Japan

5 Apr 2019; AFP: A Japanese probe on Friday launched an explosive device at an asteroid, aiming to blast a crater in the surface and scoop up material that could shed light on how the solar system evolved.

The explosive mission is the riskiest yet attempted by the Japanese space agency's Hayabusa2 probe that aims to reveal more about the origins of life on Earth.

4 Apr 2019; AFP: Beauty might only be skin deep, but for those wondering how to keep that skin young, scientists may have found an answer in the form of a protein that encourages cell competition.

The prosaically named COL17A1 might not sound like a fountain of youth, but the new study suggests it does the heavy lifting when it comes to keeping skin intact and unimpaired.

TOKYO, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Diet on Wednesday enacted a record 101.46-trillion-yen (920 billion U.S. dollars) budget for fiscal 2019 to address the nation's ballooning social security costs, stimulate the economy and provide a buffer against the likely fallout from a consumption tax hike this year.

The budged passed the more powerful lower house of parliament at the beginning of March and was approved in the upper caucus by the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

TOKYO (AP) — Tsunekazu Takeda is stepping down as the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee amid a vote-buying scandal that French investigators suspect helped Tokyo land next year’s Olympics.

Takeda announced Tuesday at the committee’s executive board meeting that he will resign when his term ends in June, and he again denied corruption allegations against him.

TOKYO, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government on Tuesday approved a plan to revise the child abuse prevention law and institute changes to legally prohibit parents and guardians from physically punishing children.

The revised bill and related legislation will be deliberated during the ongoing parliamentary session with an aim to be enacted in April next year, the government said.

TOKYO (AP) — A 116-year-old Japanese woman who loves playing the board game Othello was honored Saturday as the world’s oldest living person by Guinness World Records.

The global authority on records officially recognized Kane Tanaka in a ceremony at the nursing home where she lives in Fukuoka, in Japan’s southwest. Her family and the mayor were present to celebrate.

Tanaka was born Jan. 2, 1903, the seventh among eight children. She married Hideo Tanaka in 1922, and they had four children and adopted another child.

TOKYO, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Japan's factory output dropped in January from a month earlier, the government said in a report on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, industrial output here declined 3.7 percent in January, following a 0.1 percent drop in December.

The ministry also said in its preliminary report that the seasonally adjusted index of output at factories and mines stood at 100.8 against the 2015 base of 100.

TOKYO (AP) — The residents of Japan’s southwestern island region of Okinawa rejected a relocation plan for a U.S. military base ina referendum, increasing pressure on the national government to change its stance that the facility will be built no matter what.

The results of Sunday’s vote showed 72 percent opposed the plan for the Marines air base being built on a landfill in coastal Henoko. Support for the relocation plan totaled 19 percent.

The referendum is not legally binding but underlines Okinawans’ sentiment on the relocation plan.

22 Feb 2019; DW: Employees at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) rejoiced on Friday as the Hayabusa2 explorer signaled that it landed on a distant asteroid.

The unmanned spacecraft touched down briefly on the asteroid and then indicated that it was blasting back to its orbiting position.

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese spacecraft began its approach Thursday toward a distant asteroid on a mission to collect material that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth.

Hayabusa2′s descent was delayed for about five hours for a safety check, but the unmanned craft is still due to touch down as scheduled on Friday morning, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.