News On Japan

Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and South Korean President Park Geun Hye have agreed that Tokyo and Seoul will closely cooperate "in a forward-looking manner," with North Korea's nuclear and missile development and other problems in mind. (Yomiuri)

The Education Rebuilding Council, a government advisory panel chaired by Waseda University President Kaoru Kamata, has recommended enhancing the education for school club activity instructors to end corporal punishment. (Yomiuri)

Japan's parliament on Tuesday enacted a 13.1 trillion yen ($140.7 billion) supplementary budget for fiscal 2012 to finance a stimulus package aimed at pulling the economy out of deflationary recession, with some support from opposition party lawmakers. (Kyodo)

A man in his 60s in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Nagasaki died in autumn 2005 after developing severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or SFTS, due to the infection with a tick-borne virus, the health ministry said Tuesday. (Jiji Press)

A ceremony was held Tuesday to celebrate the completion of the new Kabuki-za theater and an adjacent office building called Kabuki-za Tower in the Higashiginza district of central Tokyo. (Japan Times)

Japanese idol group AKB48's new single "So long!" became its 10th consecutive first-week million-seller CD, a music market research company said Tuesday. (Jiji Press)

Communities in Hokkaido and five prefectures of the Tohoku region had record levels of accumulated snow as of Feb. 25, although precipitation levels are about the same as an average year. (Asahi)

A 54-year-old police sergeant in Kanagawa Prefecture has been arrested for paying a 16-year-old girl for sex. (Japan Today)

Police said Wednesday that a man in his 30s was stabbed in the back on the platform at JR Kinshicho Station in Tokyo on Tuesday. (Japan Today)

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday expressed his support for the Bank of Japan's current monetary easing policy aimed at beating the country's protracted deflation. (Jiji Press)

A cargo of high-level radioactive waste produced through reprocessing of spent Japanese nuclear fuel in Britain arrived at a port in Aomori Prefecture for storage on Wednesday. (Kyodo)

Tokyo stocks closed down 1.27 percent Wednesday as the yen rose on concerns about uncertainty in Italy, while Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke said the bank would stick to its loose monetary policy. (brecorder.com)

British, French, Hong Kong and Japanese nationals are among 19 tourists reportedly killed in a hot air balloon crash near the Egyptian city of Luxor. (BBC)

The 21-year-old suspect in the Feb. 12 rampage on the Pacific island of Guam that left three dead and several others injured on Wednesday pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness. (Kyodo)

Japan's government raised its assessment of the economy in February for the second consecutive month, saying factory output has bottomed out and corporate sentiment is improving due to the falling yen and rising share prices. (Reuters)

A 114-year-old Japanese woman, Misao Okawa, was recognized as the world's longest-living woman on Wednesday. (Jiji Press)

The city government of Ono in the western Japan prefecture of Hyogo on Wednesday presented to the city assembly a draft ordinance that calls for banning welfare benefit recipients from wasting the money on gambling. (Jiji Press)

China is likely to appoint an expert on Japan and North Korea as its next foreign minister, three independent sources said, in a measure of Beijing's resolve to improve difficult relationships with two of its closest neighbors. (Reuters)

Conductor Seiji Ozawa performed Wednesday in public for the first time since ill health forced him to suspend his musical activities last March, conducting a choir of 340 elementary school pupils in Kawasaki. (Japan Times)

The agriculture ministry said Wednesday it will raise the prices of imported wheat it sells to private flour mills by 9.7 percent on average from April 1, reflecting rises in international market prices of the grain. (Yomiuri)

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