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Japanese scientists are readying a mission to Mars' moons to retrieve samples that may unlock the origins of the Solar System and life on Earth, although a rival Chinese mission aims to make it back first. The unmanned Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), set to blast off from Tanegashima Space Center in the coming months, could also lay the groundwork for humans visiting the red planet. The spacecraft, revealed to media last Thursday, will stay in Mars' orbit for around three years and will attempt to land on Phobos. It will collect at least 10 grams (0.35 ounces) of material from...

A young man who once wondered if he would live past 1941 will be turning 105 years old Saturday. James (Pat) Bollich grew up in Louisiana. He trained at Fort Polk and arrived in the Philippines in November, 1941, less than a month before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Jamie Bollich wrote, “U.S. and Filipino forces retreated to the Bataan Peninsula when the Japanese invaded the Philippines, but after four months their food and ammunition ran out and the 70,000 troops were forced to surrender.”

Japanese Crown Prince Akishino, the younger brother of Emperor Naruhito, on Thursday said he has “mixed feelings” about the government’s revision to the Imperial House Law that reinforces a rule dictating only men can become emperor. “I believe there is no difference between men and women” in serving the roles of the imperial family to respond to social needs, Akishino said at a news conference ahead of a trip to Paraguay later this month to mark the 90th anniversary of Japanese emigration to the South American country. The comments by Akishino, the next in line for the throne, come just...

Fighting in the Second World War went on until the very end. WWII: The Last Day | 20:41 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered | 1.64M subscribers | 14,619 views | August 14, 2026

Newsdump Update" This Weekend French Mainstream Media Reporting On The Prison Report Into The 2022 Suicide Of Jeffrey Epstein's Key French Associate Jean-Luc Brunel... Newsdump Alert: The Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) National Oil Company Says One Of Its Tankers Was Hit In The Strait Of Hormuz Early Saturday... Newsdump Update A Story I Missed... Japan is the biggest holder of the US national debt more than one trillion dollars so it should not surprise anyone that the US and Japan jointly intervened to support Japan's currency the "Yen"... Yes James "We Shot Our..." But are you just trying to...

A growing anti-Muslim movement is gaining traction in Japan. When most people think of Japan, they don’t picture a country with a significant Islamic presence or a growing number of mosques. But the reality may surprise them. Japan has long been viewed as one of the few remaining countries willing to fiercely protect its national identity, traditions, and culture. What many of us didn’t realize was that the left had been quietly working its way in all along… just take a look at these numbers. East Asia Forum: Japan’s Muslim community has grown rapidly to around 420,000 people What Japan...

The U.S. Treasury bought yen on Friday to support the battered Japanese currency, the Financial Times reported, marking Washington’s first yen-buying intervention with Tokyo in more than a decade as it languishes near 40-year lows. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York sold euros for yen on behalf of the Treasury through Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the FT said, citing people familiar with the matter. The report did not indicate any amounts of yen purchased. Earlier on Friday, the Treasury informed a number of banks that it might intervene in the yen market and that they should “stand ready...

Japan and the US have confirmed that they jointly intervened last week to halt a slide in the yen after it fell to a fresh 40-year low. The joint intervention is the first since 2011, when both countries took coordinated action to weaken the yen after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit eastern Japan. Both Japan's Ministry of Finance and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said that they will not hesitate to conduct more joint interventions in the future. It highlights both countries' efforts to prevent a sell-off in the yen and Japanese government bonds from having an...

Today, it's a field of grass. But soon, it'll be the site of the first mosque in this Japanese town. "It makes me worry about how our community might change," says long-time resident Noriko Izumizawa. Plans to build an Islamic religious site in Fujisawa, a laid-back seaside town about an hour's drive south of Tokyo, have sparked a wide range of emotions. There is anger and fear, as well as hope and acceptance, exposing the growing anxieties over immigration and social change as Japan grapples with a labour shortage from a shrinking and ageing population. Although immigration remains politically sensitive...

Japan is launching a new centralized intelligence body for the first time since World War II – a controversial move that some fear deviates from Tokyo’s pacifist ideals, but one others say is much needed in a country so riddled with security weaknesses it has been called a “paradise for spies.” The National Intelligence Bureau will formally launch on Friday, replacing previous structures criticized as disjointed and ineffective – and laying the foundation, experts say, for broader changes that could include an anti-spy law and a new external foreign intelligence agency similar to the CIA in the US, or MI6...

