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New MSDF ocean research ship

A new Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force auxiliary oceanographic research ship is pictured after its launch ceremony at a shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. in Shimonoseki in the western Japan prefecture of Yamaguchi on May 29, 2025. The ship, Akashi, will be deployed at the MSDF's Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture in eastern Japan around March 2026.

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New MSDF ocean research ship

A new Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force auxiliary oceanographic research ship is pictured during its launch ceremony at a shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. in Shimonoseki in the western Japan prefecture of Yamaguchi on May 29, 2025. The ship, Akashi, will be deployed at the MSDF's Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture in eastern Japan around March 2026.

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Sand lances landed at western Japan port

Photo shows containers of juvenile sand lances landed at Hayashizaki fishing port in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, on March 12, 2025, the first day of the season's harvest.

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Sand lances landed at western Japan port

Photo shows containers of juvenile sand lances landed at Hayashizaki fishing port in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, on March 12, 2025, the first day of the season's harvest.

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Sand lances landed at western Japan port

Photo taken on March 4, 2023, shows containers of sand lances unloaded from a vessel at a port in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, on March 4, 2023, the first day of the harvest.

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Sand lances landed at western Japan port

Photo taken on March 4, 2023, shows a container of sand lances unloaded from a vessel at a port in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, on March 4, 2023, the first day of the harvest.

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Cherry tree donated by Japanese diplomat growing in Sochi

SOCHI, Russia - A woman who heads a botanical garden in Sochi, Russia, shows on Jan. 28, 2014, a cherry tree that grew from a nursery tree donated by Japan's Yasushi Akashi, former U.N. Under-Secretary-General.

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Virtual-reality image of Akashi Castle keep illuminated

KOBE, Japan - A virtual-reality image of Akashi Castle's keep (L) is illuminated by LEDs in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, on Oct.7, 2014, as a prelude to the 400th anniversary of its construction in 1619 by feudal lord Ogasawara Tadazane. A stone keep base remains but no keep was constructed.

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People take photos of 50-inning baseball game score board

AKASHI, Japan - People take photos on Aug. 31, 2014, of the scoreboard of a National High School Rubber Baseball Tournament semifinal game between Chukyo and Sotoku which took an incredible 50 innings over four days to complete. Chukyo scored three runs in the 50th inning to end the scoreless streak for the victory. Chukyo also went on to win the final played later the same day.

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Semifinal settled following 50-inning fight

AKASHI, Japan - Players of Chukyo High School and Sotoku High School rubber-ball baseball teams celebrate their good fight after a 50-inning semifinal game at the national championship on Aug. 31, 2014, in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture. Chukyo beat Sotoku 3-0. Chukyo also won the final game later in the day.

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Ex-Olympic gold medalist Miyake at weightlifting masters championship

AKASHI, Japan - Yoshinobu Miyake, weightlifting gold medalist at the 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games, competes at the Japan Masters Championship for the first time at the age of 74 on Aug. 15, 2014, in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture.

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'Time studies' lectured at Japanese university

YAMAGUCHI, Japan - Makoto Akashi, a professor at the Research Institute for Time Studies at Yamaguchi University, lectures on the mechanisms of the biological clock in Yamaguchi, western Japan, on April 18, 2014, as he promotes the subject of "time studies" as a new interdisciplinary area.

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2001 fatal stampede

KOBE, Japan - (From front) Kiyoshi Miki, Seiji Shimomura and Masaharu Arima, who lost relatives in a 2001 stampede in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, attend a press conference in Kobe on Feb. 20, 2013. The Kobe District Court earlier the same day dismissed a case against a former senior police officer over the stampede on a bridge that was overcrowded with fireworks spectators on July 21, 2001, in which 11 people died and 247 were injured. The court ruled the statute of limitations had expired.

