Wednesday, March 17, 12:23 (JST)
Japan's famous Tsukiji fish market braces for tuna trade ban
As bartenders close the shutters in Tokyo's glitzy nightlife district, just a short walk away handbells ring in the pre-dawn tuna auctions in an old warehouse in Tsukiji.
Veteran auctioneers call for bids for hundreds of snap-frozen tuna laid in neat rows in the world's largest fish market, the size of more than 40 football pitches.
The ocean predators, laid out on steaming dry ice, have their tails cut to reveal oval windows of the burgundy flesh that has fetched as much as 175,000 dollars for a 232 kilogram fish here.
In the chilly halls, fishmongers with headbands and aprons slice the red flesh with large knives, while three-wheel trolleys are pushed through the narrow aisles.
The famous market on Tokyo Bay, long a must-see tourist spot, is facing a disputed relocation plan in coming years - but another threat is looming large, a possible cross-border trade ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna. (calgaryherald.com)
Nothing says springtime like a penis festival 
It's springtime in Japan and that means one thing.
Actually, two things. Penis festivals and vagina festivals.
It may sound like a sophomoric gag. But these are folk rites going back at least 1,500 years, into Japan's agricultural past. They're held to ensure a good harvest and promote baby-making. One of the best-known penis festivals is at Komaki City's Tagata shrine, about 45 minutes outside Nagoya, every March 15. In a neighboring village, a vagina festival is held the Sunday before that. (Global Post)
It's springtime in Japan and that means one thing.
Actually, two things. Penis festivals and vagina festivals.
It may sound like a sophomoric gag. But these are folk rites going back at least 1,500 years, into Japan's agricultural past. They're held to ensure a good harvest and promote baby-making. One of the best-known penis festivals is at Komaki City's Tagata shrine, about 45 minutes outside Nagoya, every March 15. In a neighboring village, a vagina festival is held the Sunday before that. (Global Post) Campbell cancels Tokyo visit despite scheduled Wed. meeting 
Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, has canceled a planned visit Wednesday to Tokyo for discussions with senior Foreign Ministry officials, a U.S. official said Monday.
Speaking at a news conference, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip Crowley attributed the abrupt cancellation to a change in Campbell's itinerary for his tour of Southeast Asian countries that has been cut short due to political unrest in Thailand. Futenma was expected to be a major topic at the meeting. (Yomiuri)
Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, has canceled a planned visit Wednesday to Tokyo for discussions with senior Foreign Ministry officials, a U.S. official said Monday.
Speaking at a news conference, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip Crowley attributed the abrupt cancellation to a change in Campbell's itinerary for his tour of Southeast Asian countries that has been cut short due to political unrest in Thailand. Futenma was expected to be a major topic at the meeting. (Yomiuri) Pro-N.Korean school mums rally in Japan 
Hundreds of mothers whose children attend pro-North Korean schools in Japan rallied on Tuesday, demanding that the government include them in plans to make high school tuition free.
Japan's six-month-old government on the same day passed a lower house bill to scrap school fees and give aid to private schools, meeting one of their key pro-family election campaign pledges.
The pro-Pyongyang schools have so far been excluded from the programme that starts in April after opposition from conservatives who say Tokyo should not support schools linked with the nuclear-armed communist country. (AFP)
Hundreds of mothers whose children attend pro-North Korean schools in Japan rallied on Tuesday, demanding that the government include them in plans to make high school tuition free.
Japan's six-month-old government on the same day passed a lower house bill to scrap school fees and give aid to private schools, meeting one of their key pro-family election campaign pledges.
The pro-Pyongyang schools have so far been excluded from the programme that starts in April after opposition from conservatives who say Tokyo should not support schools linked with the nuclear-armed communist country. (AFP) Actresses gear up for '200 mil. yen' kimono play 
Popular actresses in Japan recently promoted the upcoming replay of the popular drama "Oh-oku" depicting elite women in the 19th century, wearing some of the kimono outfits to be used on the stage worth 200 million yen in total.
