News On Japan

A 38-year-old man went on trial Friday, charged with kicking a fellow diner to death in a fight over seats at a ramen shop last year. (Japan Today)

Teachers throughout Japan have received extortion letters demanding cash allegedly on behalf of children's families. (NHK)

The Hokuriku Shinkansen service will be extended from the current terminal of Nagano Station to Kanazawa Station in Ishikawa Prefecture on Saturday, cutting travel time between Tokyo and Kanazawa stations by about 80 minutes to as little as two hours and 28 minutes. (The Japan News)

Toyota Motor Corp. announced on Friday it has entered into a sponsorship contract with the International Olympic Committee to be part of The Olympic Partner (TOP) program, becoming the world's first automaker to become a top-ranked Olympic sponsor. (The Japan News)

Japanese Disaster Management Minister Eriko Yamatani and her Chinese counterpart, Li Liguo, Sunday agreed to promote dialogue to enhance antidisaster cooperation between the two countries. (Jiji Press)

The Ueno Tokyo Line train has opened for service, linking the Joban, Tohoku and Takasaki lines with the Tokaido Line to facilitate transport between the capital and prefectures to the north, including Fukushima, Tochigi and Gunma. (Japan Times)

Dubbed "Little Kyoto," the Sea of Japan-sitting city of Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture, triumphs marvelously in the arts world. It's also famous for the freshness of its seafood and, true to its name - which literally means "marsh of gold" - it's the biggest producer of gold leaf in the country. (nypost.com)

A 14-year-old girl remained in a coma on Tuesday after she apparently jumped out of a window on the 4th floor of her school in Kashiwa, Chiba prefecture, on Monday. (Japan Today)

Tokyo shares ended higher with its benchmark Nikkei stocks index closing at its highest level in nearly 15 years Tuesday amid ongoing talks for wage hikes at major companies. (Global Post)

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Tuesday the possibly cannot be ruled out that prices in Japan will drop slightly due to cheaper oil. (Jiji Press)

The Japan Fair Trade Commission raided the Japanese unit of U.S. outdoor gear maker Coleman Co. on Tuesday on suspicion of resale price maintenance, in violation of the antimonopoly law. (Jiji Press)

After years of scoffing at the threat from smartphones, Nintendo Co is doing an about face and entering an alliance with Japanese mobile game company DeNA Co to develop games for mobile devices. (Japan Today)

Workers at a the construction site for a new condo complex in Osaka were surprised when they hit something hard after excavating about two meters deep on Monday morning. They were even more surprised to find that what they found was an unexploded piece of ordnance left over from World War II. (Japan Today)

The Walt Disney Company has announced that it will be hosting a special D23 Expo Japan from November 6th to 8th 2015 in Tokyo Disney Resort in Maihama. These are all smell steps to expanding all that Disney has to offer to the local economy in Tokyo. (insidejapantours.com)

Police in Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture, have confiscated the PC of an associate professor who was arrested on March 14 on suspicion of murdering a graduate student on March 12. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Tuesday announced the bust of a specialty bar in Taito Ward that allows customers to engage in sex, reports Fuji News Network (March 17). (Tokyo Reporter)

HIGASHI-SHIRAKAWA, Gifu Prefecture--In this village's version of the hunt for the Loch Ness monster and Sasquatch, an annual search will be held in May to capture a mythical snakelike, bottle-shaped creature known as "tsuchinoko." (Asahi)

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy received several death threats by phone in February, Japanese media reported Tuesday. (Japan Today)

4 Syrians who took part in a pro-democracy movement in their civil war-torn country have filed a lawsuit seeking refugee status in Japan. (NHK)

The Otsu municipal government accepted an out-of-court settlement Tuesday for a lawsuit over the 2011 suicide of a 13-year-old junior high school student who had been bullied by his classmates. (Jiji Press)

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