Japan-related news links for today:

Typhoon: Officials say one of the most powerful storms to hit Japan in decades is heading away from Tokyo after leaving four people dead or missing, flooding hundreds of homes and triggering landslides. [Link]

Angry Lawmakers: Conservative Japanese politicians, scholars and journalists plan to write to U.S. lawmakers urging them to revoke a resolution calling on Tokyo to apologize for forcing women to serve as sex slaves during World War Two. [Link]

Rear-Ended: A car carrying Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was hit in the rear by a police escort car just before noon Saturday while he was on the stump in Osaka Prefecture for the July 29 House of Councilors election. [Link]

National Park Logging: Hokkaido police are investigating employees of a lumber company and the president of a real estate firm on suspicion of violating the Natural Parks Law and Forest Law by illegally logging more than 100 hectares of a forest in the Akan National Park in Hokkaido. [Link]

Chinese Eel Problems: A substance linked to a synthetic antibacterial drug banned by the Food Sanitation Law has been found in broiled eel processed in China and sold in a supermarket in Maebashi, the Gunma prefectural government said Friday. [Link]

Tax Scammers: About 16,000 cases of swindlers posing over the phone as tax officials were reported from June 2006 through May this year, resulting in the theft of more than 200 million yen, according to the National Tax Agency. [Link]

Nissan Women: Although “diversity” is such a novel and foreign word in Japan it’s a tongue-twister, Nissan is determined to promote women and make so-called “die-bah-she-tea” a pillar of its image. [Link]

Wakamaru: A rent-a-robot service run by a job placement agency is expected to be a hit with businesses and event organizers. [Link]