"As the revival has been decided, I, as an actor, feel the happiest ever," said Yuko Asano, who plays the boss of the women-only backroom in Edo Castle filled with mysterious lives of female aides to the shogun. (AP)
Popular actresses in Japan recently promoted the upcoming replay of the popular drama "Oh-oku" depicting elite women in the 19th century, wearing some of the kimono outfits to be used on the stage worth 200 million yen in total.
"As the revival has been decided, I, as an actor, feel the happiest ever," said Yuko Asano, who plays the boss of the women-only backroom in Edo Castle filled with mysterious lives of female aides to the shogun. (AP) 3 Filipinos arrested for illegal entry
Three Filipino men have been arrested in the city of Fukuoka for entering Japan on passports with women's names after undergoing sex change operations, police said.
Although it is not legally possible in the Philippines to change one's registered gender, the three, aged 30, 43 and 44, have formally married Japanese men, according to local immigration authorities.
After falling in love with the Japanese men while working at night clubs, they reentered Japan on different persons' passports to submit marriage registrations and have obtained residential status as spouses of Japanese nationals, the police said. (AP)
English school manager in Fukuoka indicted over shooting child porn 
An American man running an English school in Fukuoka Prefecture has been indicted for allegedly shooting pornographic images of a girl who was his student, investigative sources said Monday.
The 69-year-old resident of Fukuoka City was indicted in early March after police seized from his home more than 600 videotapes and photographs comprising images of dozens of his students, mostly elementary school-aged girls, they said.
The man was initially arrested in January on suspicion of conducting lewd acts on his students but released later without being indicted, according to the sources. (AP)
An American man running an English school in Fukuoka Prefecture has been indicted for allegedly shooting pornographic images of a girl who was his student, investigative sources said Monday.
The 69-year-old resident of Fukuoka City was indicted in early March after police seized from his home more than 600 videotapes and photographs comprising images of dozens of his students, mostly elementary school-aged girls, they said.
The man was initially arrested in January on suspicion of conducting lewd acts on his students but released later without being indicted, according to the sources. (AP)| Mar 17 | Honda racked up 7,000 orders in Japan for its new CR-Z sporty hybrid (autospies.com) |
 Honda Motor Co.'s new CR-Z sporty hybrid went on sale starting Feb. 25 but already, there have been 7,000 orders received in Japan. This figure is more than half of Honda's target of 12,000 units each year in its home market.
This many orders mean that there is a three-month waiting time for delivery in Japan. In the US, the model will arrive at showrooms this summer. The two-seater CR-Z is equipped with a 1.5-liter gasoline engine that's mated to an electric motor, resulting to a fuel economy of 36/38 mpg. Honda forecasts sales of 15,000 units in North America annually.
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| Mar 16 | Disney high-speed support may boost Japan, China trainmakers (Bloomberg) |
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| Mar 16 | Aeon launches new range of clothes targeting young male workers (Mainichi) |
 Leading retailer Aeon Co. launched on Monday a new range of men's brand clothes that target young male workers.
The company is focusing on working males in their 20s and 30s including those just entering the work force, a market that has yet to be fully developed. In addition to cheap business suits, a series of items such as office bags and bicycles will be displayed together in the same space in a bid to boost general sales at stores.
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| Mar 16 | Prada denies it wanted 'fat' managers sacked in Japan (AFP) |
 Italian fashion house Prada on Monday dismissed allegations by its former top retail manager in Japan that it had harassed her and asked her to fire "old, fat and ugly" managers.
"Following the many press reports published on Ms (Rina) Bovrisse's termination of employment, (her) accusations regarding an alleged misconduct of the company towards her have no ground," Prada said in a statement.
"The Japanese competent court has dismissed all of the employee's accusations and had ruled that the termination of her employment was perfectly legitimate," the statement said.
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| Mar 16 | Safety check of Skymark begins (Yomiuri) |
 The transport ministry began a special safety inspection of Skymark Airlines' headquarters in Tokyo on Monday in connection with a recent series of problems concerning its flight operations, including a copilot taking photos in the cockpit during flights and an airliner flying at a higher altitude than instructed by flight controllers.
The inspection, announced by the ministry Monday afternoon, is based on the Civil Aeronautics Law. The ministry will spend about three weeks on the check--longer than a normal inspection, which would usually take several days--and will investigate more details.
