japan

Several hours ago Japanese TV and radio stations broadcast emergency alerts after radar picked up a North Korean missile launch headed towards Japan's Hokkaido Island.

Japan to Ask WTO to Ensure Food Exports Keep Flowing Japan is the second largest economy in the world, but it has a food self-sufficiency rate of only around 39%. It seems a little bit, well, unreasonable for a rich country with a carefully insulated but incredibly inefficient agricultural...

Stable Master Held in Fatal Beating of 17-year-old I used to be a fan of Sumo. Even went to see it in person last year, although I haven't been following it much recently. I have to say that the whole Sumo world disgusts me now. This abuse and hazing of youngsters is just the most lurid part...

:covereyes I don't know how I'm going to afford to buy groceries anymore!

http://911blogger.com/node/13340 This is a fascinating clip that recently occured in the Japanese Diet (parliment). A legislator makes a 20 minute presentation to the Japanese Prime Minister, Fukuda which includes: a) the Pentagon entry and exit hole b) the flight path towards the Pentagon c)...

Demographic Crisis, Robotic Cure? Japan is approaching a change in demographics for which there is no precedent in history (some other countries are undergoing similar transformations). Many here in Japan, and elsewhere, assume that it will be a major economic disaster, hence "crisis." The...

Fukuda keeps thaw with China on track After several years of tense relations with Japan under Junichiro Koizumi, Sino-Japanese relations now seem to be improving somewhat. Neither Shinzo Abe, Koizumi's successor, nor Abe's successor Yasuo Fukuda have visited Yasukuni shrine, the main sore spot...

Direct link to video Thought you folks might want to take a gander. The main page (with bigger still photos) is right here.

I'm currently reading one of the (many) books devoted to Edward Deming's philosophy of quality control. This book is quite unabashedly and unreservedly for it, and like many such books unquestioningly attributes Japan's post-war industrial strength in large part to Deming's work. What say ye...

I have to rant about some obscure social custom here in Japan that has long outlived it's usefulness. It's called the Bell Mark, and what it is a system in which food companies put a little mark on their package labels, which indicates a bell and a number of points, often one or 1.5, which can...

Story In Japan, when leaders fail, they fall on their swords. In the US it seems like politicians never accept responsibility for their failures.

Randi says he's going to be in Japan shooting an investigation, that's going to be shown in Japan very soon. I'm sure that a version will appear on youtube soon that I can watch, but my girlfriend lives in Japan and I want to tell her when and where it will be on live. So, anyone know the...

Another test. Finally. A similar question has been asked before but I'll ask again: Why does he go for anything less than 20 correct hits? Do the "spirits" mumble? Does he have a "spirit-hearing disability"? Do "they" speak swedish and he sucks at translating? Any thoughts?

I don't think this has been posted already. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6612507.stm

One of the Loosers found a wire-service article saying that in 1952 the CIA wrote up an internal report about how some Japanese ultranationalists they had previously given some money to (in order to get help gathering intelligence) had at some point been planning to overthrow the postwar...

I was just reading in this mornings newspaper that a number of Japanese MP's have banded together to put right the hoax that is the rape of Nanjing! apparently all those tens of thousands of people werent murdered by rampaging Japanese soldiers and that the independent western witnesses that...

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2006-12-22T133726Z_01_T148997_RTRUKOC_0_US-SQUID-GIANT-JAPAN.xml&src=rss&rpc=22 The Giant Squid had videotaped alive. This former cryptic zoo ology monster now on video.

I don't know if anyone here is a resident of Japan as I am, but I'd be open towards gatherings in the future to discuss skeptical issues, especially involving the plentitude of quack healing, nutjob groups, and new regions in the country.

Dogs and Demons : Tales form the Dark Side of Modern Japan Alex Kerr Kerr (Lost Japan), a 35-year resident of Japan and the first foreigner to win that country's Shincho literary prize, contends that the Japanese miracle has become a Japanese mess. Once admired, and perhaps feared, for its...

French President Jacques Chirac said Monday he believed the EU would soon reach agreement with Japan over the site of a proposed experimental nuclear fusion reactor. Progress on the $13 billion international project known as ITER (Latin for "the way") has stalled as Japan and the EU vie to host...

Japan Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 31 No comment, just a :(

Japan to have 100 days a year over 30 C by 2050 Yomiuri Shimbun Japan will have more than 100 days a year with temperatures of 30 C or above within 50 years due to global warming, according to research results released Thursday by organizations including the National Institute for...

From the article: That's a rather harsh treatment, is this cultural thing?

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,7497796%255E1702,00.html Could be big repercussions for the Japanese and international beef markets.

Is God Jesus the robot to blame for all this?