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Chinese authorities executed on Friday a Japanese man who had been sentenced to death in connection with stimulant drug smuggling, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said. The identity of the man is not immediately known. Kishida told a news conference that while it is up to China to decide what kind of penalty should be imposed on criminals, "We have conveyed to the Chinese side that we have taken a heightened interest in the death penalty handed down to Japanese nationals." China informed Japan of the execution in the morning, Kishida said. A court in Dalian in northeastern China conveyed...

This week Major Theodore Van Kirk, the last surviving Veteran of the Enola Gay that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan, joined the rest of his comrades. His passing is a reminder of why using the atomic bomb was the right thing. In August 1945 the Allied Powers, led by the United States, were at war with Imperial Japan in the latter days of World War II. Japan would not give up. For every ten thousand Japanese soldiers that were killed by the Allies only a minuscule amount gave up; usually in the single digits. We were at...

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — U.S. defense contractors sense that there’s money to be made out of Japan’s decision to expand the role of its military amid Chinese aggression in the East China Sea. Aerospace companies Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin held a joint news conference Thursday in Tokyo touting RQ-4 Global Hawk and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye surveillance planes as potential additions to the Japanese Air Self Defense Force. A national security strategy, approved by Japan’s cabinet in December, calls for better air and maritime surveillance. Last month, the ruling coalition adopted a resolution that will allow the nation’s armed...

Just days after the taking Chicken McNuggets off its menu in the light of the China food scandal, McDonald’s Japan has unveiled a brand new, rather unusual product: Tofu Shinjo Nuggets and Ginger Sauce, a combination of bean curd, fish and vegetables shaped into bite-size pieces and deep-fried. Turning to tofu–a food that has long been a favourite in Japan and known for its health benefits–is certainly a wise move, and McDonald’s is undoubtedly in need of something new to entice customers back with, but while we’ve no doubt all craved deep-fried chicken at some point in our lives, we’d...

China's loss of the first Sino-Japanese war has been attributed to a disorganised navy. Although the northern fleet equalled, some say exceeded, the Meiji navy in terms of firepower, it was annihilated because it lacked coordination among its military units. Today while Japan's navy may have a qualitative advantage over China's, the People's Liberation Army is catching up, analysts say. In sheer manpower, China has the upper hand, with Beijing putting the PLA Navy's strength at 235,000, or more than five times the number in the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force. But the Japanese navy has being training with modern warfare...

North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan on Saturday. The launch came the day before the 61st anniversary of the Korean War armistice. South Korean military officials say the North fired a Scud missile from around Ryongyon county in South Hwanghae Province on the western coast near the military demarcation line on Saturday night. North Korean media on Sunday suggested the country's leader Kim Jong Un himself ordered the missile to be fired. The official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim directed a firing drill after checking on the deployment of US forces in...

July 30, 1945, two torpedoes struck the USS Indianapolis with almost 1,200 men aboard. The xplosions obliterated the ship’s front, water rushed in. Bulkheads crumpled. It only took 12 minutes for the cruiser to sink.

Japanese CPI printed 3.6% in June, modestly down from May's 3.7% YoY, but hotter than the expected 3.5% YoY analysts predicted. If you don't eat food or use energy then inflation merely bit 2.3% of your income this year but if you did then you may have noticed that energy costs are 9.1% higher YoY, TVs +8.0%, and Food +4.1%

Navi Pillay said Tel Aviv's two-week onslaught on Gaza - which has cost more than 650 Palestinians lives - would be thoroughly investigated. Ms Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the attacks have destroyed houses and hospitals and killed civilians. "These are just a few examples where there seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes. "Every one of these incidents must be properly and independently investigated." According to Gaza officials, 475 houses have been destroyed and 2,644 damaged, while 46 schools, 56 mosques...

GENEVA, July 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday launched an international inquiry into human rights violations and crimes that may have been committed by Israel during its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The U.N. Human Rights Council condemned the Israeli assault which it said had involved "disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks", including aerial bombing of civilian areas, collective punishment, and the killing of more than 650 Palestinians. At the end of an emergency session, the 47-member forum adopted a resolution presented by Palestinians by a vote of 29 states in favor, 1 against (the United States) with 17...

Shanghai (AFP) - A scandal involving expired meat sold by a China unit of US food supplier OSI Group spread to Japan Tuesday, as McDonald's confirmed that the now shut factory provided Chicken McNuggets to its restaurants. Shanghai authorities on Sunday shut an OSI plant -- a supplier to McDonald's and KFC in China -- for mixing out-of-date meat with fresh product, re-labelling expired goods and other quality problems following an investigative report by a local television station. A Tokyo-based spokesman for McDonald's Japan told AFP the restaurant chain had sourced about 20 percent of its McNuggets from the Shanghai...

