Category Archives: Japan

Coronavirus live news: weekly deaths up by a third in England and Wales; Singapore prepares to reopen for business

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Covid mentioned in 527 deaths last week compared to 404 the week before; Singapore experts say there may be hundreds of deaths each year from endemic Covid-19

The king of Malaysia has ruled out a new general election in the country, after the resignation of the government amid mounting anger over its handling of the pandemic, because of concerns over the spread of Covid.

Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation yesterday after less than 18 months in office comes as Malaysia has one of the world’s highest infection and death rates per capita, with daily cases breaching 20,000 this month despite a seven-month state of emergency and a lockdown since June.

India has administered more than 8.8m doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the past 24 hours, government data showed, close to its all-time record and speeding up a campaign to inoculate all eligible adults by December.

India has undertaken one of the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccination drives and has so far administered 554m doses, giving at least one dose to about 46% of its estimated 944m adults. Only about 13% of the population have had the required two doses.

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Undersea volcanic eruption creates new Japanese island

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Crescent-shaped landmass 50km south of Minami Ioto could disappear due to erosion

The 6,000-plus islands that make up the Japanese archipelago have a new addition, after scientists said an undersea volcanic eruption 1,200km (745 miles) south of Tokyo had created a new landmass.

The island was formed in the Pacific Ocean about 50km south of Minami Ioto, the southernmost island of the Ogasawara group.

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Maki Kaji, ‘godfather of sudoku’, dies aged 69 in Japan

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Puzzle enthusiast and publisher credited with turning grid-based numbers problem into global phenomenon

Maki Kaji, a Japanese publisher who popularised the numbers puzzle sudoku played daily by millions around the world, has died from cancer aged 69.

A university dropout who worked in a printing company before founding Japan’s first puzzle magazine, Kaji took hints from an existing number puzzle to create what he later named “sudoku” – a contraction of the Japanese for “every number must be single” – sometime in the mid-80s.

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Japan’s economy bounces back as Covid restrictions ease

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Economic output defies expectations to expand in Q2 – but analysts warn of contraction risk

Japan’s economy recovered strongly in the second quarter to join the turnaround seen across G7 countries as the easing of lockdown restrictions sent consumers rushing to the shops.

Beating the expectations of City analysts, the world’s third largest economy also capitalised on global trade’s return to health with a surge in exports.

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Coronavirus live news: Japan set to extend state of emergency as Sydney records deadliest pandemic day

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Japan is reportedly set to extend it state of emergency in Tokyo and other regions while Sydney has reported seven deaths over the past 24 hours, its deadliest day of the pandemic so far

It’s Robyn Vinter here in the UK, taking over from Helen.

If you’re in lockdown and finding yourself increasingly grumpy and/or sluggish, Guardian Australia’s Alyx Gorman has investigated how you can best avoid “lockdown brain”:

Related: Forgetful, confused and a bit cranky? Here are some scientifically proven ways to lift your lockdown mood

That’s it from me, Helen Livingstone, I’m handing over to my UK colleague Robyn Vinter.

Here’s a brief rundown of what’s been happening so far:

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Heavy rain triggers floods and landslides in Japan – video

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More than a million people have been urged to seek shelter as torrential rain triggered floods and landslides in western Japan, leaving at least one dead and two missing. Scientists say the climate crisis is intensifying the risk of heavy rain in Japan and elsewhere, because a warmer atmosphere holds more water

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‘I’m angry about a lot of things’: Japanese actor Minami on her new eco-drama with Johnny Depp

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The actor and painter explains why the world needs to see Minimata, the new film about the mercury poisoning scandal that W Eugene Smith helped expose

Like Cher or Madonna, Minami is a one-name wonder. “I have my French and Japanese family names,” the 34-year-old actor says over video call from a pink hotel room in Tokyo. “But ‘Minami’ is simpler.” She gives a single, decisive nod. “Just write ‘Minami.’” She chose the mononym at 13 when she featured in her first film, Battle Royale, a gory cult thriller about schoolchildren fighting to the death on an uninhabited island. “When I went back to school, everyone said: ‘Your arms are all bruised, you have scratches, what’s going on?’ They thought my parents were beating me.”

Even when telling a story like this with dark undertones, her manner is insistently perky, as though she doesn’t want the listener to misread her as dour. When I ask about her Battle Royale audition, for instance, she blithely recalls “walking into the room and there were 10 men, and they asked me if I could do a handstand, and two of the men held my legs against the wall to help me …” I must be grimacing because she breaks off from the anecdote to reprimand me lightheartedly: “Don’t make that face! It was all fine.”

