News On Japan

North Korea has announced it has entered a "state of war'' with South Korea and will deal with every inter-Korean issue accordingly. (news.com.au)

The Tokyo District Court has decided to accept prosecutors' requests to question three death-row inmates who were senior members of the Aum Supreme Truth cult as part of the lay judge trial of another former Aum official. (Yomiuri)

Narita Airport is to be allowed an extension on the landing and take-off times of its evening flights, beginning Sunday. Narita city has granted the Narita Airport operator an extension to fly until midnight under certain circumstances, breaking its long-standing 11 p.m. closing time. (Japan Today)

Japan's land and infrastructure ministry said Friday it will substantially raise pay rates for workers in public projects in fiscal 2013 to cope with construction labor shortages after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. (Jiji Press)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought support from Mongolia on Saturday in Tokyo's territorial row with Beijing over disputed East China Sea islands, during a visit to the country. (Global Post)

The grand vision for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) outlined by President Obama at the APEC Summit in 2011 has moved a little closer to realisation, in scope at least, with announcement by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Japan would join in the negotiations. (East Asia Forum)

On March 16, the platforms for the Tokyu Toyoko Line at Shibuya Station moved from the chijō nikai (地上二階, second floor) to the chika gokai (地下五階, fifth basement floor) to connect the Toyoko Line with the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line. (Japan Times)

President Ma Ying-jeou on Saturday commissioned a 2,000-ton frigate to join a coast guard fleet patrolling waters near a cluster of Japanese-administered islands in the East China Sea, a move that could increase tensions in the contested area. (Kyodo)

A computer programmed to play "shogi," also known as Japanese chess, defeated an active professional player in a public match for the first time ever Saturday. (Japan Times)

Japanese comic strip football superhero Captain Tsubasa, who has inspired stars such as Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres, has returned from a storybook stint in Spain to save his "birthplace". (Global Post)

The Bank of Japan is considering introducing a new monetary easing scheme, centering on the idea of integrating its two longer-dated bond-buying programs into one, in an attempt to achieve its newly adopted inflation target of 2 percent, sources familiar with the plan said Sunday. (Kyodo)

Two men have died and one woman is in a coma after they were found stabbed in a house in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture, early Sunday, police said. (Yomiuri)

Police have found a man's mummified body at a home in Ashiya, and arrested the man's wife and eldest son Sunday on suspicion of abandoning the body. (Yomiuri)

Asian stocks fell, with Japan's Topix Index falling the most since March 2011, after a survey of sentiment among the country's largest manufacturers missed estimates and an official gauge of China's factory output expanded at a slower-than-expected pace. (Bloomberg)

Japanese business sentiment improved in the first three months of 2013, a central bank survey showed, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's aggressive monetary and fiscal policy prescriptions helped to weaken the yen and bolster share prices. (Reuters)

An estimated 840,000 new recruits nationwide marked their first day of work Monday at the start of Japan's new fiscal year, after surviving a difficult job-hunting season amid severe economic conditions. (Kyodo)

The Japanese government is considering presenting former Yomiuri Giants manager Shigeo Nagashima and former New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui with the People's Honor Award for their contributions to pro baseball, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Monday. (Kyodo)