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☆ Dogs don kimonos, receive blessings in place of children in aging Japan
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Irene Wang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Pet owners pray with their pet dogs as they arrive for a Shichi-Go-San blessing, traditionally performed for young children to ask for health and happiness, at Zama Shrine in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, Japan, November 14, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon Acquire Licensing RightsZAMA, Japan, Nov 14 (Reuters) - A traditional ceremony for children is catching on among pet owners in Japan, where dogs and cats are receiving ever more attention amid the nation's plummeting birth rates. Parents dress their girls and boys in kimonos and bring them to a Shinto holy place for the ceremony. On Tuesday, numerous pet owners led their charges up the steep steps to reach the Inuneko Jinja, or Dog-Cat Shrine, to pray and receive a blessing from a Shinto priest. "The number of children is decreasing each year, and as a result, more and more people are pouring their love into their dogs and cats," said Zama Shrine priest Yoshinori Hiraga.

Persons: Kim Kyung, Natsuki Aoki, Aoki, Shiba, Yoshinori Hiraga, Masayo Tashiro, Irene Wang, Rocky Swift, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Tokyo, Japan, Hiroshima, kimonos, Jinja, Pomeranian

[1/2] Union workers of Sogo & Seibu hold banners which read 'on strike' in front of the company's flagship Seibu Ikebukuro store in Tokyo, Japan August 31, 2023. In a statement, Fortress said it would work with Seven & i to support Sogo & Seibu's management to maintain its workforce "to the extent possible." It plans to invest more than 20 billion yen with partner Yodobashi to renovate Sogo & Seibu's stores, it said. Sogo & Seibu's workers had the support of labour groups from rival department stores including Takashimaya and Isetan Mitsukoshi (3099.T). The Seibu Ikebukuro store is Japan's third-largest department store by sales, according to media reports, but its owner Sogo & Seibu has been in the red for the last four years.

Persons: Irene Wang, Fortress, Yodobashi, it's, Yasuhiro Teraoka, Isetan Mitsukoshi, Wakana Shuto, Stephen Givens, Ritsuko Shimizu, Mariko Katsumura, Kaori Kaneko, Rocky Swift, Chang, Ran Kim, Edwina Gibbs, Stephen Coates, Miral Organizations: Union, Sogo, Seibu, company's, REUTERS, Workers, Fortress Investment Group, Yodobashi Holdings, Rikkyo, Japan Inc, Thomson, & & ' Locations: Tokyo, Japan, U.S, TOKYO, Ikebukuro, Sogo, Seibu Ikebukuro

[1/2] Union workers of Sogo & Seibu hold banners which read 'on strike' in front of the company's flagship Seibu Ikebukuro store in Tokyo, Japan August 31, 2023. Some 900 workers at the flagship Seibu store in the bustling district of Ikebukuro are protesting the sale of Sogo & Seibu, a unit of retail giant Seven & i (3382.T), to U.S. fund Fortress Investment Group. This one-day strike - the first at a major Japanese department store in 61 years - followed months of negotiations between Sogo & Seibu management and the workers' union, and comes amid a labour shortage in Japan. Other Seibu and Sogo department stores were open for business as usual. The Seibu Ikebukuro store is Japan's third-largest department store by sales, according to media reports, but its owner Sogo & Seibu has been in the red for the last four years.

Persons: Irene Wang, Isetan Mitsukoshi, Wakana Shuto, Stephen Givens, it's, Ritsuko Shimizu, Mariko Katsumura, Kaori Kaneko, Rocky Swift, Chang, Ran Kim, Edwina Gibbs, Stephen Coates, Miral Organizations: Union, Sogo, Seibu, company's, REUTERS, Workers, Fortress Investment Group, Yodobashi Holdings, Rikkyo, Japan Inc, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan, U.S, TOKYO, Ikebukuro, Sogo, Seibu Ikebukuro

☆ Fukushima wastewater released into the ocean, China bans all Japanese seafood
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Sakura Murakami | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Sales to China and Hong Kong accounted for 42% of all Japanese aquatic exports in 2022, according to government data. Separately from China, Hong Kong and Macau have announced their own ban starting Thursday, which covers Japanese seafood imports from 10 regions. Japan will conduct monitoring around the water release area and publish results weekly starting on Sunday, Japan's environment minister said. PROTESTSIn Hong Kong, Jacay Shum, a 73-year-old activist, held up a picture portraying IAEA head Rafael Grossi as the devil. "The Fukushima nuclear disaster is not over.

