Nearly 100,000 people have attended a rally in Japan's southern island of Okinawa demanding that a US military base be moved off the island. Under a 2006 agreement with the US, the US Marines' Futenma base was to be moved from the centre to the coast. But demonstrators want Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to stick to an election pledge to remove it completely. The row over the base has undermined re

Akio Toyoda is in Washington to deal with the crisis at car giant Toyota, the company set up by his grandfather more than 70 years ago. But why did the company change its name from Toyoda to Toyota? The change is largely down to the fact that the word Toyota is associated with the lucky number eight, according to the company's English-language website. After learning this, we felt more explanation

Toyota's president has apologised to the US Congress and American Toyota owners for safety problems that led to deaths and worldwide recalls. Akio Toyoda said he was "deeply sorry" for any incidents which had occurred as a result of failures with accelerators and brakes on several models. Mr Toyoda pledged his "full co-operation" with the US investigation. But, under questioning, he insisted no fa

Toyota has announced the recall of about 436,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide, including its latest Prius model, to fix brake problems. The total includes more than 200,000 Prius cars sold in Japan and 8,500 cars in the UK. "We have decided to recall as we regard safety for our customers as our foremost priority," the firm said. The company has already recalled eight million vehicles because of accel

Page last updated at 19:28 GMT, Thursday, 4 February 2010 Mongolian sumo champion Asashoryu has announced his retirement following allegations he attacked a man outside a Tokyo nightclub last month. "I feel heavy responsibility that I have caused trouble to so many people, Asashoryu said. The wrestler's stable master said he could not remember what happened on the night because he was too drunk. A