The woman in Suzu city, Ishikawa Prefecture, had survived for more than five days after the 7.6 magnitude quake that hit the area Monday. Nationally broadcast news footage showed helmeted rescue workers covering the view of the area with blue plastic, and the woman was not visible.

Chances for survival diminish after the first 72 hours. Several other dramatic rescues have been reported over the past few days as soldiers, firefighters and others joined a widespread effort.

Among the 126 dead was a 5-year-old boy who had been recovering from injuries he suffered when boiling water spilled on him during Monday’s 7.6 magnitude earthquake. His condition suddenly worsened and he died Friday, according to Ishikawa prefecture, the hardest-hit region.

Aftershocks threatened to bury more homes and block roads crucial for relief shipments. Officials warned that roads already cracked could collapse completely. That risk was growing with rain and snow expected overnight and Sunday.

Wajima city has recorded the highest number of deaths with 69, followed by Suzu with 38. More than 500 people were injured, at least 27 of them seriously.

The temblors left roofs sitting haplessly on roads and everything beneath them crushed flat. Roads were warped like rubber. A fire turned a neighborhood in Wajima to ashes.

More than 200 people were still unaccounted-for, although the number has fluctuated. Eleven people were reported trapped under two homes that collapsed in Anamizu.

For Shiro Kokuda, 76, the house in Wajima where he grew up was spared but a nearby temple went up in flames and he was still looking for his friends at evacuation centers.

“It’s been really tough,” he said.

Japan is one of the fastest-aging societies in the world. The population in Ishikawa and nearby areas has dwindled over the years. A fragile economy centered on crafts and tourism is now more imperiled than ever.

In an unusual gesture from nearby North Korea, leader Kim Jong Un sent a message of condolence to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Saturday.

Japan received messages earlier expressing sympathy and promises of aid from United States President Joe Biden and other allies.

Japanese government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that Japan was grateful for all the messages, including the one from North Korea. Hayashi said the last time Japan received a condolence message from North Korea for a disaster was in 1995.

Along Japan’s coastline, power was gradually being restored, but water supplies were still short. Emergency water systems were also damaged.

Thousands of troops were flying and trucking in water, food and medicine to the more than 30,000 people who had evacuated to auditoriums, schools and other facilities.

The nationally circulated Yomiuri newspaper reported that its aerial study had located more than 100 landslides in the area, some blocking lifeline roads. Some communities remained isolated and waiting for aid.

“I hope the city recovers, and I hope people won’t leave, and they stay here to work hard toward recovery,” said Seizo Shinbo, a seafood trader, who was stocking up on noodles, canned goods and rice balls at a supermarket.

“There is no food. There is no water. And the worst is gas. People are still in kilometer-long lines,” Shinbo said.

___

Kageyama reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Ishikawa prefecture and nearby areas were shaken by a 4.9 magnitude aftershock early Wednesday — one of dozens that have followed Monday’s magnitude 7.6 temblor centered near Noto, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) from Tokyo on the opposite coast. The quake set off tsunami warnings, followed by waves measuring more than 1 meter (3 feet) in some places.

The first 72 hours are especially critical for rescues, experts say, because the prospects for survival greatly diminish after that.

“More than 40 hours have passed. This is a race against time, and I feel that we are at a critical moment,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters. “We have received reports many people are still waiting for rescue under collapsed buildings.”

Noto’s narrow peninsula has added to the challenges in reaching some communities. Water, power and cellphone service were still down in some areas.

Naomi Gonno says she and her children got out of their house just as it came crashing down.

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But her children were screaming “Granma,” and Gonno saw that her mother was trapped under the smashed house, with only her hand visible. She was able to squeeze her way out through a tiny space, Gonno said.

“I can’t believe we’re still alive,” she said. “We are living in fear.”

Relief officials handed out water, blankets, food and other supplies. Search dogs joined military personnel and firefighters trying to find dozens of people who are thought to be trapped, although the exact number is unclear.

Weather forecasts warned of heavy rain in Ishikawa, leading to worries about landslides and further damage to half-crumbled homes. Temperatures were expected to drop to around 4 degrees Celsius (39 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight.

Of the deaths, 39 were counted in Wajima city, while 23 people died in Suzu, according to Ishikawa prefectural authorities. The other deaths were reported in five neighboring towns. Although there has been no official number of missing, dozens are believed trapped under collapsed buildings.

More than 300 people have been injured, at least 25 of them seriously.

Ishikawa Gov. Hiroshi Hase encouraged everyone to use masks, antiseptic and soap to guard against the spread of infectious diseases as evacuees shelter together. Ensuring adequate water supplies and toilets for those who were displaced is a priority, he said.

Nearly 33,000 people are staying at evacuation centers, and some said they were hungry and cold, unable to sleep and afraid.

When Monday’s quake hit, Yasuo Kobatake ran out of his house with just one sock on. The shaking threw him to the ground, and a concrete wall came crashing down, barely missing him, he said.

He was eating only rice balls and a few sips of water in paper cups at the elementary school where he and others were sheltering. They slept on cushions, with no blankets.

“It was so cold. I thought I’d freeze to death,” he said.

In the aftermath of the quakes and tsunami, boats lay overturned in the sea, roads were blocked by mounds of dirt, and pillars and walls lay scattered from flattened homes. A large fire turned an entire section of Wajima city into ashes.

Officials warned that more major quakes could follow.

Japan is prone to earthquakes, with many fault lines and volcanoes. A massive quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in 2011 caused widespread damage in northeastern Japan.

No major problems were reported at nuclear plants after Monday’s quake. The Shika nuclear plant in Ishikawa suffered a partial electricity failure, but backup power kicked in, ensuring the critical cooling process continued.

Japan is an organized, conformist and relatively crime-free society where warnings are systematically relayed as a public service. Disaster experts say that’s helping save lives.

___

Kageyama reported from Tokyo. Haruka Nuga in Bangkok and Rod McGuirk in Sydney contributed.

All 379 people on Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 got out safely before the Airbus A350 was fully engulfed in flames, Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito confirmed.

The pilot of the coast guard’s Bombardier Dash-8 plane escaped but the five crew members died, Saito said. The aircraft was preparing to take off to deliver aid to an area affected by a major earthquake on Monday, officials said.

Television footage showed an orange fireball erupting from the Japan Airlines plane as it collided while landing, and the airliner then spewed smoke from its side as it continued down the runway. Within 20 minutes, all passengers and crew members slid down emergency chutes to get away.

As firefighters tried to put out the blaze with streams of water, the area around the passenger plane’s wing caught fire. The flames spread throughout the plane, which eventually collapsed. The fire was extinguished after about six hours.

Tuesday’s accident was the first severe damage to an Airbus A350, among the industry’s newest large passenger planes. It entered commercial service in 2015. Airbus said in a statement it was sending specialists to help Japanese and French officials investigating the accident, and that the plane was delivered to Japan Airlines in late 2021.

The A350 had flown from Shin Chitose airport near the city of Sapporo, the transport minister said.

The fire is likely to be seen as a key test case for airplane fuselages made from carbon-composite fibers, such as the A350 and the Boeing 787, instead of conventional aluminum skins.

“We don’t know that much about how composites burn,” said safety consultant John Cox. “This is the most catastrophic composite-airplane fire that I can think of. On the other hand, that fuselage protected (passengers) from a really horrific fire — it did not burn through for some period of time and let everybody get out.”

JAL Managing Executive Officer Tadayuki Tsutsumi told a news conference late Tuesday that the A350 was making a “normal entry and landing” on the runway, without specifying how it collided with the coast guard plane. Noriyuki Aoki, also a managing executive officer at JAL, said the airline maintains that the flight had received permission to land from aviation officials.

Police are expected to investigate the accident on suspicion of professional negligence, NHK television reported.

Coast guard spokesperson Yoshinori Yanagishima said its Bombardier Dash-8 plane, which is based at Haneda, had been due to head to Niigata to deliver relief goods to residents affected by a deadly earthquake in the region on Monday. The turboprop Dash-8 is widely used on short-haul and commuter flights.

The coast guard pilot reported to his base that his aircraft exploded after colliding with the commercial plane, Vice Commander Yoshio Seguchi told reporters.

Shigenori Hiraoka, head of the Transport Ministry Civil Aviation Bureau, said the collision occurred when the JAL plane landed on one of Haneda’s four runways where the coast guard aircraft was preparing to take off. Transport safety officials were analyzing communication between aviation control officials and the two aircraft and planned to interview JAL officials to determine what led to the collision.

Hiraoka praised JAL for “taking appropriate procedures” to safely evacuate all passengers and crew members.

Swede Anton Deibe, 17, a passenger on the Japan Airlines plane, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that “the entire cabin was filled with smoke within a few minutes. We threw ourselves down on the floor. Then the emergency doors were opened and we threw ourselves at them.

“The smoke in the cabin stung like hell. It was a hell. We have no idea where we are going so we just run out into the field. It was chaos,” Deibe added.

Another passenger told NHK television that cabin attendants were calm and told everyone to leave their baggage behind, then all lights went off and the temperature inside the cabin started rising. The passenger said she was afraid she might not get off the plane alive.

All passengers and crew members slid down the escape chutes and survived. Some passengers told media interviews that they felt relieved only after reaching a grassy area beyond the tarmac.

JAL said four passengers were taken to a medical facility. NHK said 14 other people were injured.

Cox, the safety consultant, said the cabin crew “did a remarkably great job” getting passengers out of the plane.

“It shows good training,“Cox said. “And if you look at the video, people are not trying to get stuff out of the overheads. They are concentrating on getting out of the airplane.”

The transport minister said officials were doing their utmost to prevent any delays in the delivery of relief goods to earthquake-hit areas. Transport officials said the airport’s three other runways had reopened.

Haneda is the busier of two major airports serving the Japanese capital, with many international and transcontinental flights. It is particularly favored by business travelers due to its proximity to central parts of the city.

The twin-engine, twin-aisle A350 is used by a number of long-haul international carriers. More than 570 of the aircraft are in operation, according to Airbus.

JAL operates 16 of the A350-900 version aircraft, according to its website. It recently announced details of 13 of the newer A350-1000 variant it plans to bring into service, saying it will become “the airline’s new flagship for international service after nearly 20 years.” The first of those planes arrived a few weeks ago, slated for the Haneda-New York JFK route.

The International Air Transport Association trade group said on the X social media platform that its thoughts were with those aboard the two aircraft, saying that “the last two days have been difficult for Japan.”

Aftershocks continued to shake Ishikawa prefecture and nearby areas a day after a magnitude 7.6 temblor slammed the area on Monday afternoon.

Thirty people were confirmed dead in Ishikawa, officials said. Fourteen others were seriously injured, while damage to homes was so great that it could not immediately be assessed, they said.

Japanese media reports said tens of thousands of homes were destroyed. Government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi said 17 people were seriously injured and gave a slightly lower death tally, while saying he was aware of the prefecture’s tally.

Water, power and cellphone service were still down in some areas, and residents expressed sorrow about their destroyed homes and uncertain futures.

“It’s not just that it’s a mess. The wall has collapsed, and you can see through to the next room. I don’t think we can live here anymore,” Miki Kobayashi, an Ishikawa resident, said as she swept around her house.

Their house was also damaged in a 2007 quake, she said.

Japan’s military dispatched 1,000 soldiers to the disaster zones to join rescue efforts, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday.

“Saving lives is our priority and we are fighting a battle against time,” he said. “It is critical that people trapped in homes get rescued immediately.”

A quake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 shook the Ishikawa area as he was speaking.

Firefighters were able to bring a fire under control in Wajima city which had reddened the sky with embers and smoke.

Nuclear regulators said several nuclear plants in the region were operating normally. A major quake and tsunami in March 2011 caused three reactors to melt and release large amounts of radiation at a nuclear plant in northeastern Japan.

News videos showed rows of collapsed houses. Some wooden structures were flattened and cars were overturned. Half-sunken ships floated in bays where tsunami waves had rolled in, leaving a muddied coastline.

On Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a major tsunami warning for Ishikawa and lower-level tsunami warnings or advisories for the rest of the western coast of Japan’s main island of Honshu, as well as for the northern island of Hokkaido.

The warning was downgraded several hours later, and all tsunami warnings were lifted as of early Tuesday. Waves measuring more than one meter (3 feet) hit some places.

The agency warned that more major quakes could hit the area over the next few days.

People who were evacuated from their houses huddled in auditoriums, schools and community centers. Bullet trains in the region were halted, but service was mostly restored by Tuesday afternoon. Sections of highways were closed.

Weather forecasters predicted rain, setting off worries about already crumbling buildings and infrastructure.

The region includes tourist spots famous for lacquerware and other traditional crafts, along with designated cultural heritage sites.

U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement that his administration was “ready to provide any necessary assistance for the Japanese people.”

Japan is frequently hit by earthquakes because of its location along the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

Over the last day, the nation has experienced about a hundred aftershocks.

Kageyama reported from Tokyo.

Bitters End, the film’s Japanese distributor, said Thursday that “Oppenheimer” would be released in 2024, without specifying a date.

“Because the subject matter of this film is of great importance and has special significance to us Japanese, we decided to release the film in Japan after much discussion and consideration,” it said.

“After viewing the film, we believe that the one-of-a-kind cinematic experience by director Christopher Nolan, which transcends traditional theatrical techniques, deserves to be seen on the big screen.” 

Some questioned why the film did not depict Japanese victims of the atomic bombs the United States dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the last days of World War II, or their devastating aftermath. The bombings, which killed an estimated 200,000 people, are widely considered to have hastened Japan’s surrender and the end of the war.

Nolan told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd that the film was “not a documentary” and that it was meant to focus on Oppenheimer’s perspective.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com.

The CV-22B Osprey crashed on Nov. 29 during a training mission. Ospreys have had a number of crashes, including in Japan, where they are used at U.S. and Japanese military bases, and the latest accident has rekindled safety concerns.

On Monday, the Air Force said six of the eight crew members’ remains had been located. Three of those have been recovered. The two lost crew members were unlikely to have survived and the search for their remains was continuing, the Air Force said Tuesday.

“The depth of sorrow is immeasurable,” Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, who heads Air Force Special Operations Command, said in a statement announcing the names of the crew. “The honorable service of these eight airmen to this great nation will never be forgotten, as they are now among the giants who shape our history.”

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The lost crew members include:

U.S. Air Force Maj. Jeffrey T. Hoernemann, 32, of Andover, Minnesota, was a CV-22 instructor pilot and officer in charge of training, assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Eric V. Spendlove, 36, of St. George, Utah, was a residency trained flight surgeon and medical operations flight commander assigned to the 1st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Kadena Air Base, Japan.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Luke A. Unrath, 34, of Riverside, California, was a CV-22 pilot and flight commander assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

U.S. Air Force Capt. Terrell K. Brayman, 32, of Pittsford, New York, was a CV-22 pilot and flight commander assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Zachary E. Lavoy, 33, of Oviedo, Florida, was a medical operations flight chief assigned to the 1st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Kadena Air Base, Japan.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jake M. Turnage, 25, of Kennesaw, Georgia, was a flight engineer assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Brian K. Johnson, 32, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, was a flight engineer assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jacob “Jake” M. Galliher, 24, was a native of Pittsfield, Mass. His remains were the first to be found.

The U.S.-made Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster, like an airplane, during flight.

Japan has suspended all flights of its own fleet of 14 Ospreys. Japanese officials say they have asked the U.S. military to resume Osprey flights only after ensuring their safety. The Pentagon said no such formal request has been made and that the U.S. military is continuing to fly 24 MV-22s, the Marine version of Ospreys, deployed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.

