Japan may be on a slow decline as far as being a global economic force, but the "soft power" of its modern entertainment genres, from manga to "anime," has global appeal, especially among young people. Why and how did this entertainment media thrive? How popular is it overseas? (Japan Times)

A man has been arrested in Tokyo for robbing a convenience store. At the time of the robbery, he was armed with a knife and wearing an adult diaper on his head. The criminal, a 55-year-old South Korean citizen named Kim Byung-il, later turned himself in. Kim was unemployed, and told police he robbed the convenience store because he wanted money. Apparently he was unable to afford a typical disguise, so he just cut eye-holes into one of his diapers and used it as a mask. (He regularly wore them because he had some sort of bladder problem.) (Jakarta Probe)

A dead body was found Sunday evening in a sack on the grounds of a house in Tamana, Kumamoto Prefecture and was identified Monday as that of Akira Higashi who lived at the house and has been missing for about a month, the police said. The partially decomposed body appeared to be that of a man who died about a month ago, and fingerprints confirmed it as of the 78-year- old, the police said. (AP)

It was not exactly the return he had hoped for, but the conductor Seiji Ozawa scored a triumph of a limited sort here at the Saito Kinen Festival on Sunday afternoon as he returned to the public stage for the first time since surgery for esophageal cancer in January. He opened a program of the festival orchestra (he was supposed to have led all of it), conducting the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings. Then, because he was experiencing sciatic problems that recurred as a byproduct of the surgery, he stepped aside to let a younger conductor, Tatsuya Shimono, take over. (Washington Times)

While public broadcaster NHK is regarded as a conservative channel, Shukan Asahi Geino (Sep. 9) reports that it has been broadcasting some sexually-charged programming of late. The August 22 airing of "Tokyo Kawaii TV," a program dedicated to female fashion, focused (quite literally) on cleavage. The program was designed to empower women, informing them on various methods for presenting their chests when they wear bikinis. The program kicked off with interviews of girls at Shonan Beach. It probably goes without saying that the camera was primarily positioned below the neck area. Back at the studio, host Ikki Sawamura, an actor, asked his counterpart, recording artist BENI, about the theme of the program. BENI responded, "cleavage." Sawamura then quickly fixed his stare at BENI's. (Tokyo Reporter)