James's Feed Releases for September 2010

China has released three of the four Fujita employees it detained for filming in a “restricted area”: The Japanese employer of the four men – a Tokyo-based construction company – said they had been preparing a bid to dispose of chemical weapons left...

Japanese police raided the headquarters of the Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords [Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai (NBTHK)] and several related offices yesterday, seizing about 400 swords that had not been properly registered: The soci...

Are the Senkaku islands a legitimate part of Japan’s national territory? Journalist Akira Ikegami thinks so. Here’s a clip from a recent episode of his “Mr. News” program, in which he explains how the islands became part of Japan and how the Chines...

Sharp has announced that it will enter the e-book reader market with its new line of Android-based Galapagos tablets. Here are a couple videos showcasing the reader’s features: For now it seems to only support a special ebook format developed by...

The dispute between Japan and China over the ramming of two Japanese coast guard ships by a Chinese trawler continues to rage on. It looks like Japan’s release of the Chinese captain hasn’t accomplished much of anything. The Japanese government has...

Pan-kun, Japan’s most famous chimpanzee, recently celebrated his 9th birthday. Here is a clip from Saturday night’s episode of Shimura Zoo, which includes a look back on some of Pan-kun’s cutest and silliest moments: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry fr...

A group of Japanese police officers stumbled upon a giant hornets’ nest at a park in Machida yesterday morning: There were conducting a search for a missing person, but ended up finding a lot of angry hornets instead. Eight officers were stung; som...

American Ambassador John Roos visited Hiroshima on its bombing anniversary, but skipped Nagasaki’s anniversary ceremony. He made up for that by making an official visit to Nagasaki yesterday: After arriving at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum with hi...

A group of 27 Burmese have left a refugee camp and will soon be starting a new life in Japan: After undergoing medical checkups at an International Organization for Migration facility in Mae Sot, Thailand, the 27 ethnic Karen people will leave Thail...

Japan caved in to Chinese pressure and released the trawler captain who rammed two Japanese coast guard ships, but they have failed to put an end to Chinese anger. Now the Chinese government is demanding that Japan apologize and pay compensation bec...

A news report embeds itself with a police task force in Shizuoka prefecture that goes after people who illegally dump trash: When they find an illegal dumping site, they send a stakeout team to watch the spot so that anyone who tries to dump again i...

The Chinese trawler captain who was arrested for ramming two Japanese coast guard patrol ships is going to be released without any charges: The Naha District Public Prosecutors Office said Friday that it has decided to free a detained Chinese fishing...

Four Japanese employees of Fujita have been detained in China for videotaping “military targets”: Four Japanese are being investigated in China for having entered a military zone without authorization and illegally videotaped military targets in nort...

Summers in Japan can be pretty damn hot, but one dog has figured out how to stay cool. The key it to find some tile flooring and hide yourself under a shoe-holding cabinet: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your po...

A group of Japanese researchers who recently made a no-visa visit to Russian-held Kunashir island came back with some cool photos of rare white-ish brown bears and a white bat: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your...

The Chinese trawler captain whose ship rammed two Japanese coast guard vessels in Japanese territorial waters remains in Japanese custody, and the Chinese government is expressing its anger over the incident in a variety of ways: Although the Chines...

A new web comedy series about English teachers in Nagoya has been making its rounds through most of the English language Japan websites. Here’s the first episode: English Teachers – Episode 1 “First Days Suck” from Nameless Media and Productions on...

The United States military has begun to deploy RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned surveillance drones to Guam, and some in Japan see it as an important strengthening of American military power in the region: Global Hawks have a range of 10,000 miles and wil...

A few videos of a crying baby sumo event held the other day at the Ikiko Jinja Shrine in Kanuma city, Tochigi prefecture: The traditional event is held every year to pray for the health and good luck of babies. Babies that cry when they are held...

“Nanikore” travels to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka prefecture to show us a truly awesome dog house: The dog lives in a mini castle! It’s a 2.5-meter-high replica of Matsumoto Castle. The dog’s owner spent 6 months and 50,000 yen to build it. It contains...

Yesterday was the anniversary of 1931 Mukden incident, and a few protests were held in China demanding that Japan release the Chinese trawler captain who rammed a couple Japanese coast guard vessels: The Chinese government has tried to keep the prot...

The Wall Street Journal reports on a new survey that shows a majority of Japanese white-collar workers would prefer to stay in Japan and never work abroad: The results are downright depressing, given that Japan has recently suffered the ignominy of c...

The results of Prime Minister Kan’s cabinet reshuffling are in, and one of the ministers being replaced is Keiko Chiba (who had lost her seat in the Upper House election). When she was selected as Justice Minister under the first Kan cabinet, there...

One of the top news stories on Japanese TV this morning was the arrest of Masashi Tashiro for possession of cocaine. Tashiro is a former TV star and musician who became famous in the 1980’s as a founding member of the group Rats & Star. The Rats &...