News On Japan

Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima said Thursday she will step down from the top party post to take responsibility for the SDP's poor showing in Sunday's House of Councillors election. (Jiji Press)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe embarked Thursday on his third trip to Southeast Asia since retaking the premiership late last year, aiming to deepen economic and security ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations through visits to Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. (Kyodo)

The 18th round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations ended Thursday, after welcoming Japan as the 12th member and with the group reiterating the goal of concluding a deal by year-end. (Kyodo)

A major Japanese Internet service provider says 4 million sets of members' IDs and passwords have been stolen. (NHK)

President Obama on Wednesday afternoon announced he was nominating Caroline Kennedy as the US ambassador to Japan, an appointment that would catapult the only surviving child of slain President John F. Kennedy to a dynamic diplomatic post. (boston.com)

A former police officer in central Japan was released from jail Thursday, a day after public prosecutors dropped murder and arson charges against him due to insufficient evidence. (Jiji Press)

The number of child abuse cases detected by 207 child counseling centers in Japan in fiscal 2012 that ended in March jumped 11.5 pct from the previous year to 66,807, a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry survey showed Thursday. (Jiji Press)

A 10-day trial scheme to collect a 1,000-yen entrance fee from those climbing Mount Fuji, Japan's highest mountain, was introduced on Thursday. (Jiji Press)

Japan Thursday welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama's nomination of Caroline Kennedy as the next ambassador to the country. (Jiji Press)

The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday ruled in favor of actress and singer Takako Uehara, 30, in a lawsuit for libel filed against publisher Bungeishunju. (Tokyo Reporter)

Japan's women retook their place as the world's longest-lived last year, edging out Hong Kongers as their life expectancy bounced back from the dip caused by the 2011 tsunami. (news.com.au)

Some Bank of Japan policymakers are becoming more vocal in expressing concerns about the economic outlook, threatening to pick away at what has been a unified public position of optimism key to the central bank's reflationary message. (Reuters)

Months of cool-headed calculations won Japanese Internet billionaire Masayoshi Son a takeover battle for No.3 U.S. carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. But the emotional tycoon showed a glimpse of his fiery temper during a run-in with Japan's bureaucrats. (Wall Street Journal)

Japan Post Group and US life insurer Aflac have agreed to expand the scope of their tie-up on cancer insurance. (NHK)

Police in Nagano Prefecture said Thursday they have arrested a 28-year-old elementary school teacher for allegedly using a spy camera to film up the skirts of high school girls in a convenience store. (Japan Today)

Japanese investors snapped up foreign bonds for a third straight week last week and analysts say that the long-awaited trend may be finally under way, signaling the next leg lower for the yen. (cnbc.com)

An annual summer festival has climaxed in Osaka City with a grand boat procession and display of fireworks. (NHK)

Australia's hopes of winning the East Asian Cup on its debut appearance crashed in extraordinary fashion after they came from 2-0 down to level against Japan late in the game before shipping a third goal to lose 3-2 in a thrilling encounter in Hwaseong. (The Age)

Consumer prices in June rose the most since 2008, 0.4 percent from a year earlier, an early sign that Japan's economy may be starting to shake off deflation, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said Friday. (Japan Times)

A man and his two children died Friday when the car they were traveling in was rear-ended by a 10-ton truck on the Isewangan Expressway in Aichi Prefecture. (Japan Today)

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