| Jul 02 | Researchers race to unravel genome of bluefin tuna (Yomiuri) |
| A joint research team of the Fisheries Research Agency, Tokyo University and Kyushu University is expected to finish decoding the entire genome of the bluefin tuna by the end of this year, according to the agency. |
| Jul 02 | Timing of transplant vote in spotlight (Yomiuri) |
| The House of Councillors has begun full-fledged deliberations on a bill to revise the Organ Transplant Law and a counterproposal bill to establish an ad hoc committee for discussing how to treat brain death in children. |
| Jul 01 | Japan: Automation Nation? (NewsWeek) |
 More than any other country in the world, Japan is a case study in the triumphs of human engineering. Every Japanese manufacturer prides itself on energy efficiency and zero-landfill waste policies. The train and subway stations are models of precision and the application of information technology.
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| Jul 01 | Wind power has its own environmental problems (Yomiuri) |
| Wind power generation is expected to be a clean and environmentally friendly natural energy source, but a new kind of environmental problem has surfaced as infrasonic waves caused by windmills are suspected of causing health problems for some people. |
| Jun 30 | Japanese spacecraft finds uranium on moon (Florida Today) |
| Uranium exists on the moon, according to new data from a Japanese spacecraft. Advertisement The findings are the first conclusive evidence for the presence of the radioactive element in lunar dirt, the researchers said. The revelation suggests that nuclear power plants could be built on the moon, or even that Earth's satellite could serve as a mining source for uranium needed back home. |
| Jun 30 | Health ministry to stop survey of all new-flu cases (Yomiuri) |
| The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will suspend in mid-July a survey that calls for reports on all victims of the new strain of influenza, it has been learned. The ministry will switch to a selective survey that demands places such as schools and workplaces make notifications when multiple people become infected with the virus. |
| Jun 30 | Niigata pioneering rice-based biofuel (Yomiuri) |
| A new project in which bioethanol will be produced from rice cultivated in fallow farmland and mixed with gasoline will begin in Niigata Prefecture in mid-July, it has been learned. The project is being undertaken by JA Zen-Noh, the national federation of agricultural cooperative associations, in cooperation with the Niigata prefectural government. |
| Jun 30 | A need to nurture scientists (Japan Times) |
| Last year, four Japanese scientists, including one who became a naturalized American, received Nobel Prizes. Unfortunately, however, their achievements do not reflect the current state of science in Japan. The government's 2009 science and technology white paper shows that the foundation for basic science research is crumbling and hints that Japan's scientific level is rapidly falling. |
| Jun 30 | Japan a low-key player in space race (Japan Times) |
 Japan has launched Earth observation, communications and weather satellites as well as other space vehicles since it began its space program in the late 1960s. The program initially fell under the authority of the National Space Development Agency but is now under NASDA's successor, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.
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| Jun 28 | Rainy season appears to have ended in Okinawa (AP) |
| This year's rainy season in the Okinawa area of southwestern Japan appears to have ended, five days later than usual and 11 days later than last year, the area observatory said Sunday. The rainy spell in the area began May 18 and lasted 41 days, the Okinawa Meteorological Observatory said. |
| Jun 27 | Underwater sponges could soak up uranium for nuclear power stations in Japan (mnn.com) |
 Japan depends on the sea for many aspects of life, so it's no surprise that the island nation would find an energy solution in the waters off its coast. Government-funded scientists have drafted plans to place giant 'uranium farms' on the seabed to extract uranium from the ocean.
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| Jun 27 | Volcano from Space (Scientific American) |
 Astronauts on the International Space Station snapped this photo of Sarychev Volcano's eruption earlier this month. The volcano, on the Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan, hadn't erupted in 20 years, and this blow launched ash more than 1,495 miles (2,406 kilometers) away. Planes were diverted from the area to avoid engine damage from superheated particulates.
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| Jun 27 | Frog virus an increasing threat for ecosystems (Yomiuri) |
| Fears are growing around the world over outbreaks of ranavirus infections, which are capable of killing various kinds of amphibian species, and the ecological effects such outbreaks could have. |
| Jun 27 | Upper House mulls transplant law (Japan Times) |
| The Upper House began deliberations Friday on two amendments to the organ transplant law. One amendment, Plan A, would scrap the age limit, opening the door for children to donate organs. It cleared the Lower House on June 18. |
| Jun 26 | Scientists warn of emerging form of unregulated whaling in Asia (csmonitor.com) |
 It's tough being a whale these days.
