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  • Majority reject Japan mayors comments on comfort women poll

    A large majority of Japanese people disagree with a high-profile politician who said women forced to provide sex during World War II were a military necessity, polls issued Monday ...

  • Hezbollah guerrillas join Syrian Army in attack on rebel-held Qusair

    War zone: This citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens shows Syrians inspecting the rubble of damaged buildings following airstrikes by government forces on Qusair on Saturday. | ...

  • Sub lurking near Okinawa identified but Onodera mum

    Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Monday the government has identified the country whose submarine was detected while submerged the previous day near Okinawa and will call for such encroachments to cease. Onodera did not disclose the country, saying the vessel did not intrude into Japanese territorial waters, but a government source said Sunday that the sub apparently belongs to the ...

  • Yahoo Japan Says 22 Million User IDs May have Been Stolen

    IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau) - Yahoo Japan, the country's largest Web portal, said up to 22 million user IDs may have been leaked during a hack that was discovered last week. The company emphasized that the IDs are already public information, and no passwords or other private data were affected. Yahoo Japan IDs are used along with password to log in to the site, and are often displayed ...

  • Japans Cabinet Office makes upward revision

    The Japanese economy is picking up slowly, the Cabinet Office said Monday in its upwardly revised May monthly assessment report. While noting the "economy is picking up slowly," the report, released on the office's website, said: "Exports show signs of picking up. Industrial production is picking up slowly. Corporate profits show movements of improvement, mainly among large ...

Movie Review

Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) [DVD]

Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) [DVD]

At its core, Akira Kurosawas Seven Samurai is little more than a great yarn extremely well spun. Its story is so simple, it can be summarized in a single sentence: Small Japanese farming village is threatened by bandits and hires seven ronin (masterless samurai) to protect them ... ...

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  • Bank of Japan raises economic outlook

    LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- The Bank of Japan said in its May report issued Monday that the nation's economy was slowly improving, marking an upgrade from its views in the April update, according to reports. The previous outlook had mentioned signs of recovery but with weak spots, a Reuters report said, while Dow Jones Newswires said the upgrade was the first in two months. Japanese stocks ...

  • Nikkei hits fresh 5 12-year high on weak yen

    yen and as the Japanese government raised its assessment of the economy in May for the first time in two months. Signs of an improving economy and Wall Street's record closing high on Friday cemented the positive mood in markets. By the midday break, the Nikkei had climbed 1.4 percent to 15,347.01 after rising as high as 15,356.31, the highest since December 2007. The Nikkei has gained 48 ...

  • Russia Japan try to bridge gaps on thorny issues

    MOSCOW, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Japan managed to move their positions closer on certain issues, pledging to speed up talks on reaching a peace treaty for the first time since the end of WWII, as leaders of the two countries met here on Monday. Following his talks with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that they have instructed ...

  • Japanese Market Trades Higher On Wall Street Lead Weaker Yen

    The Japanese stock market hit a new five-and-a-half year high on Monday, buoyed by Wall Street's gains on Friday and a weaker yen.In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is trading at 15,323.49, up 185.37 or 1.22 percent, after climbing to 15,297.73, the highest intraday level since December 28, 2007.In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) is adding 0.29 percent ...

  • Japans 3 Arrows May Run Into German Wall

    It will take more time to see the impact of all that on the real economy. The policy change is much too recent. The new leadership took over at the Bank of Japan on March 20, 2013, and the 10.3 trillion yen ($100 billion) stimulus package, announced on January 11, 2013, is unlikely to have led to instant, "shovel-ready," infrastructure projects. It follows, then, that the ...

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