News from Japan

New condominiums equipped to protect residents during earthquakes and other natural disasters are starting to appear in major cities across Japan.

A Tokyo hospital at the center of a deadly superbug outbreak did not report the disease for several months after infections started increasing and failed to take immediate measures to curb its spread, it has emerged.

In a victory for local residents, K Project, a front company for Kodo-kai, the organization that governs Japan's largest organized crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, moved out of its location in a luxury apartment in Tokyo's Azabu Juban district three years after it moved in.

The Japan Sumo Association (JSA) invited fans to watch the general training session for wrestlers on Sept.

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The scorching summer heat is keeping tourists away from the "Yagiri-no-Watashi" boat service across the Edo River -- normally a popular tourist attraction in downtown Tokyo.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku has ruffled supporters of Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa ahead of the election of a new party leader by suggesting that a no-confidence motion could be passed against the Cabinet if Ozawa became prime minister and was later indicted over a political funding scandal.

Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa is holding the lead over Prime Minister Naoto Kan, according to the latest Mainichi Shimbun poll on the upcoming DPJ leadership election.

KISHIWADA, Osaka -- The skeletal remains of a body believed to belong to an 83-year-old woman have been found at a private house here, sparking a police investigation into possible illegal pension payments to her family.

I was rather shocked by the book, "Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial." One of the authors of the book, Simon Singh, is the science writer I trust the most.

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A test case for the nascent lay judge system got under way Friday at the Tokyo District Court as a celebrity defendant already crucified in the public realm now faces citizen judges, raising questions of whether they can render a judgment free of media influence.
Actor Manabu Oshio pleaded not guilty to giving the synthetic drug MDMA to a woman who died in August 2009 while they were in a Tokyo apartment, and to failing to save her life by not calling an ambulance immediately after she fell critically ill from an overdose.

OSAKA (Kyodo) Sharp Corp. said Thursday it will start marketing its 3-D liquid crystal display televisions in Europe in early September.
It plans to launch 46-inch and 60-inch models of the Aquos Quattron 3-D series with its innovative four-color LCD panel technology in Britain and Germany, the Osaka-based company said. Expected market prices are not available.

Advocates engaged in the battle against HIV and AIDS urged donor countries Friday in Tokyo not to cut their contributions amid the global economic slump.
Their plea came during a symposium held in Chiyoda Ward hosted by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Japan Center for International Exchange; Friends of the Global Fund, Japan; Magnum Photos; and the Asahi Shimbun to kick off "Access to Life," a photo exhibition documenting the treatment of people living with AIDS worldwide.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office on Friday charged a Montenegrin member of the "Pink Panther" ring of thieves with robbery and intrusion over a 2007 heist in Tokyo involving nearly ¥300 million worth of jewelry.
Rifat Hadziahmetovic, 42, was formally arrested in Spain by Japanese police last month in connection with the robbery, which resulted in injuries, a charge that would, as a serious crime, be subject to a lay judge trial under the citizen judge system launched in May 2009. But he will not be so tried because he was indicted for simple robbery instead.

Nearly 1,200 cows have died nationwide due to the summer's intense heat, the government said Friday, calling for measures to prevent more deaths as the hot spell continues.
A total of 1,194 cows — 959 for milk and 235 for meat — died of heatstroke and other heat-related causes between July 1 and Aug. 15, while 657 pigs, 289,000 broiler chickens and 136,000 chickens that lay eggs also died, according to a survey by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry.

Toshiba Corp. said Thursday it will start marketing its iPad-rivaling Folio 100 touch-display tablet in Europe, the Middle East and Africa between October and December.
Like Apple Inc.'s iPad, the Folio 100 has a wide range of online functions, including music downloads and storage, and doubles as an e-book reader.

In 2008, two officials of Greenpeace Japan presented to prosecutors what they described as evidence of a Japanese whaler's embezzlement of whale meat and asked them to investigate.
Instead of indicting the whaler and his colleagues, prosecutors charged the two environmental activists with theft and trespassing.

Tokyo announced additional sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programs Friday, including freezing assets of individuals and organizations related to the work, and suspending new Japanese investment in oil and gas development there.
The fresh measures follow a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in June after Iran refused to adhere to its obligations under the International Atomic Energy Agency and stop its nuclear programs, including uranium enrichment.

The following is a comparison of policies advocated by Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his sole challenger, Ichiro Ozawa, for the Sept. 14 election to pick the leader of the ruling DPJ:
Regarding economic/fiscal policy, Kan will: