3DS continues to dominate Japan as hardware sales exceed 6M
News On Japan via gamasutra.com -- May 24
Nintendo's 3DS outsold all other consoles combined in Japan last week, and has now sold more than 6 million units in the country after launching there 14 months ago.
The handheld's hardware sales of 45,752 last week is over seven times that of its chief competitor, PS Vita. Sony has struggled to build momentum for PS Vita in the midst of a software drought, and the portable's 6,347 sales just barely exceeded the previous week's record low of 6,340.
PS Vita software was once again nonexistent in Japan's top 20 sales chart last week, meaning no title for the system sold more than 2,551 copies at retail (these numbers do not include software sold online via PSN). The console's next big titles, Atlus' Persona 4: The Golden and Konami's Metal Gear Solid HD Edition, aren't expected to hit until mid-to-late June.
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May 19
| Japan's child kidnapping problem |
|  Dozens of American children are abducted to Japan every year-not by strangers, but by parents after messy divorces. (thedailybeast.com  ) |
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May 18
| China cracks down on over-the-top anti-Japan dramas |
|  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 ) |
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May 17
| Man kills 3 family members, then himself |
|  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 ) |
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May 17
| Chinese tourists a bane for Japanese hookers |
|  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) |
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May 17
| 6 dead in freighter fire at Wakkanai |
|  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 ) |
A 5-year-old boy sustained an injury at a shopping mall in Nagoya on Friday after his hand became trapped in an escalator. (Japan Today 
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 
A 70-year-old woman has been rescued from a toilet in which she had been waiting for help for three days, Hiroshima police said Friday. (Japan Today 
A traditional dance was performed on Friday at an ancient temple in Nikko City, northeast of Tokyo. (NHK 
A bear was shot dead after it wandered into a school in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Thursday. (Japan Today