Japan

Two die as Typhoon Lan hits Japan

Typhoon Lan made landfall at Shizuoka, 175km (110 miles) south-west of Tokyo, at about 03:00 local time on Monday (18:00 GMT Sunday).

Gusts of up to 198km/h (123mph) hit the country, its weather agency said.

The storm, which drenched many regions over the weekend as Japan voted in its national elections, led to almost 300 flights being cancelled on Monday, after 500 were cancelled on Sunday.

What is the difference between tropical storms?

Shinzo Abe wins resounding victory in Japan, exit polls say

On hearing of his victory he said he would "firmly deal with" threats from North Korea.

The public broadcaster NHK put Mr Abe's Liberal Democratic Party-led (LDP) coalition at 312 seats, allowing it to retain its two-thirds "super majority".

This is vital to his ambition to revise Japan's post-war pacifist constitution.

Article 9 of the constitution, enacted by the country's American occupiers in 1947, calls for the complete renunciation of war.

Japan goes to the polls in snap election

Voting opened at 07:00 local time on Sunday (22:00 GMT Saturday).

Mr Abe called the election amid rebounding approval ratings after a record low over the summer and with the opposition largely in disarray.

If, as predicted, Mr Abe is re-elected, he will be on track to become Japan's longest serving post-war leader.

An early challenge from the popular governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, appears to be fizzling out, according to the BBC's Tokyo correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes.

Japan given hurry up for RWC

World Rugby concluded its third set of tournament review meetings in Tokyo this weekend, as the two-year countdown to the tournament draws closer.
 
Since the last round of meetings in June, the focus of tournament preparation moved from foundation planning to operational readiness, and the World Rugby delegation reiterated to the Japan Rugby 2019 organising committee the importance of this phase in determining the success of the tournament.
 

North Korea 'fires missile from Pyongyang'

Japan said that the missile likely passed over its territory and has warned residents to take shelter, local media report.

South Korea and the US are analysing the details of the launch, the South's military said.

Last month, North Korea fired a missile over Japan in what Tokyo called an "unprecedented threat" to the country.

The missile launch comes just days after new sanctions were imposed on North Korea by the United Nations because of its weapons testing.

New Zealand to play Japan

Anthony Hudson’s team, who defeated the Solomon Islands home (6-1) and drew away (2-2) for an 8-3 win on aggregate to book their place in the Intercontinental Playoff in November, will face the World No 44 Japan on Friday 6 October at Toyota Stadium in Nagoya.

While the All Whites won the OFC Stage 3 Playoff, Japan defeated Australia (2-0) in the AFC Stage Three Qualifiers to book their place in the 20118 FIFA World Cup Russia™.

N Korea holds fresh missile test

No effort was made by the Japanese to shoot down the missile, which flew over Japanese territory at dawn.

The missile is reported to have broken into three pieces before it landed, local media reported.

On Saturday North Korea fired three short-range missiles into the sea.

In the latest incident the Japanese government warned people in the missile's flight range to take precautions, but public broadcaster NHK said there was no signs of any damage.

 

 

File Photo: Copyright KOREA NEWS SERVICE

Japan's historic Tsukiji fish market catches fire

The 80-year-old Tokyo market is known for its daily tuna auctions, which supply many of the capital's top sushi restaurants.

Smoke could be seen billowing from the market as dozens of fire engines tackled the flames on Thursday.

There are no reports of serious injuries at this stage.

The fire broke out at about 16:50 local time (07:50 GMT), Japanese broadcaster NHK said, in the outer region of the market and close to the surrounding area's narrow streets.

The area is home to many sushi restaurants and shops, some of which have been evacuated, NHK reports.

Japan again calls for emergency restrictions on Pacific tuna catches

Japan aims to have the proposal approved at a meeting of the Northern Committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) set to start in Busan, South Korea, on 28 August.
 
The committee comprises 10 members including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, while the WCPFC has 26 members.
 
The Japanese proposal calls for automatically imposing strict restrictions on Pacific bluefin tuna catches if an annual assessment finds that there is over a 60 percent chance of the adult bluefin tuna population failing to recover from a target level.
 

Woman destroys ex's $1m violin collection in Japan

A woman has been arrested for destroying her former partner's violin collection and 70 bows, together worth 105.9m yen ($950,700, £770,000).

The 34-year-old suspect broke into his apartment in Nagoya and wrecked the instruments, police said.

The incident took place in 2014 in the midst of their breakup but the woman has only just been arrested.

Her 62-year-old former husband is said to have been both a maker and collector of violins.

The most valuable instrument among the 54 casualties was an Italian-made violin worth 50m yen, the Kyodo news agency said.