Some news/links for today:

-A plastic bag containing a torso was found on a street in Shinjuku on Saturday morning. The unclothed torso is believed to be that of a young man, and the head, arms and legs were discovered along the rail track of the JR Yamanote Line.

-The diet has passed a bill offering travel coupons and goods of about 100,000 yen in value to former Japanese soldiers and civilians detained in Siberia as “slave laborers” by Soviet forces after World War II. Japan’s government also stated it did not recognize its legal responsibility to pay redress to survivors.

-A junior high school girl has been found hanged at home after she returned from school in Shiga prefecture. No word yet on whether she was bullied at school.

-A non-profit organization in Fukiu has prevented as many as 100 people from committing suicide by patrolling a cliff that is popular spot for people to plunge to their death.

-Nintendo will provide thicker replacement straps free of charge for “Wii” video-game console remote controls after some straps broke after players waved the controllers wildly during game play.

-Four advertising groups will formally request the Kyoto Municipal Government postpone the planned 2007 start of its ban on rooftop and outside advertising. The advertisers will send the city a list of 10 items explaining why it believes the start of the ban should be postponed, including a complaint that no advertising groups were consulted about it. Hopefully the Kyoto Municipal Government will ignore them.

-Japanese fans have expressed pride as their nation’s top pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka signed with the
Boston Red Sox, but many were also turned off by the massive 52 million-dollar price tag. In a related article, Time Magazine wonders if Japan has become America’s farm team.

-More stats on what the Japanese think of Christmas.

-The Asahi Shinbun heaps praise upon eating-champion Takeru Kobayashi.

-A special park set up at Fuji Television in Odaiba is offering test rides of the Segway human transporter to visitors until Jan 3 to make the new electric-powered vehicle familiar with users. Anybody who weighs between 45 kilograms and 120 kg can ride it [I guess that means children and a lot of women can't enjoy it].

-North Korea is demanding that Japan investigate the case of a North Korean man who went missing while working as a teacher in Russia’s Sakhalin and sent a letter four months later to North Korea from Hokkaido. Was he forcefully abducted by Japanese agents?

Afternoon update:

-An interesting article about how the U.S. and Australia work together “to keep Japan onside.”

-If there’s anyone out there who can report on North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens and blame Japan’s government, it’s Norimitsu Onishi.

-Of the country’s 1,840 municipalities as of Oct. 1, 209 in 31 prefectures have a system to provide mayors with retirement bonuses calculated from 49 months of service, even though mayors serve only 48 months in a term. Whoops!

-Flower shops are flocking to a wholesale market in Tokyo’s Itabashi-ku to buy colorful “rainbow roses,” which are proving popular Christmas gifts. One bunch of rainbow roses sells for about 1,000 yen at retail flower shops.

-Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that this week’s mixed messages from Japan on solving the dispute over the Kuril islands were counterproductive. Japan’s Foreign Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday discussed the option of dividing the four islands by splitting their total area, but on Friday denied that that was an official proposal to Moscow.

-The Japan Times reports on recently oncovered documents that detail government actions to silence prominent scholars who opposed its policies in the 1930’s.