Japan navy showcases warships amid spat with China
News On Japan via abcnews.go.com -- Oct 15
Japan's navy marked its 60th anniversary with a major exercise Sunday intended to show off its maritime strength. The display comes amid a tense territorial dispute with China.
About 40 ships - including state-of-the-art destroyers, hovercraft able to launch assaults on rough coastlines and new conventionally powered submarines - took part in Fleet Review 2012, the maritime equivalent of a military parade. About 30 naval aircraft, mostly helicopters, also participated.
Japan's navy was joined by warships from the United States, Singapore and Australia. Representatives from more than 20 countries, including China, also attended the event staged in waters south of Tokyo.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who watched aboard the destroyer JS Kurama, said Japan faces "severe" challenges to its security, though he did not specifically mention the dispute with Beijing over islands in the East China Sea.
Saitama and Okayama prefectural police last week arrested the manager of an online porn DVD operation that specialized in films featuring children. (Tokyo Reporter)
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 )
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 )
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 )
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)