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Visits by foreign tourists to Tokyo fall for 1st time in 2009

The number of visits by foreign tourists to Tokyo dropped in 2009 for the first time since the Tokyo metropolitan government began compiling such data in 2004, sliding 10.8 percent to 4.76 million, a recent survey showed. The Tokyo government's Tourism Division under the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs attributed the decline to the economic slowdown following the global financial crisis since late 2008 and to the spread of the new H1N1 strain of influenza in the reporting year. (AP)

Japan's ANA to launch budget carrier

Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) is to launch a low cost carrier, a decision set to be formally approved at its special board meeting on Thursday, reports said. The new budget airline, to be based at western Kansai International Airport, will start both international and domestic passenger services as early as autumn 2011. With the budget carrier, passengers are expected to be able to fly between Kansai and Tokyo's Narita airports for around 5,000 yen (60 dollars), about a third of the shinkansen bullet train fare linking the two cities. (AFP)

Japan suspends whaling dispute to hail PM's return

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, putting aside differences over whaling, yesterday congratulated Julia Gillard on returning Labor to power. Mr Kan and Ms Gillard spoke for 10 minutes by telephone yesterday, Japan's Foreign Ministry said. "Prime Minister Kan congratulated Prime Minister Gillard on her reappointment as Prime Minister after her victory in one of the closest elections in Australian history," the ministry said. Mr Kan told Ms Gillard he was looking forward to seeing her at the APEC leaders meeting in Yokohama in November. (The Australian)

Would-be Japan PM rules out war shrine visit

Japan's ruling party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa, who is seeking to become prime minister next week, signalled Wednesday he has no plans to visit Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni war shrine. Ozawa also said convicted World War II criminals should not be honoured at the site, which enshrines the souls of 2.5 million dead -- including 14 leading war criminals -- and is often seen as a symbol of Japan's past aggression. (AFP)

China and Japan bristle over disputed chain of islands

Despite recent efforts to tamp down territorial disputes, China and Japan are jostling elbows over one of their thorniest such conflicts: control of a tiny, uninhabited island chain in the East China Sea. On Wednesday morning, the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned Japan's ambassador for the second time in 24 hours to protest Japan's response to a Chinese fishing boat that had entered disputed waters. On Tuesday, two Japanese naval vessels tried to intercept the Chinese boat, but the three collided. On Wednesday, the boat's captain was taken to the Japanese island of Okinawa for questioning. (New York Times)

Japan plans nationwide survey for NDM-1 superbug

Japan said Tuesday it plans a nationwide survey to assess the spread of an antibiotic-resistant "superbug" that surfaced in South Asia and was this week confirmed for the first time in Japan. The bacterium carrying the New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) gene was found in a sample taken from a man in his 50s who was hospitalised with high fever for several months last year after returning from a trip to India. Health Minister Akira Nagatsuma said the government may start a survey as early as this week of how far the new type of bug has spread, while also tightening reporting requirements on hospitals. (AFP)

Cigarette demand soars in Japan

With Japan's tobacco taxes scheduled to jump by 60 yen on October 1, Japanese smokers are stockpiling cigarettes. Tobacco companies and convenience stores are racing to keep up with the increased demand. Drug stores are looking to cash in after the tax hike by expanding their lineup of smoking cessation products, while Japan Tobacco Inc. will be remodeling its products to counter any decline in sales. Japan will raise taxes on most cigarettes brands by more than 50 percent, the largest hike ever. (nacsonline.com)

Monkey problems near Mt. Fuji, Japan

An area near Japan's famed Mt. Fuji is having increasing trouble with rowdy local inhabitants - monkeys that are stealing food and starting to attack humans. According to Japanese news report on September 8th, 81 people have been reported being injured by an unknown number of wild monkeys in Mishima and three other nearby cities and towns in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture since August 22nd. The majority of the victims, which have included people of all ages, were bitten on the arms or legs. Mishima had previously reported that monkeys were, most recently, causing trouble starting around June, mainly by stealing fruits and vegetables - such as bananas and corn - from local residents' houses. (examiner.com)

Bargain import buyers like yen rise

The yen's recent spike against the dollar has dealt a heavy blow to exporters, but the trend has provided perfect shopping incentives for women going after imported fashion-brand items. An annual special bargain began Wednesday morning at the Hanshin department store in Kita Ward, Osaka, with thousands of bags, jewelry items and accessories from top foreign fashion houses being offered at a 15 to 20 percent discount, store officials said. (Japan Times)

