News On Japan

Tokyo Electric Power Co. signed a business tie-up agreement on Friday with "Ponta" loyalty program operator Loyalty Marketing Inc. and its shareholder Recruit Holdings Co., an information service firm. (The Japan News)

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has congratulated his British counterpart David Cameron after his ruling Conservative Party won a victory in Thursday's general election. (NHK)

Japan and South Korea will hold talks in Tokyo on May 22 on sites related to Japan's industrial revolution in the Meiji era that have been recommended to be put on UNESCO's World Heritage list, a South Korean official said Friday. (Jiji Press)

A zoo in Oita, southwestern Japan, will not change the name of a baby monkey, despite a domestic uproar over naming her after Britain's newborn princess because there was no protest from the British royal family, the Oita municipal government said Friday. (Kyodo)

The Japanese government's debts hit a record 1,053,357.2 billion yen at the end of March, up some 28 trillion yen from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Friday. (Jiji Press)

A police officer in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, has been arrested for using his smartphone to film up a woman's skirt, prefectural police said Saturday. (Japan Today)

The U.S. government intends to deploy CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft to its military's Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, sources familiar with Japan-U.S. relations said Friday. (The Japan News)

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums has suspended its Japanese member on the grounds that Japanese aquariums have "violated the code of ethics" by using dolphins caught in drive hunt fisheries at Taiji in western Japan, which have drawn international criticism. (Kyodo)

North Korea fired three short-range missiles in the Sea of Japan on Saturday, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Jiji Press)

Construction workers have discovered portions of a human skull and almost 300 pieces of animal bones at a construction site near Hamamatsucho train station in Tokyo. (Japan Today)

A group of gay people will ask the Japan Federation of Bar Associations in July to recommend that the government and the Diet legislate for same-sex marriages, arguing that denial of such marriages would violate the Constitution's guarantee of equality, their lawyer said. (Japan Times)

Volcanic activity continues on a mountain in the scenic hot spring resort town of Hakone near Tokyo. (NHK)

The communications ministry is set to call on three major mobile carriers to advertise their smartphone data transfer rates in terms of actual speed, rather than only the theoretical maximum, according to sources. (The Japan News)

A nine-year-old boy in Fukuoka was attacked by a wild monkey that apparently wanted his bento, police said Sunday. (Japan Today)

Japan underlined their regional dominance by thumping South Korea 66-10 at home on Sunday to capture the Asian rugby championship with a game to spare. (Japan Today)

Yokozuna Hakuho was sent to a shock defeat at the hands of big man Ichinojo on the opening day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday. (Japan Times)

An unexploded bomb believed to have been dropped by U.S. forces in a World War II air raid was defused and removed by the Self-Defense Forces in a busy shopping district here on May 9. (Asahi)

A new initiative in Kyoto to make bicycling easier is an excellent start to reducing carbon emissions, while also making the city more tourist-friendly and letting long-term residents do their daily chores conveniently. (Japan Times)

About 1,000 people have paraded in historical Japanese costumes in one of the largest festivals in Tokyo. (NHK)

Police in Tokyo's Katsushika Ward said Sunday they have arrested a 32-year-old man for throwing a coffee-like liquid on a 15-year-old schoolgirl as she walked home last month. (Japan Today)

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