Japan

Image from McDonald's Japan.  In the past 6 months or so, I bought 6 bottles of Torani syrup because doing so reduced the price by a fair margin. I was excited at the prospect of sampling a bunch of flavors at once, but the problem was that some of them were not worthy of my emotional energies. In particular, the coconut, which I had hoped to mix with the mango flavor and add to water for a

If you are like a lot of guys, not only might your computer or touch panel need some cleaning, but your stuff may not be smelling as fresh as it could. Now, there may be something for you. Elecom is releasing a touch panel cleaner with fragrance in late May. There are 2 kinds: - “Spray type” (P-FCS) - “Tissue type” (P-FCT5P) These cleaners remove finger prints, dirt, etc. from screens, tablets, smart phones, etc. and also add some refreshing scent to your screen. 10 kinds of scents are available. Fragrance types: rose, lavender, grapefruit, lemongrass, fresh fruit, musk, fruity vanilla, green tea, wood, soap Spray type (P-FCS series) Price: ¥1,323 (including tax) Tissue type (P-FCT5P series) Price: ¥640 (including tax)

Tokyo stocks rose 0.13% on Tuesday, recouping early losses as the dollar turned higher against the yen. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 20.21 points to 15,381.02, its best finish since December 2007, while the Topix index of all first-section issues gained 0.07% or 0.88 points to 1,270.39. Trading…

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has announced that it intends to draw up a set of unified rules for the use of baby strollers on buses and trains. Current rules regarding baby strollers vary between the operators of Japan's various public transportation systems, ministry officials said Monday.…

South Korean soldiers were guilty of abusing women in wartime, Osaka's mayor said in comments reported Tuesday, days after provoking a storm by labeling sex slaves a military necessity. In a remark likely to fuel outrage and further stoke tensions in an already uneasy relationship, Toru Hashimoto said the South…

Police in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, have arrested a man for allegedly making death threats by telephone. According to police, the suspect, identified as Yuta Sasaki, a 20-year-old restaurant employee, called them from a public phone at 7:30 p.m. Monday and said he was going to kill someone, NTV reported. Police…

Yes, everything is small in Japan but this is extreme! Thanko released an extremely small functional camera that looks like a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. Despite it’s super small size (38x33x28m, 17g), it is capable of taking photos and movies. Photos and movies can be saved on a microSD card. Battery charge is done via a USB port. It also features a strobe that detects darkness and flashes automatically and a “Motion-sensing” function that starts taking about 2 minutes of video by detecting body movement. It’s a more useful camera than expected. Price: 5,980 yen (including tax) Size: 28 x 33 x 28mm Weight: 17g Accessories: USB cable, strap, small bag for the camera Saving format: Movie – AVI, Photo – JPEG Resolution: Movie – 1280×720, 1 mega pixel, Photo – 2560×1920 The Thanko miniature camera can be ordered here.

A man stabbed his ex-wife on a street in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Tuesday morning, and then caused a car crash while he was fleeing from the scene. According to police, the 31-year-old woman was attacked by a knife-wielding man while she was walking her child to school at around…

A tense American League East duel between New York and the Baltimore Orioles revealed the strengths and weaknesses of each team Monday night when the Yankees won 6-4 in 10 innings. The result extended Baltimore's losing streak to six games, and it became apparent why New York leads the division…

Crown Prince Naruhito will visit Spain June 10-17 at the invitation of the Spanish government to mark the 400th anniversary of relations between Spain and Japan. Crown Princess Masako, who accompanied her husband to the investiture of Dutch King Willem-Alexander earlier this month, will not be going, a government official…