On Sunday, pieces of wreckage that Japan’s coast guard and local fishing boats have collected were handed over to the U.S. military for examination, coast guard officials said. Japan’s military said debris it has collected would also be handed over to the U.S.

The CV-22 Osprey carrying eight American personnel crashed last Wednesday off Yakushima island during a training mission. The body of one victim was recovered and identified earlier.

The Air Force Special Operations Command said two of the five newly located remains have been recovered but their identities have yet to be determined. The joint U.S.-Japanese search operation is still working to recover the remains of three other crew members from the wreckage, it said.

The search is continuing for the two people who are still missing, it said.

“The main priority is bringing the Airmen home and taking care of their family members. Support to, and the privacy of, the families and loved ones impacted by this incident remains AFSOC’s top priority,” it said in a statement.

The U.S. military identified the one confirmed victim as Air Force Staff Sgt. Jacob Galliher of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday. Galliher leaves behind a wife and two sons, a 2-year-old and a 6-week-old.

“Jacob was an incredible son, brother, husband, father and friend to so many,” the family’s statement said. “His short life touched and made better the lives of hundreds, if not thousands in Pittsfield, in this region and everywhere he served. Jacob lived to serve his family, his country and the people he loved. We will in time have more to say about his life and its deep and lasting impact. For now, we are mourning and ask for privacy and prayers for his wife, his two amazing children and all of us while we grieve and prepare for his return home.”

Japanese coast guard officials say the ocean is about 30 meters (100 feet) deep around the crash site.

The U.S.-made Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster, like an airplane, during flight.

Ospreys have had a number of crashes, including in Japan, where they are used at U.S. and Japanese military bases, and the latest accident has rekindled safety concerns.

Japan has suspended all flights of its own fleet of 14 Ospreys. Japanese officials say they have asked the U.S. military to resume Osprey flights only after ensuring their safety. The Pentagon said no such formal request has been made and that the U.S. military is continuing to fly 24 MV-22s, the Marine version of Ospreys, deployed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.

On Sunday, pieces of wreckage that Japan’s coast guard and local fishing boats have collected were handed over to the U.S. military for examination, coast guard officials said. Japan’s military said debris it has collected would also be handed over to the U.S.

Coast guard officials said the recovered pieces of wreckage include some parts of the aircraft and an inflatable life raft, but nothing related to the cause of the crash, such as an engine. Local witnesses reported seeing fire coming from one of the engines.

Local fishing boats have helped in the search efforts, giving up their daily catch. Public broadcaster NHK said the Defense Ministry plans to cover their lost income and fuel.

Under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, Japanese authorities are not given the right to seize or investigate U.S. military property unless the U.S. decides otherwise. That means it will be practically impossible for Japan to independently investigate the cause of the accident.

The agreement has often made Japanese investigations difficult in criminal cases involving American service members on Okinawa and elsewhere. It has been criticized as unequal by rights activists and others, including Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki, who has called for a revision.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said workers activated a pump to dilute the treated water with large amounts of seawater, slowly sending the mixture into the ocean through an underground tunnel.

The wastewater discharges, which are expected to continue for decades, have been strongly opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries including South Korea, where hundreds of people staged protest rallies. China banned all imports of Japanese seafood, badly hurting Japanese seafood producers and exporters.

The plant’s first wastewater release began Aug. 24 and ended Sept. 11. During that release, TEPCO said it discharged 7,800 tons of treated water from 10 tanks. In the second discharge, TEPCO plans to release another 7,800 tons of treated water into the Pacific Ocean over 17 days.

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About 1.34 million tons of radioactive wastewater is stored in about 1,000 tanks at the plant. It has accumulated since the plant was crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

TEPCO and the government say discharging the water into the sea is unavoidable because the tanks will reach capacity early next year and space at the plant will be needed for its decommissioning, which is expected to take decades.

They say the water is treated to reduce radioactive materials to safe levels, and then is diluted with seawater by hundreds of times to make it much safer than international standards.

Some scientists say, however, that the continuing release of low-level radioactive materials is unprecedented and needs to be monitored closely.

Japan’s government has set up a relief fund to help find new markets and reduce the impact of China’s seafood ban. Measures also include the temporary purchase, freezing and storage of seafood and promotion of seafood sales at home.

Cabinet ministers have traveled to Fukushima to sample local seafood and promote its safety.

TEPCO is tasked with providing compensation for reputational damage to the region’s seafood caused by the wastewater release. It started accepting applications this week and immediately received hundreds of inquiries. Most of the damage claims are linked to China’s seafood ban and excess supply at home causing price declines, TEPCO said.

Agriculture Minister Ichiro Miyashita promoted Japanese scallops at a food fair in Malaysia on Wednesday on the sidelines of a regional farm ministers’ meeting.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has reviewed the safety of the wastewater release and concluded that if carried out as planned, it would have a negligible impact on the environment, marine life and human health.

Minoru Suzuki and Sanshiro Takagi duked it out in what the event organizer says was the first wrestling match ever held inside a bullet train.

The match took place on the Nozomi Shinkansen train going from Tokyo to Nagoya, which reached speeds up to 177 mph.

A full train car was booked for the event, and the 75 tickets sold out within 30 minutes of their release.

Spectators got their money’s worth, as it took Suzuki 30 minutes to finally beat Takagi.

Check out scene from the train in the video above.

The launch of the HII-A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan was shown on live video by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, known as JAXA.

“We have a liftoff,” the narrator at JAXA said as the rocket flew up in a burst of smoke then flew over the Pacific.

Thirteen minutes after the launch, the rocket put into orbit around Earth a satellite called the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM, which will measure the speed and makeup of what lies between galaxies.

That information helps in studying how celestial objects were formed, and hopefully can lead to solving the mystery of how the universe was created, JAXA says.

In cooperation with NASA, JAXA will look at the strength of light at different wavelengths, the temperature of things in space and their shapes and brightness.

David Alexander, director of the Rice Space Institute at Rice University, believes the mission is significant for delivering insight into the properties of hot plasma, or the superheated matter that makes up much of the universe.

Plasmas have the potential to be used in various ways, including healing wounds, making computer chips and cleaning the environment.

“Understanding the distribution of this hot plasma in space and time, as well as its dynamical motion, will shed light on diverse phenomena such as black holes, the evolution of chemical elements in the universe and the formation of galactic clusters,” Alexander said.

Also aboard the latest Japanese rocket is the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, a lightweight lunar lander. The Smart Lander won’t make lunar orbit for three or four months after the launch and would likely attempt a landing early next year, according to the space agency.

JAXA is developing “pinpoint landing technology” to prepare for future lunar probes and landing on other planets. While landings now tend to be off by about 10 kilometers (6 miles) or more, the Smart Lander is designed to be more precise, within about 100 meters (330 feet) of the intended target, JAXA official Shinichiro Sakai told reporters ahead of the launch.

That allows the box-shaped gadgetry to find a safer place to land.

The move comes at a time when the world is again turning to the challenge of going to the moon. Only four nations have successfully landed on the moon, the U.S., Russia, China and India.

Last month, India landed a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole. That came just days after Russia failed in its attempt to return to the moon for the first time in nearly a half century. A Japanese private company, called ispace, crashed a lander in trying to land on the moon in April.

Japan’s space program has been marred by recent failures. In February, the H3 rocket launch was aborted for a glitch. Liftoff a month later succeeded, but the rocket had to be destroyed after its second stage failed to ignite properly.

Japan has started recruiting astronaut candidates for the first time in 13 years, making clear its ambitions to send a Japanese to the moon.

Going to the moon has fascinated humankind for decades. Under the U.S. Apollo program, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon in 1969.

The last NASA human mission to the moon was in 1972, and the focus on sending humans to the moon appeared to wane, with missions being relegated to robots.

___

Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

The automaker doesn’t believe the problem was caused by a cyberattack but the cause is still under investigation, said spokeswoman Sawako Takeda.

Toyota said later that production will restart on Wednesday.

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“We apologize for all the troubles we have caused,” it said in a statement.

Toyota declined to say what models being produced might be affected.

The shutdown comes after a shortage of computer chips and other auto parts stalled production in Asian nations affected by social restrictions over the coronavirus pandemic.

The chips shortage woes had only recently started to ease for Japan’s top automaker, which makes the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid, Lexus luxury brand.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries have been separately holding summer bilateral exercises since last week. North Korea views such U.S.-involved training as an invasion rehearsal, though Washington and its partners maintain their drills are defensive.

Kim said in a speech marking the country’s Navy Day on Monday that the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been made unstable “with the danger of a nuclear war” because of U.S.-led hostilities, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

He accused the U.S. of conducting “more frantic” naval drills with its allies and deploying strategic assets in waters around the Korean Peninsula. Kim also cited a recent U.S.-South Korean-Japanese summit where an agreement to boost defense cooperation was reached to counter North Korea’s nuclear program. Kim called President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “the gang bosses” of the three countries.

“The prevailing situation requires our navy to put all its efforts into rounding off the war readiness to maintain the constant combat alertness and get prepared to break the enemy’s will for war in contingency,” Kim said.

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South Korea’s Foreign Ministry expressed deep regret over Kim’s use of “very rude language” to slander the South Korean, U.S. and Japanese leaders. Spokesperson Lim Soosuk told reporters that North Korea must immediately stop acts that raise tensions with “reckless threats and provocation.”

Tuesday’s South Korean-U.S.-Japanese drills in international waters off South Korea’s southern Jeju island involved naval destroyers from the three countries. The training was aimed at mastering procedures for detecting, tracking and sharing information about incoming North Korean missiles, South Korea’s navy said in a statement.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries began the 11-day bilateral drills on Aug. 21. The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield training is a computer-simulated command post exercise. But they included field exercises this year.

North Korea typically responds to U.S.-South Korean military drills with its own missile tests. Last Thursday, its second attempt to launch a spy satellite into space failed. The day the drills began, KCNA said Kim had observed the test-firings of strategic cruise missiles.

Since the beginning of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 weapons tests, many of them involving nuclear-capable missiles designed to strike the U.S., South Korea and Japan. Many experts say North Korea ultimately wants to use its boosted military capabilities to wrest greater concessions from the U.S.

The North’s testing spree has forced the U.S. and South Korea to expand their drills, resume trilateral training involving Japan and enhance “regular visibility” of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula. In July, the United States deployed a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in four decades.

Earlier this month, the leaders of the U.S., South Korea and Japan held their first-ever stand-alone trilateral summit at Camp David. During the meeting, they announced they intend to put into operation by year’s end the sharing of real-time missile warning data on North Korea and hold annual trilateral exercises.

Kim has been pushing hard to expand his nuclear arsenal and introduce a slew of sophisticated weapons systems.

During his Navy Day speech, Kim said that military units of each service would be given new weaponry in line with the government’s decision to expand the operation of tactical nuclear weapons. He said the navy would become “a component of the state nuclear deterrence carrying out the strategic duty.”

This suggests North Korea would deploy new nuclear-capable missiles to its navy and other military services.

State media photos showed Kim visiting the navy headquarters with his daughter, reportedly named Ju Ae and aged about 10. It was her first public appearance since mid-May. Kim has brought her to a series of public events since November, sparking speculation about her political status.

South Korean officials say Kim hasn’t anointed her as his heir. They believe Kim likely attempts to use his daughter’s public appearance as a way to show his people that one of his children would one day inherit his power in what would be the country’s third hereditary power transfer.

In the coastal area of the plant, two seawater pumps are in action, gushing torrents of seawater through sky blue pipes into the big header where the treated water, which comes down through a much thinner black pipe from the hilltop tanks, is diluted hundreds of times before the release.

The sound of the treated and diluted radioactive water flowing into an underground secondary pool was heard from beneath the ground as media, including The Associated Press, toured the plant in northeastern Japan for the first time since the water release began.

“The best way to eliminate the contaminated water is to remove the melted fuel debris,” said Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings spokesperson Kenichi Takahara, who escorted Sunday’s media tour for foreign media.

But Takahara said the scarcity of information from inside the nuclear reactors makes planning and development of the necessary robotic technology and a facility for the melted fuel removal extremely difficult.

“Removal of the melted fuel debris is not like we can just take it out and be finished,” he said.

The projected decades-long release of treated water has been strongly opposed by fishing groups and criticized by neighboring countries. China immediately banned imports of seafood from Japan in response. In Seoul, thousands of South Koreans rallied over the weekend to condemn the release, demanding Japan to keep it in tanks.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday issued a travel advisory to Japanese citizens to use extra caution while in China. It said act of harassment, including massive phone calls, have targeted to the Japanese embassy, consulate and Japanese schools in China, and it urged Japanese in China to stay away from those places and from protests of the water release, and not to talk loudly in Japanese to avoid attention.

Managing the ever-growing volume of radioactive wastewater held in more than 1,000 tanks has been a safety risk and a burden since the plant was wrecked by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. The tanks are already filled to 98% of their 1.37 million-ton capacity.

Releasing the water into the sea is a milestone for the decommissioning of the plant, which is expected to take decades. But it is just the beginning of the challenges ahead, such as the removal of the fatally radioactive melted fuel debris that remains in the three damaged reactors, a daunting task if ever accomplished.

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The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, started releasing the first batch of 7,800 tons from 10 of the group B tanks, among the least radioactive water at the plant.

They say the water is treated and diluted to levels that are safer than international standards, and so far, testing by TEPCO and government agencies has found no detectable radioactivity in seawater and fish samples taken after the release.

The Japanese government and TEPCO say releasing the water is an unavoidable step in the decommissioning of the plant.

Since the earthquake and tsunami destroyed the plant’s cooling systems and caused three reactors to melt, highly contaminated cooling water applied to the damaged reactors has leaked continuously to the buildings’ basements and mixed with groundwater. Some water is recycled to cool the nuclear fuel, while the rest is stored in the tanks.

The release started at the daily pace of 460 tons and moves slowly. TEPCO plans to release 31,200 tons of treated water by the end of March 2024, which would empty only 10 tanks because the site will continue to produce radioactive water.

The pace will quicken later and about 1/3 of the tanks will be removed over the next 10 years, freeing up space for the plant’s decommissioning, said TEPCO executive Junichi Matsumoto, who is in charge of the treated water release. The water will be released over 30 years, but as long as melted fuel stays in the reactors, it requires cooling water under the current prospect.

About 880 tons of radioactive melted nuclear fuel remain inside the reactors. Robotic probes have provided some information but the status of the melted debris remains largely unknown, and the amount could be even larger, says Takahara, the TEPCO spokesman.

A trial removal of melted debris using a giant remote-controlled robotic arm is set to begin in Unit 2 later this year, though it will be a very small amount, Takahara said.

Spent fuel removal from the Unit 1 reactor’s cooling pool is set to start in 2027. The reactor top is still covered with debris from the explosion 12 years ago and needs to be cleaned up after putting a protective cover to contain radioactive dust.

Inside the worst-hit Unit 1, most of its reactor core melted and fell to the bottom of the primary containment chamber and possibly farther into the concrete basement. A robotic probe sent inside the Unit 1 primary containment chamber has found that its pedestal — the main supporting structure directly under its core — was extensively damaged.

Most of its thick concrete exterior was missing, exposing the internal steel reinforcement, prompting regulators to ask TEPCO to make risk assessment.

The government has stuck to its initial 30-to-40-year target for completing the decommissioning, without defining what that means. Rushing the schedule could cause more radiation exposure to workers and more environmental damage. Some experts say it would be impossible to remove all the melted fuel debris by 2051 and would take 50-100 years, if achieved at all.