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USD to JPY:
90.365
| Mar 16 | Output gap shows Japan still deep in deflation (Reuters) |
| Japan's output gap, a gauge of price pressures, was deeper in negative territory than initially reported in the fourth quarter of 2009, the government said, showing that supply was outstripping demand and weighing on prices. The output gap stood at minus 6.4 percent for the final quarter of last year, against a preliminary reading of minus 6.1 percent and nudging towards the record minus 8.0 percent seen in the first quarter of 2009 amid the financial crisis. |
| Mar 16 | Japan may ease visa rules for foreign nurses, dentists (abs-cbnnews.com) |
| Japan may lift work visa restrictions for foreign nurses and dentists, to help care for its fast-ageing and shrinking population, the government said Monday. The immigration bureau is considering a plan to abolish visa limits for hundreds of nurses from the Philippines and Indonesia that currently restrict them to working in Japan for only seven years. A bureau official said it may also soon invite nurses from other countries. |
| Mar 15 | Japan's consumer sentiment rises for 2nd straight month in February (AP) |
| Japan's consumer sentiment improved for the second straight month in February, amid easing worries about a double-dip recession, the government said Monday, prompting it to upgrade its basic assessment for the first time since last July. The index of sentiment among households made up of two or more people gained 0.8 point from January to 39.8, reaching the highest level since last October, the Cabinet Office said. However, the gauge remained below the threshold of 50, indicating that pessimistic views outnumber optimistic ones. |
| Mar 15 | BOJ 'eyeing more easing steps' / Could hammer out new measures at 2-day Policy Board meeting (Yomiuri) |
| Signs are growing that the Bank of Japan will further expand monetary easing measures to help stem domestic deflation. According to informed financial sources, the central bank will consider boosting the scale of fund supplies for its new type of open market operations--introduced in December--beyond the current cap of 10 trillion yen, when its Policy Board meets Tuesday and Wednesday. |
| Mar 12 | Yen could appreciate against dollar this month (MarketWatch) |
| Investors betting the yen's glory days against the dollar are over might want to prepare for an encore by the Japanese currency in the coming weeks. March is the traditional repatriation season, when Japanese companies bring back overseas earnings to book as profits for the fiscal year that closes at the end of this month. And those fund flows typically support the Japanese currency, as companies sell other currencies and buy yen. |
NIKKEI 225:
10795.78
| Mar 16 | Tokyo stocks close lower on stronger yen, profit-taking (AP) |
| Tokyo stocks closed lower Tuesday, snapping a three-day winning streak, with investor sentiment dampened by the yen's rise against the U.S. dollar and euro and wariness ahead of upcoming policy decisions of Japanese and U.S. central banks. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 30.27 points, or 0.28 percent, from Monday to 10,721.71, after hitting a seven-week closing high a day earlier. |
| Mar 16 | Japan - defying gravity? (istockanalyst.com) |
| Popular myth and, allegedly, the laws of aerodynamics have it that the bumblebee should not be able to take flight. Yet still, our good bumblebee refuses to be pulled down by such details and year after year it takes flight as if nothing has happened. This allegory applies, with some imagination, to Japans economy too. Year after year it consequently appears able to simply ramp up domestic debt to cover the shortfall of domestic demand at the same time as low investment demand, a savvy export sector, and a strong net foreign asset position mean that Japan does not have to rely on foreign investors to finance government debt outlays. |
| Mar 15 | Nikkei stock index closes flat ahead of BOJ, FOMC policy decisions (AP) |
| The Nikkei stock index closed almost flat Monday with investors taking a step back to wait and see the outcome of forthcoming policy decisions by the Japanese and U.S. central banks, while selling for quick profits weighed on the market. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.72 point, or 0.01 percent, from Friday to 10,751.98. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 2.53 points, or 0.27 percent, to 938.91. |
| Mar 12 | Japan is unloved, under-owned and most importantly undervalued (telegraph.co.uk) |
| Now here's a funny thing. Five of the top 10 performers out of 1,965 unit trusts this year so far are Japan funds, but the sector is shunned by investors. While individual savings accounts (Isas) as a whole enjoyed their biggest-ever inflow last month, investors took £503,000 more out of Japan Isas than they paid in. Not that this mismatch between very short-term returns and popularity should come as any surprise. As the graph on this page demonstrates, the Nikkei 225 index has been stuck in a 20-year sulk while the FTSE 100 has powered ahead. |
