Mae, a beautiful woman who had been part of a secret plot hatched by a feudal warlord to kill Emperor Toba, who reigned from 1107-1123.
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