News On Japan

Police said Tuesday that a woman was found with her hands and feet bound at her Setagaya apartment in Tokyo on Monday. (Japan Today)

Japan's Defense Ministry has started considering introducing the U.S. Osprey tilt-rotor military transport aircraft for the Ground Self-Defense Force as early as in fiscal 2015, sources said Tuesday. (Jiji Press)

Budget carrier AirAsia Japan is being rebranded as 'Vanilla Air', the airline announced on Tuesday, with its president saying that vanilla is "loved by everyone in the world". (Economic Times)

The Cabinet Office said Tuesday it will hold six-day meetings beginning Monday to intensively discuss the possible impact of the planned two-stage consumption tax hike on Japan's economic and fiscal conditions. (Jiji Press)

A one-year anti-doping ban on Japanese female marathoner Kaori Yoshida has been extended by another year, the Japan Sports Arbitration Agency said on Tuesday. (indiatimes.com)

Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako visited temporary housing in the town of Shichigahama, Miyagi Prefecture, on Tuesday to meet with survivors of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. (Jiji Press)

A part-time worker at a Pizza Hut outlet in Tokyo uploaded a photo of himself on Twitter with pizza dough plastered all over his face in May, Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan Ltd., which owns the pizza delivery chain, has revealed. (Japan Times)

Police in Kagawa Prefecture said Tuesday they have arrested a 46-year-old police sergeant for using a spy camera attached to his shoe to film up a woman's skirt. (Japan Today)

Japan's space agency has unveiled the Epsilon, the first new rocket developed by the country in 12 years. (NHK)

Tokyo shares rose 0.21% Wednesday in choppy trade as investors await the release of minutes from the US Federal Reserve's July meeting. (themalaysianinsider.com)

Ichiro Suzuki is one hit away from joining Pete Rose and Ty Cobb in the elite club of professional baseball players to reach the 4,000 career-hit mark, an incredible display of consistency and longevity. (Wall Street Journal)

New iPhones will arrive in Japan on September 20 with a gold iPhone 5S option in tow, Japan's Nikkei reported Wednesday. (CNET)

Japan may have emerged late last year from its shortest economic contraction in roughly 60 years, findings of a government panel showed, as optimism generated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's reflationary policies led to robust personal consumption. (Reuters)

Japanese companies have held job interviews with students from universities in other parts of Asia, as part of their efforts to diversify their human resources in their expanding businesses overseas. (NHK)

Police said Wednesday they have arrested a 30-year-old man for throwing a cup containing urine at a junior high schoolgirl in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture. (Japan Today)

Japanese authorities are set to dramatically increase the level of their warning about the severity of a toxic water leak at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the country's nuclear watchdog says. (Aljazeera)

Sales at department stores nationwide fell 2.5 percent in July from a year before on a same-store basis, down for the first time in three months, according to an industry group. (Yomiuri)

Germany's central bank has warned that the effects of Japan's current economic policy will only be temporary unless more specific reforms are carried out. (NHK)

The Japanese have long been known for their innovations in unusual vending machine technology, but one of the newest offerings takes things to a whole new level. (ktvu.com)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asked U.S. Sen. John McCain on Wednesday to cooperate in moving U.S. Marine Corps personnel to Guam from Okinawa, calling for a budgetary allocation needed to proceed with the plan agreed on between the two countries. (Kyodo)

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