Free Republic

A mutant super pig population has spiraled out of control — thanks to their inherited, rapid reproductive cycles — in the ghost towns of a nuclear fallout zone in Japan, according to reports and researchers. The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster, spurred by a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami, forced roughly 164,000 people to flee from their homes to escape the radiation zone. Amid the chaos, domestic pigs escaped into abandoned farmland and began interbreeding with indigenous feral boars — creating a mutant pig population with alarming genes, Popular Science reported. Researchers from Fukushima and Hirosaki Universities discovered...

Two Americans were arrested in Japan on Monday after breaking into the enclosure of the beloved Punch the monkey, the 9-month-old internet sensation, police said. Police in the Tokyo suburb of Chiba detained Reid Jahnai Daysun, 24, and Neal Jabahri Duan, 27, after one of the men allegedly jumped the fence to enter the enclosure while the other filmed.

How could the country that is now the foremost persecutor of Christians in the world have emerged from the work of a dedicated Christian missionary? Jonathan Cheng’s history of North Korea, "Korean Messiah," sets out to explain... Samuel Moffett, a Presbyterian missionary who arrived in ‘the Hermit Kingdom’ of Korea in 1890, built a vast mission compound in Pyongyang. His ministry helped spark the great Christian revival of 1907, which led to Pyongyang being called the ‘Jerusalem of the East’ with great churches and crowded Wednesday prayer meetings. Moffett ran a world-class seminary, and his theology carried a message of...

Fujisawa, Kanagawa Pref. – A mosque construction project in Fujisawa, a city of 440,000 about an hour south of Tokyo, has become a focal point for debate over how Japanese communities are adapting to a growing Muslim population.Sri Lankan businessman Mohamed Khaleel, 54, says the idea of building a mosque in his adopted hometown emerged over a decade ago among the local Muslim community. The closest big mosque to the city center, Ebina Masjid, is 20 kilometers away and has been struggling to serve the increasing Muslim population in the area. . . . Hirofumi Tanada, a professor emeritus at...

Trump Says U.S. Will Withdraw ‘A Lot’ More Than 5,000 President Donald Trump has said that far more troop reductions are in the offing after the Pentagon announced on Friday that some 5,000 U.S. soldiers would be withdrawn from bases in Germany over the coming year.“We’re going to cut way down. And we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.” The U.S. leader had previously planned to bring back around 9,500 soldiers from Germany during his first term in office; however, his successor, Joe Biden, reversed the decision before it could be enacted. At present, approximately 36,000 troops are stationed in...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: While bones can regrow themselves when they break, teeth aren’t so lucky, and that leads to millions of people worldwide suffering from some form of edentulism, a.k.a. toothlessness. Now, Japanese researchers are moving a promising, tooth-regrowing medicine into human trials. If the trial is successful, the researchers hope the drug will become available for all forms of toothlessness sometime around 2030. The average adult human body contains 206 bones—the hardened mixtures of calcium, minerals, and collagen that provide the biological scaffolding that walks us through our day. While we may not...

Lost luggage and battered bags could soon be a thing of the past, as Japan Airlines starts testing robotic baggage handlers. Starting in May, human workers at Tokyo's busy Haneda airport will have a helping hand from an army of humanoid robots as part of a two–year trial. The Chinese–made bots will be trained to tackle ground handling tasks like loading cargo containers of luggage on and off flights. Japan Airlines (JAL) hopes that the new robotic workers will help ease staffing issues as Japan juggles a surge in tourism and a slumping workforce. The airport will trial two robots:...

Host Bill Hamblet speaks with Admiral Harry Harris on how a war with Iran could reshape global strategy across two theaters. The discussion explores impacts on U.S. commitments, Indo-Pacific stability, China’s role, and regional security dynamics, highlighting how crises in the Middle East reverberate across East Asia’s strategic and economic landscape.

In the summer of 1905, two men held a private conversation in Tokyo that the world wouldn't find out about for nearly two decades. No treaty was signed. No announcement was made. But in that room, the United States quietly handed an entire nation over to colonial rule — and set in motion a chain of events that would end at Pearl Harbor forty years later. This is the story of the Taft-Katsura Agreement, the secret deal that validated Japanese imperial ambition at the exact moment it needed validation most. We cover the Meiji Restoration and Japan's transformation from feudal...

The Finance Ministry said Tuesday it will issue commemorative ¥1,000 [US$6.25] coins marking the 100th anniversary of the 1926 start of the Showa Era. The coins will be priced at ¥34,800 [US$218] apiece. The obverse design features a Shinkansen bullet train, Tokyo Tower and expressways in color, symbolizing postwar reconstruction and rapid economic growth. The reverse depicts Mount Fuji, cherry blossoms and doves. A total of 40,000 coins will be issued. Japan Mint will accept applications for about three weeks starting Aug. 20. This marks the first coin honoring a Japanese era since silver coins were issued in 2018 to...