| Mar 12 | Nikkei hits 7-week closing high as yen helps, BOJ eyed (Reuters) |
| Japan's Nikkei average hit its highest close in seven weeks on Friday, with exporters helped by speculation that the yen may weaken if the Bank of Japan takes additional steps to ease monetary policy next week. Hitachi (6501.T) rose nearly 2 percent after its incoming president said he had no plans to carry out additional capital raising, and that the electronics conglomerate must return to profit at any cost in the year starting in April. Sources have told Reuters that Japan's central bank is leaning toward easing monetary policy again at its two-day policy review that ends on Wednesday. |
| Mar 17 | Foreign Ministry set to launch new magazine (Yomiuri) |
| The Foreign Ministry will launch a diplomatic journal this summer, after last year's government budget screening torpedoed the budget for the ministry's purchase of a similar publication by a private publisher, according to sources. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has encouraged ministry officials "to study magazines, including fashion magazines, to create a journal that makes an impact and will sell well," the sources said. |
| Mar 17 | Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama and the Miss Nippon representatives (examiner.com) |
 Yukio Hatoyama has been in office for only six months, yet he has already faced many major hurdles and road blocks on his journey as the Prime Minister of Japan. He has been suffering declining popularity relating to both international problems, such as the Futenma marine air base, and national concerns over his party's campaign pledges. However, for around fifteen minutes, when representatives of Miss Nippon came to visit, none of that seemed to matter and the Prime Minister appeared to be a happy man.
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| Mar 16 | Six months on, Japanese government passes first pledge (AFP) |
| Japan's centre-left government scored its first triumph in an otherwise dismal six months Tuesday when it pushed a signature campaign bill through the lower house of parliament. The pro-family bill will scrap public high school fees and give families 140 dollars a month for every child under 15 -- part of Premier Yukio Hatoyama's promise to put "people first" after Japan's half-century under conservative rule. The pledge was a cornerstone of Hatoyama's election victory, which supporters said would herald a sea change in Japanese politics. |
| Mar 16 | Hatoyama's brother quits LDP, aiming to form new party (AP) |
| Former internal affairs minister Kunio Hatoyama, the younger brother of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, announced Monday that he has left the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and will form a new party. "The current LDP alone cannot bring about a major change in Japanese politics," Kunio Hatoyama, 61, told reporters Monday evening after tendering his resignation letter to the LDP, indicating he hopes to create a new party before the Golden Week holidays starting at the end of April. |
| Mar 15 | Rudd plan to skip nonproliferation summit ups tensions with Japan (AP) |
| Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's decision to skip a nuclear nonproliferation summit to be held in Washington next month is adding to Australia's already strained relations with Japan over the issue of whaling, The Australian newspaper reported Monday. Deputy opposition leader and shadow foreign minister Julie Bishop, who recently returned from a visit to Japan, told the daily there were concerns "that Mr. Rudd's commitment to the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament is waning, given that he will reportedly not attend an important meeting next month." |
| Mar 17 | Con artists ripping off elderly / Scams increasingly targeting society's fastest-growing demographic (Yomiuri) |
| There seems to be no end to the number of fraudulent sales tactics targeting elderly people, especially those living alone or suffering from dementia. According to the National Police Agency, the police detected 152 cases of violations of the Special Commercial Transactions Law in 2009. They included the improper selling of expensive health appliances to elderly people and the signing of unlawful house renovation contracts with this vulnerable demographic. The number hit a record high since the NPA began taking the survey in 2005, and of the 461 victims, 318, or 69 percent, were aged 65 or older. |
| Mar 16 | Actress Sawajiri makes tumultuous comeback (AP) |
 Erika Sawajiri, a popular actress who had been away from entertainment circles due to problem behavior in 2007, made a comeback Tuesday causing excitement and rift during a promotional event in Tokyo for an esthetic clinic.
