News On Japan

Buoy systems to help provide data on tsunami activity are being supplied to the Japan Meteorological Agency by U.S. company SAIC. The six systems ordered will be deployed in the northwest Pacific Ocean as part of a larger network of sensors to strengthen country's tsunami warning system. (UPI)

A 27-year-old assistant judge of the Osaka District Court was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of filming up a woman's skirt on a train, police said. (Yomiuri)

Residents of Tokyo pay the highest monthly smartphone bills among seven major global cities, partly due to expensive data communications fees and the yen's strength, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. (Japan Times)

Police said Wednesday that a 17-year-old youth has admitted fatally stabbing his mother and grandmother and then setting fire to their house in Shizuoka City. (Japan Today)

Police have questioned a former president of IBM Japan Ltd. on charges of filming up the skirt of a woman at a railway station in Tokyo last week, police said Thursday. (Mainichi)

South Korea on Thursday formally rejected Japan's proposal to refer their territorial dispute over a pair of South Korean-controlled islets to the International Court of Justice for a ruling on sovereignty. (Mainichi)

Tokyo stocks closed 0.95% lower on Thursday, falling below the psychological 9,000 level as concerns over corporate earnings hit sentiment. (Japan Today)

In every country, there are sub-cultures who define themselves through fashion. The West has goths, hippies and grunge, for example. Japan has gals. (BBC)

Guitarist Eddie Van Halen has undergone emergency surgery to treat a digestive disorder, forcing his hard rock group Van Halen to postpone its upcoming tour of Japan, the band said on its website on Thursday. (Reuters)

The Abeno Harukas building, now under construction in Osaka's Abeno Ward, became the tallest skyscraper in the country Thursday. (Yomiuri)

The first government-to-government talks between Japan and North Korea in four years have been extended for a day in a sign the sides hope for progress despite being deadlocked over whether to discuss the North's kidnapping of Japanese citizens. (foxnews.com)

A powerful earthquake hit northeastern Japan at about 4:05 a.m. Thursday, measuring upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in some places in Miyagi Prefecture. (Yomiuri)

Hon Hai Precision Industry's chairman left Japan on Thursday without finalizing a deal for a stake in Sharp Corp, Jiji news reported, prolonging uncertainty over an alliance that could rescue the loss-burdened Japanese display and TV maker. (Reuters)

Japan Airlines said on Thursday it would raise up to 663 billion yen ($8.4 billion) in its initial public offering after setting the indicative price range for what will rank as the world's second-largest IPO this year after Facebook Inc (FB.O). (Reuters)

A man from Chiba Prefecture has been arrested on suspicion of stealing 400 items of women's clothing. (ANNnewsCH)

Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide wrapped up his first spacewalk lasting over eight hours outside the International Space Station early Friday Japan time, but scheduled maintenance work could not be completed, NASA said. (Mainichi)

Japan's government laid out plans on Friday to suspend some state spending as it could run out of cash by October, with a deficit financing bill blocked by opposition parties trying to force Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda into an early election. (Reuters)

Japan's consumer prices slid at a faster pace in July and industrial production unexpectedly slumped, raising the danger that the world's third-largest economy has slipped back into a contraction. (Bloomberg)

The pilot and copilot of an All Nippon Airways plane were unaware for 17 seconds that their aircraft almost turned upside down during a flight last year, the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) said Friday in a report on the incident. (Japan Today)

A Japanese court on Friday rejected patent claims made by Apple against Samsung Electronics, a win for the Korean company following its crushing defeat in the U.S. last week - and a reminder of the global scope of the patent war between the two tech giants. (New York Times)

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