Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and shared the view that North Korea's launch of what was believed to be a long-range ballistic missile deserves condemnation.
North Korea's act was extremely regrettable, Noda told Abbas at the prime minister's official residence. He also said it was a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
(Yomiuri)
Noda, Abbas condemn N. Korean launch
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Homeless below 10,000 for 1st time
The number of homeless people in the country was 9,576 as of January, dropping below 10,000 for the first time since records began in 2003, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said in a report.
The number dropped by 1,314, or 12.1 percent, from the previous year. The decline was a result of government-supported programs to operate self-support centers and temporary residences for homeless people, a ministry official said Friday.
(Yomiuri)
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Japan mulling '$60 bn contribution' to IMF
Japan is considering lending about $60 billion to the International Monetary Fund to help strengthen a global firewall against contagion from the European sovereign debt crisis, Kyodo news agency said on Sunday.
Tokyo is talking with some other key members of the IMF such as China and European nations to finalise their possible contributions to the multilateral lender, ahead of the Group of 20 finance chiefs' meeting later this week in Washington.
(AFP)
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All atomic power to halt 'momentarily'
Operations at all of Japan's 54 nuclear power plants will be suspended "for a moment" starting on May 6, trade minister Yukio Edano said in a speech in the city of Tokushima Sunday.
His comment suggests the government will be unable to restart reactors 3 and 4 at the Oi plant in Fukui Prefecture by May 5, when the Tomari nuclear power plant will go offline for a regular inspection.
(Japan Times)
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One missing as MSDF chopper clips destroyer off Aomori
A Maritime Self-Defense Force officer went missing Sunday after his helicopter hit a destroyer and crashed off Aomori Prefecture with six other crew members on board.
Everyone except the pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Masahiko Miyanaga, 37, was rescued from the ocean and taken to safety, the MSDF said, while a search and rescue operation was launched in conjunction with the Japan Coast Guard.
(Japan Times)
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Annual cigarette sales volume falls below 200 billion for first time
The number of cigarettes sold in Japan in fiscal 2011 dropped 6 percent from the previous year to 197.5 billion, dropping below 200 billion for the first time since statistics were first kept in 1990, the Tobacco Institute of Japan has announced.
By value, sales grew 13.6 percent to more than 4.1 trillion yen, topping 4 trillion yen for the first time in seven years, although the number of smokers fell after sharp price hikes following a tobacco tax increase, the institute said Friday.
(Yomiuri)
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'Understand what I'm saying?' stressing out newly hired workers
Senior company officials may scratch their heads when they see the results of a recent online survey on words that cause newly hired young workers to feel pressured.
In answer to the survey conducted by household products maker Lion Corp., the largest group of respondents chose "Do you understand what I'm saying?" as the phrase spoken by their bosses that made them feel pressured when they were still fresh at their workplace.
(Yomiuri)
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Rakuten, Japan Post to form alliance for intl e-commerce
Rakuten, Inc., one of Japan's major Internet retailers, and Japan Post Group's Japan Post Holdings Co. plan to form an alliance to launch an international e-commerce service, it has been learned.
The partnership aims to expand business in the field by creating a system that would enable Rakuten shops to easily deliver goods internationally at a low cost.
(Yomiuri)
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Woman stabbed at front door of home in Hyogo
A 43-year-old woman was stabbed by a man when she opened the front door to her home in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, on Sunday afternoon, police said.
The woman was quoted by police as saying that she answered the doorbell at about 1:50 p.m. and a man suddenly lunged at her with a knife, NTV reported. She suffered wounds to her stomach and back. The assailant fled immediately and she dialed 119 for help.
(Japan Today)
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Amazon to launch Japan e-book business
U.S. online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. will introduce an e-book service using Kindle readers in the Japanese market by the end of this year, it has been learned.
Amazon.com has been negotiating with multiple publishers in Japan since last year, informed sources said.
(Yomiuri)
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Golf: Jones fires 62 for 11th win in Japan
Australian Brendan Jones fired a 9-under 62 on Sunday to win the Japanese golf tour's season-opening Token Homemate Cup by two strokes.
