Children play in a snow-covered park in Sapporo in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on December 17, 2014. Heavy snow blanketing swathes of Japan has claimed the lives of at least three people in the country. Two elderly women died on the northernmost island of Hokkaido and a man was killed in a traffic accident on snow-bound roads in Hiroshima, Japanese officials said on Thursday. There was... 

The skyline of Osaka, Japan The Japanese government is considering unparalleled counter-measures to withstand the inevitable earthquakes and tsunamis awaiting Japan in the future. Experts propose preparation of emergency government offices in the country’s five major cities. ­One of the main anti-earthquake emergency measures proposed by the Central Disaster Prevention Council is a recommendation...