News On Japan

Perfect yokozuna Hakuho put one hand on his 24th Emperor's Cup after outclassing ozeki Kisensato for his 12th straight win at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Thursday. (Kyodo)

Press your index fingers and thumbs together in a triangle pattern in front of any Japanese person over the age of 35, and there's every chance the gesture will score an immediate reaction from them. (beefcentral.com)

The Japanese government decided Friday to set up a secretariat for Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations with about 100 members, headed by economic revitalization minister Akira Amari. (Kyodo)

North Korea has threatened to launch a nuclear attack on US bases in Japan and Guam after Washington used B-52 bombers in a joint military drill with the South. (telegraph.co.uk)

A seven-floor restaurant and shopping facility opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday at the 38-story JP Tower building near Tokyo Station. (Japan Times)

Former senior members of the Aum Supreme Truth cult could be the first death-row inmates to appear as witnesses in front of lay judges. (Yomiuri)

The Kyoto District Court on Friday handed down a prison sentence of six years for extortion of a construction company employee to Kiyoshi Takayama, 65, the second-highest member of the Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime organization. (Tokyo Reporter)

Japanese women are more likely to have a university degree than men, and the number of women in employment has been rising steadily for 10 years - but, for a range of reasons, a woman who has had children still has a hard time getting a good job. (BBC)

A Japanese government panel on regulatory reforms drafted a proposal on Thursday that the government set a new goal of reducing the number of children waiting to get in nursery schools to zero by the end of fiscal 2014. (Jiji Press)

Japan's average land prices slipped for a fifth straight year in 2012, but the rate of decline was the slowest of the entire period, potentially signalling a rebound in the property market. (todayonline.com)

Japanese researchers said Thursday they have found a rich deposit of rare earths on the Pacific seabed, with reports suggesting it could be up to 30 times more concentrated than Chinese reserves. (Channel NewsAsia)

Japan's Nikkei average shed 2.4 percent on Friday as concerns mounted that Cyprus may be forced to exit the euro zone after the European Union gave the island's government until Monday to raise the billions of euros it needs to secure a bailout. (firstpost.com)

A total of some 750,000 residents in 14 municipalities in the central Japan prefectures of Yamanashi and Shizuoka would need to evacuate in the event of an eruption of Mount Fuji, which straddles the two prefectures, an estimate showed Friday. (Jiji Press)

Yokozuna Hakuho secured the Emperor's Cup for the 24th time with a dominant win over Goeido, capturing the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament title with two days to spare on Friday. (Japan Times)

The first proposal from the Liberal Democratic Party's education panel includes establishing "advanced Super Science High Schools (SSHs)" and having universities require applicants to achieve a certain score on the Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL), it has been learned. (Yomiuri)

Domestic and foreign investors have turned their attention toward real estate investments, which are benefitting from the recent depreciation of the yen. (Yomiuri)

At a meeting here with members of a mission from the Japan-China Economic Association, Li blamed the Japanese government for heightening tensions between the two countries by nationalizing some of the islands in September last year. (Jiji Press)

A total of 10 regional electronic fare cards operated by Japan's eleven major transport authorities on Saturday became mutually usable in all their operating areas in Japan, enabling holders to travel through Japan's key cities across the country with one card. (Kyodo)

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum has decided to remove from display its life-sized plastic replicas of survivors just after the atomic bombing of the city. (Yomiuri)

According to the Osaka Prefectural Police Department, Hajime Komura, the 47-year-old former teacher of Sakuranomiya High School and former coach of the school's basketball club, has admitted to the charges by saying what he did to the student, the then captain of the club, "went beyond mere physical punishment." (Jiji Press)

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