News On Japan

Visiting International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Thursday expressed confidence that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will be a "transformational moment" for Japan and its capital. (Jiji)

Comedian Piko-Taro's music video "Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen," abbreviated as "PPAP," that recently went viral on social media has entered the weekly U.S. Billboard Top 100 singles chart at 77th. (Japan Times)

Japan's transport ministry is investigating a case of a Samsung smartphone emitting smoke at an airport in western Japan earlier this week. (NHK)

Crown Princess Masako has cancelled a three-day trip to Iwate beginning Friday to attend the opening ceremony of the national sports festival for the disabled, the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday. (Japan Today)

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 struck Tottori Prefecture in western Japan on Friday afternoon. The Japan Meteorological Agency is calling on people to stay alert for a possible quake of the same strength in the next week or so. (NHK)

Japan's labor market has the largest gap between skills and job requirements in the Asia-Pacific region, a report released Friday by the U.K.-based Hays recruitment agency shows. (Nikkei)

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the pro-nuclear ruling party of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could lose the next Lower House election if nuclear power becomes the main election issue. (Japan Times)

Last year, executives at Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV hit upon the idea of combining two things much of Japan has shown an unwavering interest in: the country's feudal period, and scantily dressed young women. (rocketnews24.com)

Toyota Motor will pioneer Japanese sales of hydrogen fuel cell buses in 2017, broadening its offerings in zero-emissions vehicles. (Nikkei)

An underground ice wall built around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has so far been unable to block the flow of groundwater entering buildings and mixing with contaminated water. (Nikkei)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested a man on Thursday for allegedly barging into a woman's residence in Minato Ward with the intention to commit rape, the Sankei Shimbun reports (Oct. 20). (Tokyo Reporter)

A labor standards office has found that a Kansai Electric Power Co employee who logged hundreds of extra work hours pursuing approval to restart and extend the operating life of two aging nuclear reactors killed himself in April due to overwork, according to sources close to the matter. (Japan Today)

The average Halloween-related budget stands at some 5,000 yen among people in Japan who plan to make any spending on Halloween goods and events this year, a survey by Internet-based research firm Macromill Inc. showed Friday. (Jiji)

Saitama Prefectural Police have launched an investigation after retrieving a male corpse wrapped in chains from a river in Yashio City, reports Fuji News Network (Oct. 21). (Tokyo Reporter)

Airbnb and the coastal city of Kamaishi in northeastern Japan signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday to join hands on tourism promotion, marking the first such partnership in the country for the American facilitator of short-term home rentals. (Nikkei)

The powerful earthquake that rattled central Tottori Prefecture on Friday originated directly below the area, just like what happened in this year's Kumamoto quakes. (Nikkei)

About 2,800 people were taking shelter in Tottori Prefecture as of Saturday morning amid a string of aftershocks following the previous day's 6.6-magnitude earthquake that hit the western Japan prefecture and nearby areas. (Jiji)

Japan will provide about 4 billion yen ($39 million) in loans to Sberbank of Russia by the end of the year to help construct facilities at a port in the Russian Far East, sources close to the matter said Saturday. (Kyodo)

The 68th Annual Exhibition of Shoso-in Treasures, introducing the gorgeous Tenpyo culture that thrived in the eighth century, opened at the Nara National Museum in Nara on Saturday. (the-japan-news.com)

Following the enactment of the security-related laws that authorize Self-Defense Force members to carry out new duties such as rescue missions in South Sudan, the Defense Ministry plans to record images of the members' activities as they conduct the new missions, according to sources. (the-japan-news.com)

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