News On Japan

For shops peddling illegal pornographic DVDs in the capital, the hits just keep on coming. (tokyoreporter.com)

Increasing women on the board will become a recommended goal for Japanese companies under a revised governance code, and those lacking them will be asked to explain the reasons to the public. (Nikkei)

The Japanese government will require long-stay visitors from 6 Asian countries to be tested for tuberculosis before they travel to Japan. (NHK)

Japan clamped down on hundreds of immigration law violators late last year, including those applying for refugee status to seek employment rather than protection in the country, the Justice Ministry said Tuesday. (Japan Today)

A team of researchers in Japan says it has found the amount of what is called "dark matter" in the universe to be smaller than what was predicted by Albert Einstein's theory. (NHK)

An unemployed 57-year-old man walked into a police “koban” in Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Monday and said he had killed his 86-year-old mother and that his older brother was dead, too. (Japan Today)

Japan has successfully sent a new government information-gathering satellite into orbit. (NHK)

The mutilated remains of rabbits believed to have been stolen from two kindergartens in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, have been found in a park, police said. (Japan Today)

An entry ban for areas around a crater of Nakadake, one of the peaks comprising Mount Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, was lifted on Wednesday, about three and a half years after it was imposed following a rise in the peak's volcanic activities. (Jiji)

Japanese police served a fresh arrest warrant on a 26-year-old U.S. man on Wednesday in connection with the discovery of the dismembered body parts of a Japanese women in the western city of Osaka. (Jiji)

Hokkado Prefectural Police plan to send a married couple to prosecutors for allegedly keeping more than one dozen cats in unsanitary conditions in their residence in Sapporo’s Higashi Ward last year, reports TV Asahi (tokyoreporter.com)

Japan's Lower House has passed the country's biggest-ever budget, which sets government spending at over 900 billion dollars. (NHK)

The mascots for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics have been announced. (NHK)

Major food and beverage makers across Japan are to raise prices due to the higher costs of labor and raw materials. (NHK)

Japan's upcoming work style reform bills will include a measure to exclude highly paid skilled professionals from working hour regulations as planned, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday. (Jiji)

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, says an underground frozen soil wall around its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has had a limited effect in reducing groundwater contamination. (NHK)

Olympic figure skating champion Alina Zagitova says she's happy to know that she will receive the gift of an Akita dog from Japan. (NHK)

Japanese electronics maker Panasonic is embracing a new approach for its home appliance business. The firm says it's focusing on kitchen and bedroom products that will connect to the Internet of Things. (NHK)