Buford man dies in Japan; family wants answers

A Buford family is struggling to unravel the mystery of their son's death in another country 6,800 miles away. Hoon "Scott" Kang, 20, was vacationing in Tokyo with friends when he was found lying in an emergency stairwell with blood trickling from his left ear early on Aug. 27. He died three days later in a hospital, never having regained consciousness. Japanese authorities initially concluded that he fell down the stairs accidentally. Kang's family believes he was a victim of something much more sinister. The surveillance video shows Kang in the elevator shortly after 11 p.m. with a man in a black hat. Kang gestures with both hands out, as if to say "I don't have anything," and the man appears to punch Kang in the stomach. (ajc.com)

'Eigo Noto' avoids budget ax

The education ministry has decided to continue free distribution of "Eigo Noto" (English Notebook) teaching aids for primary school English classes even after fiscal 2011, although discontinuation after that time was decided in last year's budget screening, it was learned Tuesday. Primary school English classes will be compulsory for fifth- and sixth-year students from the 2011 academic year, which starts from April next year, but it will not be regarded as a "subject" that requires student evaluations. Each school year, 35 classes are held for each grade. Eigo Noto supplements use abundant illustrations. Greetings and how to count can be learned through games and quizzes. (Yomiuri)

Japan to make energy from couch potatoes

The â€œenergy scavengingâ€ campaign has been formed by 23 Japanese companies, including bitter rivals Honda and Toyota, with the aim of filling homes, offices and cars with electronic devices that can power themselves. As well as heat, even the smallest movements of the most determined couch potato, according to Japanese researchers, could be converted into useful energy for powering a battery-free TV remote or video games controller. (Herald Sun)

Tsuneoka says captors grew tired of holding him, failing to get ransom

Fresh from his release in Afghanistan, freelance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka said Tuesday in Tokyo he was probably freed after five months in captivity because his abductors' demands for ransom failed. "I always spent time with them, and I didn't see any indication of success" that the militants were able to extort a payment, Tsuneoka, 41, told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. (Japan Times)

Strong Yen Pumps Up Luxury Prices

For decades, the model for selling luxury imported goods in Japan has been simple: plush surroundings, attentive service-and the "Japan premium." Taking advantage of the luxury-goods appetite and high incomes of Japanese consumers, foreign high-end retailers have been able to charge much more than in other markets for the same goods. But the cozy system may be cracking, thanks in part to a surging yen - it hit a fresh 15-year-high against the dollar Tuesday - that's encouraging third-party websites to jump in with deep discounts. (Wall Street Journal)

Fukatsu best actress at Montreal

Eri Fukatsu has won the best actress award at the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival in Canada for her performance in "Akunin" ("Villain"), directed by Lee Sang Il. Fukatsu, also known for her role as the mistress of a gang boss in the 2008 movie "The Magic Hour," became the second Japanese actress to take home the best actress trophy, after Yuko Tanaka, who won the prize in 1983 for "Amagi Goe.". (Japan Times)

Despite the big spender image, Japanese actually love to save

There's this image that the Japanese are drop-dead, go-all-out kaimono-chudokusho (shopaholics), despite whatever the latest dreary news bulletin on the global recession says. While that may be true, it's also a fact of our collective lives that the Japanese hate spending, with every fiber of our being. Call it the Japan paradox, or just plain perverse, but while many of us won't blink twice at buying some luxury-brand handbag - or blowing 10,000 yen on an Italian dinner, even though we're on extremely modest incomes - we're also adept at keeping our wallets tightly shut come flood or tsunami, or even the whirlwind that was Julia Roberts' first visit to Japan last month. The truth is that the Japanese are better at saving than spending - we have about 1,000 years of poverty and deprivation behind us, while the hankering to buy La Perla lingerie is less than three decades old. (Japan Times)

Suicides, depression cost Japanese economy 2.7 tril. yen in 2009

The combined cost of suicides and depression cases to the Japanese economy totaled 2.68 trillion yen in 2009 due to lost incomes from the deaths and social security payments necessitated by the mood disorder, the government said Tuesday. Health minister Akira Nagatsuma released the figures at a meeting of relevant Cabinet ministers on measures to deal with suicides and depression, held at the prime minister's office, Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry officials said. Among the 32,845 people who killed themselves in 2009, about 26,500 were aged between 15 and 69, the ministry said. If these people had lived on and worked until the age of 70, they would have earned an estimated total of 1,902.8 billion yen, it said. (AP)