The International Whaling Commission has just wrapped up its annual meeting in Portugal with a whaling ban still intact, but with fissures deepening between the save-the-whales crowd and countries such as Japan, which wants to see commercial whaling reinstated, at least on a limited basis.
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| Jun 26 | Food safety panel set to give green light to cloned meat (Japan Times) |
| Beef and pork made from somatic cell-cloned cows, pigs and their offspring are as safe as those produced from conventionally bred animals, the Food Safety Commission said in a report Thursday. |
| Jun 25 | Japan changes approach to deal with H1N1 (Channel NewsAsia) |
 The number of H1N1 cases in Japan has reached 900. In view of the numbers, Japanese authorities are changing the way they deal with the disease. It has stopped special quarantines at international airports in the country, and patients who are not in serious condition have been told to stay home. Meanwhile, hospital beds are reserved only for the seriously ill. Experts say it is the right move.
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| Jun 24 | Wandering whale's ordeal leaves scientists puzzled (Asahi) |
| Researchers are still puzzled over how a wayward whale managed to wander into a narrow cove here, survive for nearly three weeks and then find its way out again. The 16-meter-long male sperm whale was first spotted early on the morning of May 14 in Uchinoura Bay, a crooked cove at the southern end of the larger Tanabe Bay that spills out into the Pacific Ocean. |
| Jun 24 | Mom's expression influences baby's stress level: study (Japan Times) |
| The level of a digestive enzyme increases in babies when their mothers look at them with no expression on their face, causing them stress, according to a new study. The research arm of Unicharm Corp., a major manufacturer of disposable diapers, said that on such occasions the babies react with a frown and have a high density of amylase in their saliva. |
| Jun 23 | Strong quake hits off northern Japan (AFP) |
 A 5.5-magnitude earthquake struck off northern Japan on Tuesday, the meteorological agency said. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties and no tsunami alert was issued. seismograph
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| Jun 23 | 37-kg alligator snapping turtle caught in Nagoya (AP) |
| A male alligator snapping turtle, 53 centimeters in length and weighing 37 kilograms, has been caught in a river running through the heart of Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, local authorities said Monday. The turtle was captured by three men, who are members of a turtle research group, on Saturday in the Hori River near Nagoya castle, the municipal government said. They also found another turtle, but it escaped. |
| Jun 22 | Astronaut Wakata revels in extended space mission (AP) |
| Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata said he feels "fortunate" about the one-month delay in his scheduled return to Earth necessitated by the aborted launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour since it enables him to continue his involvement in a mission at the International Space Station, according to comments released Monday by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. |
| Jun 22 | Fate, iron price could save icebreaker (Yomiuri) |
 Fate may have played a hand in helping save an icebreaker from the scrap heap.
The government had decided to turn the Antarctic exploration ship Shirase--the predecessor of a new icebreaker with the same name--into scrap after it was decommissioned in August.
But the price of scrap iron has sunk to one-sixth of its level a year ago, and no buyer has been willing to take the plunge.
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| Jun 21 | Influenza A: Japan relaxes guidelines on dealing with epidemic (New Straits Times) |
| The Japanese government has formally revised and relaxed its guidelines for dealing with the new H1N1 influenza, basically allowing every medical institution in the country to see new flu patients and for people with mild symptoms to recuperate at home, Kyodo News reported. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry also decided to start producing a vaccine against the new flu in mid-July, which would allow for inoculations to start as early as October, by stopping output of seasonal flu vaccine. |
| Jun 20 | Teeth of tyrannosaurus ancestor found in Hyogo Pref. (AP) |
| The fossilized teeth of a carnivorous dinosaur that is believed be an ancestor of the greatest of its kind, tyrannosaurus, were found in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, museum officials said Saturday. The dinosaur, whose teeth were exhumed from strata dating back 140 million to 136 million years ago in the city, is estimated to have been about 5 meters long, said the Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo. |
| Jun 20 | Japan moon probe's final moments revealed (MSNBC) |
 The Japanese space agency on Friday released a series of images that document the final moments of the Kaguya lunar probe just before it slammed into the moon last week.