In a live video from a control room at the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings showed a staff member turn on a seawater pump with a click of a mouse, marking the beginning of the controversial project that is expected to last for decades.

“Seawater Pump A activated,” the main operator said, confirming the release was underway. TEPCO later confirmed that the seawater pump was activated at 1:03 p.m. (0403 GMT), three minutes after the final step began.

TEPCO said an additional wastewater release pump was activated 20 minutes after the first. Plant officials said everything was moving smoothly so far.

Japanese fisher groups have opposed the plan for fear it will further damage the reputation of their seafood. Groups in China and South Korea have also raised concern, making it a political and diplomatic issue.

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In response to the release, Chinese customs authorities banned seafood from Japan, customs authorities announced Thursday. The ban started immediately and will affect all imports of “aquatic products” including seafood, according to the notice. Authorities said they will “dynamically adjust relevant regulatory measures as appropriate to prevent the risks of nuclear-contaminated water discharge to the health and food safety of our country.”

Shortly after China’s announcement, TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa said the utility was preparing to compensate Japanese business owners appropriately for damages suffered by export bans from “the foreign government” over the wastewater release. He said China is Japan’s key trading partner and that he will do his utmost by providing scientific explanations of the release so that the ban will be dropped as soon as possible.

But the Japanese government and TEPCO say the water must be released to make room for the plant’s decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks. They say the treatment and dilution will make the wastewater safer than international standards and its environmental impact will be negligibly small.

Tony Hooker, director of the Center for Radiation Research, Education, Innovation at the University of Adelaide, said the water released from the Fukushima plant is safe. “It certainly is well below the World Health Organization drinking water guidelines,” he said. “It’s safe.”

“It’s a very political issue of disposing radiation into the sea,” he said. “I understand people’s concerns and that’s because we as scientists have not explained it in a very good way, and we need to do more education.”

Still, some scientists say the long-term impact of the low-dose radioactivity that remains in the water needs attention.

In a statement Thursday, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said, “IAEA experts are there on the ground to serve as the eyes of the international community and ensure that the discharge is being carried out as planned consistent with IAEA safety standards.”

The United Nations agency also said it would launch a webpage to provide live data about the discharge, and repeated its assurance that the IAEA would have an on-site presence for the duration of the release.

The water release begins more than 12 years after the March 2011 nuclear meltdowns, caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami. It marks a milestone for the plant’s battle with an ever-growing radioactive water stockpile that TEPCO and the government say has hampered the daunting task of removing the fatally toxic melted debris from the reactors.

The pump activated Thursday afternoon sent the first batch of the diluted, treated water from a mixing pool to a secondary pool 10 minutes later. It then moves through a connected undersea tunnel to go out 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) off the coast. Officials said the water moves at a walking speed and will take about 30 minutes to exit from the tunnel.

The operator checked data and the progress on a set of four monitors that show the water volume, pump conditions and any alerts.

TEPCO executive Junichi Matsumoto said Thursday’s release was planned to start small in order to ensure safety.

The wastewater is collected and partly recycled as cooling water after treatment, with the rest stored in around 1,000 tanks, which are already filled to 98% of their 1.37-million-ton capacity. Those tanks, which cover much of the plant complex, must be freed up to build the new facilities needed for the decommissioning process, officials said.

Final preparation for the release began Tuesday, when just one ton of treated water was sent from a tank for dilution with 1,200 tons of seawater, and the mixture was kept in the primary pool for two days for final sampling to ensure safety, Matsumoto said. A batch of 460 tons was to be sent to the mixing pool Thursday for the actual discharge.

Fukushima’s fisheries, tourism and economy — which are still recovering from the disaster — worry the release could be the beginning of a new hardship.

Fukushima’s current fish catch is only about one-fifth its pre-disaster level, in part due to a decline in the fishing population. China has tightened radiation testing on Japanese products from Fukushima and nine other prefectures, halting exports at customs for weeks, Fisheries Agency officials said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the release is indispensable and could not be postponed. He noted an experimental removal of a small amount of the melted debris from the No. 2 reactor is set for later this year using a remote-controlled giant robotic arm.

In 2021, the Japanese government announced plans to release the treated water to the sea. Then, on Sunday, Kishida made a rushed visit to the plant before meeting with fisheries representatives and pledging to support their livelihoods until the release ends.

The hurried timeline raised skepticism that it was made to fit Kishida’s busy political schedule in September. But Economy and Industry Ministry officials say they wanted the release to start as early as possible and have good safety records ahead of the fall fishing season.

The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami destroyed the plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt. Highly contaminated cooling water applied to the damaged reactors has leaked continuously to building basements and mixed with groundwater.

TEPCO plans to release 31,200 tons of the treated water by the end of March 2024, which would empty only 10 tanks because of the contaminated production of wastewater at the plant, though the pace will later pick up.

The government and plant operator say the release is an unavoidable part of its decommissioning and will be safely carried out, but the plan faces opposition in and outside Japan. Here is a look at the controversy.

Why is there so much wastewater?

The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami destroyed the plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt. Highly contaminated cooling water applied to the damaged reactors has leaked continuously to building basements and mixed with groundwater.

The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), has taken steps to limit the amount of groundwater and rainwater entering the reactor area, and has reduced the increase in contaminated water to about 100 tons a day, 1/5 of the initial amount. The water is collected and partly recycled as cooling water after treatment, with the rest stored in around 1,000 tanks, which are already filled to 98% of their 1.37 million-ton capacity.

Why is Tepco releasing the water now?

The government and TEPCO say they need to make room for the plant’s decommissioning and prevent accidental leaks from the tanks.

Japan has obtained support from the International Atomic Energy Agency to improve the transparency and credibility of the release and ensure it meets international safety standards. The government has also stepped up a campaign promoting the plan’s safety at home and through diplomatic channels.

What’s in the treated water?

The water is being treated by what’s called an Advanced Liquid Processing System, which can reduce the amounts of more than 60 selected radionuclides to government-set releasable levels, except for tritium, which officials say is safe for humans if consumed in small amounts.

About 70% of the water held in the tanks still contains cesium, strontium, carbon-14 and other radionuclides exceeding government-set levels. It will be retreated until the concentrations meet those limits, then diluted by more than 100 times its volume of seawater before it is released. That will bring it way below international safety limits, but its radioactivity won’t be zero.

How safe is it?

IAEA concluded in a report that the plan, if conducted as designed, will have negligible impact on the environment and human health. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi visited the plant and said he was satisfied with preparations.

Japan’s government says the release of tritium into the sea is a routine practice by nuclear plants around the world and that the amount will be several times lower than from plants in China and South Korea.

Scientists generally support the IAEA’s conclusion, while some call for more attention to dozens of low-dose radionuclides that remain in the water, saying data on their long-term effects on the environment and marine life are insufficient.

Experts say the release of treated water from Fukushima is much less challenging than the daunting task of removing deadly radioactive debris that remains in the damaged reactors.

How will it be released?

TEPCO executive Junichi Matsumoto says the release will begin with the least radioactive water to ensure safety. After samples are analyzed in final testing, the water will be transported through a thin black pipe to a coastal area where it will be diluted with hundreds of times its volume of seawater.

The diluted water will enter an undersea tunnel and be released a few minutes later from a point 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) off the coast. The release will be gradual and will continue for decades until the decommissioning of the plant is finished, TEPCO officials say. Matsumoto said the slow release will further reduce the environmental impact.

Final preparation for the release began Tuesday when just 1 ton of water was sent for dilution with 1,200 tons of seawater, and the mixture was to be kept in the primary pool for two days for final sampling to ensure safety, Matsumoto said. A batch of 460 tons will be sent to the mixing pool Thursday for the actual discharge.

The company plans to release 31,200 tons of treated water by the end of March 2024, which would empty only 10 tanks because of the continued production of wastewater at the plant. The pace will later pick up.

Why are people worried?

Fukushima’s badly hit fisheries, tourism and economy are still recovering from the disaster. Fisheries groups worry about further damage to the reputation of their seafood. Fukushima’s current catch is only about one-fifth its pre-disaster level due to a decline in the fishing population and smaller catch sizes.

The head of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, Masanobu Sakamoto, said on Monday that “scientific safety and the sense of safety are different.”

Groups in South Korea and China have also raised concerns, turning the release into a political and diplomatic issue. China has stepped up radiation testing of fishery and agricultural products from Fukushima and nine other prefectures, halting exports at customs for weeks, Fisheries Agency officials say.

What if something goes wrong?

The Japanese government says potential risks from the release of treated water are limited to reputational damage resulting from rumors, rather than scientific study. It has allocated 80 billion yen ($550 million) to support fisheries and seafood processing and combat potential reputation damage. TEPCO has also promised to deal with reputational damage claims.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave the final go-ahead Tuesday at a meeting of Cabinet ministers involved in the plan and instructed the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, or TEPCO, to be ready to start the coastal release Thursday if weather and sea conditions permit.

Kishida said at the meeting that the release of the water is a key step in the plant decommissioning and Fukushima prefecture’s recovery from the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami disaster.

He said the government has done everything for now to ensure the plan’s safety, protect the reputation of Japan’s fishing industry and clearly explain the scientific basis of the move. He pledged that the government will continue those efforts until the end of the release and decommissioning, which will take decades.

“The government will take responsibility until the disposal of ALPS-treated water is completed, even if it takes several decades,” Kishida said.

In Seoul, Park Ku-yeon, first vice minister of South Korea’s Office for Government Policy Coordination, told a briefing that officials confirmed Japan would discharge the wastewater in line with its initial plan.

If it does not stick to the plan, Park said, South Korea will request Japan to immediately stop the discharge which could threaten safety of South Koreans. Opposition lawmakers and activists protested vehemently, demanding Japan immediately scrap the plan.

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Hong Kong and Macau announced that they are banning products from Fukushima and nine other prefectures in response to Tokyo’s announcement Tuesday, while China has stepped up radiation testing on Japanese fisheries products, delaying customs clearance.

A massive earthquake and tsunami destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s cooling systems, causing three of its reactors to melt and contaminating their cooling water. The water, 1.34 million tons, has been collected, filtered and stored in about 1,000 tanks, which fill much of the plant’s grounds and will reach their capacity in early 2024.

The release of the treated wastewater has faced strong opposition from Japanese fishing organizations, which worry about further damage to the reputation of their seafood as they struggle to recover from the nuclear disaster. Groups in South Korea and China have also raised concerns, turning it into a political and diplomatic issue.

The government and TEPCO, say the water must be removed to make room for the plant’s decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks from the tanks.

Junichi Matsumoto, TEPCO executive in charge of the water release, said in an interview with The Associated Press last month that the water release marks “a milestone,” but is still only an initial step in a daunting decommissioning process.

The government and TEPCO say the water will be treated and then diluted with seawater to levels safer than international standards.

TEPCO plans to release 7,800 tons of treated water in the 17-day first round of the release, Matsumoto said, adding that the idea is not to rush the release and minimize environmental impact. The company aims to release 31,200 tons of the treated water by the end of March 2024, which would empty only 10 tanks at the site. The pace will pick up later.

The seawater and marine life will be tested and the results will be disclosed on government and TEPCO websites.

The International Atomic Energy Agency in a final report in July concluded that the release, if conducted as designed, will cause negligible impact on the environment and human health. After taking into possible bioconcentration of low-dose radionuclides that remain in the water, the environmental and health impact is still negligible, TEPCO officials said.

On Tuesday, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement that the U.N. agency office opened at the plant in July will continue monitoring the water release so it remains consistent with the safety standards and publish real-time monitoring data and other information.

Scientists generally support the IAEA view, but some say long-term impact of the low-dose radioactivity that remains in the water needs attention.

Kishida’s government has stepped up outreach efforts to explain the plan to neighboring countries, especially South Korea, to keep the issue from interfering with their relationship.

TEPCO said it is working toward accepting application for damages caused by China’s export restrictions on Japanese seafood.

___

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

On Friday, President Joe Biden will reach for his own place in Camp David lore, hoping that walks on leafy trails and necktie-free talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol will encourage the U.S. allies, who have been thawing their frosty relationship, to cooperate more given their shared concerns about aggression from China and North Korea.

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It will be the first time that Biden has hosted world leaders at the secluded retreat nestled in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, about an hour’s drive northwest of the White House.

Run by the Navy, guarded by Marines and less imposing than the White House, Camp David was a deliberate choice by a president who puts a premium on face-to-face interactions with his foreign counterparts, Biden aides said.

“One of the interesting things about Camp David is that it provides a less formal venue for presidents and their visitors to really get to know each other on a one-to-one basis,” said Sarah Fling, a historian at the White House Historical Association.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and Margaret Thatcher, a successor to Churchill, are just a few of the storied world figures who have spent time at Camp David at the invitation of U.S. presidents.

President Barack Obama assembled leaders of the world’s largest economies for a Group of Eight summit in 2012, the biggest foreign contingent to ever gather there.

President Donald Trump tweeted in September 2019 that he had canceled a secret meeting planned for Camp David with Taliban and Afghanistan leaders after an American soldier was among those killed in a bombing in Kabul.

To produce the Camp David Accords, Carter sought an intimate location, a place away from the press where he thought Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin would be encouraged to talk to one another. Unlike at the White House, where journalists come and go, the news media are barred from Camp David, unless they are invited to cover an event, like Friday’s summit.

Three days were set aside for the talks, but the summit lasted nearly two weeks. The Camp David Accords were signed at the White House in March 1979.

Camp David was established in 1942 during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency and has been used by every president since.

Roosevelt had liked to relax on a presidential yacht, but the military and Secret Service started to worry about his safety on the open water during World War II. Roosevelt asked the National Park Service to identify sites within 100 miles of the White House that he could use for rest.

He chose what is now known as Camp David. He gave it the original name of Shangri-La, from James Hilton’s novel “Lost Horizon.” President Dwight Eisenhower renamed it Camp David, after his grandson and father.

Roosevelt also set the precedent for hosting foreign leaders at Camp David, inviting Churchill to the retreat twice. In 1943, they discussed the Normandy invasion; Roosevelt also took the prime minister along on a fishing trip.

Eisenhower hosted Khrushchev for two days in 1959, the first time a Soviet leader had come to the United States. They watched American Western movies, among other activities.

Bill Clinton hoped to replicate Carter’s feat by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to Camp David for a fresh round of Mideast peace talks in 2000. But after two weeks of talks, the summit ended without an agreement.

George W. Bush visited often, hosting an array of foreign leaders and spending Christmases with his family. Britain’s Tony Blair was first to visit the newly elected Bush there in 2001.

When reporters asked the president to describe something that he and Blair found they had in common, Bush quipped, “We both use Colgate toothpaste.”

“They’re gonna wonder how you know that, George,” Blair responded.

In addition to the G-8 summit, Obama hosted a group of Persian Gulf leaders in 2015.

But Camp David is more than just a place for presidents to hold sensitive diplomatic talks with foreign leaders or ponder issues of war and peace. Its primary function is as a place for presidents, and their families, to escape Washington, a place where they can be themselves and where they can rest, relax and recharge as much as a 24/7 president is allowed to.

The 180-acre (73-hectare) retreat has a cabin, named Aspen by first lady Mamie Eisenhower, that’s reserved for the president, plus about a dozen other cabins for guests. There’s a main lodge with conference rooms, a dining room and an office for the president.

Guests have a range of indoor and outdoor amenities at their disposal, including a fitness center, bowling alley, movie theater, heated swimming pool, and tennis and basketball courts. There’s also a chapel for religious services.

