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Fuji TV plans to establish a third-party committee to investigate whether there is a culture of using female TV presenters at the broadcaster to entertain male celebrities, amid rising criticism over the broadcaster’s handling of alleged sexual misconduct by former SMAP member Masahiro Nakai, media reports said Friday. The media conglomerate’s president, Koichi Minato, announced the move in the firm’s first news conference since the allegations against Nakai came to light in mid-December. Nakai admitted to paying a settlement of ¥90 million to a woman, without elaborating on the reasoning due to a confidentiality agreement with her. Fuji TV has been in hot water since, especially after Dalton Investment sent a letter earlier this week saying it is “outraged” by the “serious flaws” in the broadcaster’s corporate governance in relation to its handling of the recent uproar sparked by Nakai. Dalton is a major shareholder of the Japanese media conglomerate. Source link

Firefighters and helicopters were combating a blaze in a forest on a Japanese island on Friday, with media reports saying it may have been started by nearby military exercises. NHK’s live footage showed the blaze burning across a wooded hillside of an island in Hiroshima Prefecture, and smoke billowing into the air. The fire follows the issuing of a dry weather advisory in southern Hiroshima after a long period without rain, with residents urged to take care when handling fire. The forest is flanked by a shooting range operated by the Maritime Self-Defense Forces, which was conducting an “explosives training around 9:30 a.m.” Friday, a spokesperson said. “Gunpowder was being used for the drill,” the MSDF official said, adding it “still remains under investigation” whether the explosives had caused the fire. Around 60 firefighters and four helicopters had been mobilized to put out the blaze, which has engulfed at least two hectares of forest, a local fire department said. No injuries have been reported, but authorities have urged roughly 150 residents at a nearby nursing home to start evacuating in case the fire spreads. The forest is in Hiroshima’s Etajima district, an island with a population of over 20,000 people. In 2024, Japan saw its hottest year since records began in 1898, mirroring other nations as ever-rising greenhouse gas emissions fuel climate change. Source link

Melbourne – Swiss Belinda Bencic advanced to the last 16 of the Australian Open after two-time champion Naomi Osaka retired during Friday’s third-round match with an injury. Bencic took the first set in a tiebreak 7-6 (7-3) before Osaka, who pulled out of the Auckland final earlier this month due to an abdominal injury, withdrew from the contest. Osaka led 5-2 in the opening set but showed signs of struggles with her abdomen and called for a physio during a changeover. The 27-year-old initially soldiered on after treatment before eventually retiring. “I really feel for Naomi, I saw her struggling a little bit at the end of the set and obviously it’s not the way you would like this match to end,” Bencic said. “I thought it was a good match so hopefully she’ll be fine soon and she can play well for the rest of the season.” Source link

Hall of Fame broadcaster and beloved Milwaukee Brewers icon Bob Uecker died on Thursday at the age of 90. The Milwaukee native had been battling lung cancer since early 2023, his family revealed. He would have turned 91 on Jan. 26. “It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the passing of Bob,” his family said in a statement. “To many, he was an announcer and entertainer whose humor and voice transcended the game, but to us he was so much more. Source link

Japan aims to not only continue raising the budget for its military aid program over the coming years but also expand the number of recipient countries, with the Foreign Ministry considering up to nine potential beneficiaries next fiscal year alone, according to government sources. For fiscal 2025, which starts April 1, the ministry has requested ¥8 billion ($51.5 million) for Japan’s official security assistance (OSA) framework. If approved by parliament, this would mark a 60%, or ¥3 billion, year-on-year increase as Tokyo seeks to strengthen the security and deterrence capabilities of like-minded countries amid growing concerns over the regional security environment. Among the nations being considered for the third OSA tranche are Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, all of which are already beneficiaries, as well as Papua New Guinea. Source link

The ancient Japanese were fortunate. They could “leave the world.” We can, too, and some of us do, but it’s seen as defeat rather than victory; aberration, not religious awakening. Even to the ancients it was sad, of course — the shaved heads, the drab monkish or nunnish garb — but life itself was sad; what foolishness to clothe it in gaiety. Severance effected, the enlightened ones retreated to the mountains, to the woods, the less hardy to a garden, and there, in little lean-tos, prototypes of the later tea huts, they fed on roots and berries and “lost themselves in prayer.” Why, though? Such a beautiful world it was, for all its sadness, and beautiful they deeply felt it to be, with its blossoms, songbirds, chirping crickets, mountain mists, radiant moonlight — and these were cultivated people, high-born, gently nurtured, their emotional response to natural beauty itself beautiful, expressed in music, poetry, love, alcoholic intoxication — why not? A poem in the eighth-century anthology “Manyoshu” reads, “Even a treasure priceless in the world — / how could it surpass / a cup of sake?” And another: “Among the countless ways of pleasure / what refreshes most / is weeping drunken tears!” “Leaving the world” meant leaving all this, not under duress but of one’s own free will, in favor of cheerless Buddhist austerities. Why? Source link

Kobe – Sunflowers growing in an empty plot of land in the city of Kobe, where a home once stood before a massive earthquake 30 years ago, have spread throughout the country as a symbol of reconstruction from disasters and remembrance of victims. For Itsuka Kikuchi, the now 45-year-old who lived in the quake-hit home at the time, the sunflowers were a psychological burden at times, as she grieved the death of her then 11-year-old little sister Haruka Kato in the Jan. 17, 1995, quake. Now a mother, Kikuchi is passing on the stories of her experiences to the younger generation who were born after the magnitude-7.3 quake, which killed 6,434 people. Source link

The government plans to introduce penalties for the unauthorized use and leakage of information obtained through communication monitoring for cyber defense, officials said Thursday. The penalties are part of a broader government plan to introduce active cyber defense, or preemptive action to prevent cyberattacks. The government will submit legislation to enact the plan to parliament during an ordinary session set to start on Jan. 24. The bill calls for mandatory prior approval by an independent organization to break into the server of an attack source and render it harmless, in consideration of the confidentiality of communications guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. Under the bill, operators of key infrastructure, such as those in the electricity and financial sectors, will be required to report the information technology devices they use, and notify authorities when attacks occur. The government will provide them with information necessary to prevent damage. Communications subject to monitoring will be those between foreign countries as well as between Japan and other countries via foreign equipment suspected to be used for cyberattacks. The scope of analysis will be limited to what is known as mechanical information, such as internet protocol addresses and transmission and reception times, and email texts and other essential content of communications will be excluded. If a cyberattack threat is identified, police and the Self-Defense Forces are expected to take measures to prevent intrusions and neutralize attacks. Source link

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Israel may approve a ceasefire with Hamas during a cabinet vote over the weekend, though some details still need to be ironed out, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t summon ministers until everything is final, a government official said. Netanyahu had earlier accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the accord at the “last minute,” and he said that a vote couldn’t take place until mediators confirm that the militant Palestinian group has accepted all elements. That had cast uncertainty over the truce announced by the U.S. and Qatar on Wednesday, which aims to pause more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza starting on Sunday. Aryeh Deri, the leader of Shas, an orthodox religious party that’s part of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, said in Jerusalem that the obstacles have now been resolved and the deal is “about to set off.” Source link