Category Archives: Japan

No-deal Brexit: UK exporters risk being locked out of world’s harbours

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Goods dispatched in coming days may not arrive until after 29 March deadline

British exporters sending goods to far-flung destinations in the coming days risk being locked out of harbours around the world as a no-deal Brexit looms, business leaders have warned.

Independent trade experts and the UK’s biggest business groups said exporters could be dispatching goods from UK ports imminently that would not arrive until after the 29 March deadline. This raised the prospect of goods being stuck in ports or facing hefty additional costs in the event of a disorderly Brexit.

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Japan’s deputy PM blames women for nation’s falling population

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Anger after Taro Aso appears to say women not giving birth are the ‘problem’

Japan’s gaffe-prone deputy prime minister, Taro Aso, has been forced to retract remarks that appeared to blame women who do not have children for problems associated with the country’s low birthrate and ageing population.

Aso, who doubles as finance minister, told a constituency meeting in Fukuoka, south-west Japan, at the weekend that older people were being unfairly singled out to explain the country’s demographic crisis.

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Tokyo 2020 organisers cut crowds at sailing events over tsunami risk

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Olympic authorities reduce crowd size to make evacuations easier

The organisers of next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo have decided to cut the number of spectators for the sailing events by a third so they can be quickly evacuated to higher ground in the event of a tsunami.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics organising committee had initially planned to allow up to 5,000 people to watch the sailing events off Enoshima island, just south of the Japanese capital, according to the public broadcaster NHK.

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Ariana Grande mocked for Japanese tattoo typo: ‘Leave me and my grill alone’

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Singer was hoping for a Japanese translation of the title of her hit 7 Rings. Instead she ended up with a tattoo which means ‘small charcoal grill’

Too bad pop star Ariana Grande is vegan – she just tattooed an accidental homage to a Japanese barbeque grill on her palm.

The US singer’s attempt to ink an ode to her hit single 7 Rings backfired Wednesday after social media quickly chimed in to tell her the characters actually translated to “shichirin”: a small charcoal grill.

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Naomi Osaka sponsor apologises for ‘whitewashing’ tennis star in ad

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Noodle company Nissin says it will ‘pay more attention to diversity issues in the future’

One of Naomi Osaka’s sponsors has been forced to apologise after depicting the Japanese tennis star, who is half-Haitian, with pale skin in an advertisement.

Nissin featured Osaka in an ad for its Cup Noodle range of instant ramen. It depicts Osaka, who holds dual Japanese and American citizenship, with pale skin, wavy brown hair and Caucasian facial features.

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World’s oldest man dies in Japan aged 113

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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.

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Victim-blaming outcry as Japan pop star says sorry after alleged assault by fans

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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.

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Carlos Ghosn indicted on fresh financial misconduct charges in Japan

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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.

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Renault finds no illegal payments to Carlos Ghosn in past two years

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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.

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May hopes Japanese PM will back Brexit stance in London visit

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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.

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Snoozing on the job: Japanese firms tackle epidemic of sleeplessness

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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.

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Japanese billionaire splashes cash to earn title of most retweeted post

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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.

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Go-getter: Japanese girl, nine, becomes strategy game’s youngest professional

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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.

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Sushi king pays record $3.1m for endangered bluefin tuna in Japan

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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.

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Japanese emperor makes last new year appearance before abdication

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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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Pompeo appeals for NKorea to replicate Vietnam’s ‘miracle’

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo waits for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prior to their talk at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, July 8, 2018. Pompeo is on a trip traveling to North Korea, ... .

Japanese helicopter carrier to tour South China Sea, Indian Ocean for two months

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FILE PHOTO: Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's latest Izumo-class helicopter carrier DDH-184 Kaga is moored at a naval base in Sasebo, on the southwest island of Kyushu, Japan April 6, 2018. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo TOKYO: Japan will send a large helicopter carrier to the South China Sea and Indian Ocean for a second straight year as it looks to bolster its presence in the strategic maritime region with annual tours, two Japanese officials said.

U.S. bolsters Asia ballistic missile defense as Trump-Kim summit nears

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The USS Milius, one of the U.S. Navy's most advanced guided missile destroyers, arrived in Japan on Tuesday to reinforce defenses against any ballistic missile attacks by North Korea, or anyone else in East Asia. The U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Milius arrives to join Forward Deployed Naval Forces at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Japan May 22, 2018.

The Latest: Trump ‘appreciates’ Kim’s release of 3 Americans

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers remarks with Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray at the State Department, Monday, May 7, 2018 in Washington. . FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2017 file photo, people walk by a TV news program reporting North Korea's missile launch, in Tokyo, Japan.