Carter liked to run on the trails. Ronald Reagan liked to ride horses and is the president who spent the most time at Camp David, said Fling, the historian.

“Reagan really enjoyed visiting Camp David,” she said. “He and first lady Nancy Reagan enjoyed just going and spending time together there as a couple.”

Susan Ford, President Gerald Ford’s daughter, once described it as a place where “you could go and have fun and be silly and not end up in the press.”

One presidential wedding has been held there. Bush’s sister, Dorothy, married her second husband, Robert Koch, at Camp David in 1992.

Biden goes to spend time with his family. He first visited in February 2021, weeks after taking office, and trounced one of his granddaughters as they played the Mario Kart video game, according to a post on Naomi Biden Neal’s social media accounts.

Biden has returned 27 times since, spending all or part of a total of 96 days, according to Mark Knoller, a former CBS News White House correspondent who keeps presidential statistics.

First, Sweden knocked out the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cup champion. Now, the Blågult have sent the 2011 winner packing.

Sweden picked up a 2-1 victory over Japan at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, on Friday to secure a spot in the 2023 Women’s World Cup semifinals.

Amanda Ilestedt got the scoring started for the Swedes by putting one home from short range in the 32nd minute. The tally was the Swedish defender’s fourth goal of the tournament, putting her one goal behind Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa in the Golden Boot race.

It didn’t take long for Sweden to double its advantage in the second half. Japanese midfielder Fuka Nagano was called for a hand ball in the penalty area, giving way for Swedish midfielder Filippa Angeldahl to net a penalty kick in the 51st minute.

Japan’s comeback attempt took a serious hit when forward Riko Ueki drilled the crossbar with a penalty kick in the 76th minute.

Honoka Hayashi got Japan on the board in the 87th minute when she capitalized on a misplay by the Swedish defense. Still, Sweden was able to close the match out and secure a 2-1 triumph.

Sweden has yet to lose at the 2023 Women’s World Cup and has only conceded two goals through five matches. The team dominated Group G with wins over South Africa, Italy and Argentina. It then beat the two-time defending champion U.S. women’s national team on penalty kicks in the Round of 16 before picking up its quarterfinals win over Japan.

Sweden’s next match will come against another European side that is 5-0-0 in the tournament. The team will face Spain, which beat the Netherlands 2-1 in extra time in their quarterfinals showdown, in the semifinals.

That match will take place at Eden Park at 4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT on Tuesday, Aug. 15. English-language coverage will be on FOX and Spanish-language coverage will be on Telemundo and Peacock.

The winner of Sweden-Spain will earn a spot in the 2023 Women’s World Cup Final, which will be played in Sydney, Australia, at 6 a.m. ET/3 a.m. PT on Sunday, Aug. 20.

The observance came two months after Hiroshima hosted a summit of the Group of 7 major industrial nations, at which G7 leaders visited the city’s peace park and a museum dedicated to those who died in the word’s first atomic attack.

The leaders issued a joint statement calling for the continued non-use of nuclear weapons, but they also justified having such arms to “serve defensive purposes, deter aggression and prevent war and coercion.”

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui rejected that position in his peace address at the commemoration.

“Leaders around the world must confront the reality that nuclear threats now being voiced by certain policymakers reveal the folly of nuclear deterrence theory,” he said. “They must immediately take concrete steps to lead us from the dangerous present toward our ideal world.”

Hiroshima Gov. Hidehiko Yuzai questioned the growing calls for reinforced nuclear deterrence around the world, including in Japan, since Russia invaded Ukraine and warned of possible nuclear weapons use, while North Korea advances its missile and nuclear development.

“Believers of proactive nuclear deterrence, who say nuclear weapons are indispensable to maintain peace, are only delaying the progress toward nuclear disarmament,” Yuzai said.

The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroyed the city, killing 140,000 people, and a second bomb dropped three days later on Nagasaki killed an additional 70,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and Japan’s nearly half century of aggression in Asia.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, has sought to highlight the G7 commitment to nuclear disarmament and a condemnation of Russia’s threats to use atomic weapons. But he has been faulted by survivors for refusing to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapon.

Arguing the pact is unworkable because no nuclear-armed state has signed, Kishida has pledged to serve as a bridge between nuclear and non-nuclear states and work for nuclear disarmament. His critics say it is a hollow promise because Japan relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for protection and has been rapidly expanding its military.

Japan, the United States and South Korea are stepping up security cooperation in response to a more assertive China and the growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. Washington and Seoul have agreed to strengthen their nuclear deterrence cooperation, and Japan also wants stronger protection by U.S. nuclear weapons.

Kishida, who also attended Sunday’s ceremony, said the path toward a nuclear-free world has grown tougher because of rising tensions and conflicts. “But the situation makes it even more important for the world to regain the momentum,” he said.

People at the ceremony observed a moment of silence with the sound of a peace bell at 8:15 a.m., the time when a U.S. B-29 dropped the bomb on the city. Hundreds of white doves, considered symbols of peace, were released.

Many survivors of the bombings have lasting injuries and illnesses resulting from the explosions and radiation exposure and face discrimination in Japan.

As of March, 113,649 survivors, whose average age is now 85, are certified as eligible for government medical support, according to the Health and Welfare Ministry. But many others, including those who say they were victims of the “black rain” that fell outside the initially designated areas, are still without support.

The mayor urged Kishida’s government to provide stronger support and address their wishes.

Aging survivors, known in Japan as hibakusha, continue to push for a nuclear arms ban and hope to persuade younger generations to join the movement. A group led by a number of young supporters, including those from Hiroshima, is seeking to have Japan’s government sign the nuclear weapons ban treaty by 2030.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Japan scored its 14th goal of the Women’s World Cup and conceded its first Saturday, beating Norway 3-1 to reach the quarterfinals for the fourth time.

Hinata Miyazawa sealed the win with her fifth goal of the tournament in the 81st minute to remain the leading scorer. Risa Shimizu’s 50th-minute goal followed an Ingrid Syrstad Engen own goal in the first half to help give Japan its fourth straight win of the tournament.

Guro Reiten headed a superb goal for Norway in the 21st minute to end Japan’s flawless defensive performance and leave the teams locked 1-1 a halftime.

After beating Spain 4-0 with only 23% of possession in its group-stage finale, Japan once again was a tactical chameleon in the round of 16 — playing with more than 60% of possession in a commanding performance.

Japan traded its regular blue uniform for pastel colors Saturday, pink and purple. The softer color scheme did nothing to dull its attacking style; it pressed forward from the start and had its first corner after two minutes.

While it was ineffective, it was an early declaration of intent. With long balls or sharp, quick passing, Japan continually pressed forward and Norway, which conceded only one goal in group play, often seemed rattled at the back.

When the defense finally yielded, it was in unusual circumstances. In the 15th minute Miyazawa curled the ball in from depth on the left and Engen extended her leg to parry the ball. She managed only to deflect it wide of Aurora Mikalsen in goal for the eighth own goal of the tournament.

Japan seemed well on top but in the 21st minute, and from the first time in the match Norway had threatened, Vilda Boe Rise got away on the right, took the ball to the byline and crossed to the middle where Guro Reiten stood tall and headed wide of the diving Ayaka Yamashita into the left corner.

The goal came entirely against the run of play. After a half-hour, Japan had 183 completed passes to Norway’s 88, had more than 60%, five shots on goal. Miyazawa, Aoba Fujino, Jun Endo and others had been threatening.

Shimizu’s winner came in the 50th minute as Japan pushed forward again from halfway. Miyazawa tried to hold up the ball near goal, lost possession to Boe Risa, who tried a back pass but rolled the ball into the path of Shimizu rushing in from the right to score.

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Miyazawa produced a copybook finish in the 81st, running onto a superb through ball and directing her shot wide of Mikalsen.

Norway and Japan had met only once before at a World Cup, in 1999, when Norway won 4-0.

Japanese players wore black armbands in their Women’s World Cup opener against Zambia on Saturday following the death of Fumiko Tottori, the mother of Japanese Princess Takamado.

The princess is the honorary patron of the Japan Football Association, and her mother, Tottori, 96, died Tuesday in Tokyo. FIFA granted the association’s request to wear the bands as a tribute.

The Japanese team wore the armbands days after New Zealand and Norway held a moment of silence ahead of the tournament’s opening match after two men were killed in a shooting in downtown Auckland.

Before the tournament, FIFA announced it would permit team captains to wear eight specially designed armbands unveiled earlier this month.

The eight armband designs were based on anti-discriminatory themes including inclusivity toward Indigenous peoples, ending domestic violence and creating gender equality.

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The 15-year-old secured a record by successfully completing a jump rope octuple under, a trick that requires the jumper to swing the rope around himself eight times on a single leap. The prior record was a septuple under.

It took Hidaka 50 minutes and around 28 attempts to finally land the trick at a gymnasium in front of enthusiastic supporters and Ehime Jump Rope Association judges on Monday, which was his birthday.

Hidaka is from Yamaguchi in southwestern Japan and started practicing jump rope when he was in the fifth grade. 

“I learned that even if I’m not good at something, I can achieve results if I work hard at it,” Hidaka said, via Asia News Network. “I want to continue practicing my skipping.”

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said although the wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant would be treated before discharging into the Pacific Ocean, any errors in the process would significantly affect ecology and food safety. The concern stems from Japan’s U.N.-endorsed, but controversial, plan to gradually release the treated water.

“Our assessment shows prefectures near Fukushima have higher risks, so we are now taking a responsible way for our residents,” he told reporters at a briefing.

The 10 affected territories are Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, he added.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt and releasing large amounts of radiation. The tanks storing the water used since the accident to cool the reactor cores will reach their capacity in early 2024.

In 2021, Japan’s government announced plans to gradually release the treated — but still slightly radioactive — water following its dilution to what it says are safe levels. Japanese officials say the water, currently stored in about a thousand tanks at the plant, needs to be removed to prevent accidental leaks in case of an earthquake and to make room for the plant’s decommissioning.

Last week, the U.N. nuclear agency endorsed the plan, saying it meets international standards and the environmental and health impact would be negligible.

But the plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Neighboring countries, including South Korea, China and Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns.

In Hong Kong, the import of certain products — such as fruits and vegetables — from Fukushima is currently banned. Other products such as meat and poultry from there are allowed in if they come with a radiation certificate.

The import of many food products from four other Japanese prefectures immediately south of Fukushima — Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Chiba — will also have to be accompanied with radiation certificate.

For the planned policies announced Wednesday, Tse said the government will be scientific and review data. If the situation is safe, the government will consider relaxing its restrictions, he said.

Earlier, Naoto Nakahara, deputy consul general at the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong, told Nikkei that the Hong Kong government was “trying to win brownie points from Beijing.”

In a response to the reported criticism but without identifying anyone, Tse said officials devised policies in accordance with Hong Kong’s situation.

“Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy,” he said.

Last year, the major food imports from Japan amounted to about 2% of the total food supply in Hong Kong, official data showed. Although Hong Kong is not highly dependent on Japanese food products in terms of quantity, many residents love Japanese food and there are many Japanese restaurants in the city.

Japan says Zelenskyy’s decision to visit Hiroshima stems from his “strong wish” to participate in talks that will influence his nation’s defense against Russia.

An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the deliberations, said Zelenskyy will take part in two separate sessions Sunday. The first session will be with G7 members only and will focus on the war in Ukraine. The second session will include the G7 as well as the other nations invited to take part in the summit, and will focus on “peace and stability.”

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit. On Friday, Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine’s Air Force.

World leaders have faced a balancing act at the G7 in Hiroshima as they look to address a raft of global worries demanding urgent attention, including climate change, AI, poverty and economic instability, nuclear proliferation and, above all, the war in Ukraine.

China, the world’s No. 2 economy, sits at the nexus of many of those concerns.

There is increasing anxiety in Asia that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it.

The G7 leaders issued a statement warning that China’s “accelerating build-up of its nuclear arsenal without transparency (or) meaningful dialogue poses a concern to global and regional stability.”

“We do seek to cooperate with China on matters of mutual interest,” Sullivan said of the statement. “We will work to address our significant concerns that we have with China in a range of areas.”

North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace in an attempt to perfect a nuclear program meant to target the mainland United States, must completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, the leaders’ statement said, “including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology. North Korea cannot and will never have the status of a nuclear-weapon State under” international nuclear treaties.

The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks. The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory.

“We’ve reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward,” Sullivan said.

The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin’s war effort. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness.

“Our support for Ukraine will not waver,” the G7 leaders said in a statement released after closed-door meetings. They vowed “to stand together against Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.”

“Russia started this war and can end this war,” they said.

Zelenskyy has consistently called for Western fighter jets to bolster his country’s defenses. As Ukraine has improved its air defenses with a host of Western-supplied anti-aircraft systems and prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russia, officials believe the jets could become essential to the country’s long-term security.

Biden’s decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway, Biden told leaders.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida separately held talks Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, which is hosting the gathering of G20 world leaders later this year. During their meeting, Kishida emphasized that attempts to change by force shouldn’t be tolerated anywhere in the world — a possible reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a warning to China over Taiwan.

India, the world’s largest democracy, has been measured in its comments on the war in Ukraine, and has avoided outright condemnation of Russia’s invasion. While India maintains close ties with the U.S. and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil.

The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions.

In addition, new reporting requirements were issued for people and firms that have any interest in Russian Central Bank assets. The purpose is to “fully map holdings of Russia’s sovereign assets that will remain immobilized in G7 jurisdictions until Russia pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine,” the U.S. Treasury Department said.

The G7 nations said that they would work to keep Russia from using the international financial system to prosecute its war, and they urged other nations to stop providing Russia with support and weapons “or face severe costs.”

The leaders began the summit with a visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world’s first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions.

Biden, who scrapped plans to travel on to Papua New Guinea and Australia after his stay in Japan so that he can get back to debt limit talks in Washington, arranged to meet Saturday on the G-7 sidelines with leaders of the so-called Quad partnership, made up of Japan, Australia, India and the United States.

The G7 leaders are also to discuss efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

A U.S. official said the leaders on Saturday would issue a joint communique outlining new projects in the G7’s global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China’s investment dollars.

The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union.

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida kicked off his summit diplomacy by meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden after his arrival at a nearby military base. He was due to hold talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a bit later in the day, before the three-day gathering of leaders of the world’s wealthy democracies opens on Friday.

The Japan-U.S. alliance is the “very foundation of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region,” Kishida told Biden in opening remarks.

“We very much welcome that the cooperation has evolved in leaps and bounds,” he said.

Biden said: “When our countries stand together, we stand stronger, and I believe the whole world is safer when we do.”

The U.S. president exited Air Force One and briefly greeted troops at nearby Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.

As G-7 attendees made their way to Hiroshima, Moscow unleashed yet another aerial attack on the Ukrainian capital. Loud explosions thundered through Kyiv during the early hours, marking the ninth time this month that Russian air raids have targeted the city after weeks of relative quiet.

“The crisis in Ukraine: I’m sure that’s what the conversation is going to start with,” said Matthew P. Goodman, senior vice president for economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said there will be “discussions about the battlefield” in Ukraine and on the “state of play on sanctions and the steps that the G-7 will collectively commit to on enforcement in particular.”

G-7 leaders and invited guests from several other counties are also expected to discuss how to deal with China’s growing assertiveness and military buildup as concerns rise that it could could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and its ships and warplanes regularly patrol near it.

Security was tight in Hiroshima, with thousands of police deployed at numerous points throughout the city. A small group of protesters was considerably outnumbered by police as they gathered Wednesday evening beside the ruins of the Atomic Peace Dome memorial, holding signs including one which read “No G7 Imperialist Summit!”

