News On Japan

The northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido is being hit by strong, cold winds caused by a low pressure system. The storm has injured several people and damaged many buildings. (NHK)

The European Union has decided to lift its restrictions on imports of some foods from 10 prefectures in Japan, such as rice grown in Fukushima, home to the country's worst nuclear accident. (Jiji)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to further their countries' relations. The 2 leaders met for about 50 minutes on Saturday in the southern Vietnamese city of Da Nang. This was their 6th meeting with the previous one held in Germany in July. (NHK)

Airports around the world have found an unconventional, eco-friendly way to take advantage of all the unused open space around their runways and buildings: hosting beehives. (Japan Times)

Japan will be among the lowest-tier of teams in the draw for next June’s World Cup finals after Senegal claimed a berth in the tournament on Friday. (Japan Times)

Concluding a peace treaty between Russia and Japan would involve Moscow examining how it could be affected by Tokyo's security commitments to its allies, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday. (Japan Today)

A police probe into the attempted murder of an elderly bedridden woman has reportedly led to an unlikely suspect: a stray cat. (Japan Times)

The icebreaker Shirase, operated by the Maritime Self-Defense Force, left Tokyo’s Harumi pier for Antarctica on Sunday. (Japan Times)

Police in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, said Sunday they have arrested a 30-year-old man on suspicion of killing the former manager of an automobile sales and insurance company that had gone out of business. (Japan Today)

In a powerful display of military might, Japanese and South Korean warships separately trained with three U.S. aircraft carriers on Sunday as the allies presented a united front against nuclear-armed North Korea. (Japan Times)

A car plunged into a crowd of spectators at a drift event in Saga Prefecture on Sunday, leaving four men injured, including one in critical condition, police said. (Japan Times)

The Kawasaki Heavy Industries C-2 is making its debut outside of Japan at the air show, as the country pushes for export sales of the military transport. (flightglobal.com)

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency plans to make the installation of hydrogen filling stations easier by revising ordinances related to the fire service law in fiscal 2018, in order to help promote the use of fuel cell vehicles, Jiji Press has learned. (the-japan-news.com)

Junior high school students in Japan are generally well-behaved, though occasionally a few naughty ones may slip through the disciplinary system and wreak juvenile havoc. (rocketnews24.com)

Gunma Prefectural Police believe thieves suspected in a string of recent burglaries of second hand shops in the prefecture struck again twice early Friday, reports TBS News (tokyoreporter.com)

The Ritz-Carlton, Osaka’s French restaurant La Baie and The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto’s Japanese restaurant Tempura Mizuki have both been awarded one Michelin star in the Michelin Guide to Kyoto and Osaka 2018. (Japan Today)

Of all the things there are to see and do in a foreign city, it's fair to say a visit to the local garbage incinerator is not usually one of them. But a garbage facility in the Japanese city of Osaka has become a major tourist attraction --- for all the wrong reasons. (cairnspost.com.au)

On Oct 31, Takahiro Shiraishi was arrested after nine bodies were discovered in his apartment in the town of Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, where the 27-year-old had been living since August. The authorities also found a saw, which Shiraishi admits to using in dismembering the bodies after killing his victims in order to make their remains easier to dispose of. (Japan Today)

A mini bus carrying mentally disabled people tumbled off a road and dropped about five meters into a wooded area Monday morning in western Japan, leaving 18 people slightly injured, police said. (Kyodo)

Japan's Education Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi has officially approved a controversial plan to open a veterinary school in April of next year. (NHK)

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