Today’s Japan-related news links:

• The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, the Japanese government’s key policymaking body, will likely propose that the government begin studying the early introduction of a daylight saving system as part of measures to combat global warming. [Link]
• The House of Representatives on Friday approved bills set to allow victims of serious crimes to question defendants during trials in a major revision to Japan’s criminal code. [Link]
• Japan’s vulnerability to natural disasters is increasing as skyscrapers mushroom in cities, shopping malls go underground and the population ages, a government report said Friday. [Link]
• Prosecutors have arrested the deputy mayor of Hirakata over bid-rigging involving the construction of a municipal garbage disposal facility. [Link]
• Prosecutors in Chiba made an unusual appeal against a death sentence handed down on a man convicted of murder and inflicting injury resulting in death, saying the court misunderstood the facts of the crime. [Link]
• A bill to exempt victims of the Kanemi cooking oil poisoning case from paying back compensation received from the government passed into law at a plenary session of the House of Councillors in a unanimous vote Friday. [Link]
• An NHK employee who is on loan to an affiliate has been arrested for child prostitution, the public broadcaster said. [Link]
• The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to require large companies and factories to meet reduction goals for carbon dioxide emissions under a new set of standards intended to combat global warming. [Link]
• Seven & I Holdings Co on Friday began charging customers 5 yen for plastic shopping bags at two of its supermarkets on a trial basis in an effort to help reduce consumption. [Link]
• Less than a month after she took over as leader of Morning Musume, Fujimoto Miki has announced that she is going to quit the group. [Link]
• A humanoid robot that reacts to touch and sound in the way that a baby does debuted Friday with its developers hoping it will aid research into how humans grow. [Link]
• U.S. toy giant Mattel and Japan’s Sanrio on Friday unveiled the new Hello Kitty Barbie doll in Tokyo. [Link]
• A teacher at a prestigious private school in Osaka has been arrested for stealing the panties of one of his former pupils, according to Shukan Jitsuwa. [Link]