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  • Radioactive element found in groundwater near Japan n-plant

    High levels of a toxic radioactive isotope have been found in groundwater near the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, the plant operator said Wednesday. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said tests showed Strontium-90 was present at 30 times the legal rate, BBC reported. The radioactive isotope tritium was also detected at elevated levels. The nuclear plant was crippled by ...

  • Now a sign-language service via iPads

    East Japan Railway Co. has started testing a sign-language interpretation service in Tokyo on Monday using a videophone application on an Apple iPad tablet for guiding hearing-impaired people. According to the Japan Times, the company earlier used written messages for guiding such people. Through this application, passengers at information booth can use sign-language to ask their queries to a ...

  • Nua Nan Bank JCB LOVE TSCC Debit Card to be launched in Taiwan in August

    The Japan Credit Bureau (JCB), in collaboration with Hua Nan Bank, has announced that it will launch the Nua Nan Bank JCB LOVE TSCC Debit Card in Taiwan in August. It is the first debit card that has an option to be equipped with TSCC, a contactless payment service which can be used as a fare card on trains and buses. The debit card will also be accepted at some shops and restaurants. In ...

  • Japan registers trade deficit

    Japan registered 993.9 billion yen of goods trade deficit in May, the government said Wednesday. Exports increased 10.1 percent from a year earlier, while imports rose 10 percent, the finance ministry said in a preliminary report. The figures were calculated on a customs-cleared basis, reported ...

  • Japanese firm to mass-produce synthetic spider silk

    A Japanese company has developed a synthetic protein based on spider silk and plans to use it to mass-produce a highly resistant and flexible fiber in the near future. After six years of research, Spiber, in collaboration with Keio University's Institute for Advanced Biosciences and the company Kojima Industries, will inaugurate a plant this year with the capacity to produce up to 100 kg of ...

Movie Review

Underworld [DVD]

Underworld [DVD]

Josef von Sternbergs Underworld, which was released to great acclaim and box office success in 1927, the year in which synchronized sound began its dominance of Hollywood, is frequently cited as the first modern gangster film, the progenitor of the controversial early-30s triumvirat ... ...

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  • Three `Spider-Man sequels in pipeline says studio

    Sony Pictures announced that it has firm plans for three sequels to 2012 mega-hit "The Amazing Spider-Man", with the first already in production and set for release in May 2014. The studio set opening dates for the third and fourth instalments of the saga in June 2016 and May 2018, respectively. "Spider-Man is our most important, most successful, and most beloved franchise, so we're thrilled ...

  • How to make the most of your Japanese maple

    Japanese maples have a reputation for being unapproachable - if you're wielding a pair of secateurs, that is. Elegantly aloof, these beautiful small trees are often allowed to form mounds of foliage at the expense of showing off their gracefully arching branches. And that's a shame, says Sara Katz of Toronto's Wild at Heart Design. "You should be able to see the branching ...

  • No we cant - Japans conservative values collide with plan to mobilise women for economy

    TOKYO (Reuters) - Days after Kaoru Shimada and other Japanese mothers rallied in Tokyo this year to press for more public daycare, she was shocked to read a local politician's blog blasting their "shameless" demands and asserting kids should be raised at ...

  • Japanese leader defends economic policy during London speech

    Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has delivered a robust defence of his strategy to jolt the world's third largest economy out of almost two decades of stagnation - dubbed Abenomics - as he insisted in a speech ...

  • Competing plans for Sony are equally shaky

    Anyone prepared to take on the task of turning around a Japanese electronics group likes challenges. But the latest option suggested for Sony has to be one too far: spin off its electronics business. Put another way, that calls for the company to pitch a business which in five years has lost a fifth more than it ...

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