Jones, who started the final round tied for sixth, three strokes off the lead, carded nine birdies - including six on the back nine - to finish at 15-under 269 for his 11th career victory in Japan.
(Yomiuri)
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Japan lifts no-entry ban for coastal city near Fukushima plant
The Japanese government on Monday lifted a no-entry ban imposed on a coastal city located near the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
A police checkpoint located about 20 km from the crippled plant was removed when the ban was lifted at Minamisoma City in northeastern Fukushima Prefecture at midnight on Monday.
(mysinchew.com)
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Sumo wrestlers take part in anti-yakuza parade
Sumo wrestlers Kotoshogiku and Kisenosato took part in a police-organized parade in Tokyo's Suginami Ward on Sunday to raise awareness of the National Police Agency's ongoing campaign to exclude organized crime gangs from society.
Kotoshogiku and Kisenosato, who are both ozeki (sumo's second-highest rank) took to the streets to meet and greet locals and spread the message of non-fraternization with yakuza, TBS reported.
(Japan Today)
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Police probe 'killer' python in urban Japan
Police in urban Japan on Monday were probing the death of a man whose body was found next to a 21-foot python.
Shoji Fujita, 66, was found dead outside his home in Ushiku city, 30 miles northeast of Tokyo, with a reticulated python sitting next to him, a local police spokesman said.
The snake was kept by his son, who operated an exotic pet store in the same city, the spokesman continued.
(New York Post)
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Japan's neglected infrastructure needs fix
Japan's aging roads, bridges and other public infrastructure are in need of a huge rebuilding effort after years of neglect, according to the Nikkei newspaper editorial on Monday, which warning of a "slow disaster" in the making after public funds during the past two decades were channeled into trophy projects -- sometimes derided in western media as bridges to nowhere - often with little regard for their use or viability. (MarketWatch)
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Arranged marriages make comeback in Japan
Until 1945 they were almost universal. They started to decline during the post war American occupation, but as late as 1960 it is estimated that 70 per cent of weddings were arranged.
Westernisation and the increasing independence of women led to a marked decline. By 1990 the proportion of arranged marriages is thought to have fallen to around 30 per cent of the total.
(telegraph.co.uk)
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Tokyo stocks close 1.74% down
Tokyo stocks fell 1.74 per cent on Monday, tracking declines on Wall Street, as market sentiment was also hit by a strong yen and ongoing concerns over Europe's debt problems.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 167.35 points to close at 9,470.64. The broader Topix index of all first-section issues declined 1.43 per cent, or 11.65 points, to 803.83.
(tradingroom.com.au)
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Japan deems suspect guilty for murders
The Japanese authorities have concluded that Chang Chih-yang, the 30-year-old prime suspect in the murder of two Taiwanese students in Japan, was responsible for the double homicide took place in Tokyo this January, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
Tokyo police had officially closed the case on March 9 and pointed to Chang as the killer of two women, 25-year-old Chu Li-chieh and 23-year-old Lin Chih-ying, Huang Ming-lung, secretary-general of MOFA's Association of East Asian Relations, told reporters yesterday.
(China Post)
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'Made in Japan' engineers find second life in China
Their technical skills helped Japan's corporate giants sweep all before them in the 1980s, and now thousands of ageing Japanese engineers are finding a new lease of life in booming China.
"My profession is going out of business in Japan," said 59-year-old Masayuki Aida, who made moulds for a Tokyo-based firm for 30 years but has spent most of his 50s in Dongguan, a gritty manufacturing hub in southern China's Pearl River Delta.
(Reuters)
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Playstation Vita already dropping to record low sales in Japan
Sony's latest gaming handheld is not doing well in Japan, and that likely represents a lack of interest for the device worldwide.
March was not a good month for the gaming industry. Sales of video games were down by around 25%, and even the hottest game on tap, Mass Effect 3, didn't manage to reach one million units on the most popular console.
(tgdaily.com)
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