The euro zone came under pressure from other rich economies on Monday to press on with a banking union and Japan was urged to follow up on massive central bank stimulus with structural reforms and measures to tackle its budget deficit. (Reuters )
Japanese cabinet ministers welcomed the Group of Eight summit's stance on Tokyo's sweeping stimulus policies as a vote of confidence in the government's strategy to end 15 years of entrenched deflation and revive a lackluster economy. (Reuters )
Tokyo District Court decided on Monday to open planned examinations of three witnesses who are former senior members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult and now death-row inmates, during an upcoming trial of another former senior Aum member. (Jiji Press )
Police said Monday that eight people were arrested in Tokyo's Okubo district on Sunday after two groups clashed over recent outbursts of anti-Korean hate speech in Tokyo. (Japan Today )
Police said Monday they have arrested a 64-year-old woman in connection with the murder of her 59-year-old partner in Seki, Gifu Prefecture. (Japan Today )
Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Monday announced the bust of a massage parlor in the Gotanda area of Shinagawa Ward on charges of prostitution. (Tokyo Reporter )
Saitama Prefectural Police on Monday announced the arrest of 31 suspects connected with special criminal groups for violent incidents that took place earlier this year. (Tokyo Reporter )
Tokyo Metropolitan Police last week arrested the manager of a beauty products company that defrauded women recruited on the social-networking site Mixi. (Tokyo Reporter)
The Japanese word "choju," meaning longevity, implies, with its kanji, joyous celebration of long life. Intrinsically, it is a joyful thing for people to live long. But if a society has many people who age in solitude, isolated from their families and local communities, it cannot be called choju. It should rather be called "roka shakai," or a society that weakens as it ages. (Yomiuri )
Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito has ended his official visit to Spain after a trip to a Christian pilgrimage site in the northwest. His visit marked the 400th anniversary of relations between the 2 countries. (NHK )
Police said Sunday they have arrested two men who allegedly pushed a 43-year-old man off the platform onto the tracks on Saturday morning at JR Oimachi Station in Tokyo. (Japan Today )
Police have arrested a 28-year-old man has been arrested for providing a service that illegally put high school girls in contact with men for the purpose of prostitution. (Japan Today )
Osaka Prefectural Police on Friday busted a transvestite in bar in Minami Ward for operating illegally. At 11:15 p.m., officers took Anna Ueda, 34, the manager of club Chu-, into custody for violating the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses after discovering two employees serving one customer alcohol and food. The club did not have a license to provide such services. (Tokyo Reporter)