The images, released a day after NASA launched its own moon-slamming mission, reveal a now-familiar pockmarked landscape, desolate and with stark shadows, all up-close as the spacecraft sinks lower and lower toward its final resting place.
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| Jun 18 | Faster Shinkansen unveiled (Asahi) |
 East Japan Railway Co. unveiled the nation's fastest Shinkansen on Wednesday. The E5 series is to be introduced in March 2011 on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line.
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| Jun 18 | Study shows overweight people live longest (Yomiuri) |
| Good news at last for chubby people--having a few love handles can help a person live longer, a recent study showed. People who are overweight at the age of 40 live longer on average than people with other physiques, according to the study conducted by a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry research team. The large-scale study also shows that thin people have the shortest life expectancy, on average dying six or seven years earlier than overweight people. |
| Jun 18 | In Japan, it's raining tadpoles ... (guardian.co.uk) |
 Japan is no stranger to heavy downpours during the early summer rainy season.
But in recent days the proverbial "cats and dogs" have been joined by tadpoles, fish and the occasional frog.
Meteorologists admit they are bewildered by a spate of incidents in which the creatures appear to have fallen from the sky. People around the country have reported witnessing the phenomenon since the first sightings of stranded tadpoles were made in Ishikawa prefecture last week.
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| Jun 17 | Japan plans underwater sponges to soak up uranium (telegraph.co.uk) |
| Government-funded scientists have proposed placing huge "uranium farms" on the seabed, consisting of anchored sponges which soak up the element. Dr Masao Tanada, of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, has developed a fabric made primarily of irradiated polyethylene that is able to soak up the minute amounts of uranium - around 3.3 parts per billion - in the seawater. |
| Jun 16 | Japan's ambitious digital future (BBC) |
 Facing a multiplicity of financial, structural and demographic woes and battered by the decline in Japan's electronics industry the world's second largest economy is praying the dawning of the digital era will help it out of a prodigious hole.
Happy to sell the latest gizmo to high school girls Japan Inc., it seems, is less keen on utilizing that same technology prowess in business.
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| Jun 16 | More dead tadpoles found in other prefectures in Japan (AP) |
| The strange phenomenon of dead tadpoles that first emerged in Ishikawa Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast is becoming even more mysterious, with further numbers of dead larvae having been found in central, western and northeastern Japan over the past few days. |
| Jun 16 | New flu strain 'has mutated, become more infectious' (Yomiuri) |
| The new strain of influenza appears to have mutated to become more infectious for humans, the online edition of science magazine Nature reported Monday, referencing research by a team including Prof. Yoshihiro Kawaoka of Tokyo University's Institute of Medical Science. |
| Jun 15 | Volcanic eruption creates giant cloud threatening planes (telegraph.co.uk) |
 A volcanic eruption on a remote Russian island north of Japan has created a giant ash cloud that threatens passing aeroplanes, geologists said. The eruption of Sarychev Peak on uninhabited Matua Island, part of the Kuril Islands archipelago in the North Pacific Ocean, began on Friday and is still under way.
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| Jun 14 | Japanese astronomers capture 1st image of supernova explosion (AP) |
| A group of space researchers led by Nagoya University astronomer Yasuo Fukui recently captured the world's first image of a supernova explosion showing gas spreading toward its poles, Fukui said. Fukui's group took the photo of the explosion in a cluster of stars in the Carina constellation, around 17,000 light-years from Earth, with the university's Nanten radio telescope in Chile. |
| Jun 13 | Power firms delay start of MOX fuel up to 5 yrs (Yomiuri) |
| Electric power companies will postpone a planned program to utilize recycled nuclear fuel to generate electricity at existing nuclear power plants by up to five years, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan announced Friday. |
| Jun 13 | Lessons from past: Virus can mutate, become more lethal (Yomiuri) |
| Even though the World Health Organization has raised the pandemic warning level for the new strain of influenza from Phase 5 to the pandemic Phase 6, the peak of the infections in Japan, mainly in the Kansai region, apparently has passed. While more than 500 Japanese have been infected, fortunately no one has become critically ill. |
| Jun 12 | Japanese researchers clear up the mystery of graying hair (Mainichi) |
 Japanese researchers at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University and Kanazawa University have finally discovered exactly why hair turns white as we age.
