The Pigeon Express
Japan is sweltering under the hottest day yet of its worst heatwave for almost 150 years. The blistering heat has drawn official warnings of a looming power shortage, and led to calls for people to conserve energy where possible. But the government is still advising people to use air conditioning to avoid heatstroke as cases […]
North Korea has accused the United States, Japan and South Korea for making moves to create an “Asian version of NATO.” The charge was made by state news agency KCNA on Wednesday, hours before Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, and Yoon Suk-yeol, the South Korean president, were due to meet US President Joe Biden as […]
G7 leaders have detailed plans to mobilise $600 billion in funding for the developing world in a move seen as a counter to China’s Belt and Road plan. The Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) relaunches a scheme unveiled at last year’s G7 talks in England. US President Joe Biden said the plan would […]
Japan’s government has urged people in Tokyo and its surrounding area to use less electricity on Monday, as it warned that supplies will be strained as the country faces a heatwave. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry expects demand for power to be “severe” this afternoon local time. It said people should switch off […]
Explorers have found the deepest shipwreck ever identified, a US navy destroyer escort sunk during WWII. The USS Samuel B Roberts went down during the Battle Off Samar in the Philippine Sea in October 1944. It lies in 6,895m of water. Texan multi-millionaire and adventurer Victor Vescovo, who owns a deep-diving submersible, discovered the “Sammy […]
A Japanese man lost a USB memory stick with entire city’s personal details following a night out with colleagues. It contained the personal details of nearly half a million people. The unnamed man placed the memory stick in his bag before an evening of drinking in the city of Amagasaki, north-west of Osaka. He spent […]
At least eight Russian and Chinese warships have been spotted in the seas near Japan this week, another sign of the apparent pressure the two partners have been putting on Tokyo as relations deteriorate over Ukraine and Taiwan respectively. Japan’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday said its forces had observed five Russian warships led by an […]
In an attempt to quell public concern about cyberbullying, Japan has passed legislation making “online insults” punishable by imprisonment. The bill, passed by the Japanese government on Monday, has amended the country’s penal code and will take effect this summer. According to the Japan Times, the amendment comes as a response to the death of […]
An official Ukrainian government Twitter account issued an apology after showing a picture of Japan’s wartime Emperor Hirohito alongside Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in a social media video about the defeat of fascism. “Our sincere apologies to Japan for making this mistake,” read a message on the Ukrainian twitter feed. “We had no intention […]
At least 10 people have died after a tourist boat went missing off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, officials said. They say the search is continuing in frigid waters for 16 others who were on board the Kazu 1 vessel. Contact with the boat was lost after it said it was taking on water […]
Japan is redrawing its plan for transporting humanitarian aid supplies to displaced Ukrainians after Tokyo said India had refused to let Self-Defense Forces aircraft land in the country. The plan was for an Air Self-Defense Force plane to pick up relief items at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees supply depots in India and the […]
The powerful earthquake that hit north-east Japan on Wednesday night has claimed two lives and injured at least ninety others, officials said. The magnitude 7.3 tremor struck the same region where a major earthquake triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster 11 years ago. Power was temporarily power out for over two million homes. In some areas […]