All posts tagged: Japan

6m-deep sinkhole swallows truck in Japan, trapping driver

6m-deep sinkhole swallows truck in Japan, trapping driver

TOKYO: Japanese emergency services struggled for hours on Tuesday (Jan 28) to rescue the driver of a truck that plunged into a sinkhole near Tokyo. Authorities in Yashio City, Saitama, received calls around 9.50am saying that a road had caved in and a lorry had fallen. “We have been carrying out a rescue operation ever since,” a fire department spokesperson told AFP around seven hours later. He added that they estimate the sinkhole is about 10m wide and 6m deep. “Now, we’re trying to see if we can pull up the truck using a large crane,” he said. “There is risk that the hole will collapse.” The driver was able to talk with rescuers until around 1pm but they retreated after the area around the hole became unstable, the spokesperson said. The team initially planned to rescue the driver by going into the sinkhole, but two members were mildly injured while attempting to do so. A sewer system runs through the vicinity of the intersection, and the cause of the road collapse is under investigation, …

Top Fuji TV executives in Japan resign over sex scandal | Sexual Assault News

Top Fuji TV executives in Japan resign over sex scandal | Sexual Assault News

Chairman and president step down to take responsibility for a widening sex assault scandal linked to celebrity host. Japan’s Fuji Media says its chairman and the head of its TV unit will step down immediately amid a probe into alleged sexual misconduct by a celebrity TV host. Chairman Shuji Kano and television President Koichi Minato called it quits on Monday, weeks after host Masahiro Nakai was accused of sexual assault, causing a public relations storm and mass exit of advertisers. The 52-year-old Nakai reportedly later paid the woman 90 million yen ($580,000) and the pair signed a non-disclosure agreement. While Nakai has worked for many of Japan’s TV networks, the dinner at which the incident occurred was reportedly arranged by one of the broadcaster’s executives. One of the magazines, Shukan Bunshun, also reported the same executive had in a separate event gathered female TV personalities at a hotel to act as entertainment for Nakai and other celebrities. Dozens of brands, including McDonald’s and Toyota, pulled their advertisements from the private broadcaster after staff were accused …

Did Native Americans originally migrate from Japan?

Did Native Americans originally migrate from Japan?

The long-standing theory that the earliest Native Americans migrated to the Western Hemisphere from Japan is facing significant scientific scrutiny. A new study challenges the idea that these early populations, often referred to as First Peoples, descended from the Jomon people, who lived in Japan 15,000 years ago. This research, published in the journal PaleoAmerica, disrupts the established narrative by analyzing genetics and skeletal biology, which, according to the authors, do not support the connection. For decades, archaeologists have pointed to similarities in stone tools to support the theory. They argue that early Indigenous populations followed a coastal route along the northern Pacific, crossing the Bering Land Bridge to reach North America. Once there, they spread rapidly across the continent, reaching South America’s southernmost tip within 2,000 years. Central to this hypothesis has been the resemblance of stone artifacts crafted by the Jomon people and those found at early First Peoples sites in the Americas. However, this latest study, conducted by experts in human teeth biology and Ice-Age genetics, suggests otherwise. Many archaeologists currently believe …

Check Out These Extraordinary New Images of Mercury

Check Out These Extraordinary New Images of Mercury

At 06:59 Central European time time on January 8, the BepiColombo spacecraft successfully performed its sixth flyby of Mercury, the innermost planet in the solar system. This was a “gravity assist maneuver,” a move that used Mercury’s gravitational pull to alter the BepiColombo vehicle’s course, which will bring it into orbit around the planet by the end of 2026. BepiColombo is a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that will study the composition of Mercury. The vehicle, consisting of two probes—ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter—was launched in the fall of 2018 and had previously been orbiting the sun. When it approaches Mercury again, the vehicle will separate, and the two probes will head for their dedicated polar orbits. BepiColombo’s scientific work is then scheduled for early 2027, when the probes will look for information on how the planet was formed and whether some of its craters contain water in the form of ice. Until then, we will have to make do with …

Sumo wrestling to return to the Royal Albert Hall after 30 years

Sumo wrestling to return to the Royal Albert Hall after 30 years

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Biden meets South Korea, Japan leaders for pre-Trump huddle on risk

