News On Japan

Heavy snow hit central Hokkaido on Saturday, disrupting flight and train services throughout the region. (Japan Times)

Police in Saitama said Saturday they have arrested a 15-year-old male student for leaving a foam case strapped to a bicycle at a junior high school in Nishi Ward. A note on the case said it would explode if opened. (Japan Today)

The Japanese knife is quite simply the best in the world. The place best known for them is Seki (関市) in Gifu where Japanese Samurai swords have been forged for over 700 years. That tradition continues today in its knives and cutlery. They're perfect. (ONLY in JAPAN)

Japanese biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi has accepted the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of how body cells break down and recycle themselves---a process known as autophagy. (NHK)

Fukuoka Prefectural Police have arrested a 26-year-old man suspected in a series of thefts from shrines in Fukuoka City, reports TV Asahi. (tokyoreporter.com)

Investigative sources with the Chiba Prefectural Police have revealed that an ambulance was not called by one of the suspects in an alleged gang rape over fears word of the incident would reach the graduate school of medicine where he is affiliated, reports TV Asahi (tokyoreporter.com)

The National Police Agency intends to conduct research on 10,000 households with mainly junior and senior high school students as the selfies (see below) of people in this age group are being used as online child pornography in a rapidly increasing number of cases, sources said. (the-japan-news.com)

China and Japan have continued their recent tit-for-tat moves in the airspace above the Western Pacific, with aircraft from the two Asian giants on Saturday again engaging in an apparently tense encounter over the high seas between Okinawa's main island and Miyako Island. (Japan Times)

A man allegedly tried to abduct a 15-year-old middle school girl by threatening to kill her with a knife, police said on Monday. (tokyoreporter.com)

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Sunday for the new National Stadium, which will be used as the main arena of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the attendance of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Jiji)

Empress Michiko has a mild fever and other symptoms of acute bronchitis, the Imperial Household Agency said Sunday. (Japan Times)

An employee of a safari park in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan has been seriously injured by a rhinoceros. (NHK)

A Korean man destroyed stone statues at a shrine in the village of Izumaki, police said on Sunday, in a possible connection to reports of at least 100 wrecked statues this month. (tokyoreporter.com)

Stocks advanced further on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday, with a key index ending at a fresh high for the year, buoyed by a weaker yen. (NHK)

A woman was injured when her leg was slashed with a sharp object on a packed commuter train in Tokyo on Monday, the police said. (Japan Times)

Japanese troops taking part in U.N. peacekeeping operations in South Sudan on Monday took on new roles of rescuing U.N. staff and other personnel under attack and of playing a bigger part in protecting U.N. peacekeepers' camps. (Japan Today)

In an annual year-end event in Japan, a Chinese kanji character meaning "gold" or "money" has been chosen as the one that best symbolizes this year. (NHK)

A group of Korean-Americans unveiled a girl's statue symbolizing the issue of 'comfort women' at a ceremony in a Washington park on Saturday. (the-japan-news.com)

Companies in specific industrial sectors, especially restaurants and the construction industry, are struggling with a serious shortage of workers. (the-japan-news.com)

A male worker at Mt. Hakodate Ropeway died after he became caught in its machinery during maintenance, temporarily stranding some 1,000 visitors on the mountain summit, police said on Monday. (tokyoreporter.com)

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