Tomohiro Osaki

TV networks drop Japan boy band star over sex allegations Reports say that Masahiro Nakai, a former member of SMAP, paid a woman a lump sum of ¥90 million.

Major TV networks have distanced themselves from Masahiro Nakai, one of Japan's biggest 1990s boy band stars, after media reports said he paid a woman a large settlement related to alleged sexual misconduct @afpnews.bsky.social

www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/01...

Popular Japanese actor fired from low-alcohol beer ad after getting drunk and breaking into neighbor's home Ryo Yoshizawa — who one fashion magazine said has "national treasure-class handsomeness" — is one of Japan's most popular actors.

A popular Japanese actor hired to be the wholesome face of a low-alcohol beer has been fired after getting drunk and breaking into his neighbor's home, @afpnews.bsky.social reports

www.cbsnews.com/news/actor-r...

Plane with 181 on board crashes in South Korea, killing 47 A Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people from Bangkok to South Korea crashed on arrival Sunday, emergency services told AFP, with 47 confirmed dead and dramatic video showing the aircraft bursting into fl...

Earlier story from AFP here : sg.news.yahoo.com/plane-181-bo...

On the @afpnews.bsky.social wire now: Sixty-two people are confirmed dead after a Jeju Air plane crashed on landing in South Korea, the country's fire agency said Sunday, with dramatic video showing the aircraft bursting into flames

Rebels declare end of Assad rule in Syria Islamist-led rebels declared that they had taken Damascus in a lightning offensive on Sunday, sending President Bashar al-Assad fleeing and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria.

.@AFP's main #Syria wrap on a historic day.

Islamist-led rebels declared that they had taken Damascus in a lightning offensive on Sunday, sending President Bashar al-Assad fleeing and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria.

www.rfi.fr/en/internati...

Plastic pollution talks fail to reach landmark deal Deeply divided negotiators failed on Sunday to reach a landmark global treaty to curb plastic pollution, missing a self-imposed deadline, and agreed to extend their talks."If you address plastic pollu...

A week of talks in Busan have failed to resolve deep divisions between "high-ambition" countries seeking a globally binding agreement to limit production, and "like-minded", mostly oil-producing nations that want to focus on waste @afpnews.bsky.social reports

www.yahoo.com/news/nations...

Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive? Shrinking funding and limited support spark fears for the country's scientific prowess moving forward.

As this year’s Nobel Prizes were announced in early October, once again Japan’s scientific community held its breath ... and once again they came away empty-handed. When will Japan get another shot at the prize? My latest Longform @japantimes.co.jp : www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/12...

Satire TV show strikes a generation-spanning chord in Japan 'Extremely Inappropriate' uses a time-traveling protagonist to humorously highlight the gap between attitudes of the 1980s and the 2020s.

"Futehodo", short for smash-hit #Japan TV show "Extremely Inappropriate", was chosen as the buzzword of the year. The time-travel saga boldly satirised some of today’s most cherished values like political correctness & work-life balance. My story from March

www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2024...

Plastic pollution talks must speed up, chair warns Negotiators must move "significantly" faster to reach a landmark treaty to curb plastic pollution, the diplomat chairing the talks warned Wednesday, as countries lined up to express frustration about ...

"We are here because microplastics have been found in the placentas of healthy women... We are literally raising a generation that starts its life polluted, before taking its first breath" @afpnews.bsky.social

uk.news.yahoo.com/plastic-poll...

Also, this rather self-deprecating arguement from LinkedIn seeking an exemption from the ban 😂

"LinkedIn simply does not have content interesting and appealing to minors".

Australia takes step to ban under 16s from social media Australian lawmakers moved a step closer to banning under 16s from social media platforms Wednesday, threatening companies that fail to comply with multimillion-dollar fines.Social media firms -- who ...

Love this quote from Aussie PM, who wants children "off their phones and onto the footy and cricket field, the tennis and netball courts, in the swimming pool"

www.yahoo.com/news/austral...

Hand-built fantasy tower brings value to Tokyo, creator says Passers-by stop and stare at the ramshackle, hand-built concrete tower that looks like it has been lifted right out of a Japanese animation and dropped onto a real-life Tokyo street.

With its wobbly lines and weird, wonderful ornamentation, Oka's building has been compared to the animated Studio Ghibli movie "Howl's Moving Castle"

Interesting @afpnews.bsky.social story by Andrew McKirdy

www.france24.com/en/live-news...

Japanese Man Broke Into 1,000 Homes To 'Relieve Stress' Japanese police arrested a man who reportedly admitted to breaking into more than 1,000 homes in an unconventional way of relieving stress.

When trespassing is your "hobby" ... 👉 "I get so thrilled that my palms sweat when wondering if someone will discover me or not, and it relieves some stress" #Japan

www.ndtv.com/world-news/j...

Bluesky is booming in Japan — mainly for reasons other than U.S. politics Average monthly user numbers for Bluesky on Android in Japan quintupled in the 12 months to October, while figures for X were down over that time.

Interesting @japantimes.co.jp story on how the growing migration of Japanese social media users from X to Bluesky appears driven less by the US culture wars than by X's deteriorating usability
www.japantimes.co.jp/business/202...

Amazon Japan Raided Over Alleged Anti-monopoly Violation Amazon Japan's offices were raided by authorities Tuesday over an alleged anti-monopoly law violation, a source said, with the e-commerce giant accused of abusing its industry dominance to drive down ...

Amazon Japan's offices were raided by authorities Tuesday over an alleged anti-monopoly law violation, a source said, with the e-commerce giant accused of abusing its industry dominance to drive down prices

www.barrons.com/news/amazon-...

Japan's chipmaking rush pressures Kumamoto's special water supply TSMC and others hope that support for existing projects and proper wastewater management can avoid undermining water development efforts lauded by the U.N.

How the arrival of TSMC is impacting groundwater in Kumamoto, which is relied upon by its 1 million residents. Reported for @japantimes.co.jp www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/...

'Existential challenge': Plastic pollution treaty talks begin BUSAN: A final round of talks on a treaty to end plastic pollution opened on Monday (Nov 25), with deep differences between nations emerging almost immediately. The meeting opened just hours after

#Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous it has been found in clouds, the deepest ocean trenches and even human breastmilk.
And while almost everyone agrees it is a problem, there is less consensus on how to solve it. @afpnews.bsky.social reports from Busan

www.channelnewsasia.com/world/plasti...

顔にヘビの入れ墨も「物腰は柔らか」コンビニで商品盗み店員に頭突き男が逮捕も調べに「黙秘」（FNNプライムオンライン（フジテレビ系）） - Yahoo!ニュース 21日、東京・成城警察署でカメラが捉えたのは、ギラギラと光る歯、こちらをのぞき込むその顔の真ん中にはヘビのような入れ墨が入った越前谷真将容疑者（49）です。 車の中で、最後までカメラをにらみつけてい

A Japanese man whose face is covered in sepent tattoos (!) steals bread and a can of coffee, before fleeing and then head-butting a store clerk who chased him. Despite how he looks & what he did, neighbours describe him as gentle and friendly

news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/daf...

❤️ Japanese people are the least satisfied with their sex and romantic lives, closely followed by South Koreans, a global survey by a French research firm showed.
➡️ https://u.afp.com/5Vsa

Company tries to de-stigmatize sexual pleasure with sex toys - Taipei Times Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan

After contemplating for a while what my first Bluesky post should be, I've decided to give the honour to this recent @afpnews.bsky.social story I wrote about Japanese sex toy brand Tenga, nicely edited by @katieforster.bsky.social

www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar...