Masazo Nonaka, who enjoyed watching sumo wrestling and eating sweets, died at home
The world’s oldest man has died at his home, a hot springs on Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido, at the age of 113.
His family said Masazo Nonaka died peacefully from natural causes in the early hours of Sunday while sleeping in the inn in Ashoro, which has been run by his family for four generations.
Continue reading...Band manager criticised for silence after Maho Yamaguchi, a singer with NGT48, said she was attacked at her home
Japan’s harsh treatment of its female celebrities has again come under scrutiny following outcry over the music industry’s handling of an alleged assault on a member of a popular girl band.
Social media users and TV commentators have joined the barrage of criticism targeting AKS, a music management agency, after Maho Yamaguchi, a singer with NGT48, went public this month with allegations she had been assaulted by two obsessive fans at the end of last year.
Continue reading...Former Nissan head says he is innocent, meaning he could remain in detention until trial begins
Carlos Ghosn could remain in detention for several months after prosecutors indicted him on two new charges of financial misconduct, days after the former Nissan chairman insisted he had been wrongly accused.
Ghosn was charged with aggravated breach of trust and for understating his pay by 4.3 billion yen for three years through March 2018, the Tokyo district court said.
Continue reading...Investigation will now examine payments made to former Nissan chairman before 2017
Renault has said it has so far found no evidence of illegal or fraudulent payments to Carlos Ghosn, despite the chief executive of the French carmaker remaining under arrest in Japan.
Ghosn was arrested in November by Japanese authorities over allegations he under-reported income from Nissan, the carmaker he formerly led alongside Renault. He remains in the custody of Japanese authorities in Tokyo.
Continue reading...Shinzō Abe will first visit the Netherlands, where many Japanese firms are relocating ahead of Brexit
Japan’s prime minister, Shinzō Abe, who is to meet Theresa May in London on Thursday, will underscore the damage Brexit is likely to have on Japanese investment in Britain by first visiting the Netherlands, the country to which many UK-based Japanese firms are redeploying ahead of the UK’s departure from the EU.
The choice of the Netherlands as the other stop on Abe’s mini-European tour is not a coincidence since he will also be given a chance to be briefed on how a no-deal Brexit could clog the flow of trade into Rotterdam, the main gateway for Japanese and British firms into the EU single market.
Continue reading...Companies offer napping at work as lack of proper rest is estimated to cost economy $138bn a year
Imagine working for an employer who, aware that you’re probably not sleeping enough at night, allows you to down tools and nap as part of your regular work duties – and not just forty winks at your desk, but a restorative snooze in a quiet room.
These are some of the measures being used by a growing number of companies in Japan to counter an epidemic of sleeplessness that costs its economy an estimated $138bn (£108bn) a year.
Continue reading...Yusaka Maezawa said 100 people who retweeted his message about sales of his fashion retailer would win one million yen
Months after he was named as the first passenger on Elon Musk’s planned rocket flight around the moon, the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has entered the record books for posting the most retweeted message in Twitter’s 13-year-history.
Writing in Japanese, Maezawa noted in his 5 January tweet that his online fashion retailer, Zozotown, had recorded astonishing sales, and to celebrate dangled a cash gift in front of followers who retweeted the message.
Continue reading...Sumire Nakamura is the product of a special programme to promote the ancient pursuit and compete with Korean and Chinese players
A nine-year-old girl in Japan will become the youngest-ever professional player of the strategy board game go when she makes her debut later this year.
Sumire Nakamura, who attends primary school in Osaka, started playing go at the age of three and will start her career at the lowest rank of shodan on 1 April, according to Japanese media.
Continue reading...The winning auction bid for the enormous tuna was more than double the price fetched five years ago
A record $3.1 m (£2.4 m) has been paid for a giant bluefin tuna at Tokyo’s new fish market, which replaced the world-famous Tsukiji late last year.
The winning bid for the prized but endangered species at the predawn auction was more than double the 2013 annual New Year auction.
Continue reading...More than 90,000 people gather in Tokyo to see Emperor Akihito and family
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Tokyo for Emperor Akihito’s final new year appearance of his reign months before he abdicates.
“I am truly happy to celebrate the new year with all of you under such cloudless skies,” he told the crowd from a balcony at the Imperial Palace on Wednesday.
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