Japanese officials hope the achievement, in a test conducted off Japan's central Pacific coast, will win their resource-poor nation a measure of energy independence.

CNN: Japan warms to 'fire ice' potential

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the Pacific coast of Central America from Costa Rica to El Salvador.

CNN: Few coast dwellers ready for a hurricane, poll shows

Running along a thin strip of land between the Central Mountains and the Pacific, Taiwan's East Coast Highway is easily one of East Asia's most beautiful spots for cycling.

BBC: Five reasons to visit Taiwan

On Thursday, Tropical Storm Alma, the first one of the year in the eastern Pacific, formed near the west coast of Central America, according to the National Weather Service.

CNN: Few coast dwellers ready for a hurricane, poll shows

Innocence, freedom, individualism, mobility the belief that you can leave a constricting or violent history behind and remake yourself in a new form of your choosing all are part of the American dream of moving west, first from the old country to America, then from the crowded cities of the East Coast to the open central plains and on to the Pacific.

NEWYORKER: The Conciliator

Long before European settlers came ashore, Indian tribes throughout the country were roasting fish on aromatic planks of wood salmon in the Pacific Northwest, shad on the East Coast, whitefish in the Central Plains.

NPR: Where There's Smoke, There's Flavor