13 December 2015
Japan and India agreed several high-profile deals Saturday including on high-speed rail, defence technology and civil nuclear cooperation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in New Delhi. (AFP)
MISHIMA, Shizuoka Prefecture--The nation's longest cable-suspended pedestrian bridge is set to open to the public here on Dec. 14, offering breathtaking views of Mount Fuji, Suruga Bay and the peaks of the Izu Peninsula. (Asahi)
A laser was apparently aimed at the driver of a waiting shinkansen bullet train in late November in western Japan, an official of West Japan Railway Co. said Saturday, following similar incidents targeting flying aircraft in Okinawa and elsewhere. (Kyodo)
Schoolgirls in Japan this year scored the highest average mark on record in nationwide physical performance tests that began in 2008, the Sports Agency said Friday. (Jiji Press)
While Japan is slowly coming to realize its need to address human rights issues for sexual minorities, with a few municipalities moving to recognize same-sex couples as legitimate, the change is giving some local assembly members a sense of crisis. (Japan Today)Dec 12
An iconic pocket watch that survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima is beginning to show the ravages of time, 70 years after the end of World War II. (Asahi) Dec 12
Tokyo police say the South Korean man arrested in connection with last month's explosion at Yasukuni Shrine had items similar to the components of a suspicious object found at the shrine.
(NHK) Dec 12
An independent panel promoting ethical standards in broadcasting said Friday a documentary aired by Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK) last year that reportedly included a fake interview presents "grave problems" in terms of broadcasting ethics and urged the public broadcaster to abide by a code of ethics. (Japan Today) Dec 11
The Kyoto Prefectural Police are taking action against at least seven men who allegedly photographed up the skirts of children, teenagers and women visiting Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto this fall. (Japan Times) Dec 11
Part of an LED decoration at a festival of light in Kobe City, western Japan, has been damaged by strong wind. (NHK) Dec 12
Eyewear-maker Jin Co., which offers low-price glasses under the brand name Jins, aims to expand its business overseas amid a shrinking domestic market, CEO Hitoshi Tanaka said Friday. (Japan Times) Dec 11
Construction of a mammoth 7.7-kilometer tunnel cutting through the Southern Japan Alps will begin Dec. 18 as part of an ambitious project to link Tokyo to Nagoya with a maglev train line by 2027. (Asahi) Dec 11
Struggling Toshiba Corp. decided it will pull out of the TV production business, a division that has been accumulating losses for many years, as part of its streamlining efforts, sources said. (Asahi) Dec 11
The US subsidiary of Honda has received the go-ahead to deliver the Japanese automaker's first business jet to customers by the end of this month. (NHK) Dec 10
Toyota said Wednesday it expects annual sales of its newly-released fourth generation Prius hybrid to reach as many as 350,000 vehicles despite a big drop in oil prices making traditional gasoline cars cheap to run. (the-japan-news.com) Dec 12
Japan and India agreed several high-profile deals Saturday including on high-speed rail, defence technology and civil nuclear cooperation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in New Delhi. (AFP) Dec 11
Lawmakers in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party are considering partially exempting processed food from a consumption tax hike. (NHK) Dec 11
Business sentiment among major Japanese companies stayed positive for the second straight quarter in October-December, as a wide range of industry sectors benefited from massive spending by foreign travelers to Japan, a government survey showed Thursday. (the-japan-news.com) Dec 10
In a year with no shortage of scary economic stories, Japan's recent woes may be the globe's most chilling cautionary tale. The world's third-largest economy shrank by 0.8% in the third quarter of 2015, sending the country into its fifth recession in seven years in November. (fortune.com) Dec 10
Political negotiations between the nation's ruling coalition are approaching a showdown over the unpopular consumption tax, which is set to rise to 10 percent from 8 percent in April 2017. A sweetener being considered has drawn scathing criticism from many economists. (Japan Times) Dec 12
While Japan is slowly coming to realize its need to address human rights issues for sexual minorities, with a few municipalities moving to recognize same-sex couples as legitimate, the change is giving some local assembly members a sense of crisis. (Japan Today) Dec 12
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced plans to set up a financial scheme totaling about 12.3 billion dollars to help Japanese firms do business in India. (NHK) Dec 12
Japan's ruling parties failed to reach a final agreement Friday over which food items to exempt from the consumption tax hike in April 2017 to ease the burden on low-income earners, with marathon talks expected to continue over the weekend. (Japan Today) Dec 11
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's official website has been inaccessible since early Thursday morning. (NHK) Dec 10
When Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, belatedly took to Twitter, the first world leader he followed-and still one of the very few people he tracks-was his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi. Periodically the two men engage in effusive courtship over the Twittersphere. (economist.com) Dec 12
Schoolgirls in Japan this year scored the highest average mark on record in nationwide physical performance tests that began in 2008, the Sports Agency said Friday. (Jiji Press) Dec 11
The advent of the Apple Watch has led to a ban on all wristwatches worn by students taking the Kyoto University entrance exam in February, the institution announced Dec. 10. (Asahi) Dec 09
