NHK -- Jul 20
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant says the metal scaffolding right below the damaged No.3 reactor appears to have gone missing after the 2011 disaster.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, started a full-scale robotic probe into the containment vessel on Wednesday.
In the 2011 accident, most of the nuclear fuel in the No.3 reactor is believed to have melted and fallen to the bottom of the containment vessel that covers the reactor. The nuclear fuel is thought to lie within 6-meter-deep water that was injected for cooling.
TEPCO and the Japanese government plan to remove the nuclear fuel debris as part of decommissioning of the reactor. They are trying to locate the debris.
They used a new underwater robot equipped with cameras for Wednesday's probe. It is 30 centimeters long and 13 centimeters wide.
東京電力は１９日、福島第１原発３号機の水中ロボット調査に関する記者会見を開いた。原子炉格納容器内の撮影に成功し、複数の構造物の損傷や脱落を確認したと明らかにした。３号機格納容器内の具体的な状況が分かるのは初めて。
Jul 23
Police on Monday detained six South Koreans for allegedly illegally entering a Japanese diplomatic facility in South Korea and staging an anti-Tokyo demonstration there.
(Japan Today) Jul 23
Bowing and at times teary, the president of Japanese entertainment powerhouse Yoshimoto Kogyo Co said Monday he wants to withdraw punishment of two popular comedians over their paid appearance at a party for a group of swindlers and apologized to them for mishandling the aftermath.
(Japan Today) Jul 23
Despite a record number of women winning seats in Sunday's House of Councillors election, some female voters have cast doubt over the government's pledge to help empower women.
(Japan Today) Jul 23
One male customer at a restaurant in Tochigi Prefecture was seriously injured in a shooting early Sunday. The gunman remains at large, police said, reports NHK (July 21).
(tokyoreporter.com) Jul 23
Muneo Suzuki, a veteran politician with close ties to Russia, won a seat in Sunday’s House of Councilors election, returning to the Diet for the first time since being forced out by a conviction in 2010.
(Japan Times) Jul 23
Coca-Cola in October will take an alcoholic drink nationwide in Japan as the global soft drink giant attempts to diversify its way out of the mature and crowded soda pop market with an "alcopop" offering. (Nikkei) Jul 23
The Tokyo 2020 organizing committee and International Surfing Association got a hint of what to expect when surfing makes its Olympic debut next year following a successful test at the competition's venue on Tsurigasaki Beach.
(Kyodo) Jul 23
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito won a majority of seats in the country's upper house election on Sunday, paving the way for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's planned consumption tax hike in October.
(Nikkei) Jul 22
Japan's ruling coalition is set to maintain control of the Upper House following Sunday's election. But it fell short of maintaining a key threshold. The coalition and lawmakers in favor of amending the Constitution will not hold a two-thirds majority of the chamber. (NHK) Jul 22
Two wheelchair-bound candidates won seats in Japan’s upper house vote on Sunday, media projections showed, a sign of changing attitudes towards disabled people in a country where they have long been encouraged to stay in the shadow. (Reuters)