Japan | featured news

Paris Hilton has been denied entrance into Japan and is returning home to the U.S.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao threatened more steps against Japan unless it releases a trawler captain Tokyo accuses of deliberating colliding with a Japanese coastguard ship near disputed islands.

Japan urged China to remain calm and not inflame their diplomatic spat further Monday after Beijing severed high-level contacts over the detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain near disputed islands.

Marchers outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing rally against the detention of a Chinese fishing crew.

Japan freed 14 crew members of a Chinese ship Monday nearly a week after their vessel collided with two Japanese patrol boats near disputed southern islets, but kept the captain in custody in a case that has angered China.

A long-simmering dispute over a string of islands in the East China Sea heats up after the collision of a Chinese trawler with Japanese patrol ships. Experts say long-term relations between the nations could suffer.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has a slight edge over powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa ahead of a party leadership vote next week, NHK public TV said on Friday, but with many party lawmakers undecided the outcome is too close to call.

A key figure in Japan's ruling party dubbed Americans "simple-minded" in a speech to fellow lawmakers Wednesday.

Critically acclaimed animation director Satoshi Kon, creator of "Millennium Actress," "Paprika" and " Tokyo Godfathers," died of pancreatic cancer Tuesday in Tokyo.

As children in inner tubes bob on the calm waters of this small ocean cove, a 550-pound (250-kilogram) dolphin zips through the crowd in pursuit of raw squid tossed out by a trainer.