News On Japan

A self-styled Nostradamus who claims he predicted today's four mega earthquakes has predicted an even bigger disaster will strike by the end of the week. (express.co.uk)

The Defense Ministry has sent about 1,600 Self-Defense Force personnel to Kumamoto Prefecture following Thursday's earthquake. (NHK)

Japan's Meteorological Agency says aftershocks and heavy rain could cause further damage in regions hit by Thursday's powerful earthquake. (NHK)

Rescuers dramatically pulled a baby girl from a collapsed house early Friday more than six hours after a swarm of powerful earthquakes rocked southwestern Japan and left nine people dead. (Japan Today)

North Korea on Friday tried but failed to fire what is presumed to be its intermediate-range ballistic missile Musudan for the first time from its east coast, South Korean and U.S. officials said. (Kyodo)

Olympic marathon champion Mizuki Noguchi announced her retirement on Friday. (Japan Today)

A 9-year-old elementary school student in Tokyo's Adachi Ward is fighting for his life in hospital after a violent clash with a classmate put him into a state of cardio-respiratory arrest on Thursday. (Japan Today)

Chrysler's Jeep has been declared green by the Japanese government, becoming the first gasoline-engine American-made U.S.-brand vehicle to qualify for this nation's green-car tax incentive. (Japan Today)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday pledged utmost efforts to save lives and provide necessary support after powerful earthquakes hit Kumamoto Prefecture. (the-japan-news.com)

Many major Japanese manufacturers suspended operations at their plants in Kumamoto Prefecture on Friday, the day after powerful earthquakes hit the prefecture, while some retail chains closed their outlets there. (the-japan-news.com)

Police in Tokyo have arrested a 35-year-old woman on a charge of obstruction of a business after she made 330 nuisance calls to a law firm. (Japan Today)

The Hyogo Safety Commission said Friday it has designated Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, a splinter group of Japan's biggest crime syndicate, Yamaguchi-gumi, as an organized crime group under the anti-gang law. (Japan Times)

Japan and Russia have agreed to hold talks between high-ranking officials on signing a peace treaty at the earliest timing possible, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's summit with President Vladimir Putin next month. (NHK)

An NHK crew says severe damage from Thursday's earthquake is concentrated along a river running through a town in southwestern Japan. (NHK)

The magnitude-6.5 earthquake that battered Kumamoto Prefecture on Thursday evening was centered in an area that a government committee had warned could be the location of a major quake. Experts suggest more large ones could occur there. (the-japan-news.com)

A magnitude-7.3 earthquake rocked Kumamoto Prefecture again early Saturday, rattling nerves in an area where a magnitude-6.5 quake on Thursday night killed nine people and injured more than 1,000. (Japan Times)

Finance leaders from 20 major economies have agreed to encourage countries and regions to take part in an international framework aimed at preventing tax evasion. (NHK)

Twelve university students were temporarily trapped when apartment buildings collapsed in Minami-Aso, Kumamoto Prefecture. (the-japan-news.com)

Experts rejected the possibility that active volcanoes in the Kyushu region have been affected by the recent earthquakes, though there was a small-scale eruption on Mt. Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture at about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. (the-japan-news.com)

Two powerful earthquakes and a series of aftershocks in the Kumamoto region on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan have cut air, road and rail services, causing wider disruption to the country's already sluggish economy. (Nikkei)

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