Explore Japan during its most colorful season on 11-day tours in March that will take you to Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Himeji and Osaka.
Highlights of the new Wendy Wu Tours trips include a chance to climb Mt. Fuji, stroll the classical landscapes of the Hamarikyu Gardens, explore the evergreen forest at the Shinto Meiji Shrine and take a bullet train to Kyoto.
On the cultural side, participants will also learn how to make soba noodles and practice the traditional Japanese art of origami.　
The National Park of American Samoa, a haven of rainforest and empty beaches that includes pieces of three South Pacific Islands, is about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii.
Giant snow dump in the Sierra
Botanical wonders abound in the wild Sonoran Desert of Organ Pipe National Monument and Saguaro National Park. Just mind the heat. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
The next president will find a Washington, D. C., that’s dramatically different from the city Barack Obama saw at his inauguration in 2009, or even the one in 2013. Museums and hotels, new and renewed. Restaurants left and right. Lower crime and rising neighborhoods, too. 
Motif. No. 1 might look like a modest fishing shack on the waterfront of Rockport, Mass., but there’s more to it. This two-minute video tells the tale.
Motif. No. 1 might look like a modest fishing shack on the waterfront of Rockport, Mass., but there’s more to it. This two-minute video tells the tale.

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The Nike Extravaganza set for Feb. 4 at Mater Dei figures to be a tough ticket to get with Chino Hills set to face Mouth of Wilson Va. Oak Hill in the featured final game at 8:45 p.m.
Tickets are available on line and it might be wise to get them early considering how many fans like to go watch Chino Hills play.
Here’s  the link to purchase tickets.
The evening sessions also includes Fairfax vs. Santa Margarita at 2:45 p.m. and Sierra Canyon taking on Bishop Gorman at 5:45 p.m.

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SoftBank Group Corp. has lined up chip maker Qualcomm Corp. as an investor in the Japanese firm’s new technology fund, helping the massive portfolio reach its $100 billion goal, according to people familiar with the matter.
San Diego-based Qualcomm has moved toward finalizing its commitment in recent days, the people said. It joins Apple Inc., which previously agreed to invest in the fund, the people said. The amounts to be invested…

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The Jigawa House of Assembly on Tuesday impeached its Speaker, Alhaji Idris Garba and elected Alhaji Isa Idris of Gwaram Constituency as the new Speaker.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Deputy Speaker, Alhaji Ahmed Garba presided over the sitting attended by 23 members.
NAN reports that the Clerk of the house, Alhaji Hussaini Ali earlier announced that he received an impeachment notice signed by 25 of the 30 assembly members, and which he read on the floor of the house.
Ali disclosed that members of the assembly impeached the speaker due to alleged high handedness and abuse of power.
The Deputy Speaker read the impeachment notice on the floor of the house, and confirmed the number of members that signed the notice.
Garba said that 25 of the 30-member assembly that endorsed the impeachment notice showed that it met the constitutional requirement of two third to impeach any of its principal officers.
«With this development, I hereby declare the seat of the Speaker vacant and a fresh election should be conducted to elect the new speaker,» he said.
NAN reports that two members- Alhaji Isa Dutse of Dutse Municipal constituency and Isa Idris of Gwaram constituency- were nominated for the election to replace the impeached Speaker.
Isa Idris, however, defeated Isa Dutse with 12 to six votes, while five members were indifferent.
In his acceptance Speech, the new Speaker promised to run an open door policy and solicited members support and cooperation.

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HANYU, Japan — They’re kooky, cuddly – and for some – a little creepy.
In Japan, mascots aren’t warm-up acts. They’re the main event, reports CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz.
It’s been dubbed the capital of cute, and at the World Character Summit outside Tokyo, you can see why.
“You can love mascots just like people,” Miya Naruse told us. “Everything about them is cute.”
World Character Summit in Hanyu, Japan
Cuteness, or kawaii in Japanese, dominates pop culture. That’s why from young to old, the Japanese are smitten. But don’t be fooled, mascots are master salesmen. By one estimate, the character business generates nearly $16 billion a year.
Danny Choo, son of shoemaker Jimmy Choo, makes a living off his doll-like mascot named Mirai. She’s an official tourism ambassador for Japan, appearing on planes and buses. Choo said in Japan, mascots are an essential marketing tool.
“Whether it’s like for branding or to like bring in new customers… folks who like a particular character, they will go and buy those goods,” Choo said.
The government alone has thousands of them. Take Pipo-kun, a member of Tokyo police, or the bowl-shaped toilet-kun, with waste management. There’s also the disarming Waka-P, who promotes a prison, of all things, and not one to be left out, Tom, the U. S. embassy mascot.
But for every D-lister, some hit it big and cash in. The feisty Pear Funassyi earns millions a year through merchandizing. It even has a hit single.
Domo, the mascot for Japan’s public broadcaster, has appeared in U. S. ads for 7-Eleven and Target.
But when it comes to celebrity, Kumamon is king. The official mascot for Kumamoto Prefecture has more than half a million Twitter followers and has generated billions through tourism and bear-related products.
So, how does one become a mascot? There’s a school for that. Owner Choko Ohira is a mascot veteran.
“It’s common knowledge that when you want to draw a crowd, use a mascot,” Ohira said. “So lots of companies and organizations are creating their own to boost their profile.”
She teaches exaggerated moves that will work under heavy suits, and the non-negotiable mascot code: never break character, or admit there’s a human inside. That’s why we weren’t allowed to film them suiting up.
Shinji Kumamoto, 51, gave up computer programming for a mascot career.
“In my regular life, I’m just a middle-aged guy,” Kumamoto said. “But in costume…I can forget myself and be someone else.”
“If you can make the mascot move like it’s alive, then there’s no deception,” Ohira said. “But that requires proper technique.”
Hard work that generates billions, but the currency of smiles and hugs may have no match.

