News On Japan

The knifeman who slit the throats of dozens of residents at a care home for people with disabilities on Tuesday cited a belief in the ideology of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler during a brief period of hospitalization in February. He was so persistent in his threats that the facility installed extra security and kept in close contact with police. (Japan Times)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered a review of the current state system for compulsory hospitalization of people considered at risk of harming themselves or others. The request comes after the recent knife attack at a facility for people with intellectual disabilities. (NHK)

Toyota Motor Corp. lagged behind Volkswagen AG by global deliveries in the first half of the year, as demand for the newly redesigned Prius hybrid slumped in a U.S. market dominated by trucks and sport utility vehicles. (the-japan-news.com)

Narita Airport near Tokyo will install a new exchange machine Friday to change coins into electronic money for the first time at a Japanese airport, its operator said Wednesday. (the-japan-news.com)

A Japanese man linked to a bilateral exchange group has been taken into the custody of Chinese authorities, following a series of arrests of Japanese citizens in China, it was learned on Thursday. (the-japan-news.com)

The organizing committee of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games will open official shops selling products designed for the Games on Friday. (NHK)

Municipalities in Tokyo have agreed to the government's plan to set a new approach route for Haneda Airport over downtown districts. (NHK)

The Bangladeshi government has postponed the closing bid for a large-scale project funded by Japan's official development assistance in the wake of the terrorist attack on a restaurant in Dhaka earlier this month that left 20 hostages, including seven Japanese, dead, sources said Thursday. (Japan Times)

Police in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, have arrested a teenage couple on charges of burying the dead body of their newborn baby girl. (Japan Today)

Oriental Land on Thursday reported a net profit of 16.2 billion yen ($155 million) for the April-June quarter, a 5% increase from a year earlier, as visitors flocked to its Tokyo Disney theme parks even as ticket prices kept climbing. (Nikkei)

The Japan Meteorological Agency announced the end of the rainy season in the Kanto region. (the-japan-news.com)

The smoking rate for Japanese men stood at 29.7 percent as of May this year, slipping below 30 percent for the first time since the survey began in 1965, Japan Tobacco Inc. said Thursday. (Japan Times)

Osaka Prefectural Police have arrested a 32-year-old man and his wife for over the alleged confinement of their son, 3, that led to his death in Sakai City, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo Reporter)

A foundation was launched in South Korea with its first executive meeting on Thursday to support so-called former comfort women under the Japan-South Korea accord reached last year. (Jiji Press)

A probe using an X-ray-like detector has found that a large amount of melted nuclear fuel apparently remains at the bottom of one of the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (NHK)

Policymakers at the Bank of Japan have decided to implement additional monetary easing. (NHK)

NHK has learned that Japan's Emperor Akihito will address the public as early as next month. (NHK)

Democratic Party chief Katsuya Okada said Saturday he will not run in the party's leadership race slated for September, taking responsibility for the main opposition party's disappointing showing in an upper house election in Japan earlier this month. (Kyodo)

The number of agriculture workers in Japan fell around 60 percent over the past quarter of a century to a level below 2 million this year for the first time on record, according to a recent government survey. ()

Grilled eels sold well on Saturday, the Day of the Ox in Japan, although their prices rose from the peak eel consumption season the year before due partly to poor catches of glass eels for farming. (Jiji Press)

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