Risk of legal retaliation by the management agency of AKB48 to media outlets over the the arrest of the mother of Minami Takahashi, a top member of the popular idol group, limited coverage of the scandal, reports Shukan Jitsuwa (Mar. 1). To rewind, three male juveniles were arrested by Tokyo Metropolitan Police for assault last October. When one of the boys then confessed to having engaged in a sexual relationship with the idol's 44-year-old mother, officers looked into the claim and arrested her after she admitted to misconduct. Takahashi is the leader of Team A of the all-girl singing troupe. News of the arrest, first reported by tabloid Shukan Bunshun (Feb. 16), stunned fans of the wildly popular ensemble. Well-wishers sent thousands of messages of encouragement to the official blog of the AKB48-affiliated pop trio No Sleeves, which includes the 20-year-old Takahashi as a member. (Tokyo Reporter)

Since the late 1920s, Japanese coffee shops catering to jazz music fans have been a fixture in cities across the country. For decades, they disseminated cutting-edge Western culture and later, the counter-culture to students, intellectuals and music aficionados. Although the number of venues are dwindling, they have survived the digital age. It was never about the coffee. Long before customers had a choice of a double espresso or soy latte, Japanese flocked to coffee shops serving just a couple of kinds of beans, but an endless variety of bee-bop, swing and avant-garde. They are known as jazz kissa - short for kissaten - tea or coffee shops. "Tea for Two" sung by Anita O'Day accompanied by two Japanese jazz orchestras during a live 1963 telecast in Tokyo can be heard in one cafe. One of the few surviving jazz kissa in Tokyo is Eagle, in the city's Yotsuya district, near Sophia University. (VOA News)

More than 10,000 New Zealanders and 90 people from Japan, some teary eyed, stood in silence at a Christchurch park Wednesday while police officers and firefighters read out the names of all 185 people who died in a devastating earthquake one year ago. The reading was followed by two minutes of silence at 12:51 p.m., the minute the magnitude 6.1 quake struck. It destroyed thousands of homes and much of downtown Christchurch, causing $25 billion in damage by the government's estimate. Family and friends of 24 of the 28 Japanese victims, who all died when the CTV building collapsed, were among the participants in a government-sponsored ceremony and offered a moment of silence. (Japan Times)

A Sea Shepherd dolphin activist, held for two months in jail in the town of Taiji over an alleged minor assault, has been cleared of the charge in a very rare finding by a Japanese court. Erwin Vermeulen, a volunteer with the Cove Guardians group of Sea Shepherd protesting against the Taiji dolphin hunt, was arrested after he was said to have shoved an employee of the Dolphin Resort Hotel. At the time, Mr Vermeulen was trying to take photographs of Risso's dolphins as they were being transferred between holding pens at the resort, Sea Shepherd said. (Sydney Morning Herald)

A 14-year-old boy who stabbed his mother after she confiscated a new video game from him was arrested Feb. 19 on suspicion of attempted murder, law enforcers said. Police received an emergency call from a 50-year-old woman in Ichinomiya at about 5:40 p.m. on Feb. 19, saying, "I've been stabbed by my son." When police arrived at the woman's home, her 14-year-old son, a second-year junior high school student, admitted having stabbed her, prompting them to arrest him on suspicion of attempted murder. (Mainichi)