News On Japan

Sales at department stores in Japan marked double-digit growth in April, for the first year-on-year increase in 2 months. (NHK)

ANA Holdings Inc., the parent of All Nippon Airways, is seen obtaining a 16.5 percent stake in Skymark Airlines, as part of rehabilitation support for the failed Japanese airline, informed sources said Tuesday. (The Japan News)

The Fair Trade Commission raided offices related to NEC Corp. and four other companies on Tuesday for alleged bid-rigging for telecommunications equipment maintenance contracts with Tokyo Electric Power Co. (The Japan News)

The nation's first test field for drones opened in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Monday to promote the practical use of the small unmanned helicopters in the field of distribution. (The Japan News)

Newcomer Homarenishiki wants to do more than just climb the sumo ladder of success. He also intends to learn traditional Japanese culture and someday bring it back to his mother country, Canada. (The Japan News)

Now that the Hashima coal mine in Nagasaki, also known as Gunkanjima (battleship island, see below) for its resemblance to a large warship, has been recommended for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage status as one of the "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution," preservation has become a pressing concern. (The Japan News)

Air bag maker Takata Corp. has agreed to declare 33.8 million of its inflator mechanisms defective, effectively doubling the number of cars and trucks that have been recalled in the U.S. so far. (Japan Times)

The Japanese economy grew an annualized real 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2015, the government said Wednesday, indicating it is on a moderate recovery track following a setback triggered by last year's consumption tax hike. (Kyodo)

Japanese stocks closed at a 15-year peak on Wednesday, helped by data showing a surprisingly rapid pace of domestic economic growth in the January-March quarter. (webindia123.com)

Japan's nuclear regulator signed off on the basic safety of a reactor at a third nuclear plant on Wednesday, as the country inches toward rebooting its atomic industry more than four years after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. (Japan Today)

The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums decided on May 20 to effectively ban its members from acquiring dolphins caught in drive hunts in Wakayama Prefecture to retain membership in the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. (Asahi)

Smoke rises from Mt. Hakone on Wednesday as a bus drives along a road nearby. ()

Mazda Motor Corp. said Wednesday that it will launch the fourth-generation model of its Roadster two-seat convertible sports car on Thursday. (The Japan News)

Five children were injured, three seriously, when a car plowed into a line of primary school students on their way to school in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, at around 7:50 a.m. on Wednesday. (The Japan News)

A Tokyo ward will introduce a system in its assembly to allow a member who is deaf to join debates. (The Japan News)

Japanese real estate companies are holding an international trade fair in Tokyo to attract more overseas investment. (NHK)

Police in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, said Wednesday they have arrested an unemployed 36-year-old man on suspicion of stabbing a 14-year-old girl as she walked home on May 11. (Japan Today)

A Japanese man who says he was deceived into carrying someone else's bag on a flight into Indonesia was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for smuggling methamphetamine into the country with harsh drug laws. (Japan Today)

The estimated number of foreign visitors to Japan in April rose 43.3 pct from a year before to 1,764,700, hitting a monthly record for the third straight month, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday. (Jiji Press)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of multiple organized crime and motorcycle gang members for participation in a brawl that erupted last year in Kita Ward, reports the Sankei Shimbun (May 20). (Tokyo Reporter)

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