Tokyo

NASA's Parker Solar Probe will approach the Sun to a record distance of 6. 2 million kilometers on December 24. The device will travel at a speed of 690,000 km/h at a shield temperature of 930°C.

Waymo will start testing self-driving taxis in Tokyo in early 2025 in collaboration with GO and Nihon Kotsu. The test will cover seven key areas of the city and will be the company's first experience with left-hand traffic.

Japanese actress and singer Miho Nakayama has died at the age of 54 at her home in Tokyo. Her body was found in the bathroom after she failed to show up for work.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma made a rare public visit to the company's headquarters in China. Its return comes amid Beijing's attempts to restore confidence in the private sector after prolonged pressure on technology companies.

Naomi Arimoto from Japan collects plastic waste on the beach and uses it to decorate nails in her salon. The nail technician seeks to draw attention to the problem of pollution through a creative approach to manicure.

Ukraine and Japan sign an agreement to strengthen cooperation in information security. Japan has provided $12.1 billion in aid to Ukraine and plans to allocate another $3 billion from frozen Russian assets.

An American tourist was arrested in Tokyo for vandalizing the Meiji Jingu Shrine. The incident occurred amid an increase in cases of inappropriate behavior by tourists in Japan, which received almost 27 million visitors in 2023.

Shigeru Ishiba dozed off during a parliamentary vote on his candidacy for the post of Prime Minister of Japan. The spokesman explained the incident by the effect of strong cold medicine.

Sony's president announced successful sales of PlayStation 5 Pro despite the high price. The company reached 77.7 million game sales and increased the PlayStation Network user base to 116 million.

EU diplomat Josep Borrell has said that it is necessary to respond to North Korea's involvement in the war. He came for talks with senior officials during his visits to Japan and South Korea.

Nvidia-backed Tokyo-based Sakana AI plans to release its first commercial AI product in 2025. The startup develops AI technology for text, image, video, and code generation.

The concentration of the three main greenhouse gases reached new highs in 2023. Current measures will only reduce emissions by 2.6% by 2030 instead of the required 43%.

A representative of Nvidia announced the future “human form” of artificial intelligence. According to him, Japanese technologies will contribute to the development of AI not only in the creation of humanoids, but also in real operations.

In Tokyo, a 49-year-old man threw several Molotov cocktails at the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan headquarters building. The attack took place 8 days before early parliamentary elections amid corruption scandals in the party.

The Japanese company Prodrone plans to start a business of detecting landmines in Ukraine using drones. The project is planned to be commercialized by fiscal year 2025 in cooperation with Tokyo-based consulting firm Padeco.

UNN offers a selection of five Japanese films of different genres to watch this weekend. Among them are dramas, action movies, and sci-fi, which reveal the themes of family, justice, and self-discovery.

The Shibuya and Shinjuku districts of Tokyo have banned alcohol consumption on the streets to combat the problems of excessive tourism. The ban is in effect permanently in Shibuya and on holidays in Shinjuku.

Tokyo is modernizing its system of underground tunnels to collect rainwater due to increased precipitation. The $1.63 billion project prevents flooding, but needs to be expanded due to the increase in extreme precipitation.

A Russian Il-38 violated Japanese airspace three times on September 23. In response, Japanese fighter jets used flares for the first time, and Tokyo lodged a strong protest with the Russian government.

Zhang Yufei won six Olympic medals at the Paris Games, becoming the most successful athlete of the tournament. Frenchman Leon Marchand is the leader in the number of gold medals with five.

Fumio Kishida canceled his visit to Central Asia due to the increased likelihood of a devastating earthquake in Japan. Experts warned of a possible mega-quake, and the prime minister decided to stay in the country to manage the crisis.

On August 8, Ukrainian Olympians will compete in rhythmic gymnastics, sport climbing, rowing, modern pentathlon, wrestling, and weightlifting. The day before, Oleksandr Khyzhniak won a gold medal in boxing.

South Korea, Japan, and the United States signed a document on security cooperation against DPRK threats. The memorandum provides for political consultations, information exchange, and joint exercises.

Mykhailo Romanchuk and Elina Svitolina, winners of the previous Games, will be the flag bearers of the Ukrainian national team at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The ceremony will take place on July 26 at 21:00 Kyiv time.

Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina will be the flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The ceremony will take place on July 26 at 20:30, and Svitolina will become the third Ukrainian woman to be entrusted with this honorable mission.

Japan protested russia's entry ban on 13 executives of Japanese companies, including the head of Toyota. The Japanese Foreign Ministry called this decision “absolutely unacceptable” and restricting the legitimate activities of companies.

The US plan to increase production of Patriot missiles in Japan is delayed due to a shortage of Boeing homing systems. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries could double production, but needs additional components and capacity expansion.

In Japan, a fire broke out at the Idemitsu Kosan refinery in Chiba.

Japan's new H3 rocket successfully launched the ALOS-4 Earth observation satellite into orbit, an important step toward turning the H3 into a commercial launch vehicle.

Despite efforts to cut off supplies of Russian fossil fuels, gas imports to Europe from Russia in May exceeded those from the United States.