News On Japan

Japan's minister in charge of TPP negotiations and the US Trade Representative ended their first day talks in Tokyo on Sunday. (NHK)

A lesbian couple held a symbolic wedding ceremony Sunday as calls grow to legalize same-sex marriage. (Japan Times)

A man broke into an unattended "koban" (police box) at JR Odawara Station in Kanagawa Prefecture on Sunday night and smashed windows before mutilating both his cheeks with a knife, police said Monday. (Japan Today)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is planning to attempt Japan's first lunar landing in fiscal 2018, sources close to the project said Sunday. (Japan Times)

The Japan Meteorological Agency lifted a tsunami alert about one hour after it was issued following a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that struck off eastern Taiwan on Monday morning. (Japan Today)

Looking chipper, Paul McCartney arrived at Kansai International Airport here in a chartered plane on the morning of April 20 for the first time since the ex-Beatle canceled his entire Japan tour in May 2014 because of illness. (Asahi)

Tokyo shares ended slightly lower on Monday as sentiment here was punched by concerns over a possible debt default in Greece, but the downturn was held by Japanese earnings reports later in the week. (Global Post)

House of Representatives Speaker Nobutaka Machimura announced Monday he will step down after recently suffering a light stroke and will be hospitalized for a complete checkup. (Kyodo)

Kintetsu Department Store's flagship store in Abeno Harukasu, the tallest building in Japan, opened a salon Monday that caters exclusively to tourists from abroad. (Japan Times)

Police in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, have arrested a 32-year-old man on suspicion of strangling to death his 32-year-old girlfriend. (Japan Today)

Other than a brief trial separation, Disney and Pixar have been working hard together to make some of the best family-friendly movies over the past two decades. (Japan Today)

Android Aiko Chihira debuts as a receptionist Monday at Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi department store in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, providing information about the store's food floor and events. (The Japan News)

The government left its basic economic assessment unchanged from the previous month in its April monthly economic report released Monday. (The Japan News)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested Monday that as he plans to issue a statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, he is not concerned about whether key phrases from previous statements will be repeated in it. (Kyodo)

Japan's Toyota Motor has unveiled new hybrid models for the Chinese market that for the first time use locally-developed motors and batteries. (NHK)

Tokyo metropolitan government officials use nets to catch mosquitoes Monday at Yoyogi Park in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, to check whether they have dengue fever virus. (The Japan News)

A teacher who buried five newborn kittens, four of which were still alive, on school grounds in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, has been charged with violating the law on welfare and management of animals. (Japan Today)

Wrong and inappropriate names had temporarily appeared on Google Maps for the Imperial Palace, Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department and many other places in Japan, it was learned Monday. (Jiji Press)

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has arrived in Indonesia. He'll attend the Asian-African Summit opening in the country's capital Jakarta on Wednesday. (NHK)

The body of a 66-year-old woman with a knife stuck in her forehead was found amid the ruins of her house destroyed by fire in Yugawara, Kanagawa prefecture, on Tuesday morning. (Japan Today)

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