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Japan finds fresh suspected foot-and-mouth case
Japan discovered a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease in a cow in its southern prefecture of Miyazaki, just days after it lifted a state of emergency, an official said.
"We cancelled two auctions of cows in the prefecture after a suspected case of foot and mouth was discovered on a farm," a prefecture official told AFP.
The region reported the case to the farm ministry and was awaiting the test result to determine if it is a fresh foot-and-mouth case. (AFP)
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Threats keep dolphin protest out of Japan village
 The star of "The Cove," an Oscar-winning documentary about a Japanese dolphin hunt, is back in Japan to protest the slaughter but had to cancel his trip to the village at the center of the controversy because of threats from an ultranationalist group.
Instead, Ric O'Barry, the former dolphin-trainer for the 1960s "Flipper" TV show, is playing host to a reception Wednesday for some 100 animal-lovers at a Tokyo hotel.
On Thursday, he will take a petition signed by 1.7 million people from 155 nations demanding the end of the dolphin hunt to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, escorted by police securit...
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Kobe eyes tattoo ban at Suma public beach after marijuana case
 The Kobe municipal government is considering banning people with tattoos from a beach in Suma Ward following the recent arrests of college students for alleged marijuana possession during a music event at the beach, city officials said.
The city office intends to come up with a concrete plan during this year, including establishing the rule by ordinance, but banning tattooed people from a public beach is a rare case in Japan as most tattoo bans are for commercial facilities such as saunas.
The envisaged ban may prompt controversy over its possible violation of the freedom of expression as t...
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Japan holds annual disaster drill, assuming 3 big simultaneous quakes
 The government conducted an emergency drill Wednesday on the assumption that three major earthquakes struck a wide area along the Pacific coast simultaneously, a phenomenon experts say has occurred and could recur.
Japan conducts annual antidisaster drills across the nation on Sept. 1 in commemoration of the Great Kanto Earthquake on Sept. 1, 1923, but it is the first time that the government has assumed a scenario of three major simultaneous quakes with epicenters located in a line in ocean trenches. (AP)
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Heatstroke kills 158 since late May
Heatstroke has killed 158 people since late May, while 46,728 others were treated in hospitals during the same period, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.
Between Aug. 23 and Sunday, 5,358 people were treated at hospitals for heatstroke, and 13 died, according to a survey taken by the agency.
During the one-week period, those taken to hospitals for emergency treatment declined by about 4,000 from the preceding week. There were also three fewer deaths. (Yomiuri)
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Violence, sexual harassment on trains linked by power of anonymity
 An investigation by the Association of Japanese Private Railways has shown that in fiscal 2009, there were 869 cases of violence committed against train station employees and train crew members. This marked a rise of 117 cases from the 2008 fiscal year, and the most number of cases since the association began compiling such records in fiscal 2005.
In response to the recent surge in cases of violence perpetrated against railway workers, the association decided to put up posters to raise awareness and call for a stop to such violence on trains and at train stations.
Violence toward station at...
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AP - Japan is sweltering through its hottest summer on record, weather officials said Thursday.
