The industrial manufacturing index in December of final yr, which reveals the manufacturing exercise of firms, was 105.9 with 2020 as 100, a rise of 1.8% over the earlier month and the primary enhance in two months. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry maintained its fundamental judgment of “up and down.”
China to alter industrial flight routes over the Taiwan Strait to be nearer to Taiwan; Taiwan opposes | NHK
Chinese authorities have introduced that one of many routes for civilian plane over the Taiwan Strait shall be modified to be nearer to Taiwan and can start working from February 1st. Taiwanese authorities have strongly opposed the transfer, calling it a “unilateral announcement and a politically and militarily unfair try.”
Kotonowaka promoted to Ozeki, first wrestler from Chiba Prefecture in 69 years | NHK
The Japan Sumo Association held a unprecedented board assembly on the thirty first and determined to advertise Kotonowaka, who gained 13 matches in his first event, to ozeki. This is the primary new ozeki since Toyo Shoryu, who was promoted after the Nagoya event final July, and the primary sumo wrestler from Chiba Prefecture in 69 years.
Monetary coverage assembly minutes launched for six months beginning three months after the beginning of extraordinary easing | NHK
The Bank of Japan has launched the minutes of the six-month financial coverage assembly that started in July 2013, three months after it started so-called unprecedented easing beneath former Governor Kuroda. At the time, hypothesis about revisions to U.S. financial coverage brought on turmoil in monetary markets, indicating that coverage committee members have been conscious about the dangers concerned in normalizing financial coverage.
Three Japanese males of their 20s suspected of involvement in particular fraud arrested and transferred from Cambodia | NHK
Three Japanese folks of their 20s had been arrested by the Saitama Prefectural Police Headquarters for his or her involvement in a particular fraud case by which aged folks had been defrauded of money whereas staying in Cambodia.
Police have additionally arrested two folks in Japan, together with “Ukeko,” who’re believed to be members of the identical group, and are decided to uncover the fact of the group.
Misogyny and sexual assault rife in music trade: UK MPs
British MPs on Tuesday referred to as on the music trade to scrub up its act, because it laid naked a listing of misogyny, discrimination and sexual abuse in a…
Source
What's streaming this week: Donald Glover, Run-D.M.C., 'Choir' and bye to 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'
The ultimate, cringeworthy season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and a documentary on Run-D.M.C. are a number of the new tv, motion pictures, music and video games headed to a tool close to you.
Also among the many streaming choices value your time as chosen by The Associated Press’ leisure journalists: Donald Glover starring as a spy within the new TV collection “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and a documentary in regards to the making of the charity megahit “We Are the World.”
— Regardless of whether or not you suppose the 1985 charity anthem “We Are the World” is nice or not, the making of it’s fascinating. Director Bao Nguyen received entry to never-before-seen footage and new interviews with Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen and Cyndi Lauper to assist inform the story of how well-known musicians, together with Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder, received collectively one evening for a marathon recording session. Nguyen advised the AP in a current interview that “The Greatest Night In Pop” humanizes “some of these icons that we’ve sort of idolized over many generations.” It’s on Netflix.
— So Greta Gerwig didn’t get a greatest director nomination, however the good news is that the Criterion Channel has a brand new collection beginning Thursday about a number of the “Lady Bird” and “Barbie” director’s favourite movies. Gerwig’s “adventures in moviegoing” consists of David Lean’s “Brief Encounter,” Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes,” Max Ophüls’ “The Earrings of Madame de…” and Claire Denis’ “Beau travail.” The channel additionally has a collection on “Interdimensional Romance” with movies like “A Matter of Life and Death,” “Wings of Desire,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and each variations of “Solaris.”
— And for individuals who had been inquisitive about “Dicks: The Musical,” however not sufficient to chunk the bullet on a film ticket, will probably be streaming on Max beginning Friday. In an article in regards to the film out of the Toronto Film Festival, AP Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote that this “Dadaist riff on ‘The Parent Trap’ … may be the most demented riff on a familiar story yet. The film … has been called the most gonzo movie of the year. It’s lewd, ridiculous and surreal. Hanna-Barbera was an inspiration.” Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson star alongside Bowen Yang as God, Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally.
— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr
— Bob Marley & The Wailers, The Clash, Beastie Boys — what do these legendary artists have in frequent? They owe a lot to Lee “Scratch” Perry, a pioneer of the dub music scene celebrated as certainly one of reggae’s founding fathers. Perry (actual identify Rainford Hugh Perry) died in 2021 — however through the pandemic, he labored on new music materials, which might be posthumously launched in his ultimate album, “King Perry,” out Friday, Feb 2. It options visitor performances from Greentea Peng, Shaun Ryder, Tricky, Marta, Rose Waite and Fifi Rong. The ultimate observe, appropriately titled “Goodbye,” is Perry’s ultimate vocal recording — an bold and celebratory track that options Perry repeating his farewell again and again. It’s a becoming coda, and nonetheless an experiment, bringing his reggae into synth wave, drum’n’bass, massive beat, and electronica. Even in dying, Perry is wanting in direction of the longer term.
— When you’re achieved streaming “The Greatest Night in Pop” (see above), keep within the musical mid-’80s with “Kings from Queens: The RUN DMC Story.” This Peacock unique documentary provides an in depth take a look at the early days of Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell’s revolutionary group — discovering inspiration within the streets, bringing hip-hop to the lots, and, in doing so, validating and legitimizing what is going to quickly grow to be the most well-liked model of music — and helping in turning it right into a billion-dollar enterprise. Let’s face it, “It’s Tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time,” is each an earworm for the ages — and a few astute musical evaluation.
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
— The new Amazon Prime Video collection “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” isn’t your 2005 “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” Instead, Donald Glover and Maya Erskine star as two stranger spies who meet and are required to marry for his or her cowl. The collection was created by Glover and Francesca Sloane, who says she regarded to actuality TV like “Love is Blind” and “90 Day Fiancé” for inspiration. All eight episodes might be able to binge on Friday.
— “Curb Your Enthusiasm” followers are fairly fairly fairly disillusioned as a result of the present begins its ultimate season on Sunday, on HBO. The irreverent comedy stars Larry David as a fictionalized model of himself who lands in awkward conditions at each flip. Recurring favorites Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, Cheryl Hines, and J.B. Smoove might be again.
— A brand new Disney+ docuseries referred to as “Choir” follows the Detroit Youth Choir — who first made a splash showing on “America’s Got Talent” in 2019 — as members audition and put together to carry out at Carnegie Hall in New York. All six episodes drop Wednesday.
— UK comic Sir Lenny Henry used his family historical past to create “Three Little Birds,” a BritBox collection that follows three ladies transferring from Jamaica to London within the Fifties. Henry says the present’s immigration story is universally relatable as a result of all immigrants perceive that it’s troublesome to begin over and construct a brand new life. “Three Little Birds” premieres Thursday.
— Past seasons of National Geographic’s “Genius” anthology collection coated Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso and Aretha Franklin. Season 4 focuses on two civil rights legends, the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. “Genius: MLK/X” delves into every man’s childhood, rise to affect and differing philosophies. The first two episodes drop Thursday on National Geographic. It will even stream on Hulu and Disney+.
— Don’t fear, “Dateline” hosts, your jobs are secure. For now. Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino of “Jersey Shore” has entered the chat. He’s internet hosting “Statute of Limitations,” a brand new true crime present the place on a regular basis individuals who have dedicated nonviolent crimes inform their story. (Think: A thief who used a sizzling air balloon as a getaway car.) What’s extra, their statute of limitations has run out in order that they’re free and clear to speak. In 2019, Sorrentino served eight months in jail for mendacity on his taxes. “Statute of Limitations” might be out there to stream starting Thursday on platforms together with Tubi, YouTube and The Roku Channel.
