Japan

They send us Ichiro, Hideki Matsui, and Yu Darvish. We send them Brad Penny. The former Dodgers righthander became the latest high-priced American-import bust in Japan, released by the Pacific League's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on Tuesday after appearing in just one game. That request came from the player. In his one appearance, Penny gave up six runs, four earned, on seven hits while walking three in 31/3 innings in a 6-5 loss to the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles on April 4. The 33-year-old, who signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Hawks in February, leaves with a 10.80 ERA. Penny follows such stars as Kevin Mitchell and Joe Pepitone as failures in the Land of the Rising Sun. Oddly, it's the guys who weren't big names who did well in Japan, including Tuffy Rhodes, Randy Bass, Alex Ramirez . . . and a slugger named Charlie Manuel.

Billboard.com reports that Ke$ha will not be touring Japan. She said in a statement: "My heart is with Japan right now through this disaster and these hardships. I genuinely don't think right now would be appropriate timing for me to perform in Japan given the content and the spirit of my show, which is all about feeling exuberant, rowdy, and wild. I plan to bring my party there and to that part of the world when we are all ready to dance and Get $leazy together again. In the meantime I am going to do everything I can to help relief efforts and I encourage everyone in the world to do the same.

Following the bleak assessment by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission of the ongoing crisis in Japan, the State Department issued a travel warning that "strongly" urged Americans in the country to leave. Fears of a meltdown prompted Temple University to begin making plans to return about 200 students who remain on its Tokyo campus. The University of Pennsylvania announced it was canceling its smaller study-abroad program in that country. The Temple contingent is expected to fly home Saturday, a university spokesman said.

Mainstream animation in this country is still limited by the age of its target audience. The Japanese epic Princess Mononoke is a wonderful example of what liberation can do for an art form. Part eco-fable and part saga that refers to the myths that recur in many cultures and religions, Princess Mononoke is the work of Hayao Miyazaki - a master animator revered by the artists at the Disney Studio and its rivals. The film was released in Japan three years ago and became a huge box office success.

The first clear outlines of a new world order were displayed at the summit meeting here as the United States bowed to demands by Japan and Western Europe to set their own economic courses. On issues ranging from aid to the Soviet Union and China to agricultural subsidies and environmental protection, Japan, West Germany and the European Economic Community flexed economic muscles that are beginning to compete with traditional U.S. strength. Japan, usually isolated and defensive at these annual summits of the major industrial democracies, went on the offensive.

South Korea upset Japan, 3-2, yesterday to win Group A in the first round of the inaugural World Baseball Classic, with Lee Seung-yeop hitting a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning of a game that mattered little because both nations were assured of advancing. Former Met Dae-Sung Koo pitched two scoreless innings of relief to get the win for South Korea, which overcame a two-run deficit, and Chan Ho Park of the Padres retired the side in the ninth for the save. In another game, Chen Yung-Chi hit a grand slam in the fourth inning to lead Taiwan past China, 12-3.

IT'S WAR! Just like the good old days. We're reading again about Japan preparing to dispatch naval vessels and Germany bickering over troop movements. America and England, allies to the last. Where is old Adolf? What about Winston and FDR and Tojo? Now that was a real war, eh, boys? But today the script seems twisted. Our Germany is one of the good guys and is arguing over whether to mobilize troops. Japan is also a good guy, and it's taking military action in a war situation for the first time since that other war. Germany's government is trying to mobilize 3,900 troops for the Afghan war. German pacifists (pacifists?

Former Beatle George Harrison will launch his first tour in 17 years at the end of the year, in Japan. He'll be backed by Eric Clapton and his band, and if the gig goes well in Japan the duo may tour the United States and Europe next year, according to Clapton's manager. The 13 concerts in December will mark Clapton's first outings since the March death of his son, Conor, 4, in a fall from a Manhattan building. Harrison last toured in 1974, when he played 46 dates in North America. He has since done charity one-nighters and surprise appearances.

FUDAI, Japan - In the rubble of Japan's northeast coast, one small village stands as tall as ever after the tsunami. No homes were swept away. In fact, they barely got wet. Fudai is the village that survived - thanks to a huge wall that once was deemed a mayor's expensive folly and that now has been vindicated as the community's salvation. The 3,000 people living between mountains behind a cove owe their lives to a late leader who saw the devastation of an earlier tsunami and made it the priority of his four-decade tenure to defend his people from the next one. His 51-foot-high floodgate, between mountainsides, took a dozen years to build and more than $30 million in today's dollars.

New York Yankees outfielder Paul O'Neill said he would seriously explore playing in Japan if the baseball labor crisis threatens next season, according to a published report. O'Neill, whose .359 batting average was the best in the American League this season, told the New York Post in yesterday's editions that Japan might be an option if it looked like the 1995 season could be fragmented or canceled. The failure of owners and players to reach a new collective- bargaining agreement caused the cancellation of the 1994 World Series last week.