Japan for the first time has deployed ground troops to the Balikatan exercise, a series of multidomain drills staged across the Philippine archipelago. Participation by about 1,000 Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Soldiers augments the annual training that began decades ago as a Philippines-United States exercise and now involves about 20 nations. Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) personnel previously attended Balikatan as observers and in noncombat roles focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR). They participated in a maritime drill in 2025. A reciprocal access agreement between Manila and Tokyo, which took effect in September 2025, allows JSDF and Armed...

They’re holed up in a bank demanding three large pizzas, a helicopter, and a personal phone call from Sydney Sweeney. . . ."— Greg Gutfeld on Iran’s negotiating position. The Russians have a phrase for it: negotiation-incapable (ne peregovorosposobny). That is what the Iran delegation demonstrated during a long day of talks with the US team over the weekend in Islamabad. What part of “no nukes” didn’t they understand? All of it, apparently. The corollary question on the table — arguably more pressing for Iran — was: how much more punishment are you willing to suffer to sustain your dream...

Tokyo — A powerful earthquake struck off the northern Japanese coast Monday, prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) to issue a tsunami alert for a wide section of coastline, though waves of only about three feet were observed and the emergency appeared to be easing. The quake registered a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 but was later upgraded to 7.7. It occurred off the coast of Sanriku in northern Japan at around 4:53 p.m. (2:53 a.m. Eastern on Sunday), at a depth of about 6 miles below the sea surface, the agency said....

Japanese authorities are warning that a second tsunami may be on the way after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck off the country's north-east coast

Meet Japanese pensioners desperate to be put in prison. It’s a retirement plan with a difference, as seniors commit petty crimes to get into jail seeking shelter, safety and regular meals. But what does it say about Japan’s justice and welfare systems?

On a bright but cloudy morning on 9 August 1945, a B-29 bomber, named “Bocks Car”, of the US Army Air Force, flew over the Japanese port city of Nagasaki and dropped a highly radioactive Plutonium implosion bomb onto the city, 300 yards from the second largest Roman Catholic cathedral in the Far East, Urakami Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary... This was the nuclear bomb that went on giving for years after it was dropped – giving to the people of Nagasaki the horrible after-effects of nuclear radiation that slowly kill victims for years... Children...

US President Donald Trump slamming President Emmanuel Macron under pressure over the Iran War. One aspect of the Iran War is a refugee crisis in Lebanon more than one million people driven from their homes most in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border... In Japan Macron signed a deal with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on critical minerals and nuclear power. Defense minister of South Korea and France also discussed closer cooperation between the two nations on defense. While US President Donald Trump may be threatening to leave NATO what will really happen may not bear resemblance to his public...

ransomnote: the writer is referring to Trump's jokes about Pearl Harbor which I included below.https://x.com/ImtiazMadmood/status/2035420456937759193 Imtiaz Mahmood@ImtiazMadmoodDo you truly understand what Japan just gained? As a Japanese citizen, I’m telling you—this moment changed history.Trump's Pearl Harbor joke wasn't an insult. It was the key that finally unlocked something buried deep in the Japanese soul.For 80 long years, we've carried apology and guilt like a permanent shadow—haunted by the past, bound by the Constitution America wrote for us, forever in "reflection mode." He turned that raw wound into a shared laugh between equals.No more endless atonement. No more vassal shadow.The curse...

When the seven P&I clubs belonging to the International Group issued 72-hour cancellation notices for war risk coverage in the Persian Gulf on March 5, they did not just raise costs. They made transit impossible. P&I clubs insure roughly 90 percent of the world’s ocean-going tonnage. Without their coverage, ships cannot sail. Port authorities will not let them dock. Banks will not finance the cargo. Charterers will not book the vessel. The entire system, from loading berth to discharge terminal, is underwritten by a chain of contracts that begins with a club in London, Oslo, or Tokyo. When the clubs...

"The British Isles are declared to be in a state of blockade,” announced Napoleon Bonaparte, and elaborated: “All commerce and all correspondence with the British Isles are forbidden.” It was 1806, and what would be known as the Berlin Decree aimed to strangle the British economy. The bold scheme seemed economically logical and militarily practical, but it ended up a grand flop. Britain’s economy, coastline, and navy all proved too big for the plan, which also underestimated the kingdom’s link to America and access to the high seas. In fact, Napoleon’s blockade backfired. Europe, it turned out, needed British exports...