News On Japan

Alarmed by gaping holes in oversight, the Board of Audit wants to tighten scrutiny on tax deductions for overseas dependents to prevent dubious individuals from cheating the government out of revenue. (Asahi)

Japan will take the 18th spot in an expanded Super Rugby competition from 2016. (tvnz.co.nz)

Two rarely shown painted "mandala" that depict the Buddhist universe will go on public display at Toji temple, a World Heritage site, on Oct. 31. (Asahi)

Japan will check the recent travel histories of all people arriving at international airports in the country to identify those who have visited Ebola-affected West African countries, the health ministry said Friday. (The Japan News)

Police in Tokyo's Mizuhomachi area have arrested a 20-year-old man for pouring urine from a PET bottle on a 14-year-old girl earlier this month. (Japan Today)

Police on Friday night arrested a 38-year-old man who stabbed a passerby in front of Tokyo's Ueno Station. (Japan Today)

Trade chiefs from 12 countries involved in an ambitious Pacific free trade initiative started a three-day meeting Saturday in Sydney in a bid to make progress toward a U.S.-proposed goal of reaching a deal by year-end. (Kyodo)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to let Japan's military fight overseas could open the way for the country to deploy minesweepers in South Korean waters in the event of a war with North Korea, a senior U.S. admiral said on Friday. (Reuters)

Japanese and South Korean lawmakers pledged their mutual efforts Saturday to resolve the issue of so-called "comfort women" at an early date. (Jiji Press)

The Hanshin Tigers put runners on every base with two outs in the fifth inning in the opening game of the Japan Series as the zeal and frenzy of their fans in the stands shot to new levels. (Japan Times)

The Thai man who admitted to killing Yoshinori Shimato, a 79-year-old Japanese teacher who had been missing since late September, has confessed to killing another Japanese man, a Thai police official said Friday. (Japan Times)

The model for retailing to a rapidly aging population resides on the fourth floor of a busy emporium on the eastern edge of metropolitan Tokyo. (theglobeandmail.com)

Hyogo prefecture is the only prefecture on the main island of Honshu that has a coastline both to the Pacific Ocean and to the Sea of Japan. With some 8,400 square kilometres, it ranks 12th and its 5.6 million inhabitants make it the seventh largest prefecture. (mydigitalfc.com)

Japan's efforts to increase the number of international students coming to its shores are being dwarfed by similar initiatives in neighboring China. Lofty goals such as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to attract 300,000 foreign students by 2020 appear to be struggling to gain traction. (Japan Times)

Former Deputy Gov. Masao Uchibori won the Fukushima gubernatorial election Sunday. It was the first governor election to be held since the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fuskushima No. 1 nuclear power plant following the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. (The Japan News)

Police on Sunday appealed to the public for help in catching the killer of a 19-year-old student whose severed head was found five years ago in Shimane Prefecture. (Japan Today)

A Japanese university baseball team extended its own record of futility on Sunday, losing its 86th straight game while finishing a fourth consecutive year winless. (nzherald)

Tokyo government claims its homeless population has hit a record low, but analysts - and the homeless - beg to differ. (aljazeera.com)

Four members of one family, including two young children, have died in a fire that broke out at a church in the central Ishikawa prefecture of Japan. (skynews.com.au)

Officials from Japan's health ministry say they are testing a Japanese man for Ebola. The man returned to Japan from the West African country of Liberia with a fever that may be a symptom of the deadly disease. (NHK)

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