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He has nearly 2 million followers on Twitter , wrote a couple of best sellers, drew some 34 million views with his viral rendition of a David Bowie song and conducted what was once hailed as “the coolest AMA in history” on Reddit.
Oh, yeah, he also served as commander of the International Space Station.
Now, retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is feeling the love over a year-end tweetstorm that put a positive spin on a bruising 2016.
The social-media legend got the ball rolling with this New Year’s Eve tweet:
With celebrity death and elections taking the media by the nose, it’s easy to forget that this year saw a great many positives. Let’s look.
From there, courtesy of “memory and a substantial bit of help from google,” Hadfield rattled off 46 reasons to smile back on the past year, although, as he acknowledged, “there are countless more examples, big and small.”
For now, let’s focus on the 10 developments he highlighted that resonated most across Twitter:
1. “The Giant Panda, arguably the world’s second cutest panda, has official been removed from the endangered species list.”
2. “Tiger numbers around the world are on the rise for the first time in 100 years, with plans to double by 2022.”
3. “The Colombian government and FARC rebels committed to a lasting peace , ending a war that killed or displaced over 7 million people.”
4. “The number of veterans in the U. S. who are homeless has halved in the past half-decade, with a nearly 20% drop in 2016.”
5. “India’s dogged commitment to reforestation saw a single-day event planting more than 50 million trees, a world record.”
6. “Costa Rica’s entire electrical grid ran on renewable energy for over half the year, and their capacity continues to grow.”
7. “An Ebola vaccine was developed by Canadian researchers with 100% efficacy. Humans eradicated horror, together.”
8. “Juno, a piece of future history, successfully flew over 588 million miles and is now sending back unprecedented data from Jupiter.”
9. “Malawi lowered its HIV rate by 67%, and in the past decade have seen a shift in public health that has saved over 250,000 lives.”
10. “Finally — The Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years, giving hope to Maple Leafs fans everywhere. Happy New Year.”
10. “Finally — The Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years, giving hope to Maple Leafs fans everywhere. Happy New Year.”

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TAIPEI – Ties between Japan and Taiwan are at their best, Japan’s representative on the island said at the unveiling of a new name for Japan’s representative office that has riled China.
Japan and Taiwan have extensive business ties and also share concern about an increasingly assertive mainland China.
But Japan, like most of the world’s countries, maintains only informal relations with Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province.
Japan has diplomatic ties with Beijing — recognizing China’s position that there is only “one China” and Taiwan is part of it.
“Currently Japan-Taiwan relations are at their best, but we should take further steps to develop a good relationship,” Mikio Numata, Japan’s chief representative, said at a ceremony Tuesday with Taiwan’s vice foreign minister, Leo Lee.
The ceremony was to officially change the name of Japan’s office on the island — its de facto embassy — to the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association.
It had been called the Interchange Association, Japan since it was set up in the 1970s. Since then, Japan has grown to become Taiwan’s third-largest trading partner and second-largest source of foreign tourists.
China has criticized the name change because it includes the word “Taiwan.” A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, repeated opposition on Tuesday, saying China had lodged representations with Japan about it.
Japan should “not send any wrong messages to the Taiwan authorities or the international community and not cause new interference in Sino-Japan ties,” Geng told reporters in Beijing.
Numata said the name change was to make it clear who the parties were.
“The goal was to put ‘Japan’ and ‘Taiwan’ in the name to clearly point out the counterparts of the exchange,” he said.
Many major countries, including the United States and Britain, operate representative offices in Taiwan under various names. The U. S. mission is the American Institute in Taiwan.
Business relations between the mainland and Taiwan have grown significantly over the past decade, but tension has increased since the island elected a president from an independence-leaning party last year.
China distrusts President Tsai Ing-wen and has stepped up pressure on her following a protocol-breaking phone call between her and U. S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump later cast doubt on the U. S. commitment to the “one-China” policy and over the weekend he did not rule out meeting Tsai in future.
Geng said there should be no official contacts between the United States and Taiwan.
“The Taiwan issue has always been the most important and sensitive one in relations between China and the United States. We urge the U. S. to fully recognize the sensitivity of the Taiwan issue,” Geng said “I think that on the relevant issue Trump’s team is very clear.”

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