News On Japan

Japan Communications Inc. unveiled on Thursday a new smartphone designed in collaboration with Vaio Corp. to energize the market for SIM-free smartphones in Japan. (Japan Times)

Reliable Wi-Fi hotspots are still surprisingly hard to come by in Tokyo, so lots of people carry portable "pocket Wi-Fi" devices for when they're out and about. (rocketnews24.com)

Major automakers and electronics makers are expected to agree to a pay-scale increase substantially higher than last year's, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. (The Japan News)

Seven Bank unveiled on Wednesday its revamped mobile automated teller machine, mainly designed to offer services after disasters. (The Japan News)

"Akira" manga artist and Miyagi Prefecture native Katsuhiro Otomo stands in front of a mural he designed for Sendai Airport's international arrival lobby at its unveiling ceremony Thursday. (The Japan News)

Japanese scientists have succeeded in transmitting energy wirelessly, in a key step that could one day make solar power generation in space a possibility, an official said Thursday. (Japan Today)

Police in Mitaka, Tokyo, have arrested a 31-year-old man for attempted murder after he hit his father with a baseball bat. (Japan Today)

Sporting a big smile and his straw hat, the pirate captain from the manga-anime series "One Piece" lit up the night sky from atop Tokyo Tower on March 12 to mark the opening of a new amusement facility there. (Asahi)

Police are looking into a physical abuse case by a male teacher at Nakayama Elementary School in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, in which a 12-year-old student suffered a broken bone in his back. (Japan Times)

The first of the new high-speed trains manufactured by major Japanese electronics firm Hitachi has arrived in Britain. (NHK)

Japanese stocks extended their advance on Friday, closing above the 19,000 mark for the first time in 15 years. (customstoday)

The House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, passed a record 96,342.0-billion-yen general-account budget for fiscal 2015 at a plenary meeting on Friday. (Jiji Press)

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has posted online a live undersea tour of what appears to be the wreck of the Japanese World War Two battleship Musashi. (NHK)

As cleanup work continues, workers in Fukushima Prefecture have started transferring contaminated materials to an intermediate storage facility. (NHK)

As many as 400 children across Japan could find themselves in danger mainly because they hang out with delinquent juveniles or schools have trouble contacting them due to truancy, an education ministry survey showed Friday. (Jiji Press)

North Korea has test fired seven short-range missiles into the sea, South Korean officials said March 13, in the latest such tests launched during ongoing South Korea-U.S. military drills. (Asahi)

Japanese actor Ken Watanabe made his Broadway debut on Thursday, appearing in a preview performance of "The King and I" at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. (Jiji Press)

TDK Corporation is displaying a special video presentation that takes a retrospective look at the 25-year history of the TDK neon sign in Piccadilly Circus, London. (acnnewswire.com)

Japan's third-ranking convenience store chain, FamilyMart Co., is considering purchasing a smaller competitor, Cocostore Corp., sources said Friday. (The Japan News)

The foreign and defense ministers of Japan and France have signed an agreement to promote cooperation in developing defense equipment. (NHK)

Latest Images