They now hope to use the discovery in the creation of new anti-aging and regenerative techniques.
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| Jun 12 | Recession takes a bite out of shark-watching (Japan Times) |
| An underwater cave near an island in Yamagata Prefecture has long been a draw for divers who want to watch groups of small sharks gather there to give birth. |
| Jun 12 | Superfast cellphone service in works (Asahi) |
| Four cellphone carriers have obtained licenses to provide a next-generation service with an ultrafast data transmission speed. The first launch is expected in December 2010. |
| Jun 11 | Japanese lunar explorer ends mission, drops on moon's surface (AP) |
 Japan's first lunar probe satellite "Kaguya" was maneuvered to be dropped on the moon in the early hours of Thursday Japan time after completing its 17-month-long mission of scientific observations to shed light on the origin and evolution of the moon, its launcher said Thursday.
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| Jun 11 | Japan urged to reverse ban on child organ transplants (AFP) |
 Japan is the world's second largest economy and a global leader in medical research and technology, but the country has been hesitant about organ transplants, in part because of cultural perceptions of death.
The government adopted an Organ Transplant Law in 1997, but since then only 81 transplants have been carried out, compared to several thousand each year in the United States.
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| Jun 11 | Program gauges user stress with 'fish bowl index' (Japan Times) |
 A system that alerts users to their stress levels by representing their answers to a list of questions with visual imagery on their cell phones and personal computers has been jointly developed by Tokai University and Sakurai Co. The so-called Fish Bowl Index of mental health, devised to help prevent suicides, uses images of red and black goldfish, a bowl and a cat to illustrate a person's state of mind.
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| Jun 11 | Vaccine strategy poses serious quandary (Japan Times) |
| The swine flu panic has waned in the past few weeks and authorities are breathing a sigh of relief, but some medical experts say the government has been slow to prepare for a possible second outbreak this fall. Their chief worry is whether there will be enough vaccine. |
| Jun 10 | Rainy season starts in Tokyo, Hokuriku, Tohoku regions (AP) |
| The rainy season is believed to have begun in a wide area covering Tokyo and its vicinity, the Hokuriku region on the Sea of Japan as well as the northeastern prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata and Fukushima, the Japan Meteorological Agency said Wednesday. The rainy season normally ends around July 20-23 in Tokyo, Hokuriku and the three northeastern prefectures. |
| Jun 10 | Strange case of the flying tadpoles (Asahi) |
| Residents in Nanao and Hakusan, Ishikawa Prefecture, remain mystified after finding dozens of dead tadpoles in locations the creatures should not be. A city employee in Nanao was shocked to discover about 100 tadpoles--about 2 to 3 centimeters long--in the parking lot of Nakajima Shimin Center last Thursday afternoon. |
| Jun 10 | Flipping brilliant! Now Japan has invented a robot that can cook (Daily Mail) |
 We've already seen a robot that can dance, do household chores and even feel 'empathy' for humans. Now a robot in Japan has proven it can prepare and cook you pancakes.
The Okonomiyaki Robot was showing off its skills in cooking traditional Japanese flour pancakes at the International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition in Tokyo.
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| Jun 10 | Breeding program aims to save Okinawan bird (Yomiuri) |
 Artificial breeding of the highly endangered Okinawa water rail will begin in earnest this fiscal year with the construction of a new facility to house about 80 birds in Okinawa Prefecture.
First discovered in 1981 and later designated as a national natural treasure, the Okinawa rail--known as yanbarukuina in Japanese--is about 35 centimeters tall and weighs 400 to 500 grams.
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| Jun 09 | Rainy season begins in western half of Japan (AP) |
| The rainy season is believed to have begun in a wide area covering Japan's western half Tuesday, 12 days later than last year, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The rainy season in the area stretching from southern Kyushu to the Tokai region in central Japan started 3 to 11 days later than on average and ends around July 13-20 in an average year. |
| Jun 09 | Giant jellyfish swarms off the coast of Japan (io9.com) |
 Just when you thought it was safe. Overfishing and human activities have led to jellyfish growth all over the world. And not just in population; this jellyfish, found off of the coast of Japan, is almost 5 feet across.
Not only that, but scientists have found jellyfish weighing up to 440 pounds.
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