Free Republic

Two teenage girls from Germany were detained, arrested, and deported at an airport in Hawaii after immigration officials said it was suspicious they had not booked a hotel room. Backpackers Charlotte Pohl, 19, and Maria Lepere, 18, arrived in Honolulu from Auckland while undergoing a round-the-world trip. The duo planned to spend five weeks in Hawaii before moving onto California and Costa Rica for the next legs of their journey. But despite having ESTA travel authorization, immigration officials accused them of attempting to enter the U.S. to work illegally, and they were placed in handcuffs and taken to a nearby...

The Doolittle Raid wasn't just an operation of the Army Air Force. The Navy made its own plans, took its own risks, and has its own story that deserves to be remembered. Beyond Doolittle: The Navy Role in the Doolittle Raid | 15:16 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered | 1.53M subscribers | 55,154 views | April 18, 2025

On the night of March 9, 1945, U.S. warplanes launch a new bombing offensive against Japan, dropping 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo over the course of the next 48 hours. Almost 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital were incinerated, and between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians were killed in the worst single firestorm in recorded history. Early on March 9, Air Force crews met on the Mariana Islands of Tinian and Saipan for a military briefing. They were planning a low-level bombing attack on Tokyo that would begin that evening, but with a twist: Their...

Two Delta Airlines planes have collided on the tarmac at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia. Two Delta Airlines aircraft were involved in a collision on the taxiway at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. ... The shocking incident occurred at the United States’ “busiest airport,” according to stratosjets.com, with photographed images displaying the back end of the Louisiana-bound flight bent at a 90 degree angle. The dramatic crash occurred after Delta Air Lines Flight 295 Airbus A350 was taxiing for departure to Tokyo, Japan, hitting the tail of an Endeavor Air Flight DL5526 going to Lafayette, Louisiana. The report...

A 70-YEAR-OLD man revealed to cops on his deathbed that he was one of Japan's most wanted fugitives before he died. The man claimed to be Satoshi Kirishima, a radical extremist behind bombings in the capital who had been on the run for 49 years.

All 379 passengers and crew members aboard a Japan Airlines plane, which collided midair with a Coast Guard aircraft Tuesday, survived despite a fiery landing at Tokyo’s Haneda airport. Five of the six crew members on the Coast Guard plane were killed following the collision shortly before 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Only the captain of the Bombardier-built Dash-8 maritime patrol plane has reportedly been found. The crew was reportedly on their way to Niigata airport on Japan’s west coast to deliver aid and resources to survivors of a powerful New Year’s Day earthquake that struck the region,...

This photo taken from a Kyodo News airplane on Oct. 30, 2023, shows a column of steam rising from the waters off Iwoto Island, previously known as Iwojima, in the Pacific Ocean. A new island of 100 meters in diameter, formed by masses of rock spewed from the plumes, is seen near the steam. (Kyodo) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A small new island has emerged near Iwoto Island, about 1,200 kilometers south of Tokyo, following underwater volcanic eruptions occurring since late last month, according to a Japanese researcher. Fukashi Maeno, associate professor at the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute,...

Some audience members came up to me after a speech I gave in downtown Tokyo in late April. They were hopping mad at Rahm Emanuel, the man whom Washington sent a little over a year ago to do its business in Japan. And what does that business entail? If Emanuel’s April tweets are any indication, it entails interfering in internal Japanese political matters. (snip) In my April speech in Tokyo, I referred to the American Embassy down the street as the “sotokufu,” the “governor-general” of Japan. The audience broke into thundering applause. I said that it was time to throw...

Plans are underway to build a MILE-HIGH skyscraper in Japan. If approved the huge tower would be the tallest building in the world, dwarfing the current record-holder, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai which is half as tall at 2,717ft (828m). Located in Tokyo Bay, an inlet southeast of the city proper, the plan - dubbed Next Tokyo - wouldn't just be a single massive building, but if approved would emerge as a mini city designed to combat climate change. Envisioned as part of Tokyo's effort to protect itself from rising tides, Next Tokyo would feature a chain of man-made,...

The legal heirs of a German Jewish banker who was forced to sell his art collection to avoid persecution by the Nazis are suing a Japanese holding company to reclaim ownership of a painting by Vincent van Gogh. Three heirs of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, based in New York and Germany, filed a lawsuit on December 13 in an Illinois district court against Sompo Holdings, an insurance company based in Japan, to dispute its legal title to the painting Sunflowers (1888). The claim states that Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was a “casualty” of Nazi-era policies and economic sanctions that forced him to sell his...

