The Japanese Space Agency has unveiled a prototype of what it says is the world’s first solar powered sail spacecraft.
At a news conference on Friday, Japanese space officials showed off the space yacht.
The craft has a diameter of roughly five feet and navigates by means of an ultra-thin membrane that harnesses solar energy.
While the sunlight in space is very weak, the space agency believes it will provide enough energy to propel the space yacht.
It will be launched together with the country’s first Venus orbiter on May 18. (wfie.com)
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Things just got really lonely at the top. After perennial troublemaker Asashoryu quit sumo following allegations he attacked a man outside a Tokyo nightspot, Hakuho remains as the sole yokozuna and hot favorite to cart home the Emperor’s Cup at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament getting under way on Sunday.
Alas, sumo without Asashoryu, who took time out from his reputed street brawling to also win the New Year’s meet, could be a lot like watching a one-man show - predictable and lacking the unique pizzazz that the Mongolian firebrand brought to the sport. (Japan Times)
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China has gained direct access to the Sea of Japan for the first time in 100 years through a North Korean port, leaving the other two regional players, Japan and South Korea, deeply concerned about the communist state’s ambitions.
China made an agreement to lease a pier at North Korea’s Rajin Port for 10 years. China claims the move is purely economic. The China-North Korea deal, observers believe, complicates the UN sanctions imposed on North Korea. (The National)
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Much of what you need to know about Japan’s long-standing attitude toward immigrants is summed up in the logo of the nation’s official immigration agency: It depicts a plane departing, rather than arriving. But today the country faces a demographic crisis, one that some here believe will finally compel a traditionally homogeneous Japan to turn that plane around and let foreign workers come. The population is aging and shrinking — a formula for economic calamity and social stagnation. Over time, there will be too few workers to care for the millions of elderly citizens, grow food on farms or fill the manufacturing jobs that drive this export-led economy.
Given the forces of history and culture, the notion of a multiethnic Japan may seem impossible, a tautology in a country where nationality and ethnicity are fused to the point of being nearly indistinguishable. Yet a multiethnic Japan is what the country needs to become if it is to survive among the top tier of the world’s powers. (Washington Post)
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Thirty Japanese women were injured in an accident Friday while watching the making of an animated drama starring South Korean heartthrob Bae Yong Joon, according to the Japanese Embassy and South Korean police and firefighters.
While most of the 30 women had only light injuries, one sustained a serious injury to her face, the Japanese Embassy said. The women were in their 30s to 70s.
Three South Korean men were also hurt in the accident.
According to Yonhap News Agency, high winds during the event at an outdoor set in a resort area of Gangwon Province in northeastern South Korea caused part of the set to fall down. (AP)
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The Environment Ministry announced Thursday that a marten killed nine of 11 Japanese crested ibis that were being prepared to return to the wild in a cage in Sado, Niigata Prefecture.
The ministry said it found the small carnivore’s tracks inside the birds’ cage at the Sado Japanese Crested Ibis Conservation Center on Sado Island.
The 11 ibises were being kept in the large pen in preparation for their release into the wild in autumn.
(Yomiuri)
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At least 70 detainees at the West Japan Immigration Control Center, which has long been criticized by human rights groups and Diet members, have been on a hunger strike since Monday, center officials and volunteers helping them confirmed Thursday. “Around 70 foreigners began a hunger strike Monday night because they want to be released on a temporary basis,” Norifumi Kishida, an official at the center, said Thursday morning. (Japan Times)
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Celebrations for Ireland’s most famous holiday are gaining in popularity worldwide, and Japan is no exception. St. Patrick, who helped spread Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century, is the country’s patron saint. Legend has it that he died on March 17, so the Irish celebrate the day by wearing green, symbolizing the shamrock. In Japan, people have enjoyed the St. Patrick’s Day parade since 1992. As an international cultural exchange event, it has become more popular, with recent years seeing around 1,000 participants and 50,000 spectators taking part in Omotesando, Tokyo. This year’s parade is on March 14 and starts from Omotesando Hills; it runs from 2 p.m. till 4 p.m. (Japan Times)
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When an official at the Imperial Household Agency suddenly announced last week that 8-year-old Princess Aiko was refusing to go to school because of bullying, he did more than just disclose a mundane problem facing a member of Japan’s ancient and secretive monarchy.
He also added a new twist to one of the most riveting but mysterious dramas in Japan, the seven-year depression and seclusion of Aiko’s mother, Crown Princess Masako, the Harvard-trained former diplomat. Aiko is the only child of Princess Masako and her husband, Crown Prince Naruhito, and is widely known to be one of the few sources of joy for the troubled crown princess. (New York Times)
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Strong winds and snow battered the Pacific side of the nation Tuesday and Wednesday, wreaking havoc with road, rail and air routes and leaving thousands of homes without power. According to the Tokyo Fire Department, 26 people were taken to hospitals in Tokyo with fall injuries between Tuesday evening, when it began snowing, and 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Ten people in Yokohama suffered fall and other injuries, and 46 people in Saitama Prefecture either fell or were involved in skidding accidents. The hazardous weather also brought chaos to the nation’s transport network. (Yomiuri)
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