News On Japan

Japan's formal entry into an expanded Super Rugby competition in 2016 will provide a shot in the arm for the game across Asia, according to the country's top rugby official. (Japan Today)

Japanese public prosecutors on Friday demanded a prison sentence of 10 years for Yusuke Katayama, who is accused of hijacking other people's personal computers and using them to send online threats. (Jiji Press)

The Japan Coast Guard has arrested the captain of a Chinese boat for illegal operation near Japan's Ogasawara Islands in the Pacific. (NHK)

A Japanese real estate company has taken official ownership of the land and building used as a pro-North Korea group's headquarters in Tokyo. (NHK)

-Japan's Takata Corp., at a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday, denied the allegation that the company had tried to conceal a fatal defect in its air bag system, while stressing its efforts to ensure the safety of air bags. (Jiji Press)

A rare waxy white southern bluefin tuna arrived at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market on Friday. (The Japan News)

A highly pathogenic avian influenza virus has been detected in duck droppings collected Tuesday in the town of Nagara in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, the Environment Ministry said Friday. (Jiji Press)

Workers have for the first time gone inside a no-entry zone in Fukushima Prefecture to dismantle a fishing boat washed ashore by the tsunami three years and eight months ago. (NHK)

Police in Tsubame, Niigata Prefecture, said Friday they have arrested a 24-year-old woman on a murder charge after she dropped her 3-year-old daughter off a bridge into the river. (Japan Today)

Murder suspect Chisako Kakehi invested most of the about Y1 billion she inherited from her spouses and lovers in futures trading and other financial products over the past few years, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned from investigative sources. (The Japan News)

Japan's Lower House speaker has issued a very unusual order. He told lawmakers to redo their "banzai" cheers because some chimed in before he finished reading the official declaration to dissolve the chamber. (NHK)

The Japan Meteorological Agency urged caution to late-season climbers on Nov. 20 after Mount Zaosan in northeastern Japan showed the strongest signs of volcanic activity this year. (Asahi)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe defended his reflationary policy, dubbed Abenomics, on Friday while opposition leaders argued it is failing, after the House of Representatives was dissolved on the day for a snap election. (Jiji Press)

Accommodations, transportation and other tourism-related services have rapidly sold out in and around Tanegashima island ahead of the Nov. 30 launch of the Hayabusa 2 asteroid probe there. (Asahi)

Officials at Japan's Meteorological Agency are warning people to be on guard for aftershocks in the days ahead after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake rattled central regions on Saturday. (NHK)

Aftershocks continued overnight after the strong earthquake that hit Nagano Prefecture late Saturday, leaving local residents anxious. (The Japan News)

The number of Chinese fishing boats believed to be engaged in coral poaching near Japan's Ogasawara Islands has declined since the Japan Coast Guard stepped up night patrols. (NHK)

Senior officials at Japan's ruling and opposition parties locked horns Sunday over whether the country should promote Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Abenomics economic policy. (Jiji Press)

Japan may borrow more debt over a longer horizon as the country steps up its already super-loose monetary policy to prop up economic growth and avoid slipping back into deflation. (Japan Today)

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto and Osaka Gov Ichiro Matsui, who head the opposition Japan Innovation Party, said Sunday they will not run in next month's lower house election. (Japan Today)

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