Biden meets South Korea, Japan leaders for pre-Trump huddle on risk

LIMA: US President Joe Biden met with Japanese and South Korean leaders on Friday (Nov 15) as they sought to cement their diplomatic progress ahead of a new Trump administration that many fear could upend alliances worldwide. The meeting between Washington and two of its closest Asian allies came as US relations with Beijing are expected to grow more confrontational after Donald Trump’s Jan 20 inauguration, given his promises of sharp tariff hikes that could hobble China’s economy. North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and dimming prospects for a peaceful resolution to a decades-long conflict with South Korea are also raising tensions in Asia. “Japan, the ROK, and the United States strongly condemn the decisions by the leaders of the DPRK and Russia to dangerously expand Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine,” said a joint statement, referring to South Korea and North Korea by their official names, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The meeting on …

Nintendo unveils Donkey Kong Country at Super Nintendo World in Japan

Nintendo unveils Donkey Kong Country at Super Nintendo World in Japan

Nintendo’s famous game designer Shigeru Miyamoto showed off the Donkey Kong Country area at Super Nintendo World. The unveiling is a major addition to the theme park within a theme park that opened at Universal Studios Japan in March 2021. Nintendo has opened or is opening its theme parks in Hollywood, Osaka, Orlando (2025) and Singapore (TBD). The aim is to widen its funnel for consumers and get more people familiar with Nintendo’s intellectual property than gamers alone. The entrance to Donkey Kong Country in Super Nintendo World in Japan. The new area is part of the Super Mario World section of the theme park in Japan. As you move from one area to the Donkey Kong Country, Miyamoto pointed out that you move from blocks to rocks as you go through a tunnel. With a jungle theme, Miyamoto showed off the Donkey Kong Tree House and the Golden Temple. On the temple, there’s a face of a monkey with steam spewing out of its mouth. He played large conga drums that were connected to …

Tadanobu Asano Honored With THR’s Trailblazer Award at Tokyo Gala

Tadanobu Asano Honored With THR’s Trailblazer Award at Tokyo Gala

Ramping up the glitz and glamour from last year’s launch shindig, The Hollywood Reporter Japan turned on the style once more for its Trailblazer Award Gala Party, held Wednesday night at The Peninsula Hotel in Tokyo’s Ginza district. Held during the Tokyo International Film Festival, this year’s THR Japan gala event was an even hotter ticket than in 2023, with a veritable who’s who of Japan’s film industry, as well as sprinkling of sports legends and local celebs, who all graced the red carpet to join the celebrations to honor Shogun star Tadanobu Asano, the first Japanese recipient of THR’s Trailblazer Award. The Trailblazer Award is given to artists whose work and careers illuminate stories and characters who have been traditionally marginalized in Hollywood. Since his debut on Japanese television as a 16-year-old, Asano’s career has taken him from Hirokazu Koreeda’s Maborosi to Takashi Miike’s notorious Ichi the Killer, through the Marvel universe and most recently in FX’s all-conquering Shogun, which made history at the 2024 Emmys by winning the most awards by any show …

Film star hailed across the globe, from Japan to US

Film star hailed across the globe, from Japan to US

Alain Delon, on arrival at Haneda airport, Tokyo, March 29, 1963. THE ASAHI SHIMBUN VIA GETTY IMAG Famed in Italy for his work with Luchino Visconti and Michelangelo Antonioni, Alain Delon enjoyed international renown in many other countries too, where his films were revered. As soon as his death was announced on Sunday, August 18, tributes poured in from the media, starting in Japan. Many, like the daily newspaper Yomiuri, labelled him a nimaime – a kabuki theater term designating “the handsome, seductive man with gentle gestures and words.” The paper Mainichi meanwhile published a portfolio entitled “The journey of the most handsome man,” showing the actor on his frequent trips to Japan. Read more Subscribers only Italy salutes Alain Delon, the French actor who is part of Italian history In the 1960s and 1970s, Delon’s popularity in Japan was enormous. Surpassing that of Hollywood stars, he appeared in numerous advertisements, such as the one for clothing manufacturer D’Urban. Its slogan, spoken in French by Delon: “D’Urban, c’est l’élégance de l’homme moderne” (“D’Urban, it’s the …