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2 workers may have exceeded radiation exposure limit

CHIBA, Japan - Makoto Akashi, executive director of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences, speaks in a press conference at the institute in the city of Chiba on May 30, 2011. Two Tokyo Electric Power Co. employees working at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant underwent health checks at the institute after it was found that they may have been exposed to radiation exceeding the maximum limit of 250 millisieverts.

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2 workers may have exceeded radiation exposure limit

CHIBA, Japan - Makoto Akashi, executive director of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences, speaks in a press conference at the institute in the city of Chiba on May 30, 2011. Two Tokyo Electric Power Co. employees working at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant underwent health checks at the institute after it was found that they may have been exposed to radiation exceeding the maximum limit of 250 millisieverts.

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'Sakura' trees in Lithuania to honor wartime Japan diplomat

VILNIUS, Lithuania - Japanese Ambassador to Lithuania Miyoko Akashi (2nd from L) and Mikio Sugiyama (L) and Kazuo Kawashima (3rd from L) of the Gifu Cherry Blossoms Group, and others plant cherry blossom trees at Chiune Sugihara Park in Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 3, 2011. Some 500 people took part in an event to plant cherry blossom trees in honor of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, a native of Gifu, who saved thousands of Jewish refugees from the Nazis in the wartime period by issuing them transit visas.

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Ex-police official indicted over stampede under new inquest system

OSAKA, Japan - Kazuaki Sakaki (file photo), former deputy chief of the Akashi Police Station, is indicted on April 20, 2010, for allegedly failing to prevent a fatal stampede in 2001 in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, becoming the first person to be brought to trial under a new prosecution inquest system.

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Female knuckleballer Yoshida to leave independent league club

AKASHI, Japan - Female knuckleballer Eri Yoshida of the Kobe 9 Cruise pitches against the Kishu Rangers in their Kansai Independent League game in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, on Oct. 1, 2009. Yoshida, the first woman to play professional baseball alongside male players in Japan, is scheduled to leave the financially troubled club when her contract expires at the end of this month.

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U.N. disarmament confab kicks off to discuss nuke proliferation crisis

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Yasushi Akashi, former U.N. under secretary general, delivers a keynote speech as the 18th round of a U.N. disarmament conference begins in Yokohama on Aug. 21, attended by government representatives and researchers from 15 countries, including the United States and Iran.

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(2)Donors pledge $4.5 bil. to help rebuild Sri Lanka

TOKYO, Japan - Yasushi Akashi (R), Japan's envoy in charge of Sri Lankan issues, speaks at a press conference June 10 at a hotel in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward after the end of the two-day Tokyo Conference on Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka. U.S. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage sits beside him.

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(1)Donors pledge $4.5 bil. to help rebuild Sri Lanka

TOKYO, Japan - Yasushi Akashi (L), Japan's envoy in charge of Sri Lankan issues, shakes hands with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe after the Tokyo Conference on Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka ended June 10 at a hotel in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. At right is U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

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(3)Tokyo aid meeting on Sri Lanka begins without rebels

TOKYO, Japan - Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (L) and Japanese government representative Yasushi Akashi (R) talk during a reception at a conference to help rebuild Sri Lanka at a Tokyo hotel on June 9.

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(2)Prince Naruhito, Princess Masako at greenery gathering

AWAJI ISLAND, Japan - Princess Masako plants an olive tree to commemorate the 14th national greenery protection gathering at Akashi Straits Park in Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture, on April 26.

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(1)Prince Naruhito, Princess Masako at greenery gathering

AWAJI ISLAND, Japan - Crown Prince Naruhito plants an olive tree to commemorate the 14th national greenery protection gathering at Akashi Straits Park in Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture, on April 26.

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Akashi briefs reporters on Sri Lanka peace talks

HAKONE, Japan - Yasushi Akashi, representative from the host country Japan at the Sri Lanka peace talks in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, briefs reporters on the development of the talks on March 19, the second day of the four-day talks.

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Sri Lankan peace talks begin in Japan

HAKONE, Japan - Anton Balasingham (L), chief negotiator of Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and Japanese government representative Yasushi Akashi pose for a photograph prior to the start of four-day peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, on March 18.

