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Tokugawa Ieyasu's 19th generation to assume head of family

Oct 28, 2022 (NHK) - A descendant of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, is due to step down as the head of the clan at the end of this year and hand the role to his son.

Sources close to the family say 82-year-old Tokugawa Tsunenari, the 18th and current head of the Tokugawa family, has decided to step down, citing his age. His eldest son, Iehiro, 57, will take over. Iehiro currently serves as the director of the Tokugawa Memorial Foundation.

Tsunenari, who became head of the family in 1963, established the foundation in 2003 to preserve and exhibit cultural property and documents associated with the clan, which ruled Japan during the Edo period, between the early 17th and late 19th centuries. ...continue reading

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Typhoon No. 18, known as Soudelor, is forecast to intensify into a very strong storm over the weekend before approaching Okinawa early next week, bringing the risk of violent winds and extremely rough seas. As of 5 a.m. on August 22, the typhoon was near the Mariana Islands, where satellite images showed a well-developed circular mass of clouds surrounding the storm.

Japan executed 58-year-old death row inmate Sunao Takami on August 21 for setting fire to a pachinko parlor in Osaka in 2009, killing five people and injuring 10 others, in the first execution carried out under the Takaichi administration.

Japan's government is moving toward abolishing the Cool Japan Fund, a public-private investment vehicle created to support the overseas expansion of Japanese anime, food culture and other industries, after its cumulative losses reached 54 billion yen.

Four workers were killed after being struck by the limited express train Spacia X while carrying out vegetation-clearing work at Shin-Kanuma Station on the Tobu Nikko Line in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, on August 20, prompting an investigation by the Japan Transport Safety Board.

Plans to bring Shinkansen service to Shikoku have taken a significant step forward for the first time in 53 years, with the transport ministry beginning preliminary studies that could eventually cut travel times from Osaka to major cities including Tokushima, Takamatsu and Matsuyama to around 90 minutes.

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Four workers were killed after being struck by the limited express train Spacia X while carrying out vegetation-clearing work at Shin-Kanuma Station on the Tobu Nikko Line in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, on August 20, prompting an investigation by the Japan Transport Safety Board.

A 32-year-old Japanese man has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to rob a convenience store in Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture, after allegedly posing as a foreigner and demanding money in broken Japanese while threatening the store manager with a knife.

Princess Aiko, the only daughter of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, arrived at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka on the afternoon of August 20, where she was scheduled to view Johannes Vermeer's masterpiece Girl With a Pearl Earring during a two-day visit to Osaka and Shiga prefectures.

Firefighters battling a house fire in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, on August 19 were forced to contend with large numbers of bees swarming around the scene after an attempt to burn a bee nest apparently set the roof ablaze.