Tokyo Daily
Chinese hooker club busted in Shibuya
TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Tuesday arrested the manager and three employees of a club in the Shibuya entertainment area for violating the Anti-Prostitution Law, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Jan. 27). Read the story »
Latest Features
Tokyo fest to feature five world premieres, offer support to Tohoku
TOKYO (TR) – The 24th Tokyo International Film Festival will be highlighted by five world premieres in competition and offer encouragement to the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake, organizers announced on Wednesday.
TIFF chairman Tatsumi “Tom” Yoda said at a press conference at the Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo’s Minato Ward that this year’s installment of the fest, which runs between October 22 and 30, will utilize the slogan “Believe! The power of films” in an effort to support the victims of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan’s Tohoku region. Read the story »
Osaka in 24 hours
OSAKA (TR) – As Japan’s third largest city, Osaka offers a mix of modernity and traditional touches: culturally important structures, culinary delights, interesting art — it’s all here. What follows is a guide to this city for a single day’s stay.
08:00: Osaka may be considered Japan’s second city in many ways but when it comes to urban sprawl it has just about as many flashing neon signs, packed trains, and towering skyscrapers as that found in Tokyo. For an idea of how things used to be, start your day by heading over to Osaka Castle, nearly an oasis of serenity in the center of this city of 2.6 million people. Around the grounds, paths wind beneath cherry trees, near the moats, and up to the imposing stone walls that surround the structure. Osaka Castle Museum includes displays that feature the history of castle, which was originally constructed by warlord Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1537-1598), elaborate samurai armor and helmets, and a top-floor observation deck. The area surrounding the compound also offers no shortage of vendors peddling grilled mochi (rice cakes) wrapped in nori (seaweed) and piping-hot red bean cakes. Read the story »
TR News Blog
Chinese man who petrol-bombed Japan’s South Korean embassy formally charged, AFP says
TOKYO (TR) – A Chinese man who fire-bombed the Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea because his grandmother was forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese Imperial Army has been formally charged by prosecutors, Agence France-Presse said.
South Korean prosecutors charged the 38-year-old man, with the surname Liu, for attempted arson in the January 8, attack that damaged the outer wall of the embassy. Liu also claimed responsibility for an attack on Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead, including some accused of war crimes, AFP reported. Read the story »
North Korean defectors say 571 South Koreans abducted, Chosun Ilbo reports
TOKYO (TR) – North Korea has kidnapped 571 South Koreans since the end of the Korean War, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported, citing a document obtained by a North Korean defectors group.
The document, which appears to have been prepared by the North Korean Red Cross and dates from 2008, says 554 South Koreans were abducted from the South, while 17 were kidnapped abroad. According to the Chosun Ilbo, the document also details who out of the 17 abducted abroad are still alive or whether they can be accounted for. Read the story »
Japanese government hid a warning millions may need to flee Tokyo after nuclear disaster, AP Says
TOKYO (TR) – The Japanese government kept secret a worst-case scenario report by experts that warned there was the possibility the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may require the forced evacuation of tens of millions from Tokyo, the Associated Press said, citing documents it obtained.
Government officials kept the report secret out of fear it would cause widespread panic, according to the AP. The meltdown forced 80,000 people living near the Tokyo Electric Power Company plant to flee the area. Read the story »
Scientists predict 70 percent chance major quake to hit Tokyo in 4 years, AFP says
TOKYO (TR) – Researchers at the University of Tokyo say the increase in tremors in and around the nation’s capital since the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami means there is a 70 percent chance the city will suffer a magnitude seven earthquake within four years, according to Agence France-Presse.
An average of 1.48 earthquakes per day with magnitudes of three or higher have hit the Tokyo area since March 11, 2011, AFP reported, citing the Japan Meteorological Agency. That represents a fivefold increase, the news agency said. Read the story »
TSE decides not to delist Olympus, slaps $130,000 fine, AFP says
TOKYO (TR) – The Tokyo Stock Exchange has decided not to delist camera maker Olympus, but instead slapped it with a $130,000 (10 million yen) fine for falsifying its books and concealing losses that go back decades, Agence France-Presse said, citing the TSE.
