News On Japan

A possible cause of the HIE is suspected to have been the 100kg (220lbs) police officer who had sat on the woman's back like one would on a pony. (rocketnews24.com)

No one has ever fully explained why, in 2002-3, the virulent pathogen known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) ran rampant in mainland China (5,328 cases, 349 deaths) but only infected four people in South Korea, with no fatalities, and none in Japan. (Japan Times)

U.S. asset management firm MRI International Inc., which is suspected of mishandling clients' funds, gave false explanations that their funds were to be managed safely in a special account under U.S. banking law, some clients and other parties involved said Saturday. (Kyodo)

The Finance Ministry and the Bank of Japan plan to offer a free smartphone application that will allow the visually impaired to identify the value of bank notes through sound from November. (Japan Times)

The personal information of NTT DoCoMo Inc. customers in the U.S. has been leaked online after the server of its American unit was hacked, possibly by the LulzSec group, company officials admitted Saturday. (Japan Times)

A territorial dispute has overshadowed relations between Japan and Russia for decades. Next week, Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe is visiting Moscow to initiate efforts to find a compromise. (Deutsche Welle)

Samples of groundwater taken from monitoring holes around the sunken reservoirs at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant are proving radioactive, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday. (Japan Times)

The body was found Sunday of a woman missing since an avalanche hit a group of climbers on Mt. Shirouma in Nagano Prefecture the previous day, police said. (Kyodo)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was involved in a multiple car accident in Tokyo on Saturday. He was not injured. (NHK)

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Vladimir Putin of Russia are expected to agree in their coming meeting that the two countries will restart negotiations to end their territorial row, a Japanese government official said Sunday. (Jiji Press)

A Japanese department store operator has opened its first new outlet in China since it suffered serious damage from anti-Japan protests last year. (NHK)

A Dreamliner carrying top executives of Boeing Co. and All Nippon Airways Co. landed at Haneda airport in Tokyo Sunday, the carrier said, three months after the worldwide fleet of 787s was grounded. (Japan Times)

While the Japanese mainland celebrated Sunday, Okinawans staged a protest rally over the national 61st anniversary of the country receiving its postwar independence through a treaty with the United States. (stripes.com)

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party pulled off a landslide victory in Sunday's House of Councillors by-election in the western Japan prefecture of Yamaguchi, home of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Jiji Press)

Thousands of people marched in Tokyo on Sunday at the start of Japan's first "Rainbow Week", a series of events aimed at supporting sexual minorities. (rawstory.com)

The Japanese government has held a ceremony to mark the country's recovery of sovereignty under the San Francisco Peace Treaty. A protest against the ceremony was held in Okinawa, which was left outside Japanese administration for another 20 years. (NHK)

The crown prince and princess of Japan Sunday headed to the Netherlands to attend the coronation of the new Dutch king, officials said. (UPI)

The nation's four major life insurance companies are set to shift away from investing in government bonds, whose interest rates are expected to fall, to foreign bonds that are expected to produce higher yields. (Yomiuri)

Alan Wood, a World War II veteran credited with providing the flag used in the famous flag-raising on Iwoto, formerly known as Iwojima, has died. He was 90. (guardian.co.uk)

Political parties over the weekend competed for the support of heavy Internet users at an event hosted by an online video-sharing site in the runup to the House of Councilors election in July, the first election to allow politicians unfettered access to the Web in their campaigns. (Japan Times)

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