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Hawaii parade honors Japanese-American WWII vets
Hundreds of Japanese-American veterans of World War II were honored Saturday with a parade in Honolulu - nearly 70 years after they volunteered to fight for their country even as the government branded them "enemy aliens."
About 200 veterans rode in convertibles, troop carriers and trolleys past a cheering crowd of tourists, family and local residents. The event celebrates the Congressional Gold Medal the veterans received last month.
Thousands of Japanese-Americans served in World War II even as the government viewed them with suspicion because their ancestors were from the country that bo...
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Women stabbed to death in Nagasaki
Police launched an investigation Saturday into the deaths of two women apparently stabbed to death at their home in Saikai, Nagasaki Prefecture.
Mitsuko Yamashita, 56, and her mother-in-law, Hisae Yamashita, 77, were found late Friday collapsed in the rear compartment of their minivan outside the house.
Police officers rushed to the scene after receiving an emergency call from Mitsuko Yamashita's 18-year-old son, who said windows in their home were broken and that someone had apparently rummaged through the rooms. (Japan Times)
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Sony's PlayStation Vita hits stores in Japan
Sony's long-awaited PlayStation Vita portable game machine has hit stores in Japan as thousands of game enthusiasts lined up at shops from early in the morning.
Sony is predicting brisk sales, even though Saturday's launch may have missed some holiday shoppers. A successful debut would help the company offset the rest of its struggling business.
The device is a touch-interface and motion-sensitive handheld seen as a successor to the PlayStation Portable. Vita's launch will heat up competition with rival Nintendo Co.'s 3DS. (AP)
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Japan says stricken nuclear power plant in cold shutdown
Japan declared its tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant to be in cold shutdown on Friday in a major step toward resolving the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant, 240 km (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, was wrecked on March 11 by a huge earthquake and a towering tsunami which knocked out its cooling systems, triggering meltdowns, radiation leaks and mass evacuations.
In making the much-anticipated announcement, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda drew a line under the crisis phase of the emergency at the plant and highlighted the next challenges: post-di...
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Osaka Prison food poisoning sickens 1,000 inmates
A bout of food poisoning sickened 1,074 inmates at Osaka Prison in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, from Tuesday to Wednesday, forcing it to serve preserved food stored for emergency use, prison and local health officials said.
The inmates began complaining of food poisoning symptoms starting Tuesday night, prompting the prison to report the matter to the health center Wednesday morning. The inmates were treated at the prison.
Osaka Prison holds around 2,500 male inmates. Their meals are cooked in the prison's kitchen by about 40 inmates who undergo sanitary inspections each month. (Japan Times)
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Christmas in Japan
 Although it is said that most Japanese are Shinto and Buddhist, few people are aware the Japanese also participate in "commercialized Christianity" in order to take advantage of those fun Christian holidays.
Christmas, with its sparkly, over-glitzed trees, a cherry-cheeked Santa Claus and the ritual of gift-giving is irresistible to the Japanese who have taken to celebrating Christmas on a superficial level. You can hardly blame them for wanting to participate in such an entertaining religion.
But the Japanese have adjusted Christmas to their own liking. Santa-san enters the house through t...
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