The company’s shares will go on “alert” status from Saturday, AFP reported. The Olympus scandal first came to light in October after the Japanese company’s former British CEO said he was dismissed after he raised questions about suspicious deals, including the $687 million fee it paid in 2008 to an adviser in the $2 billion acquisition of U.K. medical equipment company Gyrus Group Plc. Read the story »
Yu Darvish, wife agree to divorce terms, Kyodo says
TOKYO (TR) – Yu Darvish, the Japanese pitcher who recently signed a six-year $60 million deal with Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers, and his actress wife, have finalized their divorce agreement, Kyodo News said, citing the pair’s management office.
Darvish, 25, and his wife Saeko, 27, started divorce proceedings several months ago and finally submitted the paper work to the proper ward office Friday, Kyodo said. Darvish agreed to pay alimony to his wife, who retains custody of their two children; though he will not pay consolation money, according to the news agency. The size of the alimony payments was not disclosed. Read the story »
JASPO
Coinciding with the enactment of anti-organized crime legislation last year, Tokyo Metropolitan Police have been focusing...
When the springs on the beds at Ikaho spa, near Shibukawa City in Gunma Prefecture, got a little bit too hot, it was the...
“I know this sounds rude but my son (Yoshiyuki Oide) said it’s acceptable because you can get fed up with a beautiful...
“My boyfriend and his close buddy Kazuo, and Kazuo’s girlfriend and I made plans to take a trip to a hot springs....
“Tonight we’re having a shinnen-kai (first party of the New Year), and we haven’t got enough gals to go...
“It was five or six years ago that I first began to notice more elderly men were going to soaplands,” the unnamed...
Squeeze a lady’s breasts too firmly, or try thrusting all four fingers into her vagina, and you’re doing a lousy...
“At the end of December, we sold a Piaget watch costing 2.4 million yen,” says a 78-year-old male owner of a...
Japan News
Yuta Sasaki with his iPad in Akihabara (Photo by Tokyo Reporter, October 20, 2011) TOKYO (TR) – Developing an understanding...
Toyota's FCV-R fuel cell vehicle at the Tokyo Motor Show 2011 (Photo by Tokyo Reporter, December 2, 2011) TOKYO (TR)...
Former Olympus CEO Michael Woodford at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on Friday (Photo by Tokyo Reporter,...
Current view of site of former TSK.CCC building with Tokyo Midtown in background (Photo by Tokyo Reporter, November 3, 2011) TOKYO...
TOKYO (TR) – The 24th Tokyo International Film Festival concluded on Sunday in Tokyo with its top prize being awarded to...
Wim Wenders ('Pina') and his wife Donata at the opening ceremonies for the Tokyo International Film Festival (Photo by Tokyo...
TOKYO (TR) – The 24th Tokyo International Film Festival will be highlighted by five world premieres in competition and...
TOKYO (TR) – Prior to her nine-pic retrospective at next month’s 24th Tokyo International Film Festival, legendary...
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International Reports
Return to TarawaTARAWA, KIRIBATI (TR) – Sixty-six years ago, the Pacific island atoll of Tarawa was a World War II battlefield of billowing black...
King copraMAJURO – The continually hot and dusty conditions found on the Marshall Islands’ capital of Majuro can be rough on the...
Slots of fun in VanuatuPORT VILA – There is a knock at the door. Allan Palmer raises his head and greets a middle-aged housewife as she steps inside...
Shanghai’s Bund tradersSHANGHAI – Not one tourist is spared. “Rolex?” questions a young, slender man in his thirties, tobacco-stained front...
Museum Tour: The Tuol Sleng Genocide MuseumPHNOM PENH – It is estimated that during the Cambodian Genocide (1975-1979) 1.7 million people lost their lives at the hands...
The Alotau Canoe FestivalALOTAU – As John Kaniku tells it, the appropriate beginning to canoe construction is simple enough: you have to choose a tree...
The Bomana War CemeteryPORT MORESBY (TR) – Local birds on spindly legs dash between the marble headstones set within the manicured green lawn of the...
Interviews
Kyosho jutaku: Small house living in JapanTOKYO (TR) – On one of Tokyo’s crisper mornings, ride the elevator up to the lounge on the 41st floor of the Shinjuku Park...
On the ‘Tokyo Vice’ beat with Jake AdelsteinTOKYO (TR) – The extortion, racketeering, prostitution and gambling rings associated with Japan’s yakuza criminal organizations...
Toshio Maeda: Hentai pioneerTOKYO (TR) – Toshio Maeda’s groundbreaking manga series “Urotsuki Doji” from 1986 firmly placed him in the...





































