News On Japan

Foreign tourists scrambled in panic Wednesday after militants stormed a museum in Tunisia's capital and killed 19 people, "shooting at anything that moved," a witness said. (The Japan News)

Executives at Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp plan to cut about 10 percent of their domestic workforce in a bid to revive the business. (NHK)

As a part of an ongoing crackdown, Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Thursday announced that suspects arrested in the trafficking of a special type of synthetic drug used the virtual currency bitcoin to complete transactions, reports TBS News (March 18). (Tokyo Reporter)

Japanese authorities are investigating a worker at Amazon's local unit over claims he was involved in the sale of child pornography, reports said Thursday, marking another police probe into the US-based web retailer. (The West)

Three Japanese tourists were among 19 people killed, while three other Japanese were wounded when gunmen stormed Tunisia's national museum in Tunis on Wednesday. (Japan Today)

Japanese snack company Calbee has long since perfected the perfect marriage of both chips and crisps -- their crispy “Jagarico” potato chips. (Nikkei)

Last year, China's Alibaba Group unleashed a monster of an IPO, the world's biggest to date. But this year, Japan has a monster of its own that by all accounts could blow past the Alibaba listing to become the most massive offering of stock ever seen. (marketwatch.com)

Tokyo stocks fell 0.35 per cent Thursday after a surprisingly dovish forecast by the Federal Reserve for US economic growth and interest rates sent the yen surging against the dollar. (customstoday)

The number of stalking cases recognized by police in Japan in 2014 hit a record high of 22,823, up 1,734, or 8.2 pct, from the previous year, the National Police Agency said Thursday. (Jiji Press)

Speaking at a Japan-U.S. event held Thursday in Tokyo, visiting U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and Akie Abe, the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, called for support to promote the education of girls around the world. (Jiji Press)

A faintly red aurora borealis appeared in the night sky here March 18, the first time in a decade that nature's light show has been observed in Japan. (Asahi)

Rakugo storyteller Katsura Beicho III died at the age of 89 on Thursday night. Beicho who represents the country's rakugo culture was designated a living national treasure in 1996. (The Japan News)

The Metropolitan Police Department arrested a man in Okinawa Prefecture on Thursday for allegedly making anonymous phone calls to the U.S. embassy in Tokyo and threatening to blow up the embassy building. (Jiji Press)

Some Japanese government officials have started to call for the nation to join a development bank proposed by China. (NHK)

A Japanese whisky has won the world's top prize in a prestigious contest in Britain for the second straight year. (NHK)

The Abe administration on Friday signaled cautious approval of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and said for the first time that under certain conditions, it could join the institution. (Japan Times)

Leading casual clothing chain Uniqlo is turning to Kabuki and the fashion sensibilities of the French to galvanize its push to become a globally recognized brand. (Asahi)

More Japanese companies are using stock grants to motivate employees. The number of companies doing so between April 2014 and February topped 130, 340% more than three years earlier. (Nikkei)

New tests show almost all of the fuel inside one of the Fukushima nuclear plant's reactors has melted, its operator said Thursday, the latest step in the clean-up after Japan's worst ever nuclear crisis. (Japan Today)

Internet services company Rakuten Inc. said it will pay up to $410 million (49.5 billion yen) in cash to buy OverDrive Holdings Inc., the U.S. operator of leading eBook and audiobook content marketplace OverDrive. (Asahi)

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