A 38-ton wind turbine crashed 50 meters to the ground in Kyoto Prefecture after the steel column supporting it snapped, according to officials.
The massive Dutch-made turbine, which sat atop a Japanese-made steel column, was part of a mountain wind farm. It was put up in 2001 with an expected life of at least 17 years.
The smashed turbine was discovered Wednesday although it is not known when it fell at the remote facility. A strong windstorm struck wide areas of the nation around that time.
Yahoo Japan Corp said on Friday night it suspected that up to 22 million of its user IDs may have been "leaked" and it detected an unauthorized attempt to access the administrative system of its web portal Yahoo Japan, the Kyodo news agency reported. (Reuters )
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has unveiled more details of his economic growth strategies using "winning the global market" as the key phrase. (NHK )
A government space panel has determined that Japan should begin developing its next-generation mainstay rocket for satellite launches in fiscal 2014. (NHK )
Nippon Ishin No Kai (Japan Restoration Party) will expel House of Representatives lawmaker Shingo Nishimura for his inappropriate comments about so-called "comfort women," or wartime prostitutes for soldiers of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army, a party executive said Friday. (Jiji Press )
Japan Atomic Energy Agency President Atsuyuki Suzuki resigned on Friday to take responsibility for a number of inspection flaws at the agency's Monju fast-breeder nuclear reactor in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan. (Jiji Press )
A 24-year-old woman was in a serious condition Friday after being stabbed by a man whom she reported to police for stalking her in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. (Japan Today )
China's television regulator has ordered a crackdown on dramas about the country's battles with Japan during and before World War Two and demanded they be more serious, state media said on Friday, following viewer complaints about ludicrous storylines. (Reuters )
Police said Friday they have found four dead bodies in an apartment in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in what is believed to have been a family murder-suicide. (Japan Today )
Shukan Post (May 24) conveys the difficulties experienced by other parts of the adult-entertainment biz in servicing customers from the communist nation.
A deri heru (“delivery health”) call-girl tells the tabloid that she is often requested to arrive at major hotels in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro entertainment areas of Tokyo by Chinese visitors. (Tokyo Reporter)
Six sailors were found dead after a fire on a foreign freighter docked at a port in Hokkaido, northern Japan.
The sailors are presumed to be Russians. (NHK )
Police on Friday said that a real estate company employee was stabbed by an unknown assailant in the lobby of an office building near JR Akihabara station. The man is currently in a serious condition in hospital. (Japan Today )