In a bit of dueling diplomacy, Chinese President Xi Jinping is hosting the leaders of the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for a two-day summit in the Chinese city of Xi’an starting Thursday.

During the meeting in Hiroshima, Kishida hopes to highlight the risks of nuclear proliferation. Leaders are expected to visit a memorial park that commemorates the 1945 atomic bombing by the U.S. that destroyed the city and killed 140,000 people.

North Korea’s nuclear program and a spate of recent missile tests have crystalized fears of an potential attack. So have Russia’s threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. China, meanwhile, is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal.

The leaders are due to discuss efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The debate over raising the debt limit in the U.S., the world’s largest economy, has threatened to overshadow the G-7 talks. Biden plans to hurry back to Washington after the summit for debt negotiations, scrapping planned meetings in Papua New Guinea and Australia.

The British prime minister arrived in Japan earlier Thursday and paid a visit to the JS Izumo, a ship that can carry helicopters and fighter jets able to take off and land vertically.

During their bilateral meeting Thursday, Sunak and Kishida are expected to announce a series of new agreements on issues including defense; trade and investment; technology; and climate change, Sunak’s office said.

The G-7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union.

A host of other countries have been invited to take part. The G-7 hopes to strengthen its members’ ties with countries outside the world’s richest industrialized nations, while shoring up support for efforts like isolating Russia.

Leaders from Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Korea are among those participating as guests. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to join by video link.

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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed reporting from Air Force One.

”Don’t dump contaminated water into sea!” protesters chanted outside the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holding’s headquarters in Tokyo, holding banners with their demands such as “Don’t nuke the Pacific,” and “Stop contaminated water.”

The utility that operates the plant wrecked in the 2011 disaster has almost finished building the needed facilities to release the massive amounts of water, which has been speculated to begin sometime after June.

“Even after treatment, some radiation stays in the water,” said Harumichi Saito, an activist from Iwaki, a city south of the wrecked plant. “It’s a decades-long, multi-generational project that must get public consensus.”

The tsunami and earthquake on March 11, 2011, damaged the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s cooling systems, damaging three nuclear reactors, causing their cooling water to become highly radioactive and leak into the basements of the buildings. The water is collected, treated and stored in tanks that cover much of the plant.

The government and TEPCO say the tanks must be removed to make room for the plant’s decommissioning and to minimize the risk of leaks in case of another disaster.

The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Neighboring countries, including South Korea, China and the Pacific Island nations, have protested.

Japanese officials say the water will be filtered to far below international releasable levels and further diluted by large amounts of seawater before release, making it harmless. However, some scientists say the impact of long-term, low-dose exposure to tritium and other radionuclides on the environment and people is still unknown and the release should be delayed.

Several activists from South Korea joined Tuesday’s rally.

“The Pacific Ocean does not belong to Japan. It belongs to all living things in the ocean and everyone who depends on it for their livelihoods,” said Kyoungsook Choi, a Korea Radiation Watch coordinator. “We are here today to send the message that Japan does not have the right to dump the radioactive water.”

Tokyo and Seoul agreed recently for a South Korean delegation to visit the plant in late May to observe preparations for the release, as the two sides worked to improve ties strained by historical disputes.

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Associated Press journalist Chisato Tanaka contributed to this report.

A large snow corridor in central Japan officially reopened on Saturday after a long winter stretch that kept the tourist attraction closed off to visitors. 

Nicknamed the “roof of Japan,” this 1,620-foot-long pathway cuts through a pair of walls that reach up to 43 feet at the highest point of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. The construction of the path is made possible by snowplow drivers spending months carving the road throughout the winter months.

The route runs more than 22 miles between Toyama and Nagano, two cities northwest of Tokyo, and includes views of Mount Akazawa and Mount Tateyama, one of Japan’s three sacred mountains.

Other attractions include the Panorama Road, which features views of Mount Tsurugi, the Japanese igloos and a snow tunnel at Daikanbo Station, which overlooks the Japanese Alps.

The biggest attraction, however, is the snow walk. According to CNN, the path takes around 20 minutes to traverse and will remain open until June 25.

The reopening comes with an influx of reservation inquiries as tourism in Japan continues to return to pre-coronavirus levels. 

Witnesses say they saw an object that looked like a thin metal thermos flying overhead and landing near the prime minister. Kishida was safely evacuated before the device exploded, the crowd fleeing in panic as white smoke surrounded them.

Police have confirmed one injury to a police officer and another to a man attending the event. Experts say a pipe bomb likely caused the explosion, and the impact and amount of smoke suggest it probably wasn’t that powerful.

The 24-year-old suspect, Ryuji Kimura, was wrestled to the ground at the fishing port of Saikazaki in the western Japanese city of Wakayama on Saturday, just before Kishida was to make a campaign speech for a local governing party candidate.

On Monday, police sent Kimura to local prosecutors to extend his detention for 10 days for further investigation. He currently faces an allegation of obstruction of duty, but experts say additional allegations such as assault and attempted murder are possible.

In a raid Saturday night at Kimura’s home in Kawanishi city, more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Saikazaki, police confiscated unidentified powder, metal tubes and various tools that were possibly used to make the device thrown at Kishida.

Police said they confiscated two possible metal pipe bombs at the site, one that exploded but largely retained its shape, and another that was in the suspect’s hand at the time of the arrest along with a cigarette lighter. Police also found a fruit knife in his bag.

The crudely constructed weapons and the outdoor election campaign setting were reminiscent of the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nine months ago with a handmade double-barrel gun.

Violent crimes are rare in Japan. With its strict gun control laws, the country has only a handful of gun-related crimes annually, most of them gang related. But in recent years, there has been growing worry about homemade guns and explosives.

“The situation surrounding homemade explosives is becoming a considerably serious problem,” said Nobuo Komiya, a Rissho University professor of criminology. “Not just bombs. Anyone can even make real guns using 3D printers.”

They cannot be regulated because their ingredients are legally available, he said.

The problem is that Japanese protection of dignitaries and public safety are still largely based on defense against knifings. Japanese security guards are well trained for close combat in knife attacks but inexperienced in dealing with bombs and firearms, he said.

“Police must be prepared for crimes in which handmade guns are used,” National Public Safety Commission Chair Koichi Tani said earlier this year. Police have stepped up “cyberpatrols” to detect illegal weapons production and trade, while requesting internet sites to remove “gun production methods and other harmful information.”

Tani has pledged to beef up security ahead of elections in late April and the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in May.

The latest case raises questions about whether any lessons were learned from the assassination of Abe, which prompted police to tighten protective measures after an investigation found holes in his security.

There were no bag checks at the venue, and no bulletproof shield was provided for Kishida. He sampled local seafood as he stood next to residents, then walked to the speech site, where he stood a short distance from the crowd with no physical barrier in between — something unlikely in the United States.

Making public appearances, mingling and shaking hands are important in getting votes in Japanese elections, rather than presenting policies, and politicians tend to get close to the crowds. But experts say there should be several layers of protection for them and other dignitaries.

So far, Kimura has refused to talk to the police, and the motive for the attack is not yet known.

Abe’s alleged assassin, Tetsuya Yamagami, who has been charged with murder and several other crimes including violating gun-control laws, told authorities soon after his arrest that he killed Abe because of the former prime minister’s apparent links to a religious group that Yamagami hated. In statements and in social media postings attributed to him, Yamagami said his mother’s donations to the Unification Church bankrupted his family and ruined his life.

Handmade bombs are not new in Japan, where non-lethal versions of explosives such as Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs were often used by student radicals and extremists in the 1960s and 1970s to throw at riot police and damage property.

Last week, North Korea conducted one of its most provocative weapons demonstrations in years by flight-testing for the first time an intercontinental ballistic missile powered by solid propellants, as it pursues a weapon that’s more responsive, harder to detect and could directly target the continental United States.

North Korea’s unprecedented run of weapons tests has so far involved more than 100 missiles of various ranges fired into the sea since the start of 2022 as the country attempts to build a viable nuclear arsenal that could threaten its rival neighbors and the United States.

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The exercises Monday may trigger a belligerent response from North Korea, which condemns the United States’ military drills with its Asian allies as invasion rehearsals. The North has used those drills as a pretext to accelerate its own weapons development, creating a cycle of tit-for-tat that has raised tensions in recent months.

South Korea’s navy said Monday’s three-way naval drills will take place in international waters off the country’s eastern coast and will be focused on mastering the procedures for detecting, tracking and sharing information on incoming North Korean ballistic missiles. The naval exercise involves an Aegis destroyer from each country and comes as the United States and South Korea also launch separate aerial drills involving some 110 warplanes, including advanced F-35 fighter jets.

“The drills’ goal is to improve our response capabilities against ballistic missiles and strengthen our ability to conduct joint operations as North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats continue to escalate,” Jang Do-young, a spokesperson of South Korea’s navy, said in a news briefing.

The U.S.-South Korean aerial drills beginning Monday and continuing through April 28 are aimed at sharpening combined operational abilities and demonstrating the countries’ joint defense postures in the face of North Korean threats, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said.

The United States and South Korea conducted their biggest filed exercises in years in March and have also held separate naval and aerial drills involving a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group and nuclear-capable B-52 bombers. The drills triggered fierce protests from the North as it dialed up its own testing activity, test-firing two ICBMs and nearly 20 shorter-range weapons since March.

Monday marks 11-straight days that North Korea has not responded to South Korean checkup calls on a set of cross-border inter-Korean hotlines, South Korean officials say, raising concerns about potential kinetic provocations. Communications on those channels are meant to prevent accidental clashes along the rivals’ sea borders.

On Saturday, a South Korean naval vessel fired warning shots to repel a North Korean patrol vessel that temporarily crossed the countries’ disputed western sea boundary while chasing a Chinese fishing boat. There were no exchanges of fire between the North and South Korean vessels, but the South Korean high-speed vessel collided with the Chinese boat as it responded to the intrusion amid poor visibility, causing bruises and other minor injuries to some of the South Korean sailors, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

While the South’s military strengthened monitoring and readiness after the intrusion, it didn’t immediately detect any unusual activity from the North Korean military, Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung Jun said Monday.

North Korea’s aggressive nuclear push under ruler Kim Jong Un is aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a legitimate nuclear power and negotiating economic concessions from a position of strength, many experts say. Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have remained derailed since 2019 over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against the North and steps to cut back its nuclear program.

However, there are also signs that the costs of Kim’s campaign is piling up as North Korea apparently grapples with food insecurity and other domestic problems worsened by pandemic-related border restrictions that disrupted trade with China, its main ally and economic lifeline. Chasing tangible economic achievements, Kim’s government has prioritized construction and agricultural projects.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Monday that Kim attended an event over the weekend celebrating the building of 10,000 new homes at a district in Pyongyang. The project is part of broader plans to supply 50,000 new homes in the capital under a five-year national development plan that runs through 2025.

During Sunday’s event, Kim called the housing project a “long-cherished plan” aimed at providing his people with “more stable and civilized living conditions,” KCNA said.

Experts say North Korea has severe shortages in quality housing that deepened over decades of economic decay. But living conditions are much better in Pyongyang, where Kim in past years has pushed huge development projects that upgraded housing for elites and changed the city’s skyline.

Although no one was hurt, and Kishida continued campaigning Saturday, the chaotic scene was reminiscent of the assassination nine months ago of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which also came on a campaign tour and continues to reverberate in Japanese politics. Kishida was visiting Saikazaki port in Wakayama prefecture to support his ruling party’s candidate in a local election, and the explosion occurred just before he was to begin his speech.

A young man believed to be a suspect was arrested Saturday at the scene after he allegedly threw “the suspicious object,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters. Matsuno refused to comment on the suspect’s motive and background, saying police are still investigating.

TV footage shows Kishida standing with his back to the crowd. His security detail suddenly points to the ground near him, and the prime minister whips around, looking alarmed. The camera quickly turns to the crowd just as several people, including uniformed and plainclothes police officers, converge on a young man wearing a white surgical mask and holding what appears to be another device, a long silver tube.

As they collapse on top of the man, working to remove the tube from his hands, a large explosion is heard near where Kishida had been standing. The crowd scatters in panic as police roughly drag the man away.

It wasn’t immediately clear what the explosive device was or how many the suspect had, but some reports said it was a smoke or pipe bomb, possibly with a delayed fuse.

No injuries were reported in the incident, which came on the eve of a major international forum in Japan. Kishida was not hurt and continued his campaign speeches later Saturday, Matsuno said.

Kishida did not mention the explosion and returned to the Tokyo region in the evening after campaigning in Chiba for another candidate.

“Elections are the core of democracy, and we should never tolerate threats or obstruction by violence,” Matsuno said.

He said he instructed national police to ensure their utmost effort for the protection of dignitaries who are visiting Japan in the period leading up to the Group of Seven summit in May.

Abe’s assassination, which shocked a nation that prides itself on public safety and extremely tight gun controls, came as he delivered a campaign speech in the western city of Nara. Amid a national outcry, police have tightened their protective measures following a subsequent investigation that found holes in Abe’s security.

Security has been also ramped up in Japan as senior diplomats from some of the world’s most powerful democracies arrive for Sunday’s G-7 foreign minister meetings. Kishida will host a May 19-21 G-7 leaders’ summit in his hometown of Hiroshima.

One witness Saturday told NHK television that she was standing in the crowd when she saw something come flying from behind. After a sudden loud noise, she fled with her children. Another witness said people were screaming and that he saw someone being apprehended right before the explosion occurred.

Saturday’s attack comes ahead of nationwide local elections, including several by-elections for vacated parliamentary seats, with voting scheduled for April 23.

In Abe’s assassination, the former prime minister was shot with a homemade gun during a campaign speech. The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, has been charged with murder and several other crimes, including violating the gun control law.

He told investigators that he killed Abe, one of Japan’s most influential and divisive politicians, because of the former prime minister’s apparent links to a religious group that he hated. In statements and in social media postings attributed to him, Yamagami said he developed a grudge because his mother had made massive donations to the Unification Church that bankrupted his family and ruined his life.

Abe’s assassination led to the resignation of top local and national police chiefs and a tightening of security guidelines for political leaders and other prominent people.

Kishida’s government was hoping to focus world attention this weekend on the hot spring resort town of Karuizawa, where senior diplomats will gather Sunday for the so-called Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting.

The foreign ministers from Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and the European Union are expected to focus on worries over Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s increasingly belligerent rise and North Korea’s provocative string of weapons’ tests.

The pursuit could resume if Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto is re-elected on Sunday, as expected, against two anti-Olympic candidates.

The northern Japanese city suspended actively promoting the bid three months ago, hoping damage from Tokyo’s scandal would fade from view.

It hasn’t entirely and Sapporo, once the favorite, now has an uncertain Olympic future.

A January poll by the regional newspaper Hokkaido Shimbun showed 67% were opposed to holding the Olympics.

Sapporo has declined to call a public referendum over the Olympics, although the mayor’s re-election could be touted as a substitute. Public votes over staging the Olympics almost always fail.

Victor Matheson, who studies sports economics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, suggested a public vote before awarding any Games.

“I think a nice simple change — that the IOC would never go along with — is that every bid should be required to hold a popular vote before being finally awarded,” Matheson said in an email. “That promotes transparency, reduces the more extravagant impulses of the IOC, and limits that ability of autocratic countries from hosting the games (although they could obviously sponsor sham elections).”

Akimoto is promising “transparent and clean Games,” saying the event will help the city of nearly 2 million and the surrounding region market itself.

