TRAVEL

Kazushi Takahashi, a 22-year-old student in Tokyo, likes the privacy provided by closed individual rooms in Internet cafes, where he can surf the Web, play online games and read manga. "I wouldn't be able to relax if people peek in a room I am in," he said. What Takahashi doesn't know is that since last April people like him in Osaka and a few other prefectures don't have the privacy he enjoys in Tokyo's Internet cafes. Privacy is out of reach for Osaka Internet cafe fans because operators had to make the rooms viewable from the outside, for example by changing door materials from wood to transparent acrylic or altering the doors so they can't be closed. (Japan Times)

The Osaka District Court on Wednesday sentenced the younger brother of new Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish to a suspended one-year prison term for assaulting a female friend. Sho Darvish, 22, repeatedly slapped the woman in the face and tried to choke her Jan. 25 last year in Kawachinagano, Osaka Prefecture, the court said. Presiding Judge Hidetake Koga said the defendant assaulted the woman after becoming angry over her association with some of her friends. "The attack was persistent and malicious," he said. (Japan Times)

Mayor Nobuto Hosaka had more than saving taxpayers' money on his mind when he recently invited bids from rivals of giant utility Tokyo Electric Power Co to supply power to his ward in Japan's capital. Hosaka, like other advocates of reform, hopes altered public sentiment after the nation suffered the world's worst nuclear crisis in a 25 years will spur reforms of an electricity oligopoly dominated for decades by regional utility fiefdoms. "Doing this will reduce our electricity costs," said Hosaka, a former lawmaker from a tiny left-leaning party who now runs a area of Tokyo that is home to some 800,000 people. "But the reason this attracted so much attention was that until now, the voices of ordinary users -- the people, residents of the ward, businesses -- have not been heard," he told Reuters. (Reuters)

A 37-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing her 12-year-old daughter to death at their home in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, police said. The slaying occurred Monday after the police had warned a local child counseling center Friday that the mother may have been neglecting her three children. The woman, whose name is being withheld pending investigation of her mental status, claimed her daughter had "stabbed herself," the police said. (Japan Times)

Japan's Under-23s continued their preparations for their upcoming London Olympic qualifier with Syria with a 0-0 draw against Qatar in a practice match at their camp in Doha on Saturday. Kashima Antlers duo Yuya Osako and Kazuya Yamamura both started and Cerezo Osaka's Hiroshi Kiyotake came on as a substitute as all 21 of Takashi Sekizuka's squad were given a run out in the match played behind closed doors in the Qatari capital. (Mainichi)

A fire broke out at an Osaka elementary school Tuesday morning after a string of explosions in a science room, prompting 250 students and teachers to evacuate, but no injuries were reported, police and firefighters said. The explosions at 10:45 a.m. gutted almost all of the 30-sq.-meter room at Kiyoe Elementary School in Suminoe Ward before the fire was put out an hour later, the authorities said. They were trying to identify the cause of the blasts, which prompted the dispatch of some 30 fire engines and a helicopter. (Japan Times)

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto plans to form a new political party that aims to capture 200 seats in the next Lower House election and end the prefectural government system that has existed for nearly a century and a half. The strategy, unveiled Friday, aims to create a new nationwide party called Ishin Seiji Juku, or Political Restoration School, by March. It will seek to draw its ranks from Hashimoto's local Osaka Ishin no kai (One Osaka), as well as from established opposition parties including New Komeito, Your Party and the Liberal Democratic Party. (Japan Times)

Japanese etiquette frowns upon the use of mobile phones in buses or trains, and it is rare to see someone speaking on a phone while using public transport, despite the excellent coverage in urban areas. There remain some dead spots, though, where mobile phones cannot be used and the Internet remains inaccessible - chiefly while riding the subway lines between stations. Change is coming soon to this area in major cities where such subway networks are in use, including Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Starting this year, passengers will be able to use the Internet through their mobile phones, even while traveling tens of meters underground, and may send and receive messages. (majirox news)

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has instructed high-ranking officials of the city government to always bow to the Hinomaru national flag as they take a seat in the municipal assembly's main conference hall and when replying to questions when the assembly is session, it has been learned. Hashimoto e-mailed the instruction earlier this month to bureau chiefs who sit on the platform of the conference hall during the assembly's deliberations. Titled "Paying homage to the national flag at the conference hall," the mayor's e-mail read, "You are asked to bow to the flag when seating yourself on the platform," assembly sources said. (Yomiuri)

