The government will study the possibility of cremating Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko after they die at their request in a departure from the long-held tradition of burying deceased imperial family members in the earth, a senior Imperial Household Agency official said Thursday.
(Mainichi)
Gov't to study cremation of emperor, empress at their request
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Ozawa's statements 'inconsistent, astonishing'
In October 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun ran a story about a suspicious land deal by Ichiro Ozawa's political funds management body, Rikuzan-kai. In the 2-1/2 years since, I have been paying close attention to remarks by the former Democratic Party of Japan president.
(Yomiuri)
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ASDF has record 156 scrambles in FY11 against Chinese planes
The number of scrambles by Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets in response to Chinese planes in fiscal 2011 reached a record 156, up 60 from the previous year, the Defense Ministry has announced.
(Yomiuri)
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Expect major travel delays during Japan's Golden Week
Japan's highways, train stations and airports are expected to be clogged with travelers when Golden Week begins Saturday.
The Japan Road Traffic Information Center is warning drivers to expect traffic jams as long as 28 miles on highways as well as congestion on local roads near tourist spots, such as Mount Takao in Tokyo, Zushi and Kamakura in Kanagawa prefecture, Miyajima in Hiroshima prefecture, Huis Ten Bosch in Nagasaki prefecture and Ocean Expo Park in Okinawa prefecture. (Stars & Stripes)
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Softbank shifts to paperless workplace, Apple tools
Internet giant Softbank Corp. will go paperless starting this month by banning employees from printing handouts or distributing paper press releases.
CEO Masayoshi Son unveiled his grand plan as he released Softbank's earnings report for business 2011 to reporters and investors Thursday, saying the use of electronic documents via iPads or iPhones will be mandatory for all business-related matters.
(Japan Times)
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Singer-actress Makiyo escapes jail term for assaulting Taiwan taxi driver
A Taiwanese court on Thursday handed down a three-year suspended sentence to a Japanese-Taiwanese star for attacking a Taipei taxi driver in a case that has captivated celebrity watchers for months.
(Japan Today)
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Police gave Kameoka victims' info to driver's father
Personal information about the people killed or injured in a fatal car accident in Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture, this week was given without permission to the father of the 18-year-old driver who caused the accident, it has been learned.
(Yomiuri)
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Rie Hasegawa pregnant by boyfriend
Model and television personality Rie Hasegawa, 38, is three months pregnant by her 47-year-old boyfriend, a gossip magazine says.
Josei Seven magazine reports that Hasegawa and her man are expecting their first child. The information was provided by one of Hasegawa's acquaintances. (Japan Today)
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U.S. to remove 9,000 Marines from Japanese island of Okinawa
About 9,000 U.S. Marines stationed on the Japanese island of Okinawa will be moved to the U.S. territory of Guam and other locations in the Asia-Pacific, including Hawaii, under a U.S.-Japan agreement announced Thursday.
(USA Today)
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Japan consumer prices rise as BOJ considers stimulus move
Japan's consumer prices rose in March, according to a report released as the central bank decides today on monetary policy.
Prices excluding fresh food increased 0.2 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo. (Bloomberg)
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Japan in talks to buy South Korea debt to diversify reserves
Japan is in talks with South Korea about buying its government bonds, senior officials from both countries said, a further sign that Tokyo it is beginning to diversify its reserves away from the dollar after agreeing to buy government debt from China last month.
(Reuters)
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Be it Japan or ancient Rome, we're all the same in the bath
Reading manga can teach you a lot, be the subject wine ("Kami no Shizuku [Drops of God]"), gourmet food ("Oishinbo") or the arcane world of feudal-era concubines ("Sakuran"). But the Japanese bath? Isn't that a subject Japanese are immersed in almost from Day One? Why would they need to read about it in a manga? (Japan Times)
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U.S.-Japan deal withdraws 9,000 Marines from Okinawa
Roughly half the U.S. Marines on Okinawa will be transferred under an agreement announced Thursday that will reduce the military footprint in Japan, easing local resentments over the amount of land being used by American forces.
(CNN)
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BoJ eases further as Japan's economy stands still
Japan's central bank on Friday announced another round of monetary easing in its latest effort to resuscitate the economy after figures revealed a still-weakening fiscal pulse.
The Bank of Japan said it would increase its asset purchase programme by 5 trillion yen ($62 billion) to 70 trillion yen and keep interest rates at their super-low levels between zero and 0.1 percent.
(AFP)
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Asahi Group eyes buying soft-drink maker Calpis
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. is in the final stage of negotiations to buy soft-drink maker Calpis Co. from Ajinomoto Co., sources close to the matter said Friday.
Asahi Group's Asahi Soft Drinks Co. ranks fifth in Japan's soft-drink market and may become the third through the Calpis acquisition, according to Inryo Soken, which tracks the soft-drink market.
(Mainichi)
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Tokyo stocks end lower, Nikkei gains on BOJ decision short-lived
Tokyo stocks ended lower Friday in choppy trading, after the benchmark Nikkei index briefly jumped more than 1 percent on the Bank of Japan's decision to implement additional monetary easing.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 40.94 points, or 0.43 percent, from Thursday at 9,520.89. (Mainichi)
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Smartphone spread boosts NTT DoCoMo
Leading Japanese mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo said Friday net profit sagged in 2011 due to an additional tax burden, but growing smartphone use had boosted operating profit.
Net profit for the year to March slipped 5.4% from a year ago to 463.9 billion yen, mainly due to changes in the tax code, the company said.
(Japan Today)
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Honda's quarterly profit jumps 61 per cent on improved sales despite strong yen
Honda's January-March profit jumped 61 per cent as the Japanese automaker sold more cars and motorcycles in a turnaround from a disaster-battered 2011. It forecast record global sales of 4.3 million vehicles for this fiscal year.
(The Record)
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Four more kids hit, in Aichi, Chiba
A boy was killed and three others were injured Friday in two car accidents involving schoolchildren, in Aichi and Chiba prefectures, just four days after a teen driver ran over pupils in Kyoto.
The new accidents resulted in the arrests of two male drivers in their 20s on suspicion of negligent driving from allegedly failing to exercise due care.
(Japan Times)
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Indirect disaster deaths reach 1,618
More than 1,600 people died in Tokyo and nine prefectures for reasons related to, but not as a direct result of, last year's Great East Japan Earthquake, according to the Reconstruction Agency.
(Yomiuri)
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