News On Japan

The controversial six-month dolphin hunting season began on Monday in the infamous town of Taiji, but bad weather would delay any killing, a local official told AFP. (The Guardian)

Japanese police have added 23 missing persons to a list of those who may have been abducted by North Korea. (NHK)

Average monthly pay for workers in Japan, including bonuses, rose 2.6 percent in July from a year earlier to 369,846 yen, marking a rise of 2 percent or more for the first time in a decade, the labor ministry said Tuesday. (Kyodo)

Japan's Nikkei share average ended at a seven-month high on Tuesday in active trade as the yen slipped to a seven-month low against the dollar, sending exporters higher on hopes of a boost to earnings. (Economic Times)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has installed devices in a park in downtown Tokyo to catch mosquitoes and check whether they are carrying the dengue virus. (NHK)

Japan's prime minister picked a record-matching five women for his Cabinet Wednesday, sending the strongest message yet about his determination to revive the economy by getting women on board as workers and leaders. (abcnews.go.com)

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida vowed Wednesday to promote dialogue between Japan and its two Asian neighbors of China and South Korea. (Jiji Press)

In pursuing quantity over quality, struggling Japanese universities may be setting themselves up for disaster. (The Diplomat)

Takatoshi Ito, one of Japan's best-known economists, will join the Columbia University faculty in January after 12 years as a professor and a dean at the University of Tokyo, the country's most prestigious academic institution. (Wall Street Journal)

Twelve more people have been confirmed as infected with dengue virus in Japan, raising the total number of dengue fever cases to 48 since the first domestic infection was reported last week, the health ministry said Wednesday. (Jiji Press)

Chinese President Xi Jinping did not deliver a speech at a large-scale memorial ceremony held in the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in a suburb of Beijing on Wednesday, which is recognized as the day of China's victory over Japan in the last war. (Jiji Press)

On August 4, a laborer discovered a body wrapped in a blanket inside a cardboard box along Route 202 in Sano City, Tochigi Prefecture. (Tokyo Reporter)

The biggest domestic task for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new cabinet is whether to go ahead with plans to raise the consumption tax again next year, as the Japanese economy is faltering after the latest increase in the tax. (Jiji Press)

Japanese First Lady Akie Abe said on Thursday the country should consider cutting wasteful spending and boosting the economy before going ahead with a rise in the sales tax to 10 percent, as her husband wrestles with just that decision. (Reuters)

Kyoto is no small town. Its population is 1.5 million; its metro system is extensive; it has 23 Starbucks. Nonetheless, it's quaint-and after a few days of temple hopping, urbanites craving a taste of the big city would do well to hop the commuter rail to Osaka, just 30 minutes away. Japan's second-largest metropolis is well known for its food and for that most American of pastimes: baseball. (cntraveler.com)

Virgin Atlantic is pulling out of Tokyo, Mumbai, Vancouver and Cape Town as the airline repositions itself as a transatlantic airline flying mainly between the UK and the USA. (ausbt.com.au)

Russian President Vladimir Putin cited a 1939 Soviet victory over the Japanese army as a foundation of relations with Mongolia during a visit to Ulan Bator on Wednesday, despite a risk of upsetting Tokyo. (Reuters)

Japan is seeking international support for its plans to hunt minke whales in the Antarctic Ocean next year by scaling down the whaling research program the U.N. top court rejected earlier this year, fisheries officials said Wednesday. (foxnews.com)

Japanese stocks fell on Thursday, snapping a three-day winning streak as most investors took profits from the recent gains after they quickly priced in the Bank of Japan's decision to maintain its massive monetary stimulus and its upbeat view on the economy. (Reuters)

The extinct Japanese wolf is not indigenous to Japan after all, but rather a subspecies of wolf that inhabits wide areas of the world, Gifu University researchers have announced. (Asahi)

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