They send us Ichiro, Hideki Matsui, and Yu Darvish. We send them Brad Penny. The former Dodgers righthander became the latest high-priced American-import bust in Japan, released by the Pacific League's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on Tuesday after appearing in just one game. That request came from the player. In his one appearance, Penny gave up six runs, four earned, on seven hits while walking three in 31/3 innings in a 6-5 loss to the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles on April 4. The 33-year-old, who signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Hawks in February, leaves with a 10.80 ERA. Penny follows such stars as Kevin Mitchell and Joe Pepitone as failures in the Land of the Rising Sun. Oddly, it's the guys who weren't big names who did well in Japan, including Tuffy Rhodes, Randy Bass, Alex Ramirez . . . and a slugger named Charlie Manuel.

WASHINGTON - President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Monday decried aggressive acts from North Korea, including its recent failed rocket launch. Obama said Pyongyang was operating from a position of weakness, not strength, and Noda said the launch undermined diplomacy to contain North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Obama said the United States and Japan, along with other countries in the region, are unified in insisting that North Korea abide by its international responsibilities.

Playing in Sendai, Japan, Alex Morgan scored in the 72d minute on Sunday to give the visiting United States women a 1-1 draw in an exhibition with Japan, the team that beat them in the final of the Women's World Cup last year. Until the World Cup, the U.S. women had never lost to Japan - and the Americans haven't beaten Japan since. Japan won the last encounter, 1-0, in Portugal in March. Former Italy, Lazio, and New York Cosmos star Giorgio Chinaglia died of complications from a heart attack at age 65 at his home in Naples, Fla., according to Charlie Stillitano , Chinaglia's cohost on The Football Show on satellite radio.

TOKYO - Another Japanese nuclear reactor was taken off line for maintenance on Monday, leaving the country with only one of its 54 reactors operational following last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami. The last reactor is expected to be shut down by early May, raising the possibility of power shortages across the nation as demand increases in the hot summer months. Japanese reactors are taken off line every 13 months for regular checks. With concerns over nuclear safety high following the Fukushima crisis, none of the reactors that have been shut down for checks, and none that were already off line at the time of the disaster, have been allowed to restart.

RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan - For Toshiko Murakami, 70, memories of the terrifying earthquake and tsunami that destroyed much of her seaside town and swept away her sister brought fresh tears Sunday, exactly a year after the disaster. "My sister is still missing, so I can't find peace within myself," she said before attending a ceremony in a tent in Rikuzentakata marking the anniversary of the March 11, 2011, disaster that killed more than 19,000 people and unleashed the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter century.

MINAMI-SOMA, Japan - The doctors and nurses at Futaba Hospital pleaded for help as a radioactive plume wafted overhead. They had been ordered out but had no vehicles to evacuate the hundreds of patients in their care. After two days of waiting in the cold with no electricity, help finally came. Nearly two dozen patients died in the chaotic, daylong odyssey that followed. Japan's government says only one person, an overworked employee at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, died as a result of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

JAPAN BEAT the U.S. women's soccer team, just like last summer. And this time, the Japanese didn't need penalty kicks. Megumi Takase scored on a 6-yard header off Aya Miyama's corner kick in the 84th minute to give the world champions a 1-0 victory yesterday at Faro, Portugal, in a rematch of last year's World Cup championship game. The Japanese became the first team in more than 3 years to hold the Americans scoreless and advanced to a matchup against Germany in the Algarve Cup final.

OKUMA, Japan - Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima power plant remains fragile nearly a year after it suffered multiple meltdowns, its chief said Tuesday, with makeshift equipment - some mended with tape - keeping crucial systems running. An independent report, meanwhile, revealed that the government downplayed the full danger in the days after the March 11 disaster and secretly considered evacuating Tokyo. Journalists who were given a tour Tuesday of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant saw crumpled trucks and equipment still lying on the ground.

IT'S FRIDAY, but it's quiet in the gym. There are only a few fighters on the mat listening intently as jiu-jitsu instructor Ricardo Almeida instructs how to utilize a lock called the "seat belt" inside his dank yet spacious studio in Hamilton, N.J., on the outskirts of Trenton. There is nothing exciting about this place. The blue mats offset white walls and there is very little light shining through the storefront windows, though outside a sunny January morning greets a new day. There is virtually no artwork, just some punching bags in one corner and a few weights in another.

TOKYO - Japan's nuclear safety chief said Wednesday the country's regulations are flawed, outdated and below global standards, and he apologized for their failure when a tsunami crippled one plant last year. Haruki Madarame admitted Japanese safety requirements such as for tsunami and power losses were too loose and many officials have looked the other way and tried to avoid changes. "I must admit that the nuclear safety guidelines that we have issued until now have various flaws," he said.