Tokyo monorail services suspended
Monorail services linking Tokyo's Haneda Airport and the city's downtown area were temporarily suspended on Tuesday afternoon. The line's operator, Tokyo Monorail, says a 6-c…
The archive
Recent articles — page 451
Browse recent articles in the Akihabara archive.
Woman’s experience being lost in Tokyo station spawned mapmaking business
The idea for Navit Co. was born out of its president’s own experience of getting stuck in the labyrinth of a Tokyo subway station. The station map maker is now looking to expand its services nationwi…
End of the road for 'classic' bikes
Major Japanese motorcycle manufacturers have stopped making some of their "classic" models. Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki say tougher emissions regulations have forced them to abandon bik…
Train catches fire in Tokyo
A train caught fire in central Tokyo on Sunday. No one was reported injured. Police and firefighters say the fire first started at a 3-story boxing gym standing along the tracks of Odawara …
Exhibition of nunoe cloth pictures
An exhibition of artworks made of kimono cloth opened in Mito city, north of Tokyo, on Tuesday. "Nunoe" is a Japanese handcraft similar to patchwork in which scraps of kimono and obi f…
Japan to ban cars with Takata airbags
Japan's transport ministry has decided to ban vehicles still fitted with Takata airbags from running on public roads. Since 2004, there have been about 200 cases worldwide of unusual ruptur…
Equipment to float building to offset tremors
Researchers have come up with a novel way to protect buildings from earthquake damage. A group consisting of a disaster-prevention research institute and private companies has developed a d…
Gata No Kuni Kara
For the very first time, a Japanese TV drama is featuring a popular actor from Thailand! It's a story about a young Thai man who runs away accompanied by a Japanese high school girl.
How an Angry Candy Man Revolutionized the Modern Sushi Industry
Kisaku Suzuki, creator of the world’s first sushi robot, once ran a company that made candy-wrapping machines. And he was angry. Why had the Japanese government embarked on a policy to limi…
Japan could be cleaning up in e-sports ring
Spectators packed a Seattle arena and 5 million more went online to watch a video game tournament this summer in which winners each earned $2.2 million, about as much as tennis pro Rafael Nadal won a…