News On Japan

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is believed to go ahead with a consumption tax hike in April next year as planned, a Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight said Sunday. (Jiji Press)

Police in Tokyo have arrested a Nigerian bar owner and three hostesses for drugging the drinks of a male customers and then using his cash cards to empty out his bank account. (Japan Today)

Remains recently found in Chiba Prefecture are likely those of a man who disappeared at sea in 2004 and was subsequently listed by a private group as a potential kidnapping victim of North Korea, police sources said Saturday. (Japan Times)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday he will closely monitor how the U.S. Congress will react to President Barack Obama's decision to ask it to support a military strike punishing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime for the alleged use of chemical weapons. (Kyodo)

Leading Japanese animation film director Hayao Miyazaki will retire from movie production, it was learned Sunday. (Jiji Press)

About 500 relatives of the victims of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake held a Buddhist ceremony in Tokyo on Sunday. (NHK)

Police said Saturday that a 15-year-old school girl from Tokyo's Adachi Ward has been arrested for attempted identity fraud after she allegedly posed as a woman's son in need of cash. (Japan Today)

Tropical depression Fifteen is forecast to strike Japan as a tropical storm at about 16:00 GMT on 5 September. (trust.org)

A crisis over contaminated water at Japan's stricken nuclear plant worsened on Saturday when the plant's operator said it had detected high radiation levels near storage tanks, a finding that raised the possibility of additional leaks. (New York Times)

Japan's labour ministry has started a crackdown on about 4,000 "black companies" that force young employees to work extremely long hours for minimal pay, a step aimed at ending this exploitative business practice and improving their treatment. (stuff.co.nz)

Disaster drills to prepare for huge earthquakes, based for the first time on a gigantic Nankai Trough quake scenario, were conducted across the nation Sunday, as Sept. 1 is Disaster Prevention Day. (Yomiuri)

The Nikkei average rose 1.4 percent on Monday as real estate and construction stocks gained on hopes that Tokyo will win the race to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, while consumer finance shares climbed after a media report citing rising loan demand. (malaysiasun.com)

Food and seasonings, such as jams and dressings, will become more expensive beginning with products shipped Monday. (Yomiuri)

The government will present Tuesday a set of emergency measures to deal with the huge volume of radioactive water accumulating at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, officials said Monday. (Kyodo)

An international meeting to discuss how to manage bluefin tuna resources in the northern Pacific started Monday in the southwestern Japan city of Fukuoka. (Kyodo)

A panel of experts at Japan's Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry decided Monday to start producing a vaccine for the H7N9 strain of avian influenza following a number of reported cases of human infections in China. (Jiji Press)

Heavy rainfall is lashing a wide area from western to northeastern Japan. Weather officials say warm, damp air is moving into a rain front over Japan's main island, while a cold air mass is hovering over the country. They say this has destabilized the atmospheric conditions. (NHK)

Dozens of buildings were damaged and at least eight people were injured after what appeared to be several tornadoes touched down in parts of Saitama and Chiba prefectures on Monday afternoon, authorities said. (Yomiuri)

If the consumption tax is raised in April as scheduled, a majority of retailers are likely to exclude the higher tax from labeled prices, according to industrial sources. (Yomiuri)

Japanese brewers are stepping up efforts to expand beer sales overseas, amid falling domestic demand. Some firms hope an extra-chilled variety of beer will prove popular. (NHK)

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