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Naomi Osaka picks Japanese citizenship with eye on Olympics: NHK
Tennis star Naomi Osaka has decided to choose Japanese over American nationality with an eye on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, public broadcaster NHK reported Thursday. Osaka, who has a Japanese mother and a Haitian father, told NHK she has completed an administrative step to obtain Japanese citizenship ahead of her… Read
Typhoon makes landfall on Izu Peninsula; one dead, at least 50 injured
A massive typhoon, bringing heavy downpours and winds, made landfall on Japan's main island of Honshu on Saturday evening, while the country remains at its highest alert level after an unprecedented emergency warning was issued for Tokyo and six prefectures. The weather agency issued an emergency warning over Typhoon Hagibis… Read
Hunter Biden disputes Trump attacks of his work; wades into impeachment fight
Hunter Biden, the son of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, for the first time on Sunday defended his work in Ukraine and China, after sustained criticism from Republican President Donald Trump that has in turn embroiled the White House in an impeachment inquiry. Hunter Biden, who has remained silent… Read
Typhoon warning from NHK 'to all foreigners' causes controversy online
Japan is currently lying in wait for the arrival of Typhoon Hagibis, which is threatening to be the strongest typhoon of the season. Currently classed as a violent typhoon — the highest classification on the typhoon scale — forecasters are hoping that the storm may weaken slightly as it approaches the mainland, but nobody is taking any… Read
Japan home to 3 of world's 10 best largest cities: U.S. magazine
Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka rank among the world's best 10 large cities -- with the Japanese capital topping the list for a fourth successive year -- according to U.S. luxury and lifestyle travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler. It is the first time three Japanese cities have made the top 10,… Read
Money, hatred for the Kurds drives Turkey's Syrian fighters
The Syrian fighters vowed to kill "pigs" and "infidels," paraded their Kurdish captives in front of cameras and, in one graphic video, fired several rounds into a man lying on the side of a highway with his hands bound behind his back. They are part of the self-styled Syrian National… Read
Tokyo ward barred homeless from evacuation shelters during typhoon
Typhoon Hagibis hit the central area of Japan hard on the weekend, thrashing through Shizuoka, Tokyo, and northern Japan and dumping torrential rains in the area. In the wake of the violent-level typhoon, flooding outside the city is widespread, leaving dozens dead, many missing, and many more injured. Yet the coming of… Read
NY Times: Violent parody video shown at Trump resort
A graphically violent parody video, shown at a meeting of President Donald Trump's supporters at his Miami resort, depicted a likeness of the president shooting and stabbing his opponents and members of the news media in a church, The New York Times reported Sunday. In the video, Trump's critics and… Read
Fake schoolgirl prostitution extortion ring busted by Tokyo police
In August, a 30-something office worker was in Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood when a 16-year-old first-year high school student made him an offer. “Let’s go to a hotel,” she said to the man, who’d never met her before, following up the solicitous offer by saying “I want 15,000 yen.” That seemed like an attractive price to… Read
U.S. demands Syria ceasefire; slaps sanctions on Turkey over incursion
U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey on Monday and demanded the NATO ally stop a military incursion in northeast Syria that is rapidly reshaping the battlefield of the world's deadliest ongoing war. Trump, who gave what critics say was a de facto green light for Turkey's assault by… Read