Persons: Fumio Kishida, Geraldine Thomas, Han Duck, Jacay Shum, Rafael Grossi, Shum, Iizuka, Sakura Murakami, Chang, Ran Kim, Kantaro Komiya, Irene Wang, Bernard Orr, Farah Master, Joyce Zhou, Hongji Kim, Soo, hyang Choi, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: IAEA, Tokyo Electric Power, International Atomic Energy Agency, Japan, Hong, REUTERS, Minwoo, World Health Organization, London's Imperial, Japan Fisheries Co, Korean, Reuters, Thomson Locations: China, Japan, TOKYO, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Fukushima, Busan, South Korea, China , Hong Kong, Macau, Seoul, South, Beijing, Lincoln

REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, July 8 (Reuters) - Japan on Saturday marked one year since former prime minister Shinzo Abe was gunned down during an election speech by a man angry at his links to the Unification Church. The death of Japan's longest serving prime minister, which was caught on video, rattled a nation unused to gun violence. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other senior officials and lawmakers joined Abe's widow, Akie, at a private memorial service at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo. Among them was Tsuu Ogawa, 49, a hotel worker, who celebrated her birthday the day that Abe was assassinated. In social media posts before the shooting, he blamed the Unification Church for leaving his mother in financial straits.

Persons: Shinzo Abe, Issei Kato TOKYO, Japan's, Fumio Kishida, Akie, Tsuu Ogawa, Abe, Critics, Atsuhiro Ueda, Kishida, Tetsuya Yamagami, Daishiro Yamagiwa, Tim Kelly, Irene Wang, Kim Coghill Organizations: REUTERS, Unification Church, Liberal Democratic Party, Unification, Korean, Economic, Thomson Locations: Zojoji, Tokyo, Japan

[1/7] Nadine, a 43-year-old tourist from the U.S., wearing a sumo wrestler costume, tries to spar against former sumo wrestler Towanoyama on the sumo ring before tourists from abroad, at Yokozuna Tonkatsu Dosukoi Tanaka in Tokyo, Japan June 30, 2023. Beneath its vaulted roof is a sumo ring and 14 tables where patrons pay 11,000 yen ($76) to eat breaded pork cutlets before watching - and joining - the action. Another former sumo wrestler, Yasuhiro Tanaka, started the restaurant after founding a company to give ex-wrestlers a second career as actors in commercials and movies. "But no, it was really, really amazing." "As sumo wrestlers, we couldn't really play around at all," said Tanaka, 47, who admitted he wasn't a particularly strong competitor.

Persons: Nadine, Towanoyama, Yokozuna Tonkatsu Dosukoi Tanaka, Issei Kato, Ohtori, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Jose Aguillar, Jumbo, Aguillar, Fumio Kishida, Tanaka, Rocky Swift, Gerry Doyle Organizations: REUTERS, Netflix, Thomson Locations: U.S, Tokyo, Japan, TOKYO, Koto, Monterrey, Mexico

☆ Harry Potter park in Tokyo hopes to enchant Asian fans
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Studio Tour Tokyo - The Making of Harry Potter' during a press preview before it officially opens to the public on June 16, 2023, in Tokyo, Japan June 14, 2023. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, June 14 (Reuters) - Harry Potter fans will soon be able to take up their wands, put on their robes and immerse themselves in the boy wizard's world at a new theme park set to open in Tokyo on Friday. Built on the western site of the beloved Toshimaen amusement park, which shut in 2020 after 94 years, the Warner Brothers Studio Tour Tokyo recreates a number of iconic film locations, such as Diagon Alley and the Ministry of Magic. Studio Tour Tokyo. "Being the first tour in Asia and the increasing inbound visitors to Japan will also put us in the centre of the regional market," Jensen told media during a tour of the park, saying it offered Asian fans a new dimension in Harry Potter movie-making.

