TOKYO � Twice a week, Japan’s new minister of financial services is forced to hold two back-to-back news conferences: one for the members of Japan’s exclusive press clubs, the second for other journalists. He does so because the press club members refused his proposal to open the conferences to nonmembers. Even though the agency provides the rooms for the meetings, the press club demanded that the

Adam Lepak, 19, who suffered a brain injury, fills his days with therapy and memory drills.Credit...Jon Reis for The New York Times WEEDSPORT, N.Y. � Adam Lepak looked over at his mother and said, “You’re fake.” It was a Tuesday in July, late, and Cindy Lepak could see that her 19-year-old son was exhausted. Long days like this one, with hours of physical therapy and memory drills � I had a motorc

Japanese cellphone makers want to expand, but their clever handsets do not work on other networks.Credit...Robert Gilhooly/Bloomberg News TOKYO � At first glance, Japanese cellphones are a gadget lover’s dream: ready for Internet and e-mail, they double as credit cards, boarding passes and even body-fat calculators. But it is hard to find anyone in Chicago or London using a Japanese phone like a P

A scene from “Ponyo,” a coming film by Hayao Miyazaki, often called the Walt Disney of Japan.Credit...Walt Disney LOS ANGELES � When the schedule of events for the 40th Comic-Con International fan convention is announced on Thursday, it is expected to include something quite rare, even for a gathering that has pretty much seen it all: an appearance by Hayao Miyazaki. Mr. Miyazaki, regarded by many

Ralf Dahrendorf, a German sociologist whose experiences in Nazi Germany led him to develop a theory of liberalism and human freedom that often went against the grain of German politics in the postwar period, died Wednesday in Cologne. He was 80. His death was confirmed in a statement from Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said, “Europe has lost one of its most important thinkers and intellectuals.” Th