Japanese authorities on Friday deported seven of the 14 people from Hong Kong who were arrested this week on or near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on charges of violating the immigration control law.
The 14 people included five Chinese members of a Hong Kong-based activist group who were arrested by the Okinawa prefectural police on Wednesday after landing on Uotsurijima island. The Senkakus are claimed by China and called Diaoyu in the country.
The five members of the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, along with two members of a television crew, left from an airport in Okinawa. The remaining seven, including the boat captain, were sent separately to Okinawa's Ishigaki island by air to be deported on the ship they used to reach the islands.
The deportations came after Okinawa police carried out a thorough investigation but found no violations other than illegal landing and intrusion into Japanese waters, a senior police official said.
At the Nagoya Castle compound in central Japan, restoration work has been completed on the entrance and reception room of the main residential building for the first time in 70 years. (NHK )
The government of Japan has bestowed one of that nation's highest honors on a Japanese-American, a former U.S. Soldier and World War II veteran, for his work furthering relationships between the Japanese and Americans. (army.mil )
Osaka District Court accepted a claim on Thursday that losses on betting on horse racing should be deductible from payouts to calculate taxable income. (Jiji Press )
An 18-year-old youth has been arrested on a charge of attempted murder after he allegedly hit a 16-year-old girl in the head with a baseball bat. (Japan Today )
This Monday, members of the seminal metal band X Japan were in Odaiba rubbing shoulders with the likes of Brad Pitt, Lady Gaga and AKB48′s Yuko Oshima. The catch? They were all made out of wax. (Japan Times )
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has announced that it intends to draw up a set of unified rules for the use of baby strollers on buses and trains. (Japan Today )
A man stabbed his ex-wife on a street in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Tuesday morning, and then caused a car crash while he was fleeing from the scene. (Japan Today )