News for November 03, 2006

Some Japan news links for you:

-Japan’s ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s population statistics show that this year’s suicide rate may be lower than last year’s rate.

-After eating a bowl of ramen and some fried chicken at a ramen shop in Osaka, a man held up the store with a knife. After getting 46,000 yen, he paid for his meal and ran away.

-Japan will request North Korea to immediately hand over a North Korean woman suspected of having kidnapped Japanese citizen Hitomi Soga and her mother, Miyoshi, in 1978. Good luck on getting them to comply..

-The BBC has taken a look at foreigners who work as fake priests in the Japanese wedding ceremony business.

-Boy-on-Boy yaoi manga is becoming popular in America? That’s great.

-The head of Japan’s Public Security Intelligence Agency still believes the Aum Shinri Kyo doomsday cult to be a major threat to the public. If you see anyone wearing a PSI helmet walking down the street, be sure to report them to the police.

-Taiwanese legislators are complaining about their coast guard’s inaction regarding alleged “bullying” of Taiwanese vessels by the Japanese coast guard. First Japan’s classrooms, now the high seas; when will this bullying problem end?

-Japanese whalers researches have caught 35 minke whales of the coast of Hokkaido for meat-processing research. The hunt is aimed at studying the whales’ feeding patterns and their effect on fish stocks.

-The Japanese government plans to make it mandatory, and no longer voluntary, that all companies in Japan report details about noncitizens when employing or dismissing them. This new measure is aimed at preventing increases in illegal employment.

-Chris, an avid Wikipedian, has contacted me regarding the deletion of the Yamanote Halloween Train entry on Wikipedia. He is fighting the get the entry restored, but he needs Japanese news sources that confirm the event took place. Any links with information would be appreciated, thanks!