News On Japan

Citing an increasingly severe security environment, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed the importance of security-related bills to seamlessly respond to every situation, expressing his resolve to pass them in the current Diet session. (The Japan News)

Japanese toy maker Tomy Co. said Tuesday it will market a toy maglev train that runs like a real one in September. (Jiji Press)

Japan will expand imports of butter to fully meet domestic demand in the current fiscal year through next March, farm minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tuesday. (The Japan News)

Rie Saito, a member of Tokyo's Kita Ward Assembly, can now join debates after the assembly put into operation Tuesday a speech conversion system for people with hearing difficulties. (The Japan News)

Police in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, have arrested a 65-year-old man after three bodies were found in the ruins of his house that was destroyed by a fire on Tuesday morning. (Japan Today)

A Japanese court has awarded 537 million yen in compensation to a group of teachers who were punished for refusing to sing the country's anthem, the group said Tuesday as it condemned nationalism in education. (Japan Today)

Killer whales have been spotted in Tokyo Bay, prompting the Japan Coast Guard to warn ships passing through the area to avoid the cetaceans. (Japan Times)

Tokyo stocks squeaked out another positive session Wednesday with the benchmark index marking its ninth straight day of gains, as a weak yen offset falls on Wall Street. (Global Post)

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant said Wednesday it has finished filtering a total of 620,000 tons of extremely toxic water being stored in tanks on the premises of the complex to lower its radiation level. (Kyodo)

The Japanese health ministry's plan to ban restaurants from serving raw pork including liver and other internal organs was approved at an advisory panel sectional meeting on Wednesday. (Jiji Press)

The Diet, Japan's parliament, on Wednesday enacted a bill to create a ministerial post for affairs related to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (Jiji Press)

Mongolian sumo wrestler Terunofuji has been promoted to ozeki, the sport's second highest rank. (NHK)

Japanese lawmakers approved health care reforms on Wednesday to address the rising costs of elderly care, with increased cost-sharing by high-income workers and prefectures taking over the running of loss-making public insurance bodies from municipalities. (Japan Times)

The trend of the yen falling against the U.S. dollar has been accelerating amid investors' expectations of the gap widening between Japanese and U.S. interest rates. The weakening of the yen is favorable for Japanese exporters, with market observers thinking that stock prices will remain high. (The Japan News)

The Japan Association of Zoos and Aquariums says hackers stole phone numbers and email addresses of thousands of zoo and aquarium workers nationwide in an incident earlier this year. (Japan Times)

Top negotiators of the United States, Japan, and South Korea -- three of six countries involved in stalled talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program -- agreed Wednesday to increase "pressures and sanctions" on North Korea to dissuade the North from military provocations. (Kyodo)

A 25-year-old man on Wednesday went on trial for fatally stabbing one man and wounding three others during a 10-minute rampage in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in March 2014. (Japan Today)

Last year, the Japanese government announced a project that's curiously reminiscent of the halcyon days of the 1970s and 1980s MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) economic central planning. (Asahi)

South Korea's Incheon District Court on Thursday ordered swimmer Naoya Tomita to pay a fine of one million won for stealing a camera during a competition. (The Japan News)

Police in Sapporo said Thursday they have arrested a 64-year-old woman over the death of her 42-year-old mentally disabled daughter whose body was found at their apartment in Nishi Ward. (Japan Today)

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