The cherry blossom viewing season is likely to start at around the same time as usual in many parts of the nation this year because temperatures are expected to rise around late February, Weather Map Co. said Friday. According to a forecast by the private Tokyo-based firm, the year's first cherry blossoms will appear on March 23 in Shizuoka Prefecture, followed by Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Kochi prefectures a day later. Elsewhere, the "someiyoshino" species of cherry tree is expected to bloom on March 25 in Tokyo, March 27 in Nagoya and March 28 in Osaka. (Japan Times)

FamilyMart Co. plans to open 600 stores in Indonesia and the Philippines, tapping demand from young people as an aging population saps growth at home. FamilyMart, Japan's largest convenience store chain in Southeast Asia, intends to have 300 stores in each country by 2015, Masaaki Kosaka, director of overseas operations, said in a Jan. 13 interview in Tokyo. He declined to say how much the expansion would cost. FamilyMart joins larger Japanese competitors Lawson Inc. and Seven & I Holdings Co. in planning to open more stores in faster-growing Asian markets. The International Monetary Fund has forecast 5.6 percent economic growth this year in Southeast Asia, double its projection of 2.3 percent in Japan, as relatively young populations drive consumption. (Japan Times)

Japanese pharmaceutical firm Takeda, which took over its Swiss rival Nycomed last year for $14 billion, on Wednesday announced almost 3,000 job losses across the combined group. In a statement issued by Takeda headquarters in Osaka, the company said the moves were intended to "better align its global workforce and consolidate site operations". Around 2,100 positions would go in Europe, and 700 in the United States, it said. The job losses will be across research and development, operations, commercial and administrative functions, it added. (Channel NewsAsia)

Ruling and opposition parties have begun approaching Osaka Ishin no Kai (Osaka restoration group) to seek its support after the new party won landslide victories in the Osaka gubernatorial and mayoral elections last November. The parties have realized its success means they cannot afford to ignore Ishin no Kai's goal to field candidates in national elections, which could be held toward the end of this year. Their ability to cooperate with Ishin no Kai is shown through the response of each party to its vision to establish an "Osaka metropolis," which would transform the city into an administrative unit similar to Tokyo. (Yomiuri)

A woman was arrested for attempted murder after attacking an 11-year-old boy Wednesday at an elementary school in Osaka and seriously wounding him, police said. The boy, who suffered injuries to his chest and limbs, was taken to a hospital. His wounds are not thought to be life-threatening, police said. Rescue workers said the woman, 35, attacked the fifth-grader near the school's front gate. Investigators quoted the woman as saying she had stabbed many children she did not know and regretted her actions. A witness said the woman was weeping as she was taken away in a police car. (Japan Times)

In the town of Yashiro, 27km outside of Osaka, washing machines, air conditioning units, television sets and refrigerators hum along conveyor belts with the precision that defines the Japanese term kaizen (continuous improvement). These appliances, however, are not on their way to delivery trucks and trains that will take them to retailers. Instead, each unit has reached the end of its life cycle and is about to be disassembled, shredded and even pulverised.

The PETEC (Panasonic Eco Technology Centre) complex is a clean, ultra modern and relatively quiet facility. It is also a leading example of resource recovery. Since 2001, over 1.4bn appliances have been recycled, producing enough materials to manufacture 95 jumbo jets, the equivalent of 81 of the Great Buddha statue at Nara and 158,000 cars from reclaimed aluminium, copper and steel. Machines capture noxious gases that comprise cooling refrigerants. New developments will improve the capture of rare earth metals from high end electronics. Resins including polypropylene and polystyrene are recovered thanks to technology that can quickly sort and separate various types of plastics. (Yomiuri)

A Nepalese man died Monday after being assaulted on a street in Osaka early Monday by two men and two women, police said Tuesday. Bishnu Prasad Dhamala, 42, died at a hospital after being attacked Abeno Ward. The police said they arrested Hiroki Shiraishi, 21, a tattoo artist, and his acquaintance, Miyoko Shiraishi, 22, at the scene after receiving a report about the assault. The police are looking into the whereabouts of the other two assailants. (Japan Times)

We wanted to make a ski & snowboarding video this year. This is our journey traveling from Osaka to Hokkaido by train, to make it happen. Luckily, some cool guys up in Niseko & Sapporo helped us out. Grand Hirafu in Niseko. This is an international playground of skiers and snowboarders. Amazing talent constantly just coming down the hill. Sapporo Kokusai. We got some sick local & national snowboarders. A super cool group of guys who endured a light blizzard, then rocked out on the kicker non-stop. (Chibi Moku)

Hundreds of foreign students from Japan's top universities turned up at a career forum Saturday in Tokyo, hoping to secure a job before their graduation in 2013. Clad in dark suits, the students flocked to Tokyo Dome City in Bunkyo Ward to attend briefings by 47 firms - including First Retailing Co., Sony Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. A total of 1,560 students, mostly Asian, registered to attend the Tokyo event and a job fair in Osaka on Sunday, both organized by recruitment consultancy Fourth Valley Concierge Corp. (Japan Times)