Land known for 'jobs for life' takes to dual careers

For decades, the standard career path in Japan was to join a company after graduation from college and to stay there until retirement - one job for life. But with salaries down more than 12 percent over the past decade and with the labor market uncertain, young, mostly single Japanese are increasingly making ends meet by working second or even third jobs. Some deliver leaflets or work in convenience stores. Some trade foreign currencies online, while others sell items on Internet auction sites. Data released last week found that almost 56 percent of workers between 15 and 34 years old needed another form of income to help pay living expenses. (New York Times)

New financial assistance program to encourage more students to study abroad

The government is set to introduce a new program that will encourage more students to study abroad by giving them financial assistance to stay overseas for a short period of time, it has been learned. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is launching what it has dubbed a "short visit" program from next fiscal year to boost the number of students who study abroad. In a bid to encourage more students to go abroad, the ministry will solicit students who are willing to stay overseas for a period of two weeks to three months so they can get a taste of what an overseas education is like. (Mainichi)

Abducted Japanese reporter returns home

A Japanese journalist returned home Monday after militants in Afghanistan released him from five months in captivity. In a series of messages from his Twitter account, freelance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka said he had thought he would be killed, and that he was not being held by the Taliban, as reported in the Japanese media. His abductors were local militants posing as Taliban to deceive the Japanese government, he wrote. Tsuneoka's captors apparently decided to release him because he is a fellow Muslim, Japan's Kyodo news agency said. According to his personal website, Tsuneoka converted to the religion in 2000 while in Moscow. (AP)

'Anime' makes Japan superpower

Japan may be on a slow decline as far as being a global economic force, but the "soft power" of its modern entertainment genres, from manga to "anime," has global appeal, especially among young people. Why and how did this entertainment media thrive? How popular is it overseas? (Japan Times)

2 Greenpeace Japan members given suspended term for whale meat theft

Two members of environmentalist group Greenpeace Japan were each sentenced Monday to one year in jail, suspended for three years, for stealing in 2008 a package of whale meat which a Japanese whaling ship crew member was trying to send home. The sentence was handed down by the Aomori District Court in northeastern Japan against Junichi Sato, a 33-year-old antiwhaling campaign coordinator, and Toru Suzuki, 43. (AP)

Fund sell-off to help Japan's elderly

Japan's colossal 117 trillion yen Government Pension Investment Fund is poised for an unprecedented asset sell-off. The move comes as the country heads towards a potential retirement crisis. Over the next few months the largest pension fund in the world will liquidate more than Y4 trillion of assets to make its required payments to pensioners as the country's army of baby boomers finally hits retirement age. However, driven by a growing desperation to meet its payout obligations, the conservatively managed GPIF is also considering a radical change of tack. It is studying whether it should divert at least a portion of its huge asset base towards higher-risk venture capital-style investments, unlisted companies and higher-yield infrastructure projects at home and abroad. (The Australian)

18% of Grade Schools in Japan Feed Whale to Kids

It turns out that a surprisingly high number of grade schools in Japan are serving their students more than just a well-rounded education. According to the results of a survey released today, whale meat is back on the menu at about a sixth of Japan's public elementary and junior-high schools. In recent years, the nation has stirred the ire of environmentalists for continuing to hunt whales despite a decline in the meat's popularity -- to feed their kids, apparently. (treehugger.com)

Body in sack ID'd as 78-year-old

A dead body found in a sack outside a house in Tamana, Kumamoto Prefecture, was identified Monday as that of Akira Higashi, who had lived in the house and was missing for the last month, police said. Fingerprints of the partially decomposed body - which appeared to be that of a man who died about a month ago - confirmed it was that of the 78-year-old Higashi, police said. (Japan Times)

Things to see and do

Art Tower Mito; Kairaku-en Park near Mito for plum blossom in February-March; hiking on Mount Tsukuba; ancient Kashima Jingu Shinto shrine near the center of Kashima. Kashima Stadium - more stadium info - home of the Kashima Antlers. Train from Kashima Jingu Station to the stadium.

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