Sapporo was viewed as the favorite of the International Olympic Committee until arrests began last summer connected to bid-rigging, vote-buying, and bribery around the Tokyo Olympics.

At the heart of the scandal is the giant Japanese advertising agency Dentsu, which was the marketing arm of Tokyo 2020 and raised a record of $3.5 billion in local sponsorships — at least twice as much as any previous Games.

It was among six companies charged by Tokyo prosecutors with anti-monopoly practices.

Dentsu has a long history of working with the IOC and other governing bodies, and was a key force in landing the Olympics for Tokyo in 2013. French prosecutors have looked into allegations that IOC members may have been bribed to vote for Tokyo.

Dentsu President and CEO Hiroshi Igarashi offered a boiler-plate apology late last month at a shareholders’ meeting.

“As chief executive, I am determined to deal with this matter with a deep sense of crisis,” he said.

Sapporo and Vancouver were the only known candidates for 2030. Vancouver was sidelined when the provincial government declined to support financing, and Sapporo has stalled.

This prompted the IOC to recruit Stockholm, Sweden — aided by powerful Swedish IOC member Gunilla Lindberg. Swedish officials say they are doing a feasibility study. Vague plans have also surfaced for a possible bid from Switzerland.

Sweden is unlikely to require a public vote, although Switzerland is likely to.

The Winter Olympics have become a tough sell recently for the IOC. There were only two bidders for the 2022 Winter Games, which went to Beijing in a close vote against Almaty, Kazakhstan. The 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, are already a financial quagmire. Stockholm was the other finalist in that bid.

The Olympics depend heavily on public money. The Tokyo Games were financed by at least 60% public money, and likely more. The final official cost of $13 billion was reported to be twice that in an audit by a Japanese government agency.

The Winter Games cost less, but get less attention and also depend on government financing.

Sapporo has placed the cost of staging the Winter Olympics at $2.6 billion, although accurately estimating costs years in advance is impossible. In addition, almost all Olympics run over budget.

With the turmoil around Sapporo, the IOC has postponed selecting a 2030 host and is expected to act before the end of the year. Salt Lake City is bidding for the 2034 Olympics. The IOC has also expressed concerns about the impact of climate change on future Winter Olympic venues.

Sapporo’s pursuit is a reminder of the corruption around Japan’s last Winter Olympic held in 1998 in Nagano. The bid committee reportedly burned records showing how millions were spent to wine and dine IOC officials to land the bid. The prefecture also ran up a massive debt that was only paid off a few years ago.

One of the opposition mayoral candidates in Sapporo, former city official Kaoru Takano, said the billions should be spent on social welfare, health care, and improved snow removal. His campaign literature says in English — “No More” alongside the five-Olympic ring symbol.

He is running as an independent without backing from mainstream parties. All the mainstream parties, including the leading opposition groups, as well as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, support Akimoto.

The other anti-Olympics candidate, Hideo Kibata, heads a non-profit that deals with work-related injuries and illnesses and is backed by the Japanese Communist Party.

“I want to create a Sapporo that puts people’s lives and living first,” Kibata said.

試合開始！

Translation from Japanese to English: Play ball!

Baseball has long been the national pastime in the United States, but it’s Japan that has dominated the sport on a global level at the World Baseball Classic.

When Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout for the final out in a 3-2 victory over the U.S. during Tuesday’s championship game, it gave Japan its third WBC title in five tournaments.

To simply say that the United States is being beaten at its own game would diminish the sport’s long and storied history in Japan, one that dates back to the late 1800s.

Here’s a look back at the history of baseball in Japan, where the sport is known as “yakyu” or “field ball.”

When was baseball first played in Japan?  

It was in the 1870s that baseball was first played at Japanese schoolyards. 

The game was introduced to students at Kaisei Academy in Tokyo by American professor Horace Wilson in 1872, according to MLB.com. 

Japan’s first organized baseball team, the Shimbashi Athletic Club, was established six years later by American-trained engineer Hiroshi Hiraoka, per The Japan Times. Interest began to grow later that century when a team known as “Ichiko” from the First Higher School of Tokyo became the country’s first baseball heroes after defeating Yokohama-based teams featuring adults from America. 

The sport was further popularized in Japan decades later … with the help of Babe Ruth. The New York Yankees legend headlined an American all-star team of MLB legends on a tour of Japan in 1934. The team, which also featured Hall of Famers like Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx, played exhibitions against a Japanese professional team organized by Yomiuri Shimbun president Matsutaro Shoriki. 

The interest generated by the barnstorming tour led Shoriki to keep the All-Nippon team together as the Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club. That team is better known today as the 

Yomiuri Giants.

When did the Japanese baseball league start?

The Yomiuri Giants became the founding team of Japan’s first pro league, which was created in 1936.

That league was reorganized in 1950 and became known as Nippon Professional Baseball, which includes the Central League and the Pacific League. NPB also has two affiliated minor leagues called the Western League and Eastern League.

Nippon Professional Baseball remains the highest level of baseball in Japan and is considered to be the second-highest in the world behind Major League Baseball. 

Who was MLB’s first Japanese baseball player?

There are more than 60 Japanese players on MLB rosters this season. Their path to the majors was paved by Masanori Murakami, the league’s first player from Japan. 

Nippon Professional Baseball temporarily sent Murakami, and his Nankai Hawks teammates Hiroshi Takahashi and Tatsuhiko Tanaka, to the San Francisco Giants organization as exchange prospects in 1964. 

Murakami, a left-handed relief pitcher, posted an 11-7 record with a 2.38 ERA and 159 strikeouts in 106 innings with the Single-A Fresno Giants that year, going on to be named Rookie of the Year. 

The 20-year-old was then thrust into the National League pennant race on Sept. 1 after being called up to the big leagues with the Giants, who were 6.5 games back in the standings. That day, he made his debut against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, striking out the first batter he faced while tossing a scoreless eighth inning in the Giants’ 4-1 loss.

While in the big leagues with the Giants that season, Murakami went 1-0 with one save, a 1.80 ERA, 15 strikeouts and one walk in 15 innings of relief.

The Giants then paid a $10,000 fee to have Murakami return for the 1965 season … or so they thought. The Hawks had no intention of losing Murakami and signed him to a new deal prior to the start of spring training. That led to MLB commissioner Ford Frick enacting an essential baseball embargo between the United States and Japan. 

“If in the face of documentary evidence there still is insistence on the part of the Hawks baseball team in going through with this new arrangement and the breaching of the original contract, then as Commissioner of Baseball I can only hold that all agreements, all understandings and all dealings and negotiations between Japanese and American baseball are canceled,” Frick wrote at the time. 

A compromise was reached and Murakami was permitted by the Hawks to return to the Giants for only the 1965 season. He missed the first three weeks of the season but went on to post a 4-1 record with eight saves, a 3.75 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 74 1/3 innings pitched. That included his first and only major league start, in which he allowed three runs over 2 1/3 innings in a 15-9 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

That season was his last in MLB as he returned to Japan and played 16 more seasons for the Hawks. Major League Baseball did not have another Japanese player for 30 years.

Who is the most famous Japanese baseball player?

Shohei Ohtani is the latest Japanese baseball star, but he’s far from the first. 

Masanori Murakami was a trailblazer as MLB’s first Japanese player, but his stay in the big leagues was brief due to a contractual dispute. Those who followed in his footsteps decades later became MVPs, All-Stars and eventual Hall of Famers. 

They were “Showtime” before “ShoTime.”

Hideo Nomo

The baseball stalemate between the United States and Japan ended when Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes pitcher Hideo Nomo joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995. He was the first Japanese player to reach the major leagues since Masanori Murakami’s second and final season in 1965. 

The 26-year-old Nomo was named National League Rookie of the Year after going 13-6 with a 2.54 ERA, the best season of his 12-year major league career. He became the first Japanese pitcher to throw a no-hitter in MLB in 1996. He then threw another while making his debut as a member of the Boston Red Sox in 2001. Nomo finished his career with a 123-109 record and 4.24 ERA.

Sadaharu Oh

Sadaharu Oh of the Yomiuri Giants competed in a home run derby against Hank Aaron in 1974.

Why? Oh was the Hank Aaron of Japanese baseball at the time, having become the first player from Japan to reach 600 home runs. Aaron, who months prior had topped Babe Ruth’s MLB record of 714 career home runs, won the exhibition 10-9.

Oh finished his playing career in 1980 with 868 home runs and remains Nippon Professional Baseball’s all-time leader. He also won five batting titles, nine MVP awards and 11 championships. 

Ichiro Suzuki

Sorry, Pete Rose. But Ichiro Suzuki is baseball’s true hit king. The Japanese superstar totaled 4,367 hits during his combined playing career in Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball. 

Ichiro burst onto the major league scene with the Seattle Mariners in 2001 after leaving the Orix Blue Wave. The right fielder won both Rookie of the Year and MVP after leading the American League with a .350 batting average. He captured his second batting title in 2004 after hitting .372 and setting an MLB single-season record with 262 hits. The 10-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner (and future Hall of Famer) finished his 19-year MLB career with a .311 batting average and 3,089 hits.  

Hideki Matsui

Godzilla!

Hideki Matsui earned that nickname while slugging home runs (332 of them) and winning championships (three of them) with the Yomiuri Giants in Nippon Professional Baseball. In 2003, he went to the Major League Baseball equivalent of the Yomiuri Giants: the Yankees.

During his first home game in the Bronx, Matsui crushed a grand slam in the Yankees’ 7-3 win. The left fielder was named an All-Star in each of his first three seasons and helped New York win the World Series in 2009, his final season with the Yankees. He played another three seasons with three different teams, finishing his 10-year MLB career with a .282 average, 175 home runs, giving him 507 total in his professional career.

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Team USA’s repeat bid as World Baseball Classic champions has failed.

Japan topped the U.S. 3-2 in the 2023 World Baseball Classic Final on Tuesday at loanDepot park in a thrilling encounter between two of the sport’s elite nations.

After a scoreless first inning for both sides, Team USA opened the account from a likely source in the top of the second. On a 2-1 count with one out, Philadelphia Phillies’ Trea Turner launched a solo homer to left field.

But the U.S. couldn’t tack on more, and Japan responded immediately. Munetaka Murakami, the hero behind Japan’s walk-off winner vs. Mexico in the semifinal, absolutely crushed a solo homer to the right-field upper deck.

In the same inning with the bases loaded, Lars Nootbar grounded out to first, but Kazuma Okamoto scored before the U.S. could do anything about it, making it 2-1 for Japan.

Okamoto then returned to add the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. On a 0-1 count with nobody on and no outs, the 26-year-old sent a homer to left centerfield, pushing the lead to 3-1.

Team USA’s defense stayed on point to keep the score at 3-1, but the offense just couldn’t find any momentum. The best opportunity to cut the deficit came in the top of the seventh.

Jeff McNeil walked on the leadoff at-bat and Mookie Betts singled to left, so there were two runners on and no outs. But Mike Trout lined out to right on the ensuing at-bat, then Paul Goldschmidt fell into a groundout double play right after. 

Team USA finally got its next score in the top of the eighth when Kyle Schwarber replicated Murakami’s deep right-field homer from the second inning. It came on a 2-2 count with one out and nobody on as Yu Darvish entered the game for the first time to help end it.

The top of the ninth inning came with pure box-office drama. Shohei Ohtani replaced Darvish’s sole inning to close it out, but he walked McNeil on a 3-2 count, prompting Bobby Witt Jr. to pinch run from first.

Mookie Betts came out next — he went 2-for-4 prior to the at-bat — but he also fell into a groundout double play. 

As if the script couldn’t be finished any better, it came down to Ohtani vs. Mike Trout in the last at-bat. The two Los Angeles Angels teammates went at it, but Ohtani edged Trout by striking him out swinging on a 3-2 count.

The win pushes Japan’s tally to three all-time in the tournament, the most of any nation. The U.S. could’ve tied Japan with two titles apiece after taking home the title in 2017, but that won’t be the case.

Japan also finished the tournament undefeated: 9-1 vs. China, 13-4 vs. Republic of Korea, 10-2 vs. Czech Republic, 7-1 vs. Australia, 9-3 vs. Italy, 6-5 vs. Mexico and 3-2 vs. USA. The Dominican Republic is the only other nation to do so when it won the title in 2013.

With the 2023 WBC now in the books, the U.S. will now turn its attention to the 2023 MLB regular season with Opening Day slated for March 30.

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The worker was sorting trash in Sapporo, a prefecture of Hokkaido, when he found wads of cash worth 10 million yen, or approximately $74,000 USD, mixed in with the other garbage that was collected on Jan. 30.

Stacks of 10,000 yen bills were inside several garbage bags.

The worker’s supervisor notified police about the finding.

Officials are treating the money as a lost and found case and are looking for the owner of the cash.

If the owner is not found within three months, officials said they would revert the ownership to Sapporo City Hall, which contracts for recycling services.

A similar case has happened in the prefecture before. In 2012, a waste disposal facility in the city of Sunagawa found ten million yen in cash. The owner later came forward.

Hundreds of people who waited outside Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo took photos, wiped tears with handkerchiefs and waved at a white truck carrying Xiang Xiang as it slowly drove past them on its way to the airport. Others trooped to Narita International Airport to wave their last goodbyes as a plane carrying Xiang Xiang took off.

The last public viewing of Xiang Xiang on Sunday was limited to 2,600 lucky ones who won their tickets in an extremely competitive lottery of more than half a million applicants.

Xiang Xiang was escorted by two zoo staff on the flight to Chengdu. She was in good health and relaxed during her departure proceedings at the airport, where she ate her favorite snacks of bamboo shoots and apples, the Ueno Zoo tweeted.

Ueno Zoo Director Yutaka Fukuda said he will miss her as he had seen her grow since her birth in 2017. “I want to thank her for making so many people happy,” he said. “I hope she will contribute to panda conservation research after safely completing her journey.”

Xiang Xiang, the first naturally conceived panda at the zoo, was originally set to be returned to China in December 2020, but her trip was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

China sends pandas abroad as a sign of goodwill but maintains ownership over the animals and any cubs they produce. The animals are native to southwestern China and are an unofficial national mascot.

At the Adventure World, another zoo in a central Japanese coastal town of Shirahama, three other pandas appeared before the public for the last time on Tuesday, one day before they head back to China. They are elderly male Eimei, who was sent from China in 1994 and has since fathered 16 cubs, earning him the nickname “super papa,” as well as two of his Japanese-born daughters Ouhin and Touhin.

The reproductive-age twin sisters will move to Sichuan to find suitable partners. They did not show interest in males at the Japanese zoo. Four other female pandas will stay behind, and the park is seeking a male panda for them to be sent from China.

Visitors signed messages for their favorite pandas. “Thank you Eimei, stay health and live long!” one of them said. Local media carried their profiles and history along with their cuddly photos of them growing up.

Despite strained political ties between Japan and China, pandas have connected people in both countries and contributed to the friendship, Japanese fans say. The Chinese Embassy called them “the cutest messengers of friendship” who have bonded people’s hearts in both countries, and said it hopes that Japanese will continue to follow their progress after their return to China.

Pandas, which reproduce rarely in the wild and rely on a diet of bamboo, remain among the world’s most threatened species. An estimated 1,800 pandas live in the wild, while another 500 are in zoos or reserves, mostly in Sichuan.

The statement by Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry came in response to comments by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who said in Seoul on Tuesday that the United States would increase its deployment of advanced military assets to the Korean Peninsula, including fighter jets and aircraft carriers, as it strengthens joint training and operational planning with South Korea.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the United States flew B-1B bombers and F-22 and F-35 fighter jets in an exercise with South Korean fighters on Wednesday above South Korea’s western waters in their latest show of strength. The United States and South Korea are also planning to hold a simulation exercise this month aimed at sharpening their response if North Korea uses nuclear weapons.