Mortified bosses of a Japanese department store were forced into a grovelling apology after plastering their windows with signs boasting a 'F***in' Sale'. The Galerie shop in Osaka hung giant red signs emblazoned with the term all over their window display - as well as throughout the shop - to emphasise just how good they thought their January sale was. The unfortunate slogan was meant to be a pun on fukubukuro - or 'lucky bags' - relating to the Japanese New Year retail custom of selling off discounted unwanted stock from the previous year in big grab bags. Obviously, the pun was lost on English-speaking visitors to the store, and while most were amused by the unsubtle example of the language barrier, others complained. (Daily Mail)

Nonresident investors remained net buyers of Japanese stocks for the third straight year in 2011, purchasing a net 1.97 trillion yen worth of shares on Japan's three major stock exchanges, the Tokyo Stock Exchange said Tuesday. Nonresident investors were net buyers in aggregate at the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya bourses for 29 consecutive weeks from November 2010 to May 2011, the longest streak since comparable data were logged in 1982, against the backdrop of relatively undervalued Japanese stocks. (Mainichi)

Surrounded by unspoilt forest, we traverse the footbridge over a steep ravine to the crystal-clear Umenoki Todoro Falls. There is hardly a person in sight it feels a world away from the bright lights and crowded city streets of Osaka and Tokyo. This is Gokanosho on the island of Kyushu. Accessible via a windy, one-lane road that climbs into the mountains, it is considered one of the last secluded areas on Kyushu. The district is famous for being a hidden refuge for a samurai clan in the 12th century. Luckily, we have a local guide who can easily navigate the area. As a first-time visitor to Japan, I expected lots of hustle and bustle and there is no doubt that the country is heavily populated. But when you reach this national park, you get the sense that this is the real Japan. The area is remote and rugged, and the locals are especially friendly, with Gokanosho home to several quaint villages. (The Age)

Makoto Hirata, the former Aum Supreme Truth cult member arrested on New Year's Eve, says he arrived in Tokyo from Osaka aboard a Shinkansen train earlier that day, according to investigation authorities. Hirata has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the 1995 abduction and confinement of a 68-year-old Tokyo notary public official in 1995. The Metropolitan Police Department has confirmed Hirata was caught on security cameras on the Shinkansen platform at JR Shin-Osaka Station. Believing that Hirata hid in or around Osaka until recently, the MPD has sent investigators to Osaka and is now trying to trace Hirata's footsteps along a subway line. (Yomiuri)

January is always cold in Japan's Mie Prefecture. This January is no different. For many, it's a matter or turning on the heater. For the homeless, it's a matter of survival. Recently making the rounds on 2ch is the story of a 32-year-old man discovered outside a Matsusaka City game center in Mie Prefecture. The body of the man, Noboru Tatematsu, was found in a seated postion next to the game center. According to authorities, Tatematsu froze to death. Tatematsu originally hailed from Nagoya, but at the time of his death, he was unemployed and did not have a fixed address. Japan does have a large homeless population-something that visitors are surprised to discover. South Osaka and parts of Tokyo, for example, is populated with cardboard and blue-tarp covered shanty towns. (Kotaku)

Three times a week, Seiya Ogawa bikes to an unemployment center in Kadoma, home to Panasonic Corp., looking for work to help pay for his son's final year at college. "At this point, I'm willing to take any job," said the 49-year-old, who assembled electronic circuit boards in what was once a bustling manufacturing city in Osaka Prefecture. This month, it's officially one year since he first signed on at the center, and "it's like my humanity's been stripped from me," he said. Ogawa and his son rely on the incomes of his wife and daughter, a reversal of social roles that is spreading in Japan as factories and building companies fire workers and services that hire mostly women hire new employees. The new jobs pay lower than average wages, making it harder for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to spur consumer spending and pull the world's third-largest economy out of a decade of deflation. (Japan Times)

Today we celebrate 30 years under the Knife. Yes, it was on Dec. 29, 1981, that three teenage girls - Naoko Yamano, her sister Atsuko and their friend Mitchie Nakatani - entered an Osaka rehearsal studio for the first time. They emerged as Shonen Knife. Perhaps the world's sunniest band, Shonen Knife has carved out a niche playing poppy punk songs with Japanese and English lyrics about candy, animals and anything else that strikes them as fun. This approach has won them fans as diverse as Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening - and even Knife's lifelong heroes, The Ramones. (Japan Times)