Tokyo

Millions of Asians watched as a rare "ring of fire" eclipse crossed their skies early Monday. The annular eclipse, in which the moon passes in front of the sun leaving only a golden ring around its edges, was visible to wide areas across the continent. It will move across the Pacific and also be seen in parts of the western United States. In Japan, "eclipse tours" were arranged at schools and parks, on pleasure boats and even private airplanes. Similar events were held in China and Taiwan as well.

The world's tallest tower and Tokyo's biggest new landmark, the Tokyo Sky Tree, has opened to the public. Nearly 8,000 visitors were expected to take high-speed elevators up to the observation decks of the 634-meter (2,080-foot) tower Tuesday to mark its opening. It is recognized by Guinness World Records as the tallest tower, beating out the Canton Tower in China, which is 600 meters (1,968 ½ feet). The world's tallest structure is Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which stands 828 meters (2,717 feet)

From a park near Albuquerque, to the top of Japan's Mount Fuji, to the California coast the effect was dramatic: The moon nearly blotting out the sun creating a blazing "ring of fire" eclipse. Millions of people across a narrow strip of eastern Asia and the Western U.S. turned their sights skyward for the annular eclipse, in which the moon passes in front of the sun leaving only a golden ring around its edges. The rare lunar-solar alignment was visible in Asia early Monday before it moved across the Pacific — and the international dateline — where it was seen in parts of the...

From a park near Albuquerque, to the top of Japan's Mount Fuji, to the California coast the effect was dramatic: The moon nearly blotting out the sun creating a blazing "ring of fire" eclipse. Millions of people across a narrow strip of eastern Asia and the Western U.S. turned their sights skyward for the annular eclipse, in which the moon passes in front of the sun leaving only a golden ring around its edges. The rare lunar-solar alignment was visible in Asia early Monday before it moved across the Pacific — and the international dateline — where it was seen in parts of the...

It sounds like the setup for a joke - two Frenchmen and a Korean walk into a foreign capital - but the idea behind the trilogy film "Tokyo!" is to allow three art-house darlings to each set a tale of pungent dislocation in the sprawling Japanese metropolis. If you've seen "Paris, je t'aime" or "New York Stories," you know the rate of return on these urban omnibuses is variable, and so it is here. Go in expecting minor pleasures and you'll be fine. First up is Michel Gondry's "Interior Design," in which a pair of rootless young bohos played by Ayako Fujitani and Ryo Kase arrive in Tokyo to crash at the cramped apartment of a...

About Jessica Oreck’s bug documentary, “Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo’’: The title misleads. You want a 300-foot drag act that lip synchs for Godzilla before breathing petrochemical fire on him. You get, instead, 90 minutes of critters flitting about the screen. It happens to be a fair compromise. The critters ravish and surprise. They hatch, fly, inch, molt, and, on more than one occasion, do nothing so much as hug a stem. The film lets us in on Japan’s apparently close relationship with insects.

TOKYO - The Epicurean king who oversees the Michelin Guide fears he may be banished from France. His shocking crime? Awarding Tokyo more three-star restaurant ratings than Paris, thereby crowning the Japanese metropolis the new gastronomic capital of the world. “Trust me, they’ll wait for me at customs there,’’ Jean-Luc Naret, director general of the famed guide to exceptional eateries, joked yesterday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. “Because they’ll say how dare you have more three-stars in Tokyo than in Paris?

Bass player and songwriter Donald "Duck" Dunn, a member of the Rock ‘n' Roll Hall of Fame band Booker T. and the MGs and the Blues Brothers band, has died in Tokyo. He was 70. Dunn was in Tokyo for a series of shows. News of his death was posted on the Facebook site of his friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour. Cropper said Dunn died in his sleep. Miho Harasawa, a spokeswoman for Tokyo Blue Note, the last venue Dunn played, confirmed he died alone early Sunday.

TOKYO — Almost everyone stood when the bride walked down the aisle in her white gown, but not the wedding conductor, because she was bolted to her chair. The nuptials at this ceremony were led by “I-Fairy,’’ a 4-foot-tall seated robot with flashing eyes and plastic pigtails. Yesterday’s wedding was the first time a marriage had been led by a robot, according to the manufacturer, Kokoro Co. “Please lift the bride’s veil,’’ the robot said in a tinny voice, waving its arms in the air as the newlyweds kissed in front of about 50 guests.

Abbas Kiarostami has found inspiration far from home. The Iranian director's films are routinely banned in his home country, whose Islamist government has arrested or barred several younger filmmakers from working. The 72-year-old auteur has responded by looking abroad for inspiration. His last feature, "Certified Copy," was shot in Italy, and his new Cannes Film Festival entry "Like Someone in Love" was made in Tokyo, in Japanese and with a Japanese cast. "In the past few years for fairly obvious reasons, perhaps, I had to work outside Iran," Kiarostami told reporters in...

Millions of Asians watched as a rare "ring of fire" eclipse crossed their skies early Monday. The annular eclipse, in which the moon passes in front of the sun leaving only a golden ring around its edges, was visible to wide areas across the continent. It will move across the Pacific and also be seen in parts of the western United States. In Japan, "eclipse tours" were arranged at schools and parks, on pleasure boats and even private airplanes. Similar events were held in China and Taiwan as well.

Bass player and songwriter Donald "Duck" Dunn, a member of the Rock ‘n' Roll Hall of Fame band Booker T. and the MGs and the Blues Brothers band, has died in Tokyo. He was 70. Dunn was in Tokyo for a series of shows. News of his death was posted on the Facebook site of his friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour. Cropper said Dunn died in his sleep. Miho Harasawa, a spokeswoman for Tokyo Blue Note, the last venue Dunn played, confirmed he died alone early Sunday.

A tornado tore through a city northeast of Japan's capital on Sunday, killing one person, injuring dozens of others and destroying scores of houses. Firefighters and medical teams rushed to the area after the tornado struck Tsukuba city, 60 kilometers (40 miles) from Tokyo. The city is a science center, with dozens of research and academic institutes, but the tornado appeared to mostly hit residential areas. A 14-year-old boy died after being injured by the storm, Tsukuba Medical Center said.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell Tuesday amid a stronger yen and signs of a slowing U.S. economy, while other key Asian stock indexes were closed for a public holiday. The Nikkei Stock Average in Tokyo fell 1 percent to 9,422.83. Export shares struggled as the dollar hovered below the 80-yen mark. The greenback hasn't been this weak against the Japanese currency since February. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7 percent to 4,427.90, amid expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia will announce an interest rate cut. Markets in China, India, Singapore,...

TOKYO — Japanese authorities admitted yesterday that they’d lost track of a 113-year-old woman listed as Tokyo’s oldest, days after police searched the home of the city’s official oldest man, only to find his long-dead, mummified body. Officials launched a search this week for Fusa Furuya, born in July 1897 and listed as Tokyo’s oldest citizen, after it emerged her whereabouts are unknown. Several other celebrated centenarians are also unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping and follow-up in a country that prides itself in its number of long-lived citizens but also frets about...

TOKYO - A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 hit Tokyo and nearby areas shortly after dawn today, halting trains and forcing two nuclear reactors to be shut down for safety checks. The US Geological Survey said another, unrelated quake with a 7.6 magnitude hit the Indian Ocean about 160 miles north of Port Blair in India’s Andaman Islands. A tsunami watch was called for India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, and Bangladesh. The caution was later lifted without any tsunami being recorded.