"I would be happy if you see what I will be doing warmly," Sawajiri, 23, said after making a deep bow for 10 seconds before she revealed an upcoming TV commercial featuring her in scantily dressed imagery.
But Sawajiri failed to settle a fresh argument with the press which started after her agency refused reporters access to information on her website unless they promise in writing, for example, not to make public any information or comments involving her privacy.
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| Mar 16 | Part of woman's torso washes up on island in Fukuoka (Mainichi) |
The lower half of a woman's torso was found on a beach on an island in Fukuoka on Monday, sparking a police investigation.
Police said a local resident digging for clams found the unclothed lower body part on a beach on Nokonoshima Island at about 3:15 p.m. on Monday. The body appeared to have been severed with a sharp blade and police suspect the corpse may have been chopped up into pieces. They are trying to identify the victim.
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| Mar 16 | Prince Mikasa hospitalized for cataract surgery (AP) |
| Prince Mikasa, uncle of Emperor Akihito, entered St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo on Tuesday to receive cataract surgery, the Imperial Household Agency said. The 94-year-old prince is scheduled to undergo the surgery on his left eye on Wednesday and leave hospital the following day. The youngest brother of the late Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, was hospitalized in 2008 and 2009 for heart problems. |
| Mar 16 | Geisha prepares to bloom in Tokyo (Tokyo Reporter) |
 Not far from the banks of Tokyo's Sumida River, below a towering expressway, is Sumida Ward's sleepy district of Mukojima, the largest of Tokyo's six remaining geisha quarters, or hanamachi (literally, "flower towns").
The area is home to roughly 120 of Japan's iconic traditional entertainers, who, in the evenings, regale well-heeled guests with performances of classical dance and music, lighthearted games and conversation as they dine at the 16 traditional ryotei restaurants scattered within the packed district's hodgepodge of aging wooden buildings.
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| Mar 16 | Sumo: Hakuho marches on at spring sumo (AP) |
| Hakuho enjoyed another easy day at the office Tuesday as the lone grand champion tore down veteran maegashira Wakanosato to preserve his unbeaten start to the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament. Hakuho barely broke sweat in the day's final bout at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, the Mongolian bruiser quickly wrapping up former sekiwake Wakanosato (0-3) to make it three wins out of three. With former yokozuna Asashoryu having retired last month amid allegations that he attacked a man during an alcohol-fuelled rage outside a Tokyo nightspot, Hakuho is the odds-on favorite to win the spring basho and his 13th Emperor's Cup. |
| Mar 16 | Olympics: Japan's ski officials told to tighten 'morals' (Reuters) |
| Japan's skiing officials have been read the riot act after one of their snowboarders wore his Vancouver Olympic uniform in "hip hop" style last month. Dreadlocked boarder Kazuhiro Kokubo narrowly escaped being kicked out of the Games after arriving with his trousers pulled low on his hips, shirt hanging out and his tie loose. The 21-year-old with double nose piercings was banned from attending the opening ceremony and forced to apologize at a news conference before finishing eighth in the men's halfpipe. |
| Mar 15 | Sumo: Hakuho rolls over Kakuryu on 2nd day of spring sumo (AP) |
| Hakuho outmuscled Mongolian countryman Kakuryu to move closer in pursuit of his 13th Emperor's Cup on the second day of action at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Monday. Hakuho made it two of two in the absence of former yokozuna Asashoryu, who retired last month amid allegations that he attacked a man outside a Tokyo nightclub. Estonian sekiwake Baruto, meanwhile, charged ahead full throttle in his bid for ozeki promotion with a demolition of local favorite Goeido. |
| Mar 14 | Sumo: Hakuho off to flying start in Osaka (Japan Times) |
Mongolian yokozuna Hakuho pounced on Aminishiki to start off in the winner's column at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday - the first meet after the retirement of former yokozuna Asashoryu.
Hakuho threw the komusubi off-balance with a series of well-placed shoves before sending him packing from the rear in the day's final bout at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.
