News On Japan

The roofs and walls were jet black, and gold shachihoko, mythical fish with lionlike heads, adorned the castle tower, which rose nearly 60 meters above the ground. (the-japan-news.com)

The government is compiling a record-high budget of around 96.7 trillion yen ($798 billion) for next fiscal year amid swelling welfare costs due to Japan's graying population, sources close to the matter said Saturday. (Kyodo)

The booming tourism industry is set to be bolstered further with an incentive program for airlines encouraging them to introduce new routes to Japan. (Asahi)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with former Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto on Saturday night at a Tokyo hotel, only a day after the populist mayor left office declaring he was retiring from politics. (Kyodo)

The Japan Sport Council examined on Saturday two technical proposals for the country's new National Stadium, the main venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. (Jiji Press)

Anti-Christmas protesters calling themselves "Losers with Women" marched through Tokyo's streets Saturday, bashing the upcoming holiday as a capitalist ploy that also discriminates against singletons. (Japan Today)

Police in Kyoto on Saturday appealed for help from the public over the murder of the president of a gyoza restaurant chain who was shot dead two years ago. (Japan Today)

Japanese police say the international hacking group Anonymous has attacked at least 97 websites in Japan since September. (NHK)

An annual year-end cleaning has begun at two major temples in Kyoto. (NHK)

Japanese nonlife insurers are developing and selling travel insurance in a bid to capitalize on demand from the record number of tourists flocking to the country. (Nikkei)

Those in downtown Tokyo may have seen a Christmas tree running wild in the streets. Fear not! It's just Joseph Tame and his Christmas tree dispatch service! (rocketnews24.com)

Miyama in Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture, is set to adapt to a steep increase in Asian tourists tired of conventional sightseeing spots in Japan. (Japan Today)

A man believed to be a foreign national was pulled from his vehicle by a group of assailants and assaulted early Sunday morning in Nakagawa Ward. The man later died in a hospital, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (Dec. 20). (Tokyo Reporter)

Offering spectacular views and the setting for TV commercials and other productions, Tsunoshima Bridge was selected the top bridge in Japan by one of the world's largest travel review websites. (Asahi)

A teen driver who died a few days after a July car crash near Pittsburgh has been tentatively identified by the government as the eighth death in the U.S. due to an explosive air bag inflator made by auto parts maker Takata, federal transportation officials said Wednesday. (Japan Today)

Japanese beverage makers are developing vending machines that foreign tourists can use easily. (NHK)

Even after three years of trying, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe doesn't seem able to get his economic program on the fast track. Just as one part of the economy looks better, another falls back into the decline that has dogged Japan for a quarter-century. (foreignpolicy.com)

The Ebisu Station area was crowned the "town with the most favorable vibe" among the 29 stations on the JR Yamanote Line in central Tokyo, a survey by a major real estate website showed. (Asahi)

Pieces of mortar weighing a total of 23.5 tons fell from inside a tunnel in the city of Kimitsu in Chiba Prefecture on Wednesday but nobody was injured, the prefectural government said. (Japan Today)

As far as bizarre Christmas traditions go this has to rank pretty highly. In Far East Asia, one country has KFC right at the heart of the festive season. (thejournal.ie)

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