News On Japan

Japan's Nikkei share average fell on Tuesday in thin trade as profit-taking accelerated in late trade after the weak yen trend paused, taking a toll on exporters and index-heavyweight stocks such as Honda Motor Co and SoftBank Corp. (Reuters)

Japan will consider various factors including the situation in Ukraine before deciding whether to go ahead with Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to the country this autumn. (NHK)

With its contribution now rivaling that of the auto industry in at least one estimate, tourism is fast becoming a key focus of Japan's economic policy. (Japan Times)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will likely keep the number of women ministers and Liberal Democratic Party executives at four in an upcoming reshuffle, a senior government official said Tuesday. (Jiji Press)

A Japanese district court ordered Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Tuesday to pay some 49 million yen in compensation over the suicide of an evacuee from the March 2011 nuclear accident at the company's Fukushima No. 1 power plant. (Jiji Press)

A Japanese whaling survey ship has left Russia's Far East after being released following more than a week of inspections by Russian authorities. (NHK)

A Japanese assemblyman has pleaded not guilty to transporting stimulants at a trial in southern China. (NHK)

A tsunami of over 20 meters could hit a town on the Sea of Japan coast, a government panel on large-scale earthquakes said Tuesday. (Kyodo)

Japan's services producer price index in July rose 3.7 pct from a year before, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday. (Jiji Press)

Japan's infrastructure ministry decided Tuesday to boost the functions of "Michi no Eki" rest areas along major roads to make them centers for tourism, disaster prevention and social welfare. (Jiji Press)

A total of 5,186 people were taken to hospitals by ambulance for heatstroke in the week through Sunday, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday. (Jiji Press)

Scientists at Riken, the Japanese institute behind claims of an ingeniously novel method of creating stem cells, have been unable to duplicate the process despite multiple attempts, sources said Tuesday. (Nikkei)

With mature Pacific bluefin tuna nearing record lows due to overfishing, Japan announced Tuesday that it will limit hauls of young tuna by region, a move that is likely to keep prices high. (Nikkei)

Central Japan Railway Co., better known as JR Tokai, submitted a plan to the transport ministry on Tuesday on the Tokyo-Nagoya section of a high-speed magnetic levitation Shinkansen train line. (The Japan News)

The number of babies born in Japan in the January to June period dropped 2.7 percent from a year earlier to 496,391, pointing to the possibility of the annual figure slipping below the 1 million mark for the first time on record, government data showed Tuesday. (Japan Times)

Users of free wireless Internet connections at Japan's Narita, Kansai and Kobe airports are vulnerable to electronic eavesdropping of their e-mail and web browsing, a study by an information and communications specialist showed Tuesday. (Bangkok Post)

In an effort to strengthen its anti-drug programs and campaigns, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has submitted a budgetary appropriations request for next year amounting to 1.1 billion yen which is nearly 10 times higher than the amount requested for 2014. (Japan Today)

The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau charged the former manager of a club employing Korean hostesses in the Akasaka entertainment district with tax evasion, it was learned on Tuesday, reports the Sankei Shimbun. (Tokyo Reporter)

Riken has been unable to verify the so-called STAP cell phenomenon, the Japanese government-affiliated research institute said in an interim report on Wednesday. (Jiji Press)

East Japan Railway and West Japan Railway have announced a new Shinkansen bullet train line will open on March 14th next year. It will link Tokyo with Kanazawa on the Japan Sea coast. The voyage will take about 2-and-a-half hours. (NHK)

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