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Josee, the Tiger and the Fish review – beautiful-looking anime takes a trip to the zoo

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This romantic animation about a paraplegic woman’s relationship with a marine biology student suffers for its sweetness

This gorgeous-looking, swooningly romantic anime feels like it could win over YA audiences: it’s heartfelt, unthreatening and rather lovely. Its representation of disability does feel a bit iffy in places, though: presenting a 24-year-old paraplegic woman, Josee, as fundamentally in need of fixing or rescue. Near the start she meets Tsuneo, a dreamily gorgeous diver and marine biology student, who saves her hurtling out of control down a hill in her wheelchair. She is a helpless victim – and not for the last time in the movie.

When Tsuneo walks Josee back to her apartment, her grandmother hires him as a part-time carer. The job involves spending a couple of hours with Josee every day. The one rule is that he can’t take her outside. At first, Tsuneo can’t stand his petulant and demanding client, who calls him “my servant” and orders him around. But slowly he’s smitten and develops something worryingly like a saviour complex. It turns out that Josee’s overprotective grandmother has kept her confined at home to make sure she is safe. As a result, she is childish and emotionally immature, but a fiercely talented artist.

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Smashed pumpkin: tropical storm batters famous Japan sculpture

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Experts consider possibility of rebuilding Yayoi Kusama work, which was swept into sea off Naoshima

Experts are determining whether it is possible to reconstruct one of Japan’s most recognisable works of modern art after it was badly damaged during a recent tropical storm.

The sculpture, a giant black and yellow polka-dotted pumpkin by the celebrated artist Yayoi Kusama, has stood at the end of a pier on the “art island” of Naoshima in the Seto inland sea since 1994.

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Hansle Parchment thanks woman who paid for taxi to race where he won Olympic gold

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  • 110m champion struggled to make final after taking wrong bus
  • Local volunteer stepped in to pay for taxi to Olympic Stadium

Jamaican hurdler Hansle Parchment has tracked down and thanked a Tokyo 2020 volunteer who paid for his taxi to the Olympic Stadium, where he subsequently won a gold medal.

Parchment told the story in a video posted to social media last weekend, which ended with him meeting the volunteer, whom he called Tiana. He thanked her, showed her the gold medal, gave her a Jamaican Olympic shirt and paid her back the money she had lent.

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Support for Japan’s PM reaches all-time low over Covid-19, despite Olympics success

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Public support for Yoshihide Suga’s cabinet dipped below 30%, despite widespread support for going ahead with the Games

Public support for the government of Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has slumped to an all-time low, despite evidence that most people support the decision to go ahead with the Tokyo Olympics during the coronavirus pandemic.

Suga had been hoping to bask in the afterglow of the Games, which ended on Sunday, but support for his cabinet has dipped below 30% for the first time since he became prime minister last September, largely over its response to a recent surge in infections.

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Rice, rice baby: Japanese parents send relatives rice to hug in lieu of newborns

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Each bag matches birth weight and features baby’s face, so new arrival can be hugged in pandemic

Parents in Japan are sending bags of rice that weigh the same as their newborn babies to relatives who are unable to visit them due to the pandemic.

The bags come in a wide range of designs, with some shaped like a baby wrapped in a blanket so that relatives can feel as though they are hugging the new arrival while looking at a picture of their face, which is attached to the front.

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Coronavirus live news: curfew and music ban on two Greek islands; Japan experts urge nationwide state of emergency

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Zakynthos island and Chania on Crete hit by measures aimed at cutting Covid spread; advisers to government in Tokyo say surge requires harsher measures

With 16 million Australians again plunged into lockdown as authorities struggle to contain Delta variant outbreaks, the national cabinet is set to examine how allowing vaccinated residents to be freed from restrictions could provide a “powerful incentive” to be immunised.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, will meet with state and territory leaders on Friday amid fresh tensions between New South Wales and the commonwealth over the state’s prolonged and expanding lockdown and as Victoria enters its sixth lockdown following fresh Covid cases.

I have been vocal publicly about our need and want for more vaccines.

We know the vaccines stop the spread. They protect life and keep people out of hospital. That’s why it is so critical and every jurisdiction around the world is finding Delta challenging.

Related: National leaders to discuss easing restrictions for vaccinated Australians as half the country is locked down

Greece imposed a night-time curfew and banned music on two popular tourist islands on Thursday to contain the spread of Covid-19, its civil protection deputy minister said.

The Mediterranean country, which is trying to rebuild a tourist sector hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, is also battling a wave of wildfires during a protracted heatwave, Reuters reports.