Sekiwake Baruto, meanwhile, also made an encouraging start out of the blocks in his quest for promotion to ozeki with a bulldozing of second-ranked Russian Aran.
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| Mar 14 | Marathon: Kano wins Nagoya marathon (AFP) |
 Japan's Yuri Kano won the Nagoya International Women's Marathon Sunday and then set her sights on the world's top races including the 2012 London Olympics.
Kano crossed the line in 2hrs 27min 11sec ahead of Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia, who clocked 2:28:13, and compatriot Hiromi Ominami in 2:28:35. Japan's Mai Ito was fourth in 2:29:19.
The 31-year-old Kano, winner of the 2007 Hokkaido marathon, said she focused on winning the race, not on her time.
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| Mar 17 | Teachers vie with other teachers to hone skills (Yomiuri) |
| Teachers and instructors at schools, juku cram schools and yobiko entrance examination preparatory schools have been invited to compete against each other in Osaka Prefecture in giving trial lessons judged by an audience, all with the aim to make everyone better instructors. The competition is titled the T-1 Grand Prix--a reference to a popular annual competition for up-and-coming manzai comedy duos nationwide called the M-1 Grand Prix. The "T" in T-1 stands for "teacher." The organizer of the T-1 Grand Prix said teachers need to compete with each other, and the event is intended to help improve teaching skills. |
| Mar 17 | You can count on the tales behind number-kanji (Japan Times) |
| When giving talks on Japan in elementary school classrooms in the United States, I chalk the kanji 一, 二, and 三 on the blackboard and ask the children to guess their meanings. "One, two, three!" they shout, easily intuiting three kanji introduced to Japanese schoolchildren in the first grade. Japanese students go on to master more than a dozen other kanji representing numerals - in addition to Arabic numerals - and they also learn to count high numbers in a way alien to their American counterparts. |
| Mar 16 | Junior high student films classmates attacking boy, posts video on Internet (Mainichi) |
| A junior high school student in the Chugoku region of Japan filmed his classmates bullying another boy, and portions of the videos were posted on an Internet movie site. There are at least two videos, shot during the school lunch break in a classroom and the music room on Feb. 14, showing four third-year boys pushing a classmate to the ground, slapping him and kicking him in the face while a number of girls laugh at the scene. |
| Mar 15 | More universities allowing students to delay graduation due to job shortage (Mainichi) |
| An increasing number of universities are allowing senior students with no job offers to stay another year under cheaper tuition as the preference for fresh graduates remains strong in the job market. As major Japanese companies tend to employ new graduates, many senior students with no job offers believe that it is better to repeat their final year and continue to look for job opportunities as college students. |
| Mar 15 | Govt to help students find employment (Yomiuri) |
| The government will create a five-year program to help university and postgraduate students find work amid the extremely tight labor market, it has been learned. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry will designate the five years until 2014 as a period to help students develop their job-hunting skills and to implement such measures as providing financial support to universities that have programs to help students find work. The ministry will earmark 3 billion yen in the fiscal 2010 budget, in addition to existing subsidies. |
| Mar 16 | Troubled space probe, launched by Japan, to return to Earth in June (physorg.com) |
| Hayabusa, a space probe plagued with problems since it was launched in 2003, will enter a flight path in a few weeks that will bring it back to Earth in June, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said. The probe, which visited a near-Earth asteroid, is orbiting the sun at a distance slightly different from Earth's orbit. The probe's rockets have been gradually changing this orbit. JAXA said the probe's current path would bring it between the Earth and the moon. Further rocket firings will put the probe on a path for an Earth encounter, which will happen in June. |
| Mar 14 | Strong earthquake rocks central Japan (AP) |
 A strong magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit off the eastern coast of Japan on Sunday, rattling buildings across a broad swath of the country, including the crowded capital.
There were no reports of casualties, with only light damage to structures near the epicenter, according to local officials.
The quake hit at 5:08 p.m. and was felt most strongly in central Fukushima prefecture about 210 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
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| Mar 14 | Not so cute and cuddly: Sea otters wreak havoc on Hokkaido sea urchin fishery (Mainichi) |
 Hungry sea otters are inflicting catastrophic damage on sea urchins bred by a local fishery union here, causing losses of at least 5 million yen.
