News On Japan

Japan's richest person, Tadashi Yanai, has laid out an aggressive expansion strategy for Australia, saying his Uniqlo fashion chain could open as many as 100 stores here, including 50 in the next three years alone. (The Australian)

Senior Japanese and South Korean diplomats on Wednesday held discussions on so-called comfort women, a key thorny issue between the two Asian countries, but failed to narrow their differences. (Jiji Press)

Negotiators from Japan and the United States haven't been able to make a breakthrough yet at the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks. But a Japanese official says the 2-sides have made some progress. (NHK)

Major electronic manufacturers are expanding their lineups of so-called 4K ultrahigh-resolution TVs, as the companies look to these new products to be a driving force to stimulate their sluggish TV businesses. (The Japan News)

Police in Tokyo said Wednesday they have arrested an unemployed 24-year-old man for robbing a convenience store in Shibuya. (Japan Today)

A Japanese court has rejected a plan to rebuild the failed Bitcoin exchange MtGox under the civil rehabilitation law. (NHK)

People enjoy viewing the 15-meter snow walls of the Yuki no Otani (Great Snow Valley), along the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route that passes through the Northern Japan Alps to link Toyama and Nagano prefectures. (The Japan News)

A 6-year-old boy died and a 3-year-old girl remains in a coma after they were swept away by a strong current in a river in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, on Wednesday afternoon. (Japan Today)

KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Corp. have reiterated their opposition to a possible easing of regulations on NTT Corp. (The Japan News)

The entire roof of a JR Tokyo Station platform will be removed and replaced for first time since the station opened in 1914, according to East Japan Railway Co. (The Japan News)

A former Bridgestone Corp. (5108) executive agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to fix prices for auto parts, a day after a grand jury indicted another executive and two former workers at the Japanese tire maker. (Bloomberg)

Asian stock markets were subdued on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei faltering as investors locked in profits after a strong rally. (AP)

Japan is expected to secure the minimum required power supply capacity when electricity demand peaks in August, even if all the country's nuclear reactors remain offline, estimates by major regional utilities showed Thursday. (Kyodo)

Just over one ton of water contaminated with radioactive particulates leaked from one of the containment vessels at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Wednesday, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said. (Japan Today)

Tochigi prefectural police said Thursday that they are questioning a man in his 30s over the murder of a 7-year-old girl in December 2005. Japanese media quoted police as saying that the man, who was arrested for dealing in fake brand-name goods, has hinted at his involvement in the murder. (Japan Today)

Japan's government downgraded its assessment for the current state of the country's economy. This is partly due to a downturn in demand after the consumption tax hike. The downward revision is the first in 17 months. (NHK)

Toyota Motor Corp. showed off a reworked Camry that sports deeper-stamped body panels and a modified cabin as the world's largest automaker works to keep its benchmark sedan the U.S. market's best-selling car. (The Japan News)

A man was killed after the car he was driving plunged into the sea while he was being chased by a police car in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, on Thursday morning. (Japan Today)

Train operators in Tokyo and surrounding areas will be shutting down coin-operated luggage lockers at main stations before and during US President Barack Obama's visit next week, as a security measure. (NHK)

Japan's farm ministry said Thursday that the highly pathogenic avian influenza found at a poultry farm in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kumamoto has been confirmed to be the H5N8 subtype, the same virus strain as the bird flu found in South Korea. (Jiji Press)

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