In terms of pronunciation Japanese is surprisingly easy to get to grips with, but some words can be real tongue-tanglers! Here are 10 of the worst! (rocketnews24.com) Dec 08
The co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Japanese researcher Satoshi Omura, has given a speech in Sweden ahead of the award ceremony. (NHK) Dec 08
"Onigirazu," an innovative take on the traditional "onigiri" rice ball, was chosen as 2015's dish of the year on Monday after the sandwich-like rice dish became a sensation, more than 20 years after it was first introduced in a manga series. (Japan Today) Dec 12
Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and two colleagues working at the International Space Station returned to Earth on Friday evening after completing their nearly five-month missions. (Kyodo) Dec 11
The concentration of radioactive materials in water in an underground duct at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant soared 4,000 times from a year ago, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. (Asahi) Dec 11
Tokyo police have launched a unit to catch suspicious airborne drones. New rules on drone use came into effect on Thursday. (NHK) Dec 09
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Wednesday its probe has successfully entered a targeted orbit around Venus to observe meteorological phenomena of the planet. (Kyodo) Dec 09
New regulations on the flights of drones and other unmanned aircraft will take effect on Thursday, despite concerns over the impact on hobbyists and fears that restrictions may hamper innovation in the emerging sector. (Japan Times) Dec 12
Construction plans for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics' main stadium will be released on Monday by companies bidding to build the Games centerpiece, Olympics minister Toshiaki Endo revealed Friday. (Japan Today) Dec 10
After months of negotiations, the IOC on Wednesday approved the cycling venues for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, including the cost-cutting move of indoor track events to a facility located two hours from the host city. (Japan Times) Dec 08
More than 14,000 entries have been received for new emblems for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. (NHK) Dec 07
Ryo Ishikawa takes a big step in his career by winning the men’s tour season-ending Nippon Series JT Cup for his first Japan major. (the-japan-news.com) Dec 07
Kenyan runner Patrick Makau has won the Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship for the 2nd year in a row. (NHK) Dec 12
MISHIMA, Shizuoka Prefecture--The nation's longest cable-suspended pedestrian bridge is set to open to the public here on Dec. 14, offering breathtaking views of Mount Fuji, Suruga Bay and the peaks of the Izu Peninsula. (Asahi) Dec 12
"Imakoso Ikitai! Shinjuku Golden-gai" (literally, "Now is the time to go to Shinjuku Golden-gai!"), a guidebook on the Shinjuku Golden-gai area in Kabukicho, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, has been released by H14, Inc. (the-japan-news.com) Dec 11
More than 2.22 million visitors flocked to Himeji Castle here between April 1 and Dec. 9, making it the most popular castle in Japan. (Asahi) Dec 11
A bamboo grove's shimmering beauty is highlighted in all its glory as Kyoto's Arashiyama district prepared for a special season of illuminated evening openings of its famed attractions. (Asahi) Dec 09
Visitor arrivals in Japan by cruise ship have hit a record high this year of more than 1 million. (NHK) Dec 12
Every year thousands of people make the journey to Japan from countries around the world in order to work and study. Most of these people tend to stay for only the short-term. They stay for a few semesters of school or maybe a few years working an...
Dec 12
We find ourselves often giving recommendations of products to learn foreign languages with, and we thought it'd be useful to compile a list for your reference.
We have included a number of our own products, only where we are convinced that they...
Dec 12
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The History
It was snowing that night of December 14, 1703, but the 46 samurai didn't seem bothered in the slightest. They walked silently from Ryogoku—not far from where the sumo arena, Kokugikan, now stands—to Sengakuji Temple in ...Dec 12
Returning a friend's bike around 9:45PM, an unfamiliar voice resonates behind me… “Good evening.” Who is talking to me, and why!? I turn my head to investigate the peculiar voice. It's a male cop trailing me on his bike! I awkwardly return h...
Dec 11
Everyone here at Inside Japan Tours loves a soak in one of Japan's many wonderful and famous hot springs (onsen) – in fact, we've written about onsen etiquette and our favourite hot spring baths a few times before.
However, tour leader Richard ...
Dec 11
The last thing I expected to hear after settling into my seat at Gofukuza, a kabuki theater in Osaka, was Lady Gaga. She reverberated through the theater as kabuki actors, dressed in their customarily drastic makeup and ornate costumes, performed ...
Dec 11
The Gishi-sai Festival is a winter festival held at Sengaku-ji Temple, a Sōtō Zen Buddhist temple located in the Takanawa neighbourhood of Minato-ku, Tokyo.
Every year on December 14th, the temple holds the festival to commemorate and honour t...
Dec 11
Being both ecologically-minded and frugal, I am not keen on buying drain filters. I mean who ever even hear of such a thing before coming to Japan? Alas, I have found a solution to my kitchen sink woes. I hate pantyhose. Japanese ones make me feel...
Dec 11
Turbulent currents. Skulls and bones. Natural geometries. Solar and lunar imagery. These are some of the recurring motifs in the work of Yuki Ideguchi, a Japanese painter who creates vibrant and hypnotic compositions. Although only 29, the young...
Dec 11
Online manga, mostly of the illegal kind, has been a big thing over the past decade. They dominate almost all of search results when someone searches for manga. But like most Google search results, they aren't of the greatest quality (I can sa...