News On Japan

A proposed ban on indoor smoking is likely to be postponed, as the health ministry and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party could not work out their differences in time to submit a bill in the current Diet session. (NHK)

The manager of an adult entertainment business was stabbed by a man who then apparently jumped to his death in Tokyo's Ikebukuro area, police said Sunday. (Japan Today)

A freak car accident on an Aichi highway is captured in frightening detail. (rocketnews24.com)

Japanese consumers bought more beer and similar beverages in May ahead of an expected price hike. (NHK)

Two people who went missing while climbing a mountain on Sunday are believed to have been found without vital signs. They were on the southwestern Japanese island of Yakushima. (NHK)

A giant panda cub was born in a Tokyo zoo Monday, but its gender, weight and even whether it will survive are uncertain. (Japan Today)

Bitcoin, the world's foremost digital currency, is a hot topic in Japanese FinTech circles right now. Until recently, Japan has been seen to lag behind its Asian counterparts when it comes to virtual currency initiatives. Whereas China and South Korea are moving fast toward becoming cashless societies, with over 50% of payments processed electronically, Japan has been comparatively slow to respond, with an adoption rate currently pegged at around 19%. (newsonjapan.com)

Airbnb has made its TV branding debut in Japan following the implementation of a law on Friday 9 June that recognises home sharing in the country and sets out clear rules for it. (campaignasia.com)

An institute in Japan treating 5 workers exposed to radioactive substances says it has not detected plutonium in any of their lungs. (NHK)

Last month, a man died running from police after a female passenger at the Aobadai station in Yokohama, Japan, accused him of touching her inappropriately. (salon.com)

Hidden beneath its streets, Japan's aging sewer pipes spotlight a challenge that has held back reforms Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing to revitalise the world's third-biggest economy. (nytimes.com)

The media loves "weird Japan." You know, the capsule hotel rooms barely bigger than a casket, the gyaru with their bronzed faces and white makeup, the saline facial injections used to replicate the shape of a bagel on a trend chaser's forehead. Feeding the eager public a steady diet of abnormal Japan is easy and fun. (splicetoday.com)

Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito said on Tuesday he will devote himself "body and soul" to his job as emperor, just days after a law was enacted allowing his father to abdicate, which would be the first abdication by a Japanese emperor in two centuries. (Reuters)

A man pedaling a bicycle died after plunging into a harbor during a chase by Okinawa Prefectural Police in Naha City on Tuesday, reports Nippon News Network. (tokyoreporter.com)

Major retailer FamilyMart Uny Holdings Co. and discount store operator Don Quijote Holdings Co. have announced the launch of talks on forging a business alliance. (Japan Times)

A wild boar entered the grounds of a Kyoto University dormitory in Kyoto's Sakyo Ward Tuesday, bumping into a man in his 60s on a bicycle before being captured. The man suffered a minor injury to his right leg. (Japan Times)

If and when the Bank of Japan should reveal its plans to exit its ultra-loose monetary policy has split economists polled by Reuters, with the economy showing signs of recovery even though inflation remains far below the central bank's target. (Japan Today)

Japanese electronics maker Toshiba has decided to quit another market. Company executives say they will stop manufacturing and selling residential fuel cells at the end of July. (NHK)

Officials say a giant panda cub just born at a Tokyo zoo is in good health. (NHK)

Japan on Wednesday kicked off a whaling campaign in the northwestern Pacific, in a move sure to anger animal rights activists and others calling for an end to the hunts. (phys.org)

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