Billionaire has spent almost six months in Japan after largely disappearing from public viewJack Ma, the Alibaba founder and once the richest business leader in China, has been living in central Tokyo for almost six months, amid Beijing’s continuing crackdown on the country’s technology sector and its most powerful businessmen. Ma’s months-long stay in Japan with his family has included stints in hot spring and ski resorts in the countryside outside Tokyo and regular trips to the US and Israel, according to people with direct knowledge of his whereabouts. Ma has largely disappeared from public view since he criticised Chinese...

TOKYO Japan is very proud of its trains, and in many ways rightfully so. The country has one of the cleanest, most reliable, and most convenient rail networks to be found anywhere on the planet. But it isn’t perfect, and the undeniably worst part of train travel in Japan is the possibility of encountering a chikan, or groper, onboard. Rail operators have tried various countermeasures to attempt to prevent gropings, but the actions of one East Japan Railway Co (JR East) worker have been drawing criticism after a video taken at Shinjuku Station in downtown Tokyo on Aug 30 recently...

Hello, One of two men acquitted in the 1985 Air India terrorist bombing was shot and killed in British Columbia on Thursday morning, according to media reports. RCMP say they responded to reports of gunfire in an area of the city of Surrey, southeast of Vancouver, and located a man suffering from gunshot wounds. “The man was provided first aid by attending officers until Emergency Health Services took over his care. The injured man succumbed to his injuries on scene, “ according to a statement from RCMP Constable Sarbjit Sangha. The constable said the shooting was targeted, and a suspect...

One week after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt began pressing the U.S. military to immediately strike the Japanese homeland. The desire to bolster morale became more urgent in light of rapid Japanese advances. These included victories in Malaya, Singapore, the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, and the Dutch East Indies, as well as sinking the British battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse.Only improbable, audacious ideas warranted consideration, because submarines confirmed Japan placed picket boats at extreme carrier aircraft range. One idea even involved launching four engine heavy bombers from China or Outer Mongolia to strike Japan and fly on to Alaska. Captain...

Valor. When things were their darkest for the U.S. after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Raiders gave the nation hope. Sixteen B-25s, each with a five-man crew, were lined up on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. This had never been tried in war—sending heavy bombers off a carrier. Because the Japanese military had learned of the strategy, the planes had to take off from farther out in the Pacific than had been planned. Their mission was to hit Tokyo, but now they would lack enough fuel to reach safety beyond Japan’s borders. They went anyway. They bombed Tokyo,...

Forty-three of Japan's 47 prefectural capitals, or 91.5 percent, will finish their initial two-dose COVID-19 vaccine rollout by the end this month, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday, as local governments prepare to move onto the next phase of the inoculation program. Japan's health ministry is expected to finalize details on third booster shots at a meeting Monday, with the shots set to be administered as early as next month. According to a government tally released Friday, 94.58 million people, or 74.7 percent, of Japan's population of around 125 million have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with almost 100 million...

Tokyo is decentralized. Tokyo prioritizes public trasportation over cars, one reason being the high cost of fuel. Housing in Tokyo is not that expensive.

The Jazz Messengers were among the first modern jazz groups to tour Japan, and the adoring audiences were enthralled.On November 5, Blue Note Records will release First Flight to Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings: a thrilling previously unreleased live recording of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers captured at Hibiya Public Hall in Tokyo on January 14, 1961 during the band’s first-ever tour of Japan. The Jazz Messengers were among the first modern jazz groups to tour the country, and adoring Japanese audiences were enthralled by one of the band’s all-time great line-ups featuring the legendary drummer with Lee Morgan...

"I am aware that there are many papers that ivermectin is effective in the prevention and treatment of corona, mainly in Central and South America and Asia. At such an imminent time, there is a paper that ivermectin is effective for corona, so it is a natural response for clinicians to try using it. Doctor-led clinical practice That's why many test papers came out. " "The other day, a research group at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences / AIIMS, which sets guidelines for the treatment of corona infections in India, has published a paper investigating the preventive effect...

Tokyo's Medical Assoc. Chairman holds live press conference recommending Ivermectin to all doctors, for all Covid patients.Japan's government is one of the most conservative and cautious in the world. Data is clear. Huge news. https://youtu.be/xkWOpFk1GGk