News On Japan

Japan's vacant house problem will become worse before it becomes better. According to government estimates there are 8 million residences in Japan with no one living in them, a number that Bloomberg reports will increase to 20 million by 2033, representing a third of all the homes in Japan. (Japan Times)

The famous scramble crossing in Tokyo's Shibuya's district will go vehicle-free on New Year's Eve, informed sources said Saturday. (Japan Times)

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered for a traditional night festival featuring floats in Chichibu City, near Tokyo. (NHK)

A taxi slammed into a hospital in the southwestern Japan city of Fukuoka Saturday afternoon, killing three people and injuring seven others. (Jiji)

Japan has solidified plans to make small and midsize enterprises with high incomes ineligible for tax incentives designed to help smaller companies, looking to prevent big businesses from artificially limiting their capital to gain unfair tax advantages. (Nikkei)

"Big" is looking to be the operative word for next year's Japanese pop culture themed attractions. (rocketnews24.com)

NHK has obtained previously unreleased segments of a video that reveal for the first time how Japan's World War Two battleship Musashi was sunk. (NHK)

Tokyo's Yamanote line service was temporarily suspended this afternoon, after staff were alerted to a problem on one of the line's Shibuya-bound trains on the approach to Shinagawa Station. (rocketnews24.com)

Gursewak Singh is a 17-year-old teen living in a suburban town in Chiba Prefecture, where he was born and has lived his entire life. (rocketnews24.com)

Several Buddhist statues were destroyed at two cemeteries in Sukagawa City, police said on Sunday, possibly by a man who was seen fleeing the scene. (tokyoreporter.com)

A male teenager suspected of stalking killed himself by jumping from the sixth floor of an apartment while an officer was questioning him, police said on Sunday. (tokyoreporter.com)

Japanese director Makoto Shinkai's "Kimi no Na wa" (Your Name) has won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Best Animation award for 2016, it was announced Sunday. (Jiji)

Locals and railway fans thanked and bid farewell to the Rumoi-Mashike section of Hokkaido Railway Co.'s Rumoi Main Line in the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, as the 95-year-old train services between the two stations ended on Sunday, due to unprofitability amid a plunge in the number of passengers. (Jiji)

Shinzo Abe became the fourth-longest serving prime minister in Japan's post-World War II history on Monday, marking his 1,807th day in office including his first tenure. (Jiji)

Shopping and entertainment districts in Chubu are seeing a jump in solicitation, including in Nishiki 3-chome (Kin-san), a bustling part of Nagoya's Naka Ward that is known as the liveliest downtown area in the region. (Japan Times)

Nintendo Co. might have scored a hit with the explosive debut of "Pokemon Go" this year. On its home turf, however, Sony Corp. has quietly dispatched its rival with a popular mobile game called "Fate/Grand Order." (Japan Times)

Injections of water to cool melted fuel in a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant stopped briefly due to human error on Monday. (NHK)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he will visit Hawaii on Dec. 26-27, to remember the victims of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor together with outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama. (Jiji)

A Joban Line section connecting Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures in northeastern Japan reopened on Saturday, after a suspension of five years and nine months due to damage from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. (Jiji)

Japanese electronics firm Hitachi has rolled out the first train car assembled at its factory in northern Britain. (NHK)

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