News On Japan

A private research institute estimates that about 30 percent of Japanese houses will be vacant in 16 years unless they are reoccupied or demolished. (NHK)

Playing at the main softball venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, world No. 1 Japan beat the United States 5-3 on Sunday to clinch their three-game series. (Japan Times)

The head of Japanese airbag maker Takata says he will step down to take responsibility for the company's failure. (NHK)

Struggling Japanese airbag maker Takata has filed for bankruptcy protection in a Tokyo court, following massive recalls of its products around the world. (NHK)

Sightseers are flocking to Japan's highest dam to watch the spectacle of water gushing from it. (NHK)

Gaffe-prone Finance Minister Taro Aso made a comment Saturday about a junior lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who indicated her intent to leave the party due to allegations that she abused one of her secretaries, stressing her gender. (Japan Times)

Foreign direct investment to Japan for fiscal 2016 topped 3 trillion yen ($26.9 billion) for the first time ever, thanks mainly to an increasing number of takeovers of domestic businesses by overseas investment funds. Japanese operations of foreign establishments have also become keen to reinvest what they earn into Japan. (Nikkei)

Japanese production of disposable diapers declined for the first time in 15 years in 2016, mainly due to weaker purchases from visiting Chinese tourists. (Nikkei)

Despite all the talk of Japan being a homogeneous society, there is certainly a lot of distinct personalities from the secluded hikkikomori to the obsessive otaku to the punchy yet occasionally glamorous yankee. (rocketnews24.com)

Saga Prefectural Police have launched an investigation following the discovery on Sunday of a male government official with burns near a burned-out vehicle with a corpse inside, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

Fukuoka Prefectural Police have arrested a 44-year-old man for allegedly stalking a member of a popular idol group in Fukuoka City, reports TBS News (tokyoreporter.com)

Chiba Prefectural Police have arrested the prefecture’s youngest city councilor in its history for allegedly allegedly engaging in illicit acts with an underage girl last year, reports the Asahi Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

A 70-year-old woman dubbed the "black widow" for allegedly murdering her husband and common-law partners with cyanide, pleaded innocent Monday at the first hearing of her trial at the Kyoto District Court. (Japan Times)

Manager Don Mattingly made out the Miami Marlins' lineup unaware he was making Ichiro Suzuki the oldest player to start a game in center field since at least 1900. (the-japan-news.com)

The government is considering equipping cutting-edge F-35 stealth fighters with air-to-surface missiles, which are capable of striking remote targets on land, and plans to deploy these fighters to the Air Self-Defense Force, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. (the-japan-news.com)

Smoke from a battery for charging a mobile phone has caused visitors to temporarily evacuate at a major theme park in Osaka, western Japan. (NHK)

The Japanese science and technology ministry said Monday it will have to wait at least until the fiscal year starting in April 2019 to launch work to complete a seamless earthquake and tsunami observation system for the Nankai Trough in the Pacific Ocean off central to southwestern Japan. (Jiji)

Sota Fujii, the youngest professional shogi player, set an unprecedented record on Monday, marking the 29th official straight win since his debut in December last year. (Jiji)

Hokkaido Prefectural Police are investigating what is believed to have been a suicide after the body of a boy was found at an apartment building in Sapporo on Monday, report TV Asahi. (tokyoreporter.com)

The poverty rate among Japanese children slightly improved in 2015 thanks in part to the country's better job market but one in every seven children remains poor, a survey by the welfare ministry showed Tuesday. (Japan Today)

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