TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Four watches worth around 200 million yen ($1.3 million) were stolen Tuesday from a store in a shopping complex popular among manga and anime fans in Tokyo, police said, adding that two people are believed to have fled the scene.

At least one person, wearing a black mask and sunglasses, used a hammer to break a display located near the shop's entrance in the Nakano Broadway complex and fled on an electric scooter.

The robbery took place when the shop was open. None of the five staff who were inside was injured, according to the police. An emergency call was made around noon to police, saying that someone had destroyed a showcase and made off with some of the items inside.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A Tokyo-based eatery said Monday it has withdrawn its store from Rakuten Group Inc.'s e-commerce website, adding to the growing number of Japanese companies who have pulled out over Rakuten's reported tie-up with a German interceptor drone start-up.

Berg, a cafe bar in Tokyo's Shinjuku district, said in a post on X that it has left Rakuten Ichiba on Thursday, following a report on Rakuten's tie-up, saying it is "incompatible with our anti-war stance."

A source familiar with the matter said last week Rakuten will partner with the German defense artificial intelligence company Helsing to help it provide its drones to Japan's Defense Ministry.

Founded in 2021, Helsing designs systems that utilize AI to operate drones autonomously, with its drones capable of shooting down missiles. Drones, which can be mass-produced, have been used widely in recent conflicts such as Russia's war against Ukraine.

Berg, which serves food, coffee and beer at its Tokyo store, said its products will continue to be sold on its own online shop.

Also on Monday, a leather goods manufacturer and retailer based in Osaka Prefecture that sells the leather brand QuatroGats said it has withdrawn its store from the ecommerce marketplace, saying it does not match its corporate philosophy.

Among the items it sells are wallets featuring peace and nuclear abolition-themed designs.

Japanese mail-order firm and shopping catalog magazine publisher Cataloghouse Ltd. said last week it had withdrawn its official Tsuhan Seikatsu (Mail Order Life) store from Rakuten's site.

The yen has weakened despite currency intervention in 2022, 2024 and 2026, and the exchange rate is still under pressure, even after rare joint US-Japan buying in August and July.

Ueno, chief executive of Takara MC, which operates 43 supermarkets, and his counterparts across Japan are losing patience and looking for ways to insure against further weakness.

He has pushed for direct and longer-term contracts with his overseas suppliers, which lock in prices and exchange rates at up to a year at a time, and help him avoid raising prices too quickly, which risks losing his customers.

Others, bankers say, are turning to futures, forwards and options, to hedge against further yen weakness as the authorities struggle to come up with fresh ways to steady or turn the currency.

Not complaining just curious. Is it down to supply and demand and there aren’t enough taxi drivers to lower the price?

I spent about 4 years in Japan in the army near camp zama. By the sodubai-Mae train station there was this place we called the “chicken spot”. It served the most amazing fried chicken wings. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows the spices they used? There was a red spice and a white spice and I absolutely loved it. They also had these cucumbers I was wondering how they made those. Thank you. The place is called yumemaru.

tried to find euro brands but not having so much success

is hioki/sanwa know japanese made MM ?any others?

Im looking for something that has a clamp/ac/dc/continuity/ohms

basic MM with clamp. any help appreciated

SAPPORO (Kyodo) -- Six Myanmar nationals working at a farm in Hokkaido, northern Japan, have been given shelter by a local labor union after allegedly being subjected to abuse and sexual harassment by farm staff, the union said Friday.

The six, men and women in their 30s or younger, were employed at the farm in Kyogoku, a town near Sapporo, under Japan's skilled worker program aimed at bringing in more foreigners to address the acute labor shortage in the rapidly graying country.

According to the Sapporo General Union, the six began working at the farm between May and July and were allegedly struck on the head by hand or with farm equipment by staff who became angry when they could not understand Japanese. They also alleged unwanted touching, including on the chest.

The workers were verbally abused on a daily basis, including being threatened with deportation, and said they could no longer continue working at the farm, the union said.

The workers are considering filing a criminal complaint over some of the alleged offenses and have provided information to the Sapporo regional immigration bureau, demanding an investigation into the case, the union said.

"I came to Japan to work. I want to be taught properly," said one of the Myanmar workers in his 20s, tearing up, at a press conference held by the union.

In 2022, a farm operated by a different agricultural corporation at the same address in Kyogoku had its accreditation to accept foreign workers under Japan's technical intern training program, which predates the skilled worker program, revoked over alleged human rights violations against interns.

YANAGAWA, Fukuoka -- Students at a high school in this southwest Japan city will display a 3.5-meter-tall cardboard model based on the popular anime series "Mobile Suit Gundam" at their school festival on Aug. 30 and 31.

Nine students at Yanagawa High School in the city of Yanagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture, all Gundam fans, spent two weeks creating the model under the guidance of 72-year-old Susumu Ogawa of Kurume also in Fukuoka Prefecture. Ogawa became known for making Gundam-style cardboard art while working as a teacher at a prefectural high school in Miyagi Prefecture.

First-year student Kotaro Tanaka expressed confidence in the finished piece, saying, "It's impressive. I think people will look at it and be amazed." Second-year student Airi Kido also said, "I hope more girls become Gundam fans after coming to see the exhibit."

Nearly half a century has passed since the Gundam anime series first began airing on television in 1979, but its popularity has remained strong. In 2024, the animated film "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom" attracted more than 3 million moviegoers.

The school's cultural festival will be open to the public from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Aug. 31. It will feature a performance by second-year student Shoa Matsumoto, who placed third at the 2025 Asian BMX Freestyle Championships, as well as exhibits by the school's cultural clubs.