In a statement attributed to an unidentified spokesperson of its Foreign Ministry, North Korea said the expansion of the allies’ drills is threatening to turn the Korean Peninsula into a “huge war arsenal and a more critical war zone.” The statement said the North is prepared to counter any short-term or long-term military challenge by the allies with the “most overwhelming nuclear force.”

“The military and political situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region has reached an extreme red line due to the reckless military confrontational maneuvers and hostile acts of the U.S. and its vassal forces,” the spokesperson said.

North Korea for decades has described the United States’ combined military exercises with South Korea as rehearsals for a potential invasion, although the allies have described those drills as defensive.

North Korea last year ramped up its own weapons demonstrations as the allies resumed their large-scale training that had been downsized for years. North Korea’s actions included a slew of missile and artillery launches that it described as simulated nuclear attacks on South Korean and U.S. targets.

“DPRK will take the toughest reaction to any military attempt of the U.S. on the principle of ‘nuke for nuke and an all-out confrontation for an all-out confrontation!’” the North Korean spokesperson said, invoking the country’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“If the U.S. continues to introduce strategic assets into the Korean Peninsula and its surrounding area, the DPRK will make clearer its deterring activities without fail according to their nature,” the spokesperson said.

Jeon Ha Gyu, spokesperson of South Korea’s Defense Ministry, said the ministry had no immediate comment in response to the North Korean statement. He said the allies’ latest aerial drills were aimed at demonstrating the credibility of the U.S. “extended deterrence,” referring to a commitment to use the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear ones, to defend South Korea. He declined to reveal the exact number of U.S. and South Korean aircraft involved in the exercise.

Austin’s visit came as South Korea seeks stronger assurances that the United States will swiftly and decisively use its nuclear capabilities to protect its ally in face of a North Korean nuclear attack.

South Korea’s security jitters have risen since North Korea test-fired dozens of missiles in 2022, including potentially nuclear-capable ones designed to strike targets in South Korea and the U.S. mainland. North Korea’s elevated testing activity has been punctuated by threats to preemptively use its nuclear weapons in a broad range of scenarios in which it perceives its leadership to be under threat, including conventional clashes or non-war situations.

In a news conference following their meeting, Austin said he and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-Sup agreed to further expand their combined military exercises, including more live-fire demonstrations. They pledged to continue a “timely and coordinated” deployment of U.S. strategic assets to the region.

They said that their countries’ resumption of large-scale military drills last year effectively demonstrated their combined capabilities to deter North Korean aggression. The allies had downsized their training in recent years to create room for diplomacy with North Korea during the Trump administration and because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

South Korea and the United States have also been strengthening their security cooperation with Japan, which has included trilateral missile defense and anti-submarine warfare exercises in past months amid the provocative run in North Korean weapons tests.

“We deployed fifth-generation aircraft, F-22s and F-35s, we deployed a carrier strike group to visit the peninsula. You can look for more of that kind of activity going forward,” Austin said.

Tensions could further rise in coming months with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un doubling down on his nuclear ambitions.

During a political conference in December, Kim called for an “exponential increase” in nuclear warheads, mass production of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons targeting South Korea, and the development of more powerful long-range missiles designed to reach the U.S. mainland.

Experts say Kim’s nuclear push is aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power and then negotiating badly needed economic concessions from a position of strength.

Nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea have been derailed since 2019 because of disagreements over a relaxation of U.S.-led economic sanctions against the North in exchange for steps by North Korea to wind down its nuclear weapons and missiles programs.

The North Korean spokesperson said Pyongyang isn’t interested in any contact or dialogue with the United States as long as it maintains its “hostile policy and confrontational line,” accusing Washington of maintaining sanctions and military pressure to force the North to “disarm itself unilaterally.”

Kyle Smaine, a skier based in Lake Tahoe, California, had traveled to Japan for the “unbelievable snow quality,” according to a recent post on his Instagram account.

“This is what brings me back to Japan each winter,” wrote Smaine, who won a gold medal in halfpipe at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2015, as he shared a video of him skiing.

Smaine was skiing in Nagano Prefecture, in the center of Japan’s Honshu island, when he died after the avalanche unfolded, his father, William Smaine, confirmed to NBC News.

Read more of this story here at NBCNews.com.

The Kujira (Whale) Store, an unmanned outlet that recently opened in the port town of Yokohama near Tokyo, houses three machines for whale sashimi, whale bacon, whale skin and whale steak, as well as canned whale meat at prices from 1,000 yen ($7.70) to 3,000 yen ($23).

The outlet features white vending machines decorated with cartoon whales and is the third to launch in the Japanese capital region. It opened Tuesday after two others were introduced in Tokyo earlier this year as part of Kyodo Senpaku Co.’s new sales drive.

Whale meat has long been a source of controversy but sales in the new vending machines have quietly gotten off to a good start, the operator says. Anti-whaling protests have subsided since Japan three years ago terminated its much-criticized research hunts in the Antarctic and resumed commercial whaling off the Japanese coasts.

Kyodo Senpaku hopes to expand the vending machines to 100 locations across the country in five years, company spokesperson Konomu Kubo told The Associated Press. A fourth is set to open in Osaka next month.

The idea is to open vending machines near supermarkets, where whale meat is usually not available, to cultivate demand, a task crucial for the industry’s survival.

Major supermarket chains have largely stayed away from whale meat to avoid protests by anti-whaling groups, and they seem to remain cautious even though harassment from activists has subsided in recent years, Kubo said.

“As a result, many consumers who want to eat it cannot find or buy whale meat. We launched vending machines at unmanned stores for those people,” he said.

Company officials say sales at the two outlets in Tokyo have been significantly higher than expected, keeping staff busy replenishing products.

At the store in the Motomachi district of Yokohama, a posh shopping area near Chinatown, 61-year-old customer Mami Kashiwabara went straight for whale bacon, her father’s favorite. To her disappointment it was sold out, so she settled for frozen onomi, tail meat that is regarded as a rare delicacy.

Kashiwabara says she is aware of the whaling controversy but that whale meat brings back her childhood memories of eating it at family dinners and school lunches.

“I don’t think it’s good to kill whales meaninglessly. But whale meat is part of Japanese food culture and we can respect the lives of whales by appreciating their meat,” Kashiwabara said. “I would be happy if I can eat it.”

Kashiwabara said she planned to share her purchase of a 3,000 yen ($23) handy-size chunk, neatly wrapped in a freezer bag, with her husband over sake.

The meat mostly comes from whales caught off Japan’s northeastern coast.

Japan resumed commercial whaling in July 2019 after withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission, ending 30 years of what it called research whaling, which had been criticized by conservationists as a cover for commercial hunts banned by the IWC in 1988.

Under its commercial whaling in the Japanese exclusive economic zone, Japan last year caught 270 whales, less than 80% of the quota and fewer than the number it once hunted in the Antarctic and the northwestern Pacific in its research program.

While conservation groups condemned the resumption of commercial whaling, some see it as a way to let the government’s embattled and expensive whaling program adapt to changing times and tastes.

In a show of determination to keep the whaling industry alive in the coming decades, Kyodo Senpaku will start construction on a 6 billion yen ($46 million) new mother ship to be launched next year to replace the aging Nisshin Maru.

But uncertainty remains.

Whaling is losing support in other whaling nations such as Iceland, where whalers have cut back on catches in recent years amid criticism that commercial hunts are hurting their national image and tourism.

Whales may also be moving away from the Japanese coasts due to a scarcity of saury, a staple of their diet, and other fish possibly due to the impact of climate change, Kubo said.

Whaling in Japan involves only a few hundred people and one operator and accounted for less than 0.1% of total meat consumption in recent years, according to Fisheries Agency data.

Still, conservative governing lawmakers staunchly support commercial whaling and consumption of the meat as part of Japan’s cultural tradition.

Conservationists say whale meat is no longer part of the daily diet in Japan, especially for younger generations.

Whale meat was an affordable source of protein during Japan’s undernourished years after World War II, with annual consumption peaking at 233,000 tons in 1962.

Whale was quickly replaced by other meats. The whale meat supply fell to 6,000 tons in 1986, the year before the moratorium on commercial whaling imposed by the IWC banned the hunting of several whale species.

Under the research whaling, criticized as a cover for commercial hunts because the meat was sold on the market, Japan caught as many as 1,200 whales annually. It has since drastically cut back its catch after international protests escalated and whale meat supply and consumption slumped at home.

Annual meat supply had fluctuated in a range of 3,000-5,000 tons, including imports from Norway and Iceland. The amount further fell in 2019 to 2,000 tons, or 20 grams (less than 1 ounce) of whale meat per person a year, the Fisheries Agency statistics show.

Whaling officials attributed the shrinking supply in the past three years to the absence of imports due to the pandemic, and plan to nearly double this year’s supply with imports of more than 2,500 tons from Iceland.

Japan managed to get Iceland’s only remaining whaling company to hunt whales exclusively for shipment to Japan, whaling officials said. Iceland caught only one minke whale in the 2021 season, according to the IWC.

Criticizing Iceland’s export to Japan, the International Fund for Animal Welfare said it “opposes all commercial whaling as it is inherently cruel.”

With uncertain outlook for imports, Kyodo Senpaku wants the government to raise Japan’s annual catch quota to levels that can supply about 5,000 tons, the level Kubo describes as the threshold to maintain the industry.

“From a long-term perspective, I think it would be difficult to sustain the industry at the current supply levels,” Kubo said. “We must expand both supply and demand, which have both shrunk.”

With the extremely limited supply, whale meat processing cannot be a viable business and may not last for the next generations, he added.

Yuki Okoshi, who started serving whale meat dishes at his Japanese-style seafood restaurant three years ago when higher quality whale meat became available under commercial whaling, said he hopes whale meat supply will stabilize.

Okoshi noted dwindling whale meat supply in recent years and said “the future of the whale industry depends on whether customers need us, and perhaps restaurants like us that are closest to consumers hold the key to survival.”

“Whaling can be a political issue, but relationships between the restaurant and our customers is very simple,” Okoshi said. “We serve good food at reasonable prices and customers are happy. That’s all there is to it.”

Lyu Guijun, the consul general in the western Japanese city of Fukuoka, told state broadcaster CGTN that six of the eight victims were Chinese.

There were 22 crew members — 14 from China and eight from Myanmar — on the 6,551-ton Jin Tian. It sank early Wednesday about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of Nagasaki, Japan.

Five of the crew have been rescued, including four Chinese, Lyu said. Another eight or nine remain missing, according to varying reports.

Maritime transport websites said the vessel left Malaysia’s Port Klang on Dec. 3 and was headed for South Korea’s Incheon port. The Hong Kong-registered ship was carrying lumber.

South Korean officials said nine of them remain unconscious, but they did not immediately confirm any deaths. They said the crew members would be airlifted to Japan for treatment.

South Korean and Japanese coast guard vessels and aircraft as well as two commercial cargo ships were continuing to search for the eight missing crew members but the efforts were being slowed by strong winds and waves, South Korean officials said.

The Japanese coast guard confirmed the rescue of at least 13 crew members and said five of them – all Chinese nationals – were still alive.

The 6,551-ton Jin Tian sank about three and a half hours after it sent a distress call at around 11:15 p.m. Tuesday in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Japanese coast guard spokesperson Shinya Kitahara said.

The vessel, which was Hong Kong registered and carrying lumber, sank about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of Nagasaki, Japan, and about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of South Korea’s Jeju island.

The captain last communicated with the coast guard through a satellite phone around 2:41 a.m., saying crew members would abandon the ship, minutes before it sank, Jeju island coast guard officials said.

Six crew members were picked up by South Korean coast guard vessels, while a cargo ship picked up five and Japanese aircraft picked up three, according to Jeju’s coast guard.

According to South Korean and Japanese officials, 14 crew members are Chinese and eight are from Myanmar. According to maritime transport websites, the vessel left Malaysia’s Port Klang on Dec. 3 and was headed for South Korea’s Incheon port.

The ship is owned by Long Bright Shipping Limited, a Hong Kong-registered company that is a subsidiary of Shenzhen Shekou Shipping Transportation Co., Ltd., according to a July 2022 filing made by the parent company to China’s National Equities Exchange and Quotations. The filing says the Jin Tian was used as collateral for a loan that was later repaid.

Calls to a number listed for Shenzhen Shekou Shipping Transportation in mainland China went unanswered on Wednesday during the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday.

South Korean officials didn’t immediately say whether the nine who were unconscious were likely to survive their injuries if they weren’t already dead. They said the five other crew members who were rescued were either conscious when found or regained consciousness after being rescued.

Kitahara said the cause of the ship’s sinking was not immediately known and there were no signs that it collided with another vessel. He said the arrivals of Japanese patrol boats and aircraft were delayed by difficult weather following the sinking.

Officials at Jeju’s coast guard say a strong wind warning was issued for the area earlier on Wednesday but was later lifted. Winds were blowing at around 16 meters (yards) per second in the area as of 7 a.m., creating waves that were 3 to 4 meters (yards) high.

The Japanese coast guard said the water in the area remained rough and its temperature was around 14 degrees Celsius.

Tetsuya Yamagami was arrested immediately after allegedly shooting Abe with a homemade gun as the former leader was making a campaign speech in July outside a train station in Nara in western Japan.

Later that month, Yamagami was sent to an Osaka detention center for a nearly six-month mental evaluation, which ended Tuesday. Yamagami is back in police custody in Nara.

Prosecutors said results of his mental evaluation showed he is fit to stand trial. Yamagami was also charged with violating a gun control law, according to the Nara District Court.

Police have said Yamagami told them that he killed Abe, one of Japan’s most influential and divisive politicians, because of Abe’s apparent links to a religious group that he hated. In his statements and in social media postings attributed to him, Yamagami said he developed a grudge because his mother had made massive donations to the Unification Church that bankrupted his family and ruined his life.

One of his lawyers, Masaaki Furukawa, told the Associated Press on Thursday that Yamagami was in good health during his mental evaluation in Osaka when he was only allowed to see his sister and three lawyers.

Furuawa said his trial is a serious case and involve a jury panel of citizens. Due to the complexity of the case, it would take at least several months before his trial begins, he said.

Police are also reportedly considering adding several allegations, including weapons production, vilation to explosives control law and causing damage to buildings.

Some Japanese have expressed sympathy for Yamagami, especially those who also suffered as children of followers of the South Korea-based Unification Church, which is known for pressuring adherents into making big donations and is considered a cult in Japan.

Thousands of people have signed a petition requesting leniency for Yamagami, and others have sent care packages to his relatives or the detention center.

The investigation into the case has led to revelations of years of cozy ties between Abe’s governing Liberal Democratic Party and the church since Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, helped the church take root in Japan in the 1960s over shared interests in conservative and anti-communist causes.

Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s popularity has plunged over his handling of the church controversy and for insisting on holding a rare, controversial state funeral for Abe.

The government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, announced in April 2021 a plan to begin releasing the treated wastewater into the sea starting in spring 2023. They say more than 1 million tons of water stored in about 1,000 tanks at the plant are hampering its decommissioning and risk leaking in the event of a major earthquake or tsunami.

Under the current plan, TEPCO will transport the treated water through a pipeline from the tanks to a coastal facility, where it will be diluted with seawater and sent through an undersea tunnel, currently under construction, to an offshore outlet. The company has acknowledged the possibility of rough winter weather and sea conditions delaying the tunnel progress.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters Friday the government has adopted a revised action plan, which includes enhanced efforts to ensure safety and measures to financially support the local fishing industry and a new release target of “around spring or summer this year.”

TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa said that despite the government’s new timing for the wastewater release, his company still aims to have the facility ready by the spring. He also acknowledged a lack of local understanding about the release and pledged to continue efforts to ease safety concerns.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed the Fukushima plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt and release large amounts of radiation. Water used to cool the damaged reactor cores, which remain highly radioactive, has since leaked into the basements of the reactor buildings and has been collected, treated and stored in tanks.

The release plan has been fiercely opposed by fishermen, local residents and Japan’s neighbors, including China and South Korea. Fukushima residents worry the reputation of their agricultural and fishing products will be further damaged.

Most of the radioactivity is removed from the water during treatment, but tritium cannot be removed and low levels of some other radionuclides also remain. The government and TEPCO say the environmental and health impacts will be negligible as the water will be slowly released after further treatment and dilution by large amounts of seawater.

Some scientists say the impact of long-term, low-dose exposure to tritium and other radionuclides on the environment and humans is still unknown and the release plan should be delayed. They say tritium affects humans more when it is consumed in fish.

Japan is cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency to increase the safety, transparency and understanding of the water discharge plan. An IAEA team that visited Japan a number of times for talks and plant inspections last year will visit again in January to meet with nuclear regulators and will release a final report before the planned release begins.

The plan, revealed during a public hearing organized by Seoul’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday, was met with fierce criticism by victims and their legal representatives, who have demanded that the reparations come from Japan.

Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have been strained since South Korea’s Supreme Court in 2018 upheld lower court verdicts and ordered Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to compensate Korean forced laborers.

The companies have refused to carry out the orders and the plaintiffs have responded by pursuing legal steps aimed at forcing the companies to sell off their local assets to provide compensation, a process South Korean officials fear would cause further rupture between Seoul and Tokyo. Victims have also demanded the Japanese companies issue an apology over their ordeals.

Ties between the U.S. Asian allies have long been complicated by grievances related to Japan’s brutal rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, when hundreds of thousands of Koreans were mobilized as forced laborers for Japanese companies or sex slaves at Tokyo’s wartime brothels.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who took office in May, has been eager to improve ties with Japan as they pursue stronger trilateral security cooperation with Washington in the face of the growing North Korean nuclear threat.

He met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Cambodia in November in the first bilateral summit between the countries in three years, where they expressed commitment to swiftly resolve “pending” bilateral issues, which clearly referred to the forced labor dispute.

During Thursday’s public hearing at the National Assembly, South Korean Foreign Ministry official Seo Min-jung said her government’s priority is to arrange the payments as quickly as possible, noting that many forced labor victims are already dead and most known survivors are in their 90s.

She said it would be “impossible” to make the Japanese companies apologize on behalf of the broader forced labor issue, which for decades has been a major cause of the diplomatic impasse.

“It would be important that Japan sincerely maintains and inherits the poignant expressions of apology and remorse that it already expressed in the past,” said Seo, the ministry’s director of Asia and Pacific Affairs.

Seo said the payments could possibly be handled by the Seoul-based Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan. Shim Kyu-sun, the foundation’s chairman, said the payments could be funded by South Korean firms that benefited from Japanese economic assistance when the companies normalized their ties in the 1960s, including steel giant POSCO.

“The Japanese companies have reduced much of their economic activity in South Korea and withdrawn (many of their) assets, so it’s not even clear whether a liquidation process would be enough to provide compensation to the plaintiffs,” said Seo.

She said government officials planned to meet the victims and their family members in person to explain the payment plans and seek their consent.

Lim Jae-sung, a lawyer who represented some of the plaintiffs in the 2018 rulings, accused the government of pushing ahead with a settlement that excessively aligns with Japan’s position while ignoring the voices of victims.

“It seems that the South Korean government’s finalized plan is to use the money by South Korean companies like POSCO to allow the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan to eliminate the forced labor victims’ rights to receivables,” Lim said. “Japan doesn’t take any burden at all.”

Japan insists all wartime compensation issues were settled under a 1965 treaty normalizing relations between the two nations that was accompanied by hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid and loans from Tokyo to Seoul.

Japan reacted furiously after the South Korean rulings in 2018 and subsequently placed export controls on chemicals vital to South Korea’s semiconductor industry in 2019, citing the deterioration of trust between the countries.

Seoul accused Tokyo of weaponizing trade and even threatened to terminate a military intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo, which was a major symbol of their three-way security cooperation with Washington. South Korea eventually backed off and kept the deal after being pressured by the Trump administration.

Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had refused to carry out the 2018 rulings and re-appealed to the Supreme Court after lower courts ordered them to sell off their local assets to compensate the plaintiffs.

The Supreme Court has yet to make a decision on whether to allow the liquidation of the companies’ assets to proceed.

Two thousand thirty-nine students from grades one through nine in Ibaraki Prefecture challenged the Guinness World Record Dec. 19, last broken in 2015 with just 740 people.

About five minutes into the game, the students were told that they officially set the world record. A Guinness World Records representative confirmed the new record.

In the game, one person is “it.” To start the game, that person says, “Daruma-san ga koronda.” There are 10 syllables in the sentence, which means, “The daruma doll fell over.”

A Daruma doll is a traditional hollow, round, Japanese doll modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen tradition of Buddhism.

For the other players, the object of the game is to get close to whoever is “it” without him seeing them move.

The year nine student who came up with the idea said he hoped the win would teach students to take on challenging things and not get discouraged.

The attempt was also a way for the school to come together one more time before it is split into two schools next April as its population has surged.

It will take nearly five months for the lander and its experiments to reach the moon.

The company ispace designed its craft to use minimal fuel, to save money and leave more room for cargo. So it’s taking a slow, low-energy path to the moon, flying 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth before looping back and intersecting with the moon by the end of April.

By contrast, NASA’s Orion crew capsule with test dummies took five days to reach the moon last month. The lunar flyby mission ends Sunday with a Pacific splashdown.

The ispace lander will aim for Atlas crater in the northeastern section of the moon’s near side, more than 50 miles (87 kilometers) across and just over 1 mile (2 kilometers) deep. With its four legs extended, the lander is more than 7 feet (2.3 meters) tall.

With a science satellite already around Mars, the UAE wants to explore the moon, too. Its rover, named Rashid after Dubai’s royal family, weighs just 22 pounds (10 kilograms) and will operate on the surface for about 10 days, like everything else on the mission.

In addition, the lander is carrying an orange-sized sphere from the Japanese Space Agency that will transform into a wheeled robot on the moon. Also flying: a solid state battery from a Japanese-based spark plug company; an Ottawa, Ontario, company’s flight computer with artificial intelligence for identifying geologic features seen by the UAE rover; and 360-degree cameras from a Toronto-area company.

Hitching a ride on the rocket is a small NASA laser experiment that will fly to the moon on its own to hunt for ice in the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar south pole.

The ispace mission is called Hakuto, Japanese for white rabbit. In Asian folklore, a white rabbit is said to live on the moon. A second lunar landing by the private company is planned for 2024 and a third in 2025.

Founded in 2010, ispace was among the finalists in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition requiring a successful landing on the moon by 2018. The lunar rover built by ispace never launched.

Another finalist, an Israeli nonprofit called SpaceIL, managed to reach the moon in 2019. But instead of landing gently, the spacecraft Beresheet slammed into the moon and was destroyed.

With Sunday’s predawn launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, ispace is now on its way to becoming one of the first private entities to attempt a moon landing. Although not launching until early next year, lunar landers built by Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology and Houston’s Intuitive Machines may beat ispace to the moon thanks to shorter cruise times.

Only Russia, the U.S. and China have achieved so-called “soft landings” on the moon, beginning with the former Soviet Union’s Luna 9 in 1966. And only the U.S. has put astronauts on the lunar surface: 12 men over six landings.

Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of astronauts’ last lunar landing, by Apollo 17’s Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on Dec. 11, 1972.

NASA’s Apollo moonshots were all “about the excitement of the technology,” said ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada, who wasn’t alive then. Now, “it’s the excitement of the business.”

“This is the dawn of the lunar economy,” Hakamada noted in the SpaceX launch webcast. “Let’s go to the moon.”

Liftoff should have occurred two weeks ago, but was delayed by SpaceX for extra rocket checks.

Eight minutes after launch, the recycled first-stage booster landed back at Cape Canaveral under a near full moon, the double sonic booms echoing through the night.

In a tight round of 16 contest against Japan in the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Monday, the Vatreni emerged victorious in the first penalty shootout of the tournament. 

And that’s when Dominik Livaković announced himself to the world. 

The 27-year-old Dinamo Zagreb goalkeeper saved Takumi Minamino’s opening attempt and Kaoru Mitoma’s follow-up. Takuma Asano scored on Japan’s third try, but Livaković rose to the occasion yet again when he blocked Maya Yoshida on the fourth shot. 

Livaković made history as he became just the third goalkeeper in World Cup history to make three saves in a single penalty shootout, which is also the most in one go. 

Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo saved three of England’s penalties in the 2006 quarterfinals to win the shootout 3-1. Danijel Subašić, also of Croatia, saved three against Denmark in the 2018 round of 16 to win the shootout 3-2 en route to the nation’s run to the World Cup Final. 

Japan and Croatia entered the game as the most even matchup among the eight round of 16 games. Whereas the Vatreni want to spread around passes with their strong midfield and deliver in crosses from the flanks, the Samurai Blue like to sit deep and break out on the counter with their speedy outlets.

Goals from Daizen Maida in the 43rd minute and Ivan Perišić in the 55th kept things level in regulation and during an additional 30 minutes of extra time, sending the game to a do-or-die penalty shootout. 

Croatia will now play the winner of Brazil vs. South Korea in the quarterfinal on Friday, Dec. 9.

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The Vatreni went into extra time three times in their run to the 2018 World Cup Final, and they used that experience to keep their 2022 hopes alive.

The team edged Japan 1-1 (3-1) on penalty kicks in its round of 16 contest at Al Janoub Stadium on Monday. Nikola Vlašić, Marcelo Brozović and Mario Pašalić scored in the penalty shootout, but the story for Croatia came in goal.

Dominik Livaković was on Croatia’s 2018 World Cup squad, but he did not see any game action in Russia. The goalkeeper was ready for his moment against Japan, stopping Takumi Minamino on the first penalty kick attempt and blocking Kaoru Mitoma on the second. Takuma Asano scored on Japan’s third try, but Livaković got a third save by stymying Maya Yoshida on the next shot. Pašalić stepped up next and nailed the game-winner to send Croatia into the quarterfinals.

Croatia-Japan was the first match at the 2022 World Cup to reach extra time, let alone penalties. Japan had only gone past 90 minutes once in its World Cup history, while Croatia did it three times, all of which came four years ago.

Daizen Maeda opened the scoring in the 43rd minute of the match. Japan threaded some passes off a corner kick before sending a cross into the box, and the ball found Maeda. The Celtic forward capitalized from close range and gave Japan its first World Cup halftime lead since its opening match of the 2014 group stage.

Japan’s lead didn’t last long into the second half, though. Ivan Perišić put home an equalizer on a header in the 55th minute to tie the score at 1-1. The goal was Perišić’s first of the tournament and put him in a tie with Davor Šuker as Croatia’s all-time World Cup goals leader.

There were no more goals for the remaining 65 minutes. Livaković and Japanese goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda maintained the 1-1 score through the rest of the second half and the two extra-time periods, prompting the penalty shootout

With the win, Croatia will now play in the first quarterfinal of the 2022 World Cup at 10 a.m. ET on Friday. The team will find out its opponent in a matter of hours on Monday, as Brazil and South Korea will square off in a round of 16 match at 2 p.m. ET. Croatia lost to Brazil at the World Cup in 2006 and 2014 group stages and has never faced South Korea in the tournament.

Japan will head home in the round of 16 for the third time in the last four World Cups and is still without a quarterfinals appearance in its history. The team beat Germany and Spain to win Group E, and it became the first group winner to be eliminated in Qatar.

The reigning World Cup runners-up are on the board in the round of 16.

Ivan Perišić drew Croatia level with Japan at 1-1 with a goal in the 55th minute of Monday’s knockout stage match. Dejan Lovren delivered a gorgeous cross into the box, and Perišić directed a header past Japan’s Shūichi Gonda and into the back of the net.

The goal is Perišić’s first of the 2022 World Cup and the sixth of his World Cup career, tying him with Davor Šuker for the most in Croatia’s history. It was also the 33rd of his international career, tying him with Mario Mandžukić for second on his country’s all-time goals list.

Croatia trailed for the second time in Qatar after conceding a Japanese goal in the 43rd minute. Japan was a second-half team in the group stage, but the tides have turned so far in the round of 16.

Should the score remain tied at 1-1, the match would be the first at the 2022 World Cup to require extra time.

Japan pulled off a pair of upsets over European oppositions in the World Cup group stage, and it is one step closer to another in the round of 16.

Daizen Maeda gave Japan a 1-0 lead in the 43rd minute of Monday’s match against Croatia. Japan strung together three passes off a corner kick before sending it into the box, and the ball found Maeda on the right side of the net. The Celtic forward then booted a left-footed shot past Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livaković for the match’s first goal.

Maeda is making his first World Cup appearance after joining the Japanese national team in 2019. He only had one international goal in his career prior to Monday’s strike.

Japan beat Germany and Spain en route to claiming the top spot in Group E, but it has not been a strong first-half squad. Maeda’s goal gave the country its first halftime lead in its last 10 World Cup matches.

This is only Japan’s third appearance in the World Cup round of 16, and a win would give the team its first ever quarterfinals berth.

Which version of the Japan national team is going to show up in the round of 16?

The one that produced stunning group stage wins over 2010 World Cup champion Spain and 2014 World Cup champion Germany? Or the one that suffered a disappointing shutout loss to Costa Rica?

That will be determined Monday when Japan takes on Croatia in the knockout stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. 

Japan erased one-goal deficits against both Germany and Spain to defeat each team 2-1, scoring two goals in a three-minute span against Spain to win Group E.

Now in the knockout stage for the fourth time in its history, and coming off its first group win, Japan will look to make its first trip to the quarterfinals.

To get there, the Samurai Blue have to go through Croatia, the 2018 World Cup runner-up. Croatia has allowed just one goal in the 2022 World Cup, producing a 4-1 win over Canada and a pair of scoreless draws against Morocco and Belgium to finish second in Group F. 

Croatia advanced to the knockout stage for the third time in its history. The nation has yet to lose in the round of 16, having finished third in the 1998 World Cup and second to France in the 2018 World Cup.  

Here’s how to watch Japan and Croatia in the knockout round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup:

When is the Japan vs. Croatia 2022 FIFA World Cup game? 

Japan and Croatia will face off on Monday, Dec. 5.

What time is the Japan vs. Croatia 2022 FIFA World Cup game?

Kick-off time is slated for 10 a.m. ET, 7 a.m. PT, which is 6 p.m. locally in Qatar.

Where is the Japan vs. Croatia 2022 FIFA World Cup game?

Japan and Croatia will play at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar. 

How to watch the Japan vs. Croatia 2022 FIFA World Cup game

The game will be broadcast on FOX in English and Telemundo in Spanish.  

How to stream the Japan vs. Croatia 2022 FIFA World Cup game

The game can be streamed online on FOX, the Fox Sports app or on Peacock (Spanish). 

Japan–Croatia – Round of 16 | 10 a.m. ET | Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2022 en Español on Peacock