Japan News for July 28, 2007
Japan-related news links for today:
Nikkei Plummets: Tokyo stocks plummeted Friday on selling spurred by an overnight plunge in U.S. shares and the yen’s sharp appreciation against other major currencies, dragging down the benchmark Nikkei to a nearly three-month low. [Link]
New Scandal: A political support group for Agriculture Minister Norihiko Akagi and a local branch of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Ibaraki Prefecture headed by Akagi doubled nearly 200,000 yen in reported mail costs in 2003. [Link]
Still Waiting: Checks on whether any radiation has leaked from five ventilation ducts at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, which was damaged in the powerful earthquake that struck Niigata Prefecture on July 16, have still not been carried out. [Link]
Paper Towel Clean-Up: When reporters entered the quake-damaged Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) nuclear reactor building in Niigata Wednesday, the scene was rather primitive. [Link]
Bullet Trains Speed Up: To stay ahead of airlines, East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) will raise the maximum speed for bullet trains on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line to 320 kph from the current 275 kph. [Link]
Failure: The municipal government of Kashiwazaki failed to deliver emergency food it had stocked for about 1,000 people in one of its storage facilities to evacuees on the day a powerful earthquake jolted the area on July 16, it has emerged. [Link]
Old Ladies Aplenty: The average lifespan of Japanese women in 2006 was the longest in the world at 85.81 years, maintaining the top spot for the 22nd consecutive year, according to data released Thursday by the health ministry. [Link]
Clueless Cops: Police have asked the public for information on the murder of three employees of a western Tokyo supermarket in 1995 as Monday marks the 12th anniversary of the incident. [Link]
Human Guinea Pigs: Two doctors at a hospital in Kobe conducted clinical experiments on 48 breast cancer patients using anticancer drugs without obtaining letters of consent from the patients. [Link]
Magnesium: Fuel Fuel of the Future? A professor from the Tokyo Institute of Technology has begun an experiment there to promote magnesium as a next-generation form of energy to be used in place of fossil fuels such as oil. [Link]
Drunk Biking Scandal: Japanese figure skater Nobunari Oda was apprehended by police and handed a traffic ticket after he was caught riding a motorcycle under the influence of alcohol on a road here, police said Friday. [Link]
No Chinese Eels: Japanese eel aficionados — who devour broiled eels in a bid to beat the heat — are opting for pricey domestic eels over cheap Chinese imports amid food safety fears. [Link]
Jumpers: Two Japanese tourists jumped from their second floor room to escape a fire that devastated a hotel in Rome on Thursday, sustaining serious injuries. [Link]
Faking It: Yokozuna Asashoryu, who withdrew from a regional tour with injury on Wednesday, faces the wrath of the Japan Sumo Association after he was shown on TV playing soccer in Mongolia. [Link]
DPRK Defector Becomes Japanese: The Tokyo Regional Legal Affairs Bureau granted Japanese citizenship to a North Korean-born woman in February after she fled the reclusive state with her Japanese mother to live in Japan in 2005. [Link]
Kabuki USA: Nakamura Kanzaburo, 18th in a line of Kabuki masters, is performing modernized Kabuki plays in America. [Link]
More Toilet Money: Ten envelopes each containing a 10,000-yen note were left in a washroom at the Hokkaido Prefectural Government on the same day as other similar envelopes were found at the Sapporo Municipal Government Hall. [Link]
Pepper Lunch Rapists: A steak chain branch manager and worker accused of robbing, raping and illegally confining a female customer pleaded guilty to the charges against them as their trial opened in a court in Osaka on Friday. [Link]
Cat-Induced Stabbing: An elderly man who stabbed a neighbor after the victim came to complain about the cats he was keeping has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in Osaka. [Link]
Homeless Drug Farmer: A man who hired a homeless resident to help him grow cannabis which he intended to sell has been arrested in Mie Prefecture. [Link]
Let’s Sexy English: A teacher at a prefectural high school in Hokkaido gave students reference material containing obscene expressions for their English homework for summer vacation, it emerged Friday. [Link]
