News On Japan

The third in a series of robotic Japanese spaceships safely arrived at the International Space Station on Friday, bearing a delivery of food, equipment and student science experiments for the orbital outpost. (MSNBC)

Four male officers of the Kanagawa prefectural police have admitted to sexually harassing a fellow female officer this March, forcing her to take off her clothes and giving her an unwanted kiss, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. (Yomiuri)

Japan needs to put highly skilled and educated workers into areas hit by last year's earthquake and tsunami to speed their reconstruction, the government said in an annual report Friday. (Yomiuri)

An Aichi Prefectural Police officer was arrested Friday on suspicion of using illegal stimulants, police said. (Japan Times)

Ruling and opposition parties have confirmed they will agree to a revision of government-backed bills on the introduction of a personal identification number system and ensure their passage through the House of Representatives by mid-August. (Yomiuri)

It's summer in Japan, which means shaved ice, cold noodles and parasols against the blinding sun - for men. While women have used sun umbrellas, or "higasa," for centuries, power conservation and increasingly hot summers have sent sales of men's sun umbrellas sharply higher, with department stores across Japan scrambling for stocks. (Reuters)

Police have arrested a junior high school teacher in Kodaira, Tokyo, for allegedly assaulting and threatening a 14-year-old junior high school girl on the street. (Japan Today)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has a new furry four-legged friend. A 3-month old Akita Inu puppy named Yume, a gift from the Japanese prefecture of Akita, arrived in Moscow aboard an Aeroflot flight from Tokyo. (abcnews.go.com)

Former Japanese general Toshio Tamogami has a dream: fed up with bowing to China and the United States, patriotic politicians form a new party that puts national interests first, bolsters the military and rewrites the pacifist constitution. (Reuters)

On any ordinary occasion scrapping with a cop would result in cuffs, a paddy wagon, a cell and probably worse. Yet, that is exactly what Australian Jake Andrewartha has been doing before his Olympic debut at London's ExCel arena this week. (Sydney Morning Herald)

A group of U.S. F-22 stealth fighters arrived in Japan on Saturday in what the Air Force hopes will be a step toward proving that its prized aircraft are safe after a mysterious oxygen problem that was making pilots sick. (Washington Post)

Russia and Japan sparred on Saturday over disputed islands that have strained their relations since World War Two, making no visible progress in talks toward a resolution weeks before Russia hosts a summit of Asian states. (Reuters)

The government has confirmed that it asked Germany to arrest and extradite Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson just days before the environmental activist jumped bail and fled the country. (Japan Times)

More than 2,000 musicians strummed ukuleles in a Japanese port city Saturday to set a new world record for the largest ever ensemble of the Hawaiian guitar. (Bangkok Post)

Japan's consumer prices declined in June, indicating that the country's economy continues to be affected by the soft global demand, the worsening crisis in the euro zone and the strengthening yen. (ibtimes.com)

Koyuki Higashi is slim, articulate and intelligent, things that make a would-be wife attractive to many in Japan. But Higashi knows she will probably never marry because she is a lesbian. (AFP)

With the mercury topping 35 degrees across the country Sunday, heatstroke has claimed five lives and sent more than 1,500 to the hospital so far this summer, according to a Kyodo News tally. (Japan Times)

Thousands of people formed "a human chain" around Japan's parliament complex Sunday to demand the government abandon nuclear power -- the latest in a series of peaceful demonstrations on a scale not seen in the nation for decades. (foxnews.com)

Bear sightings in the northeast more than tripled to 628 this spring as food became scarce, an Environment Ministry survey says. (Japan Times)

Clad in samurai armour, Ishin Takahashi was among thousands who took part in an ancient festival at the weekend in the shadow of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. (Japan Today)

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