Ronin was a dedicated contributor to FR for over 25 years (class of 1998) until ALS robbed him of the ability to continue posting. “I was diagnosed with ALS in February and have been taking acupuncture treatments for it. Last month I tried Radicava for a couple of days, but it worsened my symptoms and caused me to lose my balance, resulting in a very nasty fall. Relyvrio is not available in Japan yet, but I’m hoping to get it through the VA once I get access to the hospital at Yokota Air Base.” ~ Ronin 6-6-2023.“Ronin passed away on...

At least 13 people have been killed in southwestern Japan after a magnitude-7.1 earthquake, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday, as rescuers searched for people trapped in collapsed buildings, including a shopping mall. “Even now, there are people waiting to be rescued, and this is a race against time. We will marshal all available resources on the ground to save and rescue as many people as possible,” Takaichi told reporters in Tokyo. The quake struck Tuesday afternoon in Kumamoto prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu at a relatively shallow depth of 6 miles, prompting tsunami warnings and evacuation...

A shopping centre has collapsed leaving a 'considerable number' of people dead, after a strong 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit southern Japan on Tuesday. Japanese police previously said they had received reports of what sounded like an explosion at the Aeon Mall outlet in Kumamoto. Emergency services said that 'many people' were trapped inside the centre, which was severely damaged as a result of the quake. The tremor measured at the highest possible level seven on Japan's own Shindo scale of shaking. The Japanese government issued emergency earthquake warnings for Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga, Oita, and Miyazaki prefectures, all on Japan's...

ORLANDO, Florida, July 22 (Reuters) - As Japan's yen sinks to its lowest in 40 years, Tokyo's policy credibility in the eyes of international investors appears to be sinking too. The dollar/yen rate, the world's second most traded currency pair, is now above 163.00 for the first time since 1986. Why is Japan's currency so weak? Partly it is dollar strength. Most major ​currencies have weakened against the greenback in the last few months as a second wave of the global energy shock has reignited inflation fears, pushing up U.S. Treasury yields. While most ‌developed market government debt has come...

Mitsubishi Corp. finalized a $7.5 billion acquisition of Dallas-based Aethon Energy Management’s Haynesville Shale assets this week, as another Japanese conglomerate moved to secure natural gas from northwest Louisiana for its LNG supply chain. Tokyo-based Mitsubishi is the latest Japanese multinational energy company to buy production in north Louisiana following JERA’s February close on a $1.5 billion purchase of the South Mansfield gas field and supporting infrastructure from Williams and GeoSouthern Energy affiliates, both U.S.-based companies. Taken together, Japanese multinationals will produce an estimated 4.5 billion cubic feet per day or about 30%-35% of the Haynesville region’s total natural gas...

China is not just building replicas of US warships. Satellite images analysed by The Telegraph reveal it is also building models of fighter jets, naval bases and Taiwanese presidential buildings. Beijing has been using these models to test its ever-growing stockpile of long-range weapons and new AI systems as it prepares to take control of Taiwan – a top priority of Xi Jinping, the Chinese president.The accuracy of the replicas “signals a highly specific focus on potential adversaries rather than generic capability building”....SNIPChina’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has also built to-scale models of Taiwan’s presidential office and key government buildings...

In 2025, Japan broke records for total and fatal bear attacks. There were 230 attacks and 13 fatalities, more than double the previous record of 6 fatalities in one year. Japan collects bear statistics by fiscal year, from April 1 to March 31. 2026 is off to a bad start. Five fatalities have been identified from April 1 to June 30. The previous record was two fatalities during April 1 to June 30. Bear attacks tend to trail off in July and August, and pick up significantly in September, October and November. Bears in Japan start hibernating in December. Another...

This week at Starbase SpaceX has set the date for the launch of Flight 13, Booster 20 performs a full-duration static fire test ahead of it's upcoming launch, and SpaceX releases the next episode in its Starship and Starbase documentary series. SpaceX To Launch Starship For Its 13th Time This Week! | 6:07 Avid Space | 12,940 views | July 12, 2026

On July 4, Beijing announced it had launched a new sea patrol to replace a group of ships that, in June, were an integral part of China’s effort to control waters far from its shoreline. In an extraordinary move last month, Beijing claimed part of the Pacific Ocean as sovereign Chinese water. On June 6, China’s Ministry of Transport launched “a special maritime law enforcement operation in the waters east of Taiwan Island.” Vessels from the Fujian and Guangdong Maritime Safety Administrations, the East China Sea Navigation Support Center and the East China Sea Rescue Bureau took part, sailing eastward...

Blue Origin CEO: New Glenn WILL Fly Again This Year! (Plus, I had a baby) | 16:28 Ellie in Space | 17,090 views | June 30, 2026