Department store sales decline
News On Japan via Yomiuri -- Aug 23
July sales for members of the Japan Department Stores Association fell to 575.9 billion yen, down 3.3 percent from a year ago on an existing store basis.
This year, stores launched their summer sales at different times and economists watched with interest the effect this had.
Data released Tuesday by the association shows all major department store chains experienced a fall in sales of between 1 percent and 3 percent. Economists said companies are likely to continue their trial-and-error efforts as a result.
Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. pushed back the start of summer sales from July 1 to July 13.
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Jun 19
| UNESCO register adds archive of pre-modern Japan mission to Spain |
|  A collection of materials related to a 17th century mission sent by a Japanese feudal lord to Europe and the world's oldest autographic diary left 10 centuries ago by a Japanese regent have been selected for the UNESCO Memory of the World registry, the Japanese education ministry said Wednesday. (Global Post  ) |
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Jun 19
| Local govts wary of Mt. Fuji 'traffic jam' |
|  Mt. Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan, will likely see its summer "traffic jam" of climbers worsen this year thanks to its expected addition to the UNESCO World Heritage List. (Yomiuri ) |
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Jun 19
| 'Abenomics' not raising low-end prostitution prices in Tokyo |
|  In May, Akira Ikoma, the editor of a guide to men's entertainment called Ore no Tabi (My Journey), said that "Abenomics" had caused a spike in prices at high-end soapland bathhouses in Tokyo. However, the same editor tells Shukan Post (June 28) that the initiative is not impacting the low-end market in the same way. (Tokyo Reporter ) |
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Jun 18
| Ex-Aum death-row inmates to testify in open court |
|  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 ) |
Almost 1,500 people were transported to hospitals by ambulance due to heatstroke last week, up sharply from 942 in the preceding week, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday. (Japan Times 
Police said Tuesday that a mummified body was found earlier this month in a storage cabinet in a restaurant in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture. (Japan Today 
Among about 200,000 traffic signals nationwide, 16 percent are being used beyond the end of the expected lifetime of their electrical systems and some have even toppled over due to age, according to the National Police Agency. (Yomiuri 
A competition has been held near Tokyo to choose the season's best loquats, or biwa fruit, to be presented to the Imperial Household. (NHK 
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