News On Japan

Crown Princess Masako showed clear signs of recovery on recent visits to Kagoshima and Fukushima prefectures, but an Imperial Household Agency official indicated it is still too early to say her health is completely restored. (Asahi)

A van crashed into a sweets shop in Aichi Prefecture on Saturday, injuring 12 people, including customers and sales clerks, local police said. None of the injuries are life-threatening. (Japan Today)

An expressway that circles the Tokyo metropolitan area was extended Saturday to link four major expressways reaching the capital from western, central and northeastern Japan. (The Japan News)

Kyoto is one of the best places in the world to experience a gorgeous autumn! Kyoto's beautiful temples and shrines such as Tō-ji Temple, Imamiya Shrine, and Kiyomizu-dera Temple become even more amazing when the fall season arrives. (Discover Kyoto)

The days of simply slipping on a pair of fake cat ears or devil horns for Halloween are over. Japan has upped the ante in recent years, becoming the worldwide champion of Halloween - at least in terms of costumes, costumes and more costumes. (cbsnews.com)

With the sharp rise in the number of foreign tourists, particularly from China, vying for increasingly scarce accommodations, apartment building operators will soon be allowed to rent out vacant rooms on a short-stay basis. (Asahi)

Fifty Japanese and South Korean cyclists have reached their final destination Tokyo. They had been retracing the route of an Edo-Period Korean diplomatic delegation to Japan. (NHK)

Award-winning novelist Ryuzo Saki died of throat cancer Saturday at a hospital in Kitakyushu, southwestern Japan, his family said Sunday. He was 78. (Japan Today)

Japan's pre-post Melbourne Cup favorite Fame Game drew a middle barrier for Australia's biggest horse race this week at Flemington. (Japan Today)

The company behind the Uniqlo clothing brand soon will adopt a personnel management system covering all 90,000 employees worldwide from store staff to managers at headquarters, improving flexibility by making it easier to reassign highly capable workers across borders. (Nikkei)

A luxury train dubbed Aru Ressha ("a certain train") and operated by Kyushu Railway Co. began the second phase of its service in Kyushu on Sunday. (Japan Times)

The Japan Tourism Agency and a private nonlife insurance company have jointly developed the first travel insurance for foreign visitors to Japan that allows them to subscribe through the Internet after arriving in the country. (The Japan News)

The Hokkaido government said Sunday piling work data falsification by Asahi Kasei Construction Materials Corp. has been found for two more facilities ordered by the local government in northernmost Japan. (Jiji Press)

Volunteers have combed the streets of the Shibuya district in Tokyo to collect garbage left by crowds of Halloween party-goers. (NHK)

Three elementary school boys and the mother of one of them died Sunday in a fire that broke out in a three-story building in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture, police said. (Japan Times)

Hopes look set to be dashed that a regional trade pact could end a butter shortage in Japan which has left shelves in some supermarkets empty and prompted others to ration customers to one pack per visit. (Japan Today)

The leaders of Japan, China and South Korea have taken a step toward mending their strained ties. They sat down together for the first time in 3-and-a-half years. And they agreed to resume holding such summits on a regular basis, with next year's in Japan. (NHK)

Waseda University said Monday it has decided to strip Haruko Obokata, a former researcher at the government-affiliated research institute of Riken, of the doctorate she received from the university in 2011, due chiefly to a lack of scientific basis for her doctoral thesis. (Jiji Press)

A Takata Corp.-made front passenger seat air bag in a Nissan Motor Co. vehicle burst apart violently and injured a passenger in eastern Japan last month, Nissan said Monday. (Jiji Press)

You may have already heard about rice field art: Those complex works that use dyed or naturally colored rice grains to create gorgeous patterns, or that turn the whole rice field into a canvas for a massive "painting" that can only be fully appreciated from the skies. (rocketnews24.com)

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