News On Japan

The climbing season started on the Yamanashi Prefecture side of Mount Fuji early on Saturday. (NHK)

A type of highly venomous ant has been detected at a container storage area in Nagoya port, central Japan. (NHK)

Japanese motorists are seeing a rollout of new bilingual road signs. The program by traffic authorities comes amid a rise in foreign tourist numbers. (NHK)

The Japanese government has abolished taxes on online purchases of virtual currencies. (NHKん)

Ibarki Prefectural Police are seeking the help of the public in locating a man who wielded a knife in the robbery of a convenience store in Ryugasaki City early Saturday, reports Fuji News Network (tokyoreporter.com)

A new ordinance to regulate dating services pairing up men with teenage schoolgirls came into force Saturday in Tokyo. (Japan Today)

Japan and the European Union will continue talks on a proposed economic partnership agreement after they failed to narrow gaps over key issues at a two-day ministerial meeting ended in Tokyo Saturday. (Jiji)

There’s a saying in Japan, Nama byoho wa kega no moto. That is, Half-baked knowledge of the martial arts is the cause of great injury. (thedailybeast.com)

The city of Brookhaven, Georgia, on Friday unveiled a statue dedicated to the "comfort women," becoming the first location in America's Deep South to install a controversial memorial to the women and young girls forced to work in Japan's wartime military brothels. (Japan Times)

The Japanese underworld loves gold --- it has been the analog bitcoin of crime syndicates in recent years. The origins of gold are difficult to trace, and the material is easy to convert into cash and store. Crime syndicates are increasingly smuggling it, stealing it or robbing it from other smugglers who don't have ties to gangs. (Japan Times)

Voters are going to the polls Sunday to choose representatives for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. (NHK)

Japan's Meteorological Agency says 2 major earthquakes have hit about an hour apart. One struck the northern island of Hokkaido and the other was in the southern island of Kyushu. (NHK)

Japanese teenage shogi sensation Sota Fujii suffered the first loss in his professional career on Sunday, snapping his record-breaking unbeaten streak at 29 games. (Jiji)

Since he first shocked fans with news of his retirement in 2013, Studio Ghibli director and beloved animator Hayao Miyazaki has been back in the studio numerous times, whether it's just out of habit, to work on his next short animated film, or to prepare for one more full-length animated feature. (Japan Today)

A 31-year-old man has been arrested for spraying a taxi driver with a fire extinguisher and attempting to flee the scene by stealing the vehicle in Tokyo's Arakawa Ward. (Japan Today)

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike's new regional party and allies scored a landslide victory in Sunday's metropolitan assembly election. (NHK)

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party suffered a historic defeat in Sunday's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to quickly get the Cabinet and the LDP back on their feet. (the-japan-news.com)

Two women were struck and killed by a train along the Tobu Tojo Line tracks in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, on Monday morning, in what police believe was a suicide. (Japan Today)

Salarymen have taken a pummeling in recent years - with pay stagnating and rising numbers of working women and mothers eroding their once-dominant position as the family's breadwinner. (Japan Times)

Chiba Prefectural Police suspect that an ongoing dispute in the criminal underworld is behind a shooting in Matsudo City, the fourth such incident over the past two months, reports NHK. (tokyoreporter.com)

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