The Habomai Fishery Cooperative released about three tons of cultured short-spined sea urchins along the coast of Cape Nosappu in May last year. On March 4 this year, however, fishermen reportedly found an enormous number of sea urchins with broken shells scattered at the bottom of the sea, most of them dead. A similar phenomenon was also seen at other spots near the cape.
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| Mar 14 | Japan unveils solar powered spacecraft (wfie.com) |
 The Japanese Space Agency has unveiled a prototype of what it says is the world's first solar powered sail spacecraft.
At a news conference on Friday, Japanese space officials showed off the space yacht.
The craft has a diameter of roughly five feet and navigates by means of an ultra-thin membrane that harnesses solar energy.
While the sunlight in space is very weak, the space agency believes it will provide enough energy to propel the space yacht.
It will be launched together with the country's first Venus orbiter on May 18.
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| Mar 14 | Back to the fast-breeder path (Japan Times) |
| The Nuclear Safety Commission on Feb. 22 gave the go-ahead to starting the test run of the prototype fast-breeder reactor (FBR) Monju in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture. If the prefectural and municipal governments give their consent, the test run should begin by the end of March at the earliest. The 280,000 kW FBR, which uses a mixed nuclear fuel of uranium and plutonium and is intended to produce more fuel than it burns, is an important part of a nuclear fuel cycle Japan hopes to establish. |
| Mar 15 | 'Therapeutic ringtones' for mobile phones create a buzz in Japan (Times Online) |
 "Well . . . I can definitely feel a bit of adrenalin," says Yukari Sendo, savouring the mobile phone ringtone like a fine wine, "but it really doesn't make me want to do any housework."
She flicks through a menu of alternative tunes and settles on one that offers to improve her skin tone through the power of alpha-waves.
Ms Sendo and her friend Ayaka Wakabayashi are among an army of young Japanese drawn to the allure of "therapeutic ringtones" - a genre of melodies that promises to ease a range of day-to-day gripes, from chronic insomnia to a rotten hangover.
Japan is no stranger to bizarre phone fads but the popularity of the ringtones is perhaps surprising given the flimsiness of the science behind them.
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| Mar 14 | After Sony, Samsung and Panasonic Get Ready For The 3D Battle (sevensidedcube.net) |
 Last week, Sony Corp. unveiled the latest in technology by introducing the 3-D Television in Tokyo. Even though it launched the product in Japan, the company plans to introduce the product in America somewhere in June while Samsung and Panasonic plan to gear up and start selling 3D sets this month. Samsung 3D and Panasonic 3D are here to rock your home cinema.
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| Mar 12 | Sony unveils motion-sensing game control kit (Japan Times) |
| Sony has a new message for Nintendo Wii gamers: Come join us. The maker of the PlayStation 3 unveiled on Thursday its highly anticipated motion-based controller system, as it takes aim at Nintendo's dominance in gaming. With PlayStation Move, Sony hopes to lure gamers who have outgrown Nintendo, which launched the Wii in 2006 and became the first to introduce motion-detecting controllers. |
| Mar 11 | Sony 3D glasses to cost $133 in Japan (afterdawn.com) |
 Gizmodo is reporting today that Sony Japan has announced the release of standalone shutter glasses that can be used alongside the company's upcoming 3D-supporting HDTVs.
Roughly converted from yen, the Sony TDG-BR100 and TDG-BR50 active shutter glasses will cost $133 each, with a June release date. The infrared emitter necessary to drive the glasses will cost $55 extra.
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| Mar 11 | Japanese 'mosquito' reveals your date's real age (weirdasianews.com) |
 Japan is famous for producing tiny electronic devices with, shall we say, unique purposes. In the past, we've seen devices for helping women understand the minds of men and making sure you take the right amount of bites when eating. Now, the latest electronic novelty making headlines in Japan promises to help you tell if your date is telling the truth about their age. The concept is simple. As people age, their hearing tends to diminish. One of the first signs of age-related hearing loss is the inability to hear very high pitched noises.
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