TOKYO

Cuddly and cute, but will Japan's

TOKYO - Emiratesvoice

They're wide-eyed, brightly colored, and completely adorable. But can Japan's Olympic mascots bring in the cash, in a country where cuddly icons promote everything from regional tourism to local prisons? Japan unveiled three sets of prospective mascots for the 2020 games last year. The winning duo will be announced in February, graduating into a landscape packed with cute and quirkyRead more

Japan Olympic boss blasts drink-spiking canoeist

Tokyo - Emirates voice

Japan's Olympic chief has slammed a top canoeist for spiking a rival's drink with a banned substance to scuttle his Tokyo 2020 selection hopes, describing his act as "unthinkable". The Japan Anti-doping Agency last week banned Yasuhiro Suzuki for eight years for putting a prohibited muscle-boosting agent into the drink bottle of fellow sprint canoeist Seiji Komatsu during a domestic competitionRead more

Japan Olympic boss blasts drink-spiking canoeist

Tokyo - Emiratesvoice

'Alien attack' in Tokyo as Space Invaders turns 40

Tokyo - Emiratesvoice

Block graphic aliens dropped down the window panes of a Tokyo skyscraper before being blasted into oblivion by enthusiastic gamers celebrating 40 years of the arcade sensation "Space Invaders". Four decades after the game took the world by storm, a high-tech exhibition is allowing enthusiasts to save the world from extra-terrestrial invasion in a variety of novel ways. Part ofRead more

Ex-Wallaby Smith arrested in Tokyo for 'cabbie assault'

Tokyo - Emiratesvoice

Legendary Wallaby George Smith has been arrested in Tokyo, police said Wednesday, after he allegedly refused to pay his taxi fare and then assaulted the driver. The 37-year-old flanker is suspected of running away from a taxi without paying roughly 10,000 yen (US$90) for the fare near his home in the small hours of December 31, according to Tokyo MetropolitanRead more

Japan's 'Virtual Currency Girls' debut

Tokyo - Emirates voice

Japan's latest "idol" band, the Virtual Currency Girls, took to the stage for their debut concert Friday to educate the public about cryptocurrencies -- playing to frenzied fans waving their arms and chanting together. "Our brains are fried as we are studying every day" about virtual currencies, said the group's leader Rara Naruse, 18, as they began their live concert in Tokyo.Read more

Japan's new crypto-currency crooners sing the bitcoin beats

london - Emiratesvoice

Japan has a new all-girl "idol" band -- the Virtual Currency Girls -- on a mission to educate the public about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Each of the eight girls in the band, known in Japanese as "Kasotsuka Shojo", plays a character representing a virtual currency such as bitcoin, ethereum or ripple. Promotional material shows the performers wearingRead more

Uniqlo fashions strong profits

Tokyo - Emiratescvoice

Japan's Fast Retailing said Thursday that sales at its Uniqlo stores abroad had outstripped domestic demand for the first time, as Asia's biggest retailer delivered quarterly earnings that beat market expectations. Driven by a strong performance in China and the wider Asia region, overseas sales at the cheap-chic Uniqlo chain soared by nearly one third to 258 billion yen ($2.3 billion), just beating theRead more