News On Japan

Some 30 minutes by car from JR Takamatsu Station in Kagawa Prefecture, a lonely site on the side of a mountain is where abandoned tombstones go to their final resting place. (Asahi)

Tokyo sightseeing bus operator Hato Bus Co. said Wednesday it will offer more of its popular bus and boat tours to famous "haunted" places with a professional storyteller. (Japan Times)

It was just over half a century ago that Honda Motor Co.'s founder, Soichiro Honda, made public his aspiration to eventually enter the aviation business. That dream is about to take off. (Japan Times)

A Japanese university has taken the step of evicting all 105 residents of a school dormitory for breaching its no-drinking rule, according to media reports. (The West)

The Metropolitan Police Department will launch a full-scale investigation into the collapse of Mt. Gox, a Tokyo-based major exchange for the bitcoin digital currency, on suspicion of computer fraud, suspecting that a large quantities of bitcoins were illegally withdrawn from the company's system, it was learned Wednesday. (The Japan News)

Japan could be flirting with recession after the weakest factory output since 2011, which, following a surprising fall in exports last week, could pressure the central bank to ease policy and complicate a decision on whether to raise taxes. (Japan Today)

McDonald's restaurants in Japan are turning to time-honoured Asian soul food-tofu-as the chain scrambles to minimise the damage from an embarrassing tainted meat scandal in China. (Japan Today)

Golden-gai, a warren of tiny bars near Shinjuku's Kabukicho entertainment district, has long been a refuge for writers, musicians, filmmakers and other artistic types, who congregate at drinking establishments with like-minded patrons. (Japan Times)

Japan's smoking rate in 2014 fell below 20 pct for the first time since such statistics began in 1965, Japan Tobacco Inc. said Wednesday. (Jiji Press)

Osaka police said Wednesday they failed to report roughly 81,000 criminal cases to the National Police Agency between 2008 and 2012, or nearly 10 percent of the total reported by the prefectural police force during the five-year period. (Kyodo)

Japan has been practicing storming beaches with the U.S. and other countries in Hawaii this month. The amphibious landing exercises, which are relatively new to Japan's military, come as Tokyo tries to boost its ability to defend small islands it controls but China claims as its own. (abcnews.go.com)

On July 16, Kanagawa Prefectural Police arrested Koichi Yokoyama, a former Liberal Democratic Party member of the Kanagawa Prefectural Assembly, for allegedly possessing stimulant drugs at his apartment in Yokohama last month. (Tokyo Reporter)

An independent judicial panel of citizens said Thursday it has decided that three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. merit indictment over the 2011 nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. (Kyodo)

Japan's Nikkei share average rose to a fresh six-month high on Thursday after solid US growth buoyed sentiment and as the weakening yen lifted exporters, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group's earnings boosted the banking sector. (brecorder.com)

Kumamoto prefectural police have issued an arrest warrant for a 41-year-old man who allegedly killed his friend by pushing him out of the car while driving on a highway. (Japan Today)

The Tokyo District Court on Friday sentenced a 22-year-old man to 22 years in prison for fatally stabbing his teenage ex-girlfriend last October in a high-profile stalking case that sparked allegations of incompetence in the Mitaka Police Department. (Japan Times)

A suspected serial rapist who made headlines after briefly escaping from the Niigata District Court in June is now suspected of involvement in three alleged murders in Niigata Prefecture. (Japan Times)

The Japanese government has announced the official names of 158 uninhabited remote islands to govern them more properly, including 5 of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. (NHK)

There has been a rise in reports regarding unlicensed massage parlors injuring customers. (The Japan News)

A 9-year-old girl sustained minor injuries after actor Jun Kaname accidentally hit her while driving in his car in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward. (Japan Today)

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