TRAVEL

A typhoon made landfall in Japan on Thursday for the first time this year after moving eastward over the Sea of Japan, bringing heavy rain across a broad area including the Kinki region in western Japan and the northern island of Hokkaido. Typhoon Dianmu landed near the city of Akita at around 5 p.m. and crossed the Tohoku region into the Pacific Ocean, disrupting bullet train services on the Akita Shinkansen Line in Akita and Iwate prefectures on one of the busiest days of the summer holiday season. (AP)

Six people died, 11 others were injured and one went missing Saturday in accidents at mountains, rivers and sea across Japan, according to a Kyodo News tally. Three people died while fishing in rivers in Kumamoto and Akita prefectures and on the coast of Shimane Prefecture, while two others died after falling down hills in Tochigi and Saitama prefectures. In Hokkaido, a man died at a hospital after almost drowning while swimming in the sea. (AP)

Bob Pierce, the first coach in Shiga Lakestars history, has been appointed the expansion Akita Northern Happinets' first coach, the bj-league team announced on Friday. Pierce, who turns 50 on Sunday, guided the Lakestars to the team's first playoff berth last season. The team made a 10-win improvement in 2009-10, going 29-23 and finishing fourth in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. (Japan Times)

Ah, Valentine's Day. Cynics around the world pooh-pooh the so-called holiday as a ploy to sell chocolates and greeting cards. Others swear there's love in the air. It seems everyone has their own take. But nowhere has tradition been as firmly upended as it has in Japan, where it is somehow the woman's obligation to give chocolates to her man and not the other way around (that comes on White Day). Now a Japanese company has added a new twist: giving the gift of insects. In 2005, Komatsuya Honten, a bakery and confectionery shop located in Akita Prefecture, debuted a series of cakes and candies modeled on the larval and adult forms of kabuto-mushi -- the massive rhinoceros beetles native to the Japanese archipelago. (CNN)

Heavy snowfall and strong winds hit parts of northern to central Japan on Saturday, with the Japan Meteorological Agency warning of continued snow and winds as well as high waves on Sunday. Heavy snow was seen in regions facing the Sea of Japan, including areas in Niigata, Aomori and Yamagata prefectures where close to 300 centimeters of snow had accumulated by Saturday evening, the agency said. Winds of more than 100 kilometers per hour blew through parts of Niigata and Akita prefectures on Saturday morning. (AP)

Very cold air swept through large swaths of areas along the Sea of Japan on Thursday, causing record accumulations of snow and record-low temperatures for December in northern parts of the country, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Local observatories measured 93 and 86 centimeters of snow in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, and Akita, respectively, in the morning for a record accumulation for the month at each location. (AP)

Two establishments within the popular Gas Panic chain of nightclubs were cited by police last month for violation of a national ordinance, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Dec. 1). Police raided club GP Bar and Club 99 in the Roppongi entertainment district of Tokyo on November 29 for operating a nightclub where patrons were allowed to dance, drink and eat in a manner that violated the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses - a nationwide code with sections regarding nightlife activities, one of which prohibits dancing after 1 a.m. Six arrests were made, including the president, 34-year-old Hidenori Wakita. (Tokyo Reporter)

A man was injured while houses and depositories were damaged by tornados in Noshiro, Akita Prefecture, and Fukaura, Aomori Prefecture, on Friday, local observatories and police said. In Noshiro, a 29-year-old man sustained a cut to his right leg from a broken window at an auto factory, while 25 houses and depositories were damaged. (AP)

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko held their Autumn Garden Party at the Akasaka Gyoen garden Thursday, welcoming 1,699 distinguished guests to the annual festivities. Attendees included actress and People's Honor Award winner Mitsuko Mori, 89, astronaut Koichi Wakata, 46, and Yojiro Takita, 53, director of the Oscar-winning movie "Departures." (Mainichi)

"Hachiko," starring a Japanese Akita dog with Richard Gere in a prominent supporting role, is a "love story in the deepest sense," the veteran US actor said Friday at the Rome film festival. Based on a decades-old true story from Japan, the film shown out of competition here tugs at the heartstrings as Hachi insinuates himself into the life of Gere's college professor character Parker. (AFP)

A 4-year-old boy died Sunday after he was mauled by two large dogs at a training institute for lawyers in Nakagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture, police said. The boy, Kaichi Takaki, was bitten in the head and neck, the police said. The dogs - an Akita and a German Rottweiler - were kept on the institute's grounds, they said. (Japan Times)

A 58-year-old man injured during a solo mountain climbing trip has been rescued after nine days of living on nothing but rainwater, police said. Yokohama resident Akira Takasaka, 58, was rescued by a police helicopter on Wednesday morning after he was found lying near the Kurokura River in one of the Tanzawa Mountains in Yamakita, Kanagawa Prefecture, according to police. (Mainichi)

Japan's top negotiator on North Korea said on Monday that Pyongyang's recent diplomatic overtures were "untrustworthy" in light of its ongoing nuclear weapons development. North Korea has shown "small displays of diplomacy and moves to build peace," Akitaka Saiki told reporters after meeting his US counterpart Stephen Bosworth. But its refusal to commit to the denuclearisation process "makes its diplomatic efforts untrustworthy", he added. (AFP)

Primary and junior high school students in Akita and Fukui prefectures were at the top in terms of academic ability for the third straight year in the nationwide achievement test conducted in April this year, education ministry data showed Thursday. The achievement test for the 2009 school year that began in April this year covered all the country's sixth graders at elementary schools and third graders at junior high schools. (AP)

The United States and Japan believe UN sanctions against North Korea over its recent nuclear test are having a "great impact" on the regime, officials said Tuesday after talks between the allies. Philip Goldberg, the US diplomat tasked with enforcing the United Nations sanctions, met with Akitaka Saiki, Japan's chief negotiator in multilateral talks aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme. (AFP)

A 12-year-old girl died after falling from an apartment building in Akita on Monday evening, prefectural police said. A man who lives near the 13-story apartment building and heard a strange sound found the girl lying and bleeding inside the grounds of the apartment complex at 6:50 p.m. (Yomiuri)

Asashoryu faces a race against the clock to be fit for next month's Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament after revealing Saturday he has suffered a knee injury that will take four weeks to fully heal. The fiery Mongolia grand champion hurt ligaments in his right knee during a regional summer tour in Akita on Aug. 13. (AP)

Young entrepreneur Shiho Fujita, known for her trademark "Shibuya gal" look, has caught media attention by starting up a rice farm. And her latest visit to her paddies in the village of Ogata, Akita Prefecture, to check out the crop has her back in the spotlight. (Japan Times)

First there was "Heart", a male Chihuahua born in northern Japan, named after the unique, amorous pattern on his coat. Now two years later big brother has a little puppy "Love" to join him, as a sibling bearing a similar heart-shaped marking was born this week. (ntdtv.com)