Jewish & World News

A Japanese emergency disaster task force visited the Ocean Breeze section of Staten Island on Saturday, to learn lessons from Hurricane Sandy response and recovery to prepare for their own natural disasters. They Japanese government officials toured the area in the morning and spoke with homeowners about their experiences during the hurricane.

Israeli Ambassador to Japan Nissim Ben-Shitrit visited a book store at a Tokyo Metro station recently, and he was shocked to discover a manga comic book with a drawing of Adolf Hitler on its cover. An inquiry revealed that the book, which had been distributed in many book stands in Japan, was a Japanese translation of the Nazi leader's autobiography, "Mein Kampf."

A small Japanese boat confirmed to have been lost during the 2011 Japan tsunami has washed up on a remote Canadian island. The green-and-white vessel was discovered by two locals on Spring Island, northwest of Vancouver Island. British Columbia's Emergency Management agency then matched the boat's serial number to one listed as lost by the Japanese consulate, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Response and Restoration.

In the first sign that the Fukushima nuclear disaster may be changing life around it, scientists say they've found mutant butterflies. Some of the butterflies had abnormalities in their legs, antennae, and abdomens, and dents in their eyes, according to the study published in Scientific Reports, an online journal from the team behind Nature. Researchers also found that some affected butterflies had broken or wrinkled wings, changes in wing size, color pattern changes, and spots disappearing or increasing on the butterflies.

Google has been ordered to disable part of its autocomplete function in Japan after complaints it violates privacy. An unidentified man took the search giant to court over concerns that typing in his name linked him with crimes he was not involved with. Lawyer Hiroyuki Tomita said the effect on the man's reputation has meant he has found it hard to find work.

As the world's population continues to grow exponentially this century, Japan 's population will buck the trend and decrease by 30 percent over the next 50 years, Kyodo News reported. A report from the Japanese government's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, released Monday, estimates that the country's population will drop to 86.74 million by 2060, down from more than 127 million in 2010.

The March 2011 megaquake off the coast of Japan opened up fissures as wide as 6 feet (3 meters) in the seafloor, a new study finds. The fissures now scar the seafloor where peaceful clam beds once lay, according to Takeshi Tsuji, a researcher at Kyoto University in Japan . Along with seismic studies, the fissures, revealed by manned submersible vehicles that investigated the seafloor after the quake, show how the crust around the quake's epicenter expanded and cracked.

Tokyo - The world's oldest person, a Japanese woman on the southern island of Okinawa, has died a week before her 115th birthday, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. Kama Chinen, who witnessed three centuries, died Sunday, according to Kaoru Shijima, a spokeswoman at her care facility.

Tokyo,  Japan  - A Japanese government-appointed panel on Tuesday confirmed the existence of once-secret Cold War-era pacts between Japan and the U.S. on nuclear arms and other issues, ending decades of official denial by Tokyo.