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Panel recommends amending law to strengthen SDF peace mission

TOKYO, Japan - Yasushi Akashi, former U.N. Undersecretary General who heads a private advisory panel to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda hands a report to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Dec. 18. The report called for strengthening the Self-Defense Forces' functions in international peace activities.

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Japanese envoy optimistic on Sri Lanka peace prospects

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Japanese government envoy Yasushi Akashi (fore) is in talks with leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in northern Sri Lanka on Nov. 8. Back in Colombo later in the day, Akashi expressed strong optimism on the prospects of ending Asia's longest-running ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. ''Everybody is astonished by the degree of progress of the Norwegian-brokered efforts to end two decades of war costing over 65,000 lives,'' Akashi told a press conference at the end of his six-day visit.

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Akashi meets Sri Lanka president to discuss peace process

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Japanese envoy Yasushi Akashi (L) meets Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga at her office in Colombo on Nov. 5. Akashi, a former U.N. deputy secretary general, discussed Sri Lanka's peace talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels and how Japan can help rebuild the war-battered country.

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Akashi vows peace-building work in Sri Lanka

TOKYO, Japan - Yasushi Akashi, a former U.N. undersecretary general, vowed in a recent interview with Kyodo News to try his best as Japan's representative to Sri Lanka to help broker peace and reconstruction work there.

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Japan taps Akashi as envoy to Sri Lanka peace talks

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows Yasushi Akashi, former U.N. undersecretary general for public information, disarmament affairs and humanitarian affairs, whom Japan has decided to appoint as its representative to Sri Lanka peace talks. Akashi, 71, also served as U.N. representative in Cambodia and special envoy to former Yugoslavia.

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Akashi fireworks stampede marks 1st anniversary

AKASHI, Japan - Akashi Mayor Nobuhiro Okada (R) prays for the victims of a fireworks stampede at the accident site in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, on July 21, the one-year anniversary of the tragedy. Eleven people died in the stampede during a fireworks show.

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First lady Laura Bush visits Tokyo elementary school

TOKYO, Japan - Laura Bush, wife of U.S. President George W. Bush, meets schoolchildren at Akashi Elementary School in Tokyo's Chuo Ward on Feb. 18. The photo was taken by a midia representative.

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Former Japanese U.N. official Akashi meets Karzai in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan - Former U.N. Undersecretary General Yasushi Akashi (L) shakes hands with Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Feb. 13. Akashi, who currently serves as head of a Hiroshima Prefecture research panel on peace policies, is visiting Kabul on a fact-finding mission on behalf of Hiroshima Prefecture to assess how Hiroshima could help war-torn Afghanistan.

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Akashi Police Station, city gov't raided over Hyogo stampede

KOBE, Japan - Hyogo prefectural police officers search a room at the Aakashi Police Station in the city of Akashi on Aug. 27 for evidence of suspected negligence over a stampede at a fireworks show in which 11 people died. They also raided the municipal government office on the same suspicion.

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Security firm's head office raided over Hyogo stampede

FUKUOKA, Japan - Police search the head office of Nisikan Co. in Fukuoka, the security company that was in charge of safety at a fireworks display last month in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, where 11 people were killed in a stampede on a narrow pedestrian bridge.

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900,000 spectators view Tokyo's Sumida River fireworks

TOKYO, Japan - An estimated 900,000 spectators turned out July 28 to watch about 20,000 fireworks go off at an annual Sumida River fireworks show. Some 10,000 policemen and guards patrolled streets and riverbanks in Taito and Sumida wards to prevent a recurrence of the fatal stampede that occurred in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture a week ago, leaving 11 people dead and injuring more than 120.

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Women pray for those who died in Akashi fatal stampede

AKASHI, Japan - Two people on July 22 present flowers at a pedestrian bridge in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture and pray for the repose of the souls of 10 people who died there the previous day in a fatal stampede during a nearby fireworks display.

