News On Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that he will clarify Japan's commitment to making further contributions to the world peace, in a statement he will issue this year to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. (Jiji Press)

The Asahi Shimbun, a leading Japanese newspaper, has compiled an action plan to regain public trust following misreporting scandals. (NHK)

Japan is proposing jointly building Australia's new submarines, instead of exporting a new fleet, a report said Monday, after concerns in Canberra over the effect on the domestic ship-building industry. (Japan Today)

An economic rebound and altered monetary policy under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe briefly halted a long slide in Japan's commercial property market, but the benefits of what is known as "Abenomics" appear increasingly limited to Tokyo, leaving a moribund hinterland. (nytimes.com)

Back in August we went and hung out in Melbourne's brand-new cat cafe, which was kind of great, but now Japan has gone and done a Japan and thought of the next weird/great thing we'll all be secretly trying out in ten years. (junkee.com)

Pieces of plastic have been detected in chicken nuggets sold at McDonald's outlets in Aomori Prefecture and Tokyo, it was disclosed Monday. (Jiji Press)

Police in Mino, Osaka Prefecture, said Monday that someone poured "yakiniku" sauce into two post boxes, leaving 300 New Year greeting cards and other items sullied. (Japan Today)

The first official temperature monitoring institution to report 2014's climate data has now confirmed what climatologists widely expected: 2014 was the planet's warmest year since thermometers began monitoring temperatures in the late 19th century. (mashable.com)

Most Americans won't touch the weirder parts of our favorite animal, the cow. But in Japan, where beef isn't nearly as popular as chicken or pork or seafood, one item is taking the culinary scene by storm: the tongue. (modernfarmer.com)

Foreign tourists snapped up duty-free items in New Year's sales at outlets of the nation's four top department store operators during the first three days of 2015, but overall, trade was fairly lackluster. (Asahi)

A 3-year-old boy survived a 15-meter fall from the sixth floor of an apartment building in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward on Monday afternoon. (Japan Today)

The governments of Japan and the United States are arranging for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to visit the US this spring. Abe wants to discuss with President Barack Obama a review of Japan-US defense cooperation guidelines. (NHK)

Tokyo firefighters demonstrated traditional acrobatic stunts and held a drill in preparation for a possible major earthquake at their annual New Year event. (NHK)

Tokyo stocks tumbled 3.02 percent on Tuesday continuing a global equity market sell-off fuelled by political turmoil in Greece that has fanned fears over the eurozone. (dunyanews.tv)

Police in Itoshima, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Wednesday arrested a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of killing his 75-year-old grandmother. (Japan Today)

The government is expecting Japan's economy will shrink in the current fiscal year, with higher domestic prices triggered by the April 1 consumption tax hike and the weaker yen hurting private spending, sources close to the matter said Wednesday. (Kyodo)

The influential governor of a Japanese region rebuffed on Tuesday pleas by Tokyo Electric Power to restart the world's largest nuclear plant, saying the utility had not atoned for the disaster at its Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011. (Reuters)

The recent monster quake that hit northeastern Japan altered the earth's surface, geologists say, loading stress onto a different segment of the fault line much closer to Tokyo. (phys.org)

As many as 7.3 million older Japanese people are estimated to suffer from dementia in 2025, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Wednesday. (Jiji Press)

The number of crimes recorded by Japanese police in 2014 fell 7.8 percent from the previous year to 1,212,240, marking the third lowest post-World War II level, the National Police Agency said Thursday. (Kyodo)

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