Friday’s landmark decision by the Supreme Court that permanent foreign residents of Japan are not entitled to welfare benefits will discourage more municipalities than ever from doling out such aid amid ballooning public assistance expenditures, experts said Saturday. Responding to a lawsuit filed by an 82-year-old Chinese resident of Oita, the top court stated in the first ruling of its kind that, legally speaking, permanent foreign residents don’t qualify for public assistance because they aren’t considered Japanese nationals. The ruling is significant in that it finally clarifies whether permanent residents are eligible to claim welfare...

Mount Fuji, or Fujisan as it is known in Japanese, is the highest point on the archipelago (rising to 3,776 metres) and the national emblem, immortalised in countless etchings. In June last year Unesco added it to the World Heritage list as a "sacred place and source of artistic inspiration". But it is still an active volcano, standing at the junction between the Pacific, Eurasian and Philippine tectonic plates. Though it has rarely stirred in recorded history, it is still potentially explosive. The Tohoku – or Great East Japan – earthquake on 11 March 2011 triggered a devastating tsunami, which...

Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin stealth fighter has rolled out. Last month, a leaked, blurry image provided an interesting preview of the first prototype of the Advanced Technology Demonstrator-X (ATD-X), the indigenous war plane that Japan Air Self-Defense Force will operate in the air defense role, replacing the ageing Mitsubishi F-2. On Jul. 12, the first official photos of the ATD-X (serialled 51-0001) were released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI), the Ministry of Defense’s agency that has developed the Shinshin (“spirit of the heart”, an early codename within the Japan Self Defense Force) for research...

---snip--- Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines have been forming an alliance against China, as China has been moving to annex other countries' territories in the South and East China Seas. Relations between Vietnam and China have become particularly hostile since China deployed an oil rig in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). (See "China's neighbors react to new South China Sea claims" from last week.) Now Australia is signaling that it is also joining this alliance. The change in policy was indicated in a statement by Australia's foreign minister, Julie Bishop, during a visit by Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe to...

Moments ago, at 4:22am local time, a major 6.8 magnitude quake struck eastern Japan, off the Fukushima coast. FLASH:M6.8 QUAKE JOLTS OFF FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN, TSUNAMI ALERT EARTHQUAKE EARLY WARNING ISSUED FOR JAPAN, OFF FUKUSHIMA:JMA EARTHQUAKE EARLY WARNING ISSUED FOR JAPAN, OFF FUKUSHIMA:JMA TSUNAMI WARNING ISSUED AFTER JAPAN QUAKE: AP From the USGS: So far there have been no reports of damage. Those curious can keep track of Fukushima in real time at the live webcast below:

Many of the graphic images being shared on social media are really from Syria or Iraq, finds the broadcaster. […] “A #BBCtrending investigation has found that many of these images are not from the latest conflict and not even from Gaza. Some date as far back as 2009 and others are from conflicts in Syria and Iraq.” …

Photo of Crime Scene It is not often that you read of homicides in Japan that involve firearms.   Firearms are tightly controlled; Japanese are some of the most law abiding people on the planet; and firearms have never been widely available. It is not surprising that when such a homicide occurs, it involves foreigners.  In this case, a Chinese man appears to be the perpetrator and a Chinese woman the victim.   The article assumes that the victim was married to the man, but the police had not identified her.   From japantimes.co: The pair reportedly started to quarrel after entering...

Michael B KelleyJuly 7, 2014Super Typhoon Neoguri, a "once in decades storm," is about to hit the southern Okinawa island chain with heavy rain and powerful winds before making landfall across the entire island of Japan this week. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said the system, which is already producing winds up to 150 mph, may develop into an "extremely intense" storm by Tuesday as it moves north. (snip)

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)A large super typhoon is gathering force as it barrels along a path that is expected to take it close to the Japanese island of Okinawa. By the time it nears Okinawa early Tuesday, Super Typhoon Neoguri is likely to be generating winds as strong as a Category 5 hurricane, meteorologists say. "This is a beast," said CNN International Meteorologist Tom Sater. Okinawa, where multiple U.S. military facilities are situated, regularly finds itself in the path of big typhoons. Many of the buildings on the island are designed to weather the powerful winds that come roaring in off the Western...