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Inspection conducted for Akashi fatal stampede

AKASHI, Japan - Police conduct an on-site inspection July 22 on a pedestrian bridge in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, where 10 people were crushed to death, most of them children, and more than 100 were injured the previous day. People among the huge throng tripped and piled on top of each other while trying to cross the narrow span during a fireworks display nearby.

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10 die, 100 injured on Hyogo bridge after fireworks

AKASHI, Japan - Photo shows a pedestrian bridge where 10 people were crushed to death, most of them children, and about 100 more were injured on July 21 as people tripped and piled on top of each other while a huge crowd crossed the bridge. They were heading home after watching a fireworks display in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture.

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9 dead, dozens injured in crush at fireworks display

AKASHI, Japan - Rescuers carry a person injured July 21 in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, during a crush as crowds returned from watching a fireworks display. Nine people died and dozens were injured in the incident which occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m. when a crush near a pedestrian bridge near Japan Railway's Asagiri Station caused people to collapse like dominoes, firefighters said.

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Hemispherical glass dome passes under Akashi Bridge

OSAKA, Japan - A hemispherical glass dome, pulled by tugboats, passes under the Akashi Bridge, off Hyogo Prefecture, on Nov. 5. The dome, with a diameter of 70 meters, was built in Harima in the western Japan prefecture. It is being transported to Osaka, where it will become the roof of the Osaka Maritime Museum scheduled to open next summer.

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Obuchi vows efforts for world free of nuclear weapons

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi (C) vows July 26 to make efforts toward realizing a world free of nuclear weapons. Photo shows Obuchi receiving at his office a proposal adopted July 25 by an international forum of experts on nuclear disarmament from Nobuo Matsunaga (R), former Japanese ambassador to the U.S., along with Yasushi Akashi, former U.N. undersecretary general. Matsunaga and Akashi co-chaired the Tokyo forum.

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Forum urges U.S., Russia to cut nuke weapons to 1,000

TOKYO, Japan - A Japan-initiated international forum of experts on nuclear disarmament adopts at the end of its three-day session on July 25 a proposal urging the United States and Russia to reduce the number of their strategic nuclear weapons to 1,000 warheads each. The photo shows Yasushi Akashi (R), the forum's co-chairman, meeting the press after the end of the conference at a Tokyo hotel.

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Citizens seek conclusion of treaty banning nuke weapons

TOKYO, Japan - Yasushi Akashi, co-chairman of the Tokyo Forum of international experts on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, speaks at an anti-nuclear citizens' meeting for nuclear abolition as a panelist.

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Horie finishes solo Pacific crossing in recycled yacht

KOBE, Japan - Japanese adventurer Kenichi Horie waves as he arrives at the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, Hyogo Prefecture, in western Japan on July 8. He completed a solo journey from San Francisco to Japan in a yacht made entirely from recycled materials.

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Trans-Pacific adventurer heading to Japan

Japanese adventurer and yachtsman Kenichi Horie waves his right hand aboard the MALT'S Mermaid II yacht in waters near Okinawa Island on June 26 en route for Japan from San Francisco on a solo journey. Horie plans to reach Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in western Japan, the world's longest suspension bridge, in early July.

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Several thousand stolen motorcycles found

Several thousand stolen motorcycles are found in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, on June 17. Police uncovered several locations where stolen motorcycles were hidden after busting a suspected theft ring. This photo was taken from a Kyodo News helicopter.

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Akashi speaks in Beijing about Kosovo

Former U.N. Undersecretary General Yasushi Akashi (C) delivers a speech about the United Nations' role in peacekeeping in Kosovo at a Beijing hotel on June 14.

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Obuchi sees Japanese role in Kosovo reconstruction

Former U.N. Undersecretary General Yasushi Akashi (L) briefs Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on May 13 on his talks with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade earlier this week. Obuchi told Akashi Japan wants to play a major role in the reconstruction of Kosovo after peace is restored in the embattled Yugoslav province.