The oldest giant panda in Japan has died:

Ling Ling was 22 years and seven months old, equivalent to about 70 human years, the Ueno Zoo said. It said he was the fifth-oldest known male panda in the world.
Ling Ling had lost his appetite and strength because of his old age, and recently suffered from heart [...]

Looking through Japan-related new releases on Amazon.com today, I found that Kenneth B. Pyle’s “Japan Rising: The Resurgence of Japanese Power and Purpose” has been reprinted in paperback:

Japan is on the verge of a sea change. After more than fifty years of national pacifism and isolation including the “lost decade” of the 1990s, Japan is [...]

Not much progress has been made towards finding those responsible for the appearance of poisonous gyoza on Japanese store shelves, but Japanese police have announced that their investigation of recalled gyoza supports their claim that toxic chemicals entered the frozen gyoza somewhere in China:
The first case in which the pesticide was detected in a sealed [...]

A 43-year-old librarian has been arrested for posting bomb threats on 2-channel:
“Soka Gakkai members kept on trying to get me to vote for their favored election candidates,” he was quoted as telling investigators. “I wanted to get back at them.”
At around 10:25 p.m. on April 2, Kamikawauchi posted a message on the Ni-Channeru (2-Channel) bulletin [...]

Apparently he can’t stay alert on just chewing gum, so he’s got to drink some coffee too:

The above-pictured special edition cans of Nescafe Coffee will go on sale May 15th. Check out Mainichi for a gallery of all the different Golgo 13 can designs.

Elite assassin Golgo 13 stars in a Lotte gum commercial:

I believe the message of this commercial is, “chew this gum so you can stay alert and kill people.”

Another year, another nakizumo competition:
An annual “crying sumo” contest for babies, in which pairs of infants are brought together to see who can cry the first or the loudest, was held at Tokyo’s Sensoji Temple on Sunday.
In crying sumo the babies are held up by amateur sumo wrestlers in a ring, and the baby who [...]

Jiji News (Japanese) has reported that a stonemason in Kumamoto Prefecture has created a gravestone shaped like Kumamoto Castle. The gravestone has been drawing lots of people to his store, but no customer has yet been willing to dish out the 2,450,000 yen ($24,000) asking price.

The stonemason is hoping that a wealthy [...]

The number of people killing themselves with hydrogen sulfide gas continues to grow, and it has come to light that one recent suicide victim was Miyuki Asou(麻生美由樹), a semi-famous gravure idol who had turned to making adult films:
This 22 years old woman had been a stages actress when she was a high school student. Later, [...]

The first stage of the Sapporo GO-1 GrandPrix arm wrestling competition was held yesterday in Tokyo:

Apparently the dude with the big arms, a salaryman whose co-workers call him “muscle,” did pretty well.
The final round the of the competition will be held on May 5th. Details can be found at the GO-1 GrandPrix site [...]

A man has been arrested in Hokkaido for putting on some make-up and a blouse and hanging out in a women’s public toilet:
Tsukasa Okazaki, 45, the banker from Monbetsu, Hokkaido, was arrested for trespassing. He admits to the allegations.
“I wanted people to see me as some sort of weirdo,” he told the police.
Mission accomplished.

Thinking of traveling around Kyushu? Be sure to check out Daniel O’Grady’s wonderful Castles of Kyushu website, which combines historical information, photos, and Google maps on all the island’s significant castle sites!
[via Ampontan]