TOKYO, March 11 (Reuters) – The biggest earthquake to
hit Japan in 140 years struck the northeast coast on Friday,
triggering a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its
path, including houses, cars and farm buildings on fire.

* At least six people were killed, five in Fukushima
prefecture north of the capital, Tokyo, where four million homes
were without power, and one in eastern Tochigi prefecture, media
said. A hotel collapsed in the city of Sendai and people were
feared buried in the rubble.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – The secret life of Adelie penguins is not quite so secret anymore, thanks to Japanese scientists who attached video cameras to the backs of birds for a rare active glimpse of life as a penguin sees it.

Penguins jumping into the water from ice floes, swimming under water to capture food and other scenes of life beneath the ice were all captured with surprising clarity, said a spokesman for the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – A week-long Japanese media frenzy over cheating on university entrance exams peaked on Friday after the arrest of a student who used his mobile phone to get answers off the Internet while sitting the tests.

Despite a shaky government and various economic woes, the cheating scandal has dominated Japanese news since a tipoff alerted one university last week, leading to the discovery of the questions — and answers — posted on the internet.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – A princess, hidden away in a convent. A mermaid, saving a handsome stranger. The prince they both come to love.

This triangle underlies author Carolyn Turgeon’s “Mermaid,” an edgy new look at the Hans Christian Anderson’s “Little Mermaid” that contains as well sacrifice, the threat of war, and the uneasy friendship of two women drawn together in spite of themselves.

By Elaine Lies

MELBOURNE, Feb 28 (Reuters Life!) – The strong, silent and
possibly suffering Australian male is the target of an iPhone
application that hopes to make men less shy of talking with
doctors — before medical issues become medical emergencies.

Melbourne’s The Alfred hospital has launched the
“myHealthMate,” which features a user-friendly symptom checker
that allows men to match 20 areas of their body to over 50
common symptoms and receive medical advice from experts.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – Ever wondered about the political uses of a kiss, the kiss’s changing status or legendary movie kisses? Do you find yourself needing to say the word in Albanian, Icelandic or even, perchance, Maori?

Fear not. “A Compendium of Kisses,” the guide to everything oscular — that’s “of or pertaining to kissing” for the unenlightened — tells all about one of the world’s most universal gestures, whether simple greeting or sublime.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – When Mitsuyo Kakuta decided to write about motherhood, she chose an unusual angle: a distraught woman who impulsively kidnaps her married lover’s baby girl, then raises her for years until apprehended.

Adding a further twist, the second half of “The Eighth Day” — due to be released as a Japanese movie in April — centers on the abducted child, who was returned to her family and is now a grown woman, as her life takes on parallels to that of her kidnapper and she goes in search of her past.

TOKYO (Reuters) – A movie about a Japanese World War Two captain rallying his troops to hold out against overwhelming U.S. odds after the end of the Battle of Saipan sounds like a typical tale of guts, gore and a glorious end.

Yet “Oba: The Last Samurai,” set for release on Friday in Japan, is far from the usual war movie. It was filmed by two separate crews of actors and directors — one Japanese and one U.S. team side by side — a style not used in quite this way since “Tora, Tora, Tora” in 1970.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – What would Elvis be like if he had survived the trials of middle age and was still alive today, chastened and reflective at 76? And what if he went on a road trip back to his past?

Ben Fish, the main character of Micah Nathan’s “Losing Graceland,” is 21, just out of college and jobless with an anthropology degree. Dumped by his girlfriend and grieving his late father, he answers an ad promising $10,000 in cash if he drives a mysterious old man to Memphis.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – What would Elvis be like if he had survived the trials of middle age and was still alive today, chastened and reflective at 76? And what if he went on a road trip back to his past?

Ben Fish, the main character of Micah Nathan’s “Losing Graceland,” is 21, just out of college and jobless with an anthropology degree. Dumped by his girlfriend and grieving his late father, he answers an ad promising $10,000 in cash if he drives a mysterious old man to Memphis.