We call on the residents and visitors in these areas to fully comply with the measures to limit the spread of the virus.

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$5,800 whisky bottle given to Pompeo as gift missing, state department says

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  • Japan gave bottle to former secretary of state two years ago
  • ‘Ongoing inquiry’ underway into what happened to the booze

The state department has said it is looking into the apparent disappearance of a nearly $6,000 bottle of whisky given more than two years ago to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by the government of Japan.

In a notice filed in the federal register, the department said it could find no trace of the bottle’s whereabouts and that there is an “ongoing inquiry” into what happened to the booze. The department reported the investigation in its annual accounting of gifts given to senior US officials by foreign governments and leaders.

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Belarus sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya leaves Tokyo on flight to Vienna

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Athlete is expected to head to Poland later after seeking protection at its embassy amid fears she would be punished if she returned home

Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has left Japan on a Vienna-bound plane after she refused to fly home earlier this week.

The 24-year-old, who had sought refuge at the Polish embassy in Tokyo, had been expected to take a flight direct to Warsaw but switched at the last minute, an airport official told reporters.

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Japan names and shames citizens for breaching Covid quarantine rules

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Officials said the three tried to avoid authorities after returning from abroad, sparking a social media flurry

Japan has carried out a threat to publicly shame people not complying with coronavirus border control measures, releasing the names of three people who broke quarantine rules after returning from overseas.

The health ministry said the three Japanese nationals named had clearly acted to avoid contact with authorities after recently returning from abroad.

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Coronavirus live news: England and Wales deaths reach three-month high; Indonesia struggles with surge in cases

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Latest updates: Covid deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 23 July up 50%; Indonesia’s health workers struggle under weight of new cases

More than 200 areas across England and Wales had at least twice as many deaths than average during the first Covid, according to analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The figures come as the number of coronavirus deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 23 July has reached 327, the highest figure recorded for three months.

Ivermectin may combat Covid infection and reduce infectiousness, a new Israeli study suggests.

The Jerusalem Post reports that the widely used anti-parasite drug was tested in a small randomised control trial, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, and saw 22% more patients who received ivermectin test negative for the virus by day six than the placebo group.

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Macaques at Japan reserve get first alpha female in 70-year history

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Yakei took top spot after roughing up Sanchu, the alpha male who had been leader of ‘troop B’ on the island of Kyushu for five years

In a rarely seen phenomenon in the simian world, a nine-year-old female known as Yakei has become the boss of a 677-strong troop of Japanese macaque monkeys at a nature reserve on the island of Kyushu in Japan.

Yakei’s path to the top began in April when she beat up her own mother to become the alpha female of the troop at the Takasakiyama natural zoological garden in Oita city. While that would have been the pinnacle for most female monkeys, Yakei decided to throw her 10kg weight around among the males.

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Japan urges young people to get jabs and stay in amid Tokyo Covid surge

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Health experts say surge in cases amid Olympics could overload hospitals unless action taken

Health experts in Japan have warned that a recent surge in coronavirus cases in Tokyo, six days into the Olympics, could put hospitals under severe strain unless young people stop socialising at night and get vaccinated.

Tokyo reported 3,865 daily coronavirus cases on Thursday, up from 3,177 on Wednesday, as rising infections in the capital cast a shadow over the Olympics. Wednesday was the first time cases in Tokyo had exceeded 3,000 since the start of the pandemic.

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Tokyo review – lust and loneliness in Japan’s pleasure quarters

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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
A seductive encounter with past and present at the Olympic city shows that Tokyo practically invented modern art

Love hotels and cross-dressers make Tokyo’s nightlife eye-popping – and that’s just in 18th-century woodblock prints. The Ashmolean’s seductive overview of the Olympic city’s art sets these classics alongside images of contemporary Tokyo to create a thrilling and informative encounter with one of the world’s great art capitals.

Past and present meet for a sultry encounter in the night. A wall is lit up by Mika Ninagawa’s intensely coloured photos of blue- and pink-haired clubbers. They are so now – yet close by in the same gallery is a painted scroll from the 1600s that is just as provocative. It depicts the pleasure quarter of Edo, as Tokyo was then called, which became Japan’s capital when the Tokugawa shoguns united the country in the 17th century. It was famous for its pleasure quarter, “the floating world”, and the new art genre it inspired – ukiyo-e, “pictures of the floating world”. In the scroll, samurai warriors are seen visiting courtesans. But samurai were banned from the pleasure quarter so they wear straw hats pulled down to hide their faces. The comically phallic swords peeping out from their robes give them away.

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