News On Japan

The average life expectancy for Japanese men and women is highest in the central prefecture of Nagano, a health ministry survey showed Thursday. (Jiji Press)

Tokyo stocks closed 0.41 percent higher Friday, reversing early losses sparked by profit-taking, and after the government nominated a new Bank of Japan chief known to favour aggressive monetary easing. (Global Post)

Japan's consumer prices fell for the eighth time in nine months, highlighting the challenges facing the Bank of Japan (8301) in reaching a 2 percent inflation target. (Bloomberg)

Japan should not join talks on a U.S.-led free-trade agreement for the Asia-Pacific region if domestic farmers would no longer enjoy tariff protection, the head of a powerful agricultural lobby told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday. (Kyodo)

For Abe, joining the TPP negotiations is an integral part of his growth strategy, which is 'the third prong' of his economic policy. The first Abe administration of 2006-07 also emphasised the importance of making progress on Economic Partnership Agreements with other countries in East Asia in order to bolster economic growth in Japan by drawing in overseas demand for goods and services. (East Asia Forum)

While executions in other countries arouse heated debates on the morality of the state killing a human being, there has been no such discussion in Japan, despite current court rulings allowing the procedure. (Deutsche Welle)

A group of experts convened by the agency assessed the risk of various cancers based on estimates of how much radiation people at the epicenter of the nuclear disaster received, namely those directly under the plumes of radiation in the most affected communities in Fukushima, a rural agricultural area about 150 miles north of Tokyo. (nbcnews.com)

Shinzo Abe has his man at the Bank of Japan. Now the hard work begins. (CNN)

A New York Police Department patrol car responding to an emergency call struck and killed a 24 year-old Japanese man in the city's Queens borough shortly after midnight on Feb. 21, his family said Thursday. (Kyodo)

Japan's Justice Ministry said Friday procedures to rescue victims of school bullying were launched in 3,988 cases in 2012, up 20.6 pct from the previous year and the worst on record. (Jiji Press)

Two US sailors who raped a Japanese woman in Okinawa last October, sparking island-wide anger, have been jailed for nine and 10 years, a report said. (The Australian)

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his government will offer all-out support for Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games. (NHK)

Japan's unemployment rate fell in January, suggesting an improvement in the labor market. (NHK)

Finance Minister Taro Aso has urged business leaders to give their employees pay hikes to ensure Japan's economic recovery. (NHK)

Japan Customs saw the number of counterfeit cases rising 14.3 pct from a year before to a record 26,607 cases in 2012, the Finance Ministry said Friday. (Jiji Press)

Microsoft Corp.'s first-ever tablet computer will hit the Japanese market in two weeks, the company said Friday, hoping to break the iPad's domination. (Japan Times)

The government adopted a bill on Friday to issue a unique number to every citizen and corporation for the purpose of managing tax payments and social security services. (Yomiuri)

A Romanian boy was arrested Friday on suspicion of murder-robbery after he was apprehended Thursday near the site where a 22-year-old woman was killed in the Kichijoji district of Musashino, Tokyo. (Yomiuri)

The latest bulletin of the Japan Meteorological Agency mentions that an increase in seismicity since January 11 near the intra-caldera dome Komagatake is beginning to worry scientists about a possible new activity. (volcanodiscovery.com)

Police on Friday launched a murder investigation after the body of a man was found in a house in Ninohe, Iwate Prefecture. (Japan Today)

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