— Alicia Rancilio
— England’s Rocksteady Studios constructed its fame on 2009’s dazzling Batman: Arkham Asylum. Alas, the developer is popping to the darkish aspect of the DC Universe with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Rather than soloing because the Caped Crusader, you’re now invited to group up with associates as members of Task Force X: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark. What have they got in opposition to Superman, the Flash and their buddies? Well, Brainiac has brainwashed the superheroes and now it’s as much as the supervillains to save lots of Metropolis. You can count on visitor appearances by the likes of Lex Luthor, the Penguin and the Riddler, and writer Warner Bros. Games is promising a gentle circulate of downloadable scoundrels sooner or later. The brawling begins Friday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.
— Lou Kesten
© Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
In Search of Tokugawa’s Buried Treasure
Shizuoka, Jan 31 (News On Japan) –
A gaping gap, the scale of a human standing upright, has mysteriously appeared within the yard of a residential space in Shizuoka, resulting in a tunnel-like horizontal cavity extending about 4 meters. At the tip, there lies a stone wall, as if to tantalize what would possibly lie past. The landowner, Kato, 65, suspects with 99% certainty that it’s an air-raid shelter.
However, for Kato, it is the remaining 1% likelihood of treasure that holds his curiosity. “There’s a slim chance there could be treasure. That’s what I’m betting on,” he says. His hypothesis is not fully baseless, contemplating the proximity of the positioning to Hamamatsu Castle, a location traditionally surrounded by samurai residences.
Located simply 300 meters in a straight line from Hamamatsu Castle, the positioning has intrigued locals and historians alike. A go to to the native library reveales a late Edo interval map indicating the positioning as close to a checkpoint – the doorway to the citadel. Local lore helps this, with elder residents recalling a stone monument marking the checkpoint to the citadel.
The enigma deepens with the legend of the “Tokugawa Buried Treasure.” Hamamatsu, being a Tokugawa Ieyasu-bonded land, has lengthy been topic to such myths. While comparable treasure hunts in Gunma Prefecture’s Katashina Village have but to yield any discovery, the lure of a supposed 20 trillion yen treasure continues to draw seekers.
This current discovery in Hamamatsu, a metropolis the place buried cash from the Kamakura interval have been beforehand unearthed, solely provides to the thriller. The darkish depths of this gap, alongside historical paperwork, stir the creativeness. Old maps point out a big temple, Mansho-in, close by through the Edo interval, and historic paperwork recommend important Tokugawa vassals resided there.
Kato expresses a eager need to discover past the stone wall, hoping to uncover what lies additional in. Hamamatsu City has already visited the positioning for inspection. If the outlet is certainly an air-raid shelter, town plans to take duty for its acceptable dealing with and fill it in. But for Kato, the thriller of what lies forward stays an irresistible attract.
Broadway legend Chita Rivera dies at 91
Chita Rivera — a singer, dancer and actress who lit up Broadway levels over six a long time in such exhibits as “West Side Story” and “Chicago” as one of many foremost entertainers of her era — died Tuesday, her publicist stated. She was 91.
Rivera died in New York after a “brief illness,” her daughter Lisa Mordente stated in a press release launched by publicist Merle Frimark.
Trained in voice, piano and ballet from a younger age, Rivera was dancing on Broadway earlier than she was 20 and saved at all of it the way in which into her early 80s.
Rivera turned probably the most nominated actors within the historical past of the Tony Awards, Broadway’s highest prizes — with 10 nods.
In 2002, she earned Kennedy Center honors — a prime U.S. arts distinction — and was feted on the White House in 2009 with the presidential medal of freedom.
Sensual and with a brassy stage presence, Rivera performed a few of Broadway’s most acclaimed roles, and labored below legendary abilities together with Leonard Bernstein, Bob Fosse, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins.
She and fellow actress Rita Moreno paved the way in which for different stars of Puerto Rican descent, resembling actor-songwriter-playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda of “Hamilton” fame – to beat Broadway.
Rivera earned the breakout function in 1957 of Anita in “West Side Story,” the twentieth century American adaptation of the Shakespeare story “Romeo and Juliet,” which made her a star and earned her a primary Tony nomination.
