News On Japan

The passing of music legend David Bowie shocked his numerous fans around the world - including a Sapporo man who attempted to kill himself in public. (Japan Times)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a door-to-door salesman for allegedly fondling the body of a girl in Akishima City, reports Nippon News Network (Jan. 12). (Tokyo Reporter)

Roughly 7 percent of 3-year-olds are sleep-deprived, getting less than 10 hours of sleep a day, due partly to parents coming home from work later than before, according to a government study. (Japan Times)

Snow fell for the first time this season in parts of Tokyo and Yokohama on Jan. 12, with more expected as a low pressure system approaches the Pacific coast. (Asahi)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 31-year-old man who ran a prostitution ring featuring underage school girls, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Jan. 12). (Tokyo Reporter)

The transport ministry has decided to set up body scanners, which can detect dangerous objects by seeing through the clothing of passengers, at all airports with international flights by 2020, according to sources. (the-japan-news.com)

Rakuten Inc and Rakuten Card Co Ltd on Tuesday announced a new record membership level of more than 12 million Rakuten Card members as of the end of November 2015. (Japan Today)

A panel of experts set up by the health ministry and the tourism agency agreed Tuesday to ease regulations regarding paid accommodation in private homes in Japan, amid a growing number of foreign visitors to Japan. (Japan Today)

A Japanese high court on Tuesday acquitted a man charged with raping a teenage girl in southwestern Japan in 2012, overturning a lower court ruling that gave him a four-year prison term. (Japan Today)

Twelve skiers who were stranded on mountains in Nagano and Fukushima prefectures have all been brought to safety. (NHK)

Police in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, have arrested a couple on suspicion of abandoning responsibility for Fujimoto's 3-year-old daughter, whose body was found with burn marks on her face. Police believe the girl's death may have been the result of recurring domestic abuse. (Japan Today)

Japanese pop group SMAP is on the verge of breaking up after more than 20 years, sources at the band's agency said Wednesday, in a move that would send shockwaves through the Japanese entertainment industry given the band's popularity at home and elsewhere in Asia. (Kyodo)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday denied that he and Finance Minister Taro Aso are divided over how to finance the planned lower consumption tax rate chiefly for foods. (Jiji Press)

More and more foreigners are coming to Japan to enjoy skiing and snowboarding. (NHK)

Companies in Japan are strengthening their support for sexual minorities known as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, amid growing social understanding for these people. (Jiji Press)

The Great Buddha of Kamakura is undergoing its first major "health checkup" in more than half a century. (Asahi)

Major Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corporation says it projects a loss of 77 billion yen, or about 650 million dollars, in the three months through last December. The projected losses are in connection with its development of nickel, used mainly to make stainless steel. (NHK)

Eighty percent of companies and local government offices in Japan have made no apparent transitional efforts to part from Microsoft Internet Explorer as their default browser, with 30% using older versions which may represent security risks. (thestack.com)

Cheap oil basically benefits Japan, which primarily relies on imports for natural resources. (Jiji Press)

Researchers have found a solution for a common form of male infertility. Nonobstructive azoospermia is a condition in which sperm do not grow to maturity. (Japan Times)

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