Electricity failure halts bullet trains on Joetsu Shinkansen Line
January 1, 2006Bullet train operations were suspended for about three hours Sunday afternoon on the Joetsu Shinkansen Line between Echigoyuzawa and Nagaoka stations in Niigata Prefecture due to electricity failure, East Japan Railway Co said. After the outage at...
Emperor stresses sacrifices of war dead on New Year's Day
January 1, 2006Emperor Akihito reflected on the people who died in World War II and stressed the importance of their sacrifice in his New Year's message released Sunday by the Imperial Household Agency. "Three million and one hundred thousand Japanese people die...
Poems composed by emperor, empress released
January 1, 2006The Imperial Household Agency on Sunday released eight poems written in the "waka" genre by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko in 2005. Five were written by the emperor and three by his wife on such occasions as the couple's visit to Saipan in Ju...
Princess Masako attends New Year's ceremony for 1st time in 3 years
January 1, 2006Crown Princess Masako, who is recuperating from a stress-induced illness, took part in the annual ceremony Sunday to greet New Year wellwishers for the first time in three years. Masako joined her husband, the crown prince, Emperor Akihito and Emp...
U.S. asks Japan to leave some GSDF officers in Iraq after withdrawal
January 1, 2006The United States has asked Japan to consider having a few senior ground troop officers remain in southern Iraq after a troop withdrawal from Samawah in order for Japan to continue to support Iraqi reconstruction, sources of the two countries said Sa...