But when the movie was made, the function of Anita went to Moreno. It was the primary however not the final time a serious Hollywood function would elude Rivera after she lit up the stage in the identical half.
Born on the top of the Great Depression on January 23, 1933 within the U.S. capital Washington, Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero was considered one of 5 youngsters of a Catholic couple.
Her father, a navy musician, died when she was seven.
At age 11, she enrolled in a neighborhood ballet college, and at 16 she auditioned for the famend School of American Ballet run by George Balanchine and traveled to New York City after profitable a scholarship.
After three years of coaching, Rivera sought small Broadway roles as a dancer.
Seeking to downplay her ethnicity, she modified her identify to Chita O’Hara, earlier than finally deciding on Chita Rivera.
Still, she usually felt misplaced, recalling in her 2023 e-book “Chita: A Memoir” what she noticed round her at an early audition: “Standing subsequent to me… had been leggy, busty blondes in body-revealing attire with slashes of purple lipstick highlighting their fairly faces.
“And here was I, short, dark, dressed in a black skirt and leotards, and with a nose like ‘a chicken’s butt.'”
But a fierce dedication noticed her via, together with an audacious try to department into singing elements.
After “West Side Story,” Rivera received the lead a part of Rose in “Bye Bye, Birdie,” starring reverse Dick van Dyke within the fascinating musical loosely primarily based on Elvis Presley, wherein a New York-based songwriter desires up a publicity stunt when his key consumer is drafted into the military.
But when it got here time for a movie model, she was handed over as soon as once more by Hollywood, with Janet Leigh of “Psycho” fame getting the decision to play Rose.
In 1975, Rivera starred as Velma Kelly in “Chicago” reverse Gwen Verdon as Roxie Hart within the musical directed by the legendary Bob Fosse. She would later make a cameo within the 2002 movie model.
“Chita’s influence, warmth, and other-worldly talent will inspire us always. Tonight’s show is for her,” stated the official social media account for the newest Broadway revival of “Chicago.”
Rivera by no means held any overt grudges over such slights, all the time returning to Broadway in new roles.
She appeared 3 times on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” a well-liked tv selection present that gave her an enormous nationwide viewers.
Rivera married a fellow dancer from “West Side Story,” Tony Mordente, in 1957. Their daughter Lisa was born earlier than the wedding led to divorce in 1966.
In her memoir, Rivera recounted how in the course of the run of the musical “Mr. Wonderful,” she had an affair with costar Sammy Davis Jr.
Her different notable exhibits included “Sweet Charity,” “The Rink,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (for which she received a Tony in 1993) and a 2003 Broadway revival of “Nine,” wherein she co-starred alongside Antonio Banderas.
Rivera received a Tony for lifetime achievement in 2018.
© 2024 AFP
Japan’s Booming Agricultural Exports
TOKYO, Jan 31 (News On Japan) –
Japan’s agricultural, forestry, and fishery product exports reached an unprecedented excessive in 2023, for the eleventh consecutive yr, regardless of exports to China skilled a downturn due the backlash over the discharge of handled water in Fukushima.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries introduced that the export worth of those merchandise and foodstuffs elevated by 2.9% from the earlier yr, totaling 1,4547 trillion yen. This marks the eleventh consecutive yr of record-breaking exports.
The surge in eating out globally post-COVID-19 and the extended weak yen have contributed positively to this development.
In phrases of particular person objects, exports of pearls, inexperienced tea, and beef noticed substantial will increase.
However, the state of affairs was totally different for exports to China. Since the discharge of handled water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in August final yr, China’s import restrictions proceed, resulting in a 14.6% lower in exports to China, amounting to 237.6 billion yen.
Seafood similar to scallops and merchandise generally utilized in Japanese eating places, like sake, have been amongst those who noticed a decline.
Despite these challenges, the Ministry acknowledged the efforts and diversification of exporters as optimistic components. The ministry stays dedicated to increasing the export worth to 2 trillion yen by 2025, regardless of the continuing import restrictions by China and different hurdles.
Source: ANN
