News On Japan

Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Wednesday re-arrested popular actress Ai Takabe for using cocaine, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 4). (Tokyo Reporter)

Japan Post Holdings Co. and its two financial units made a strong debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section on Wednesday, the biggest stock listing in Japan since Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. went public in 1987. (Jiji Press)

A duck was found with an arrow in the neck at Sai no Mori Iruma Park in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture, last week, park authorities and police said Monday. (Japan Today)

In a bid to nurture new businesses, the government plans to allow the use of drones for home delivery services within three years through deregulations, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. (The Japan News)

Japan's Supreme Court has begun hearing 2 marriage-related cases. The justices are to rule on the constitutionality of relevant articles of the Civil Code that were laid down more than a century ago. (NHK)

"If rapid measures aren't taken, we may be in for serious problems," frets Ryuta Kawashima, professor at the Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer at Tohoku University. "It's no exaggeration to say that kids today are being controlled by smartphones, and becoming enslaved by them." (Japan Today)

Amazon Japan KK employees have formed a labor union with a stated aim to abolish a "performance improvement plan" that they say effectively enables the company to easily fire its workers. (Asahi)

Minoru Tanaka smiled as he watched a crowd of men join forces to lift three massive "taikodai" (drum-carrying floats) at the Sumisaka Jinja shrine here during an autumn festival. (Asahi)

A sea of clouds covered a mountain castle in western Japan early Wednesday, allowing it to live up to its reputation of being "a castle on the clouds". (NHK)

The sharp increase in tourists from China and other countries (see below) has brought fleets of large buses to Ginza, Akihabara and other popular shopping areas in Tokyo, causing traffic jams and testing the abilities of the Metropolitan Police Department and area authorities. (The Japan News)

In explaining the Bank of Japan's decision at the end of October to keep its monetary policy unchanged, Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda insisted that underlying price trends are improving steadily. Yet the central bank's latest "Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices" report casts a new shadow over its efforts to spur inflation. (Nikkei)

Responding to government pressure to lower cellphone fees, SoftBank Group Corp. Chairman Masayoshi Son said Wednesday the carrier provides good value for money, but that it is open to providing more options. (Japan Times)

Japan ranked top among 44 countries surveyed in average life expectancy at birth as of 2013, at 83.4 years, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report Wednesday. (Japan Times)

Toyota Motor Corp. on Thursday reported a half-year jump in profits even as car sales declined in most regions, as it moves to cut costs and squeeze more productivity out of its plants worldwide. (The Japan News)

Japan has pledged to reopen bilateral negotiations with signatory countries on whether to abolish tariffs ahead of schedule, basically no sooner than seven years after a Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact comes into force, a draft TPP treaty showed Thursday. (Jiji Press)

A survey by the Nagoya city education board revealed Thursday that 20 students witnessed the bullying of a 12-year-old junior high school boy who recently committed suicide at a subway station in the central Japan city. (Jiji Press)

Archaeologists have discovered late Edo Period (1603-1867) ruins of a suspected shrine in Lake Biwako. (Asahi)

Police in Osaka have arrested a man and his wife for assaulting and confining their 16-year-old daughter. (Japan Today)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that his administration plans to pursue deregulation for commercializing automated driving and drone-using delivery services and utilizing artificial intelligence for medical services. (Jiji Press)

Tokyo's Shibuya Ward has been creating headlines around the world since the district first announced that it would begin issuing Japan's first same-sex partnership certificates in the fall. Fast forward to this month, and both Shibuya and neighboring Setagaya Ward have issued their very first certificates! (rocketnews24.com)

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