Persons: Harry Potter, Issei Kato TOKYO, Torben Jensen, Jensen, Irene Wang, Elaine Lies, Clarence Fernandez Organizations: Warner Bros, REUTERS, Warner Brothers Studio, Ministry of Magic, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan, Asia

☆ Vending machine in remote Japan town sells meat from intruding bears
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Irene Wang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] A vending machine menu offering Asian Black Bear meat, Akita Beef and dried mountain stream fish is seen in front of a Soba Noodle restaurant in Semboku, Akita prefecture, Japan April 6, 2023. REUTERS/Irene WangSEMBOKU, Japan, April 6 (Reuters) - A remote Japanese town has taken to selling bear meat from a vending machine, sourcing its supply to Asian black bears, listed as a vulnerable species, caught in traps or in the mountains by hunters. Asian black bears are listed as vulnerable, but not critically so, and it is legal to eat bear in Japan. Vending machines throughout Japan offer everything from drinks, snacks and surgical masks to more exotic fare such as edible insects and whale meat. "Bear meat isn't very common so we want tourists who come to visit the town to buy it," Sato said.

☆ Light show meets opera as new 'Turandot' seeks to lure people back to theatre
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Irene Wang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Cast members perform Giacomo Puccini's Turandot with immersive laser lights created by 'teamLab' during a dress rehearsal at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Japan February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, Feb 24 (Reuters) - A kaleidoscopic light show has helped reinvent Giacomo Puccini's opera "Turandot" currently playing in Tokyo - a production which aims to bring people back into theatres now that the pandemic has eased. The opera, reimagined by American director Daniel Kramer in collaboration with teamLab, the Japanese group famed for its digital art installations, employs dazzling displays of lasers and three-dimensional light sculptures. The light-infused Turandot made its debut in Geneva last year and will be performed at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan until Feb. 26. Reporting by Irene Wang; Writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by Edwina GibbsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/5] Hyper realistic flesh-like objects created by Masataka Shishido, also known as DJ Doooo, are displayed at his home, during a photo opportunity in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo, Japan January 26, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonFeb 6 (Reuters) - A Japanese DJ has found a new calling making freaky flesh-like accessories such as severed finger ink stamps, pendants with blinking eyes and purses with gaping mouths and stubble, inspired by horror movie special effects. "Once people learnt that it's an artwork with some specific function, they started saying that it's cute and interesting." He draws the designs by hand before a Tokyo studio called Amazing Studio JUR takes up to two months to turn the concept into reality. American rapper Lil Yachty posted a video of himself clutching one of his blinking balls on social media in 2021.

☆ World Cup starts from now, Japan's Asano says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Irene Wang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DOHA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Japan have already scripted one of the best stories of the World Cup with comeback victories over former champions Germany and Spain but Takuma Asano says they have not achieved anything yet. "Now I started feeling it's becoming a great World Cup. But we haven't achieved anything yet, so honestly speaking, I think everything starts from now." Of course, they have many good players, and they are a good team. Monday will be Japan's fourth last 16 clash at the World Cup finals but they have never yet been past the opening round of the knockout stage.

A portrait of Shinzo Abe hangs above the stage during the state funeral for Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe on September 27, 2022 at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. Several current and former heads of state visited Japan for the state funeral of Abe, who was assassinated in July while campaigning on a street. read moreIn one part of downtown Tokyo, protesters waved signs and chanted "No state funeral" to the tune of a guitar. DIVISIVE FIGUREJapan's longest-serving prime minister was a divisive figure who was dogged by scandals. read moreThe state funeral for Abe, who received a private funeral days after his assassination, was the first for an ex-premier since one in 1967 for former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.

☆ Japan prepares to bid farewell to slain Abe with controversial state funeral
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Elaine Lies | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Mourners offer flowers at the altar outside Nippon Budokan Hall which will host a state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, Japan September 27, 2022. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Japan will honour on Tuesday its assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a polarising figure who dominated modern-day politics as its longest-serving leader, with a rare state funeral that has become nearly as divisive as he was. "It has a completely different meaning to a funeral for ordinary people. The sole Group of Seven leader set to join, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, cancelled in order to tackle a natural disaster at home. read moreThe state funeral for Abe, who received a private funeral days after his assassination, is the first since one in 1967 for former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.

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