http://www.newsonjapan.com/jp/ All the latest news on Japan http://newsonjapan.com/images/noj_logo_small120x60.gif http://www.newsonjapan.com/ All the latest news on Japan http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103194.php High levels of a toxic substance called strontium-90 have been found in groundwater at the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, the utility that operates the facility said on Wednesday. (Reuters) 103194 2013-06-19 06:48:35 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103184.php The number of people who committed suicide in Japan in 2012 was 27,858, dropping below 30,000 for the first time in 15 years, the Cabinet Office said in a white paper on Tuesday. The figure was 2,800 fewer than in 2011. (Japan Today) 103184 2013-06-18 23:37:25 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103169.php Leaders of the Group of Eight nations on Tuesday condemned "in the strongest terms" any use of chemical weapons in Syria and called on all sides to allow U.N. investigators to look into their alleged use, as they wrapped up their two-day summit in Northern Ireland. (Kyodo) 103169 2013-06-18 22:25:23 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103198.php Leepi was on track for a rain-soaked clip with Japan after pulling well clear of the Philippines on Wednesday. (accuweather.com) 103198 2013-06-19 13:28:19 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103197.php Tokyo stocks closed 1.83 per cent higher on Wednesday, after official data showed Japan's exports soared in May thanks to a weaker yen, while eyes are also on the conclusion of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting. (ninemsn.com.au) 103197 2013-06-19 07:54:46 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103195.php Japan's House of Councillors passed into law Wednesday a bill to reform the "kosei nenkin kikin" add-on corporate pension fund system to promote the liquidation of financially troubled funds. (Jiji Press) 103195 2013-06-19 06:54:07 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103193.php The Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday officially decided on Japan's new safety requirements for reactors aimed at preventing recurrences of disasters like the one at the Fukushima Daiichi complex in 2011. (Kyodo) 103193 2013-06-19 06:47:51 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103192.php Japan's trade balance in May showed the third-largest deficit ever for any month, with the red-ink streak extending to the longest 11th month as the depreciation of the yen continued to push up import prices despite a sharp gain in exports, the government said Wednesday. (Kyodo) 103192 2013-06-19 06:46:32 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103191.php U.S. satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp. said Tuesday it will not submit a revised merger proposal for Sprint Nextel Corp., effectively withdrawing its takeover bid and giving Japanese rival Softbank Corp. a clearer shot at acquiring the telecommunications carrier. (Kyodo) 103191 2013-06-19 03:22:01 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103190.php 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) 103190 2013-06-19 03:20:14 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103182.php Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department arrested on Tuesday former managers of Agura Bokujo K.K., which went bust in 2011 with debts of 420 billion yen with some 70,000 investors across Japan. (Jiji Press) 103182 2013-06-18 23:32:20 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103177.php Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, pitching his economic policies to his fellow leaders at the just-ended summit of the Group of Eight nations in Northern Ireland, has put himself in a bind with the need to show a blueprint for achieving both growth and fiscal rehabilitation. (Kyodo) 103177 2013-06-18 23:21:34 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103172.php The percentage of the nation's young people not in education, employment or training, or NEETs, hit a record high in 2012, a government report said Tuesday. (Yomiuri) 103172 2013-06-18 22:59:17 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103171.php 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) 103171 2013-06-18 22:52:45 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103170.php Leepi, a minimal tropical storm as of Tuesday, was expected to pose a flooding rain threat to the Philippines and Japan while tracking northward this week. (accuweather.com) 103170 2013-06-18 22:49:02 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103196.php The Japan Restoration Party's co- head Shintaro Ishihara slammed the party's another leader, Toru Hashimoto, over the latter's controversial wartime sexual slavery remarks that have hurt public support for the party, according to local media. (Xinhua) 103196 2013-06-19 06:55:37 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103185.php Japan's public television broadcaster, NHK, has developed an array of video cameras that are synchronized to create "bullet time" shots like those popularized in the film The Matrix. (pcworld.com) 103185 2013-06-18 23:41:11 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103183.php 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) 103183 2013-06-18 23:35:46 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103180.php The Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military conducted a joint exercise for island recapture off California on Monday. (Jiji Press) 103180 2013-06-18 23:27:58 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103179.php An expert from China is visiting Japan to help Tokyo's Ueno Zoo prepare for the expected birth of a giant panda cub. (Jiji Press) 103179 2013-06-18 23:27:00 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103176.php 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) 103176 2013-06-18 23:17:42 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103173.php 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) 103173 2013-06-18 23:03:36 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103187.php Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pledge to end 15 years of deflation has prompted the nation's biggest banks to raise mortgage rates, mobilizing people like Karin Abe to buy a home four years earlier than he had planned. (Bloomberg) 103187 2013-06-18 23:48:03 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103181.php Reported cases of rubella in Japan totaled 10,102 in six months through June 9, some 30 times the total for the year-before period, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Tuesday. (Jiji Press) 103181 2013-06-18 23:29:33 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/103178.php Sanae Takaichi, policy chief of Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party, has come under fire from both the ruling and opposition camps over remarks she made about the March 2011 severe nuclear accident. (Jiji Press) 103178 2013-06-18 23:25:19