News On Japan

Multilingual robot concierges have been unveiled in Tokyo prior to trials that will gauge their ability to welcome visitors to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. (NHK)

A major Tokyo aquarium suffered a massive die-off inside its largest fish tank late Tuesday and early Wednesday, likely due to lack of oxygen. (Japan Times)

A reporter for one of Japan's leading newspapers, Asahi Shimbun, was arrested for allegedly recording video up women's skirts while riding a train on the Yamanote Line in Tokyo. According to police, the suspect, 35-year-old Keisuke Masuda, confessed, "I've been doing it for months, and I couldn't stop." (rocketnews24.com)

Anti-drug authorities in Japan have arrested 6 people on suspicion of possessing a large supply of so-called "dangerous drugs." The drugs are mixtures of herbs and chemicals, similar to illegal narcotics. (NHK)

Japan's prime minister said his round of golf with visiting President Donald Trump was a good chance to relax and discuss difficult issues. (Japan Today)

All of the remaining eight victims have been identified in a case where dismembered bodies of nine people were found at an apartment in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, police said early Friday. (Jiji)

The manager of a used car dealership in Chofu City was slashed with a sword during a robbery by three men on Thursday, reports Fuji News Network (tokyoreporter.com)

Japan's opposition party Hope, led by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, has elected Lower House lawmaker Yuichiro Tamaki as its co-leader. (NHK)

Even with its convenience stores, souvenir outlets, tour buses and boutique coffee shops, Mount Koya might be modestly alluded to as a Japanese Lhasa. There is no living being, of course, who embodies the doctrines of a religious order such as the Dalai Lama, but in the person of the saintly priest Kukai, who founded the temple complex in 816 as the center of the Tantric Buddhist sect known as Shingon Mikkyo, the mountain top finds an ecclesiastical figure of compelling and charismatic force. (Japan Times)

A court here on Wednesday handed former marathon champion Yumiko Hara, 35, a suspended prison term for shoplifting from a convenience store in Ashikaga City, reports the Sankei Shimbun (tokyoreporter.com)

Saitama Prefectural Police have arrested a 23-year-old man who is suspected in dozens of purse-snatching incidents in and around Kawaguchi City over the past few months, reports NHK. (tokyoreporter.com)

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has instructed ministers to step up measures against inappropriate websites that deal with suicide. (NHK)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested an organized crime boss over the cultivation of marijuana in Nagano Prefecture, reports TBS News (tokyoreporter.com)

Japan's Economic Revitalization Minister says all the 11 signatory nations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal have reconfirmed their broad agreement to put the deal into effect without the United States. (NHK)

The 11 current members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement have canceled a summit in Danang, central Vietnam, slated for Friday due to Canada's objection. (Jiji)

The number of foreign visitors to Japan this year hit a new record, exceeding the previous high of over 24 million logged last year, Japan’s tourism minister said Friday. (Japan Times)

Trade ministers from 11 Pacific Rim countries said they reached an agreement Saturday to proceed with the free-trade Trans-Pacific Partnership deal that was in doubt after U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned it. However, an immediate formal endorsement by the countries’ leaders meeting in Vietnam appeared unlikely. ()

The United States navy has begun a rarely performed drill in the Sea of Japan, mobilizing 3 aircraft carriers. The exercise is an apparent show of might against North Korea. (NHK)

The average financial assets held by Japanese households with two or more members this year rose 6.8 percent from the previous year to ¥11.51 million, a survey showed Friday. (the-japan-news.com)

Japan’s national debt hit a record ¥1,080,440.5 billion at the end of September, up ¥1,474.1 billion from three months before, the Finance Ministry said Friday. (the-japan-news.com)

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