News On Japan

In the first application of a law that seeks to restrict the distribution of sexually explicit content for revenge purposes, Fukushima Prefectural Police on Thursday arrested a 33-year-old male for allegedly releasing illicit images of his former girlfriend, reports public broadcaster NHK (Feb. 20). (tokyoreporter.com)

A commemorative mass was held here on Feb. 19 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Japan's oldest Roman Catholic church. (Asahi)

Japanese stocks rose to a fresh 15-year high on Friday, continuing a trend that analysts said could signal that the world's third largest economy is reaching escape velocity from deflation despite the fact that the Bank of Japan is having increasing difficulty in reaching its official inflation target. (businesstimes.com.sg)

One afternoon in December, kimono-clad Nozomi Osada cheerfully played the drums and the gong to promote the opening of a new karaoke bar in an area near JR Kannai Station in Yokohama. (Asahi)

Thailand's military-picked legislature passed a law that criminalized commercial surrogacy and prohibited foreigners from seeking surrogacy services in the kingdom after a string of scandals last year, a lawmaker said Friday. (Japan Today)

Japan has become a popular place for Chinese people to spend their week-long Lunar New Year holidays partly thanks to a weak yen, with newspapers here running articles on the shopping spree of Chinese tourists in Japan. (The Japan News)

Japanese customs authorities seized a total of 630 kilograms of illegal drugs, such as stimulants, cannabis and cocaine, in 2014, the Finance Ministry said Friday. (Jiji Press)

McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) said Friday that Eiko Harada will step down as chairman after heading the burger chain for 10 years. (Japan Times)

"Entry requires 5,000 yen for 40 minutes. For that, you can inspect the 'under' merchandise." A reporter for Friday (Feb. 13) is standing in front of a business in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district coming under the designation "JK," an abbreviation for joshi kosei, or high school girl. (Tokyo Reporter)

Japan's economy is hobbling out of a recession, inflation is a quarter of the central bank's target and wages adjusted for price changes fell last year. And yet sales of luxury goods are growing and the stock market hita 15- year high. (businessoffashion.com)

The Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese daily, has a reputation for illiberal commentary. Last week it outdid itself by running a column that lauded the segregation of races in apartheid-era South Africa-and urged Japan to do the same. (The Economist)

Japan's national mint has begun making commemorative coins to help finance reconstruction projects in areas hit by the massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. (NHK)

A murder investigation is underway after the body of a male age 10 to 19 was found by a river in Kawasaki, police said Saturday. (Japan Times)

U.S. regulators said they're fining Takata Corp. to help speed government efforts to solve the mystery of why millions of air bags in passenger cars may be at risk of exploding. (Bloomberg)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Friday arrested a man living in Mizuho for providing a teenage girl to an out-call sex service in Saitama Prefecture, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Feb. 11). (Tokyo Reporter)

Yutaka Katayama, a former president of Nissan Motor Co.'s U.S. unit who built the Z sports car into a powerful global brand in the 1970s, has died, his son said Saturday. He was 105. (Japan Today)

Japan's Foreign Ministry said Saturday another Japanese national has been temporarily detained as a suspicious person by authorities in the Kurdish autonomous zone in northern Iraq earlier this month. (Kyodo)

As a part of an ongoing investigation into drugs smuggled from China, Kanagawa Prefectural Police on Friday arrested the leader of a huge producer of a highly specialized stimulant, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Feb. 20). (Tokyo Reporter)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe responded to criticism in the Diet on Friday about his playing golf and attending concerts in late December after he had been informed that two Japanese were being held hostage by Islamic State extremists. (Japan Today)

The Consumer Affairs Agency has ordered Earth Chemical Co. and three other companies to stop misleading advertising and other representations about some of their insect repellents. (The Japan News)

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