TRAVEL

Two South Korean women who were forced to serve as wartime sex slaves canceled a scheduled meeting Friday with Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, saying it is "worthless." (Kyodo)

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)

A United Nations committee on May 21 called on Japan to prevent hate speech and other actions that degrade former "comfort women" and portray them as prostitutes for Japanese troops in World War II. (Asahi)

The small opposition Your Party decided Tuesday to cancel planned electoral cooperation with the Japan Restoration Party, following controversial remarks by its co-head and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto concerning wartime sexual servitude. (Kyodo)

South Korean soldiers were guilty of abusing women in wartime, Osaka's mayor said in comments reported Tuesday, days after provoking a storm by labelling sex slaves a military necessity. (Bangkok Post)

The nightclubs in the city's Amemura area, known as "little America" on account of its trendy vintage shops that stock large amounts of US clothing, started being targeted by the authorities recently. (guardian.co.uk)

Nippon Ishin No Kai (Japan Restoration Party) will expel House of Representatives lawmaker Shingo Nishimura for his inappropriate comments about so-called "comfort women," or wartime prostitutes for soldiers of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army, a party executive said Friday. (Jiji Press)

A State Department spokeswoman on Thursday branded remarks by a Japanese mayor defending Japan's wartime system of sexual servitude as "outrageous and offensive," in the first outright criticism of the comments by a U.S. government official. (Kyodo)

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said Thursday he lacked "international awareness" when suggesting U.S. servicemen in Japan use the country's legal adult entertainment industry in order to prevent them from committing sex offenses against locals. (Kyodo)

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said Thursday he will meet on May 24 with two South Koreans who had to work as "comfort women," or wartime prostitutes for soldiers of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army. (Jiji Press)

Earlier this month, the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education announced a six-month suspension for a 29-year-old female high-school teacher who was working as a prostitute in her free time. (Tokyo Reporter)

On occasion, Japan’s tabloid media will profile the infamous Watakano Island, which is accessible by boat in Mie Prefecture’s Matoya Bay. With a circumference of a mere six kilometers, this tiny hideaway is home to a population of 300 people, most of whose livelihoods revolve around one trade: prostitution. (Tokyo Reporter)

Co-leader of the opposition Japan Restoration Party Toru Hashimoto has said that the system of so-called comfort women, which was used to recruit women into sexual servitude for soldiers, was necessary at the time to maintain discipline in the Japanese military during World War Two. (NHK)

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who co-heads the opposition Japan Restoration Party, said Monday he believes the system to recruit women into sexual servitude was "necessary to maintain discipline" in the Japanese military during World War II. (Kyodo)

Wakayama Prefectural Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of a 26-year-old man for groping a woman he thought had given him consent via a Web site. (Tokyo Reporter)

Meet Vanilla Chamu. She greets fellow Japanese people with a "bonjour" and claims to be from the Palace of Versailles. She's not, of course. Recently, she was introduced on Japanese TV as "Osaka's Plastic Surgery Cyborg". (Kotaku)

On March 13, officers from the cybercrime division of the Osaka Prefectural Police arrested Yusuke Inoue, 42, for the rape of multiple elementary- and middle-school girls with ages between 11 and 15. (Tokyo Reporter)

The Osaka Prefectural Board of Education on Thursday announced a six-month suspension for a 29-year-old female high-school teacher who was working as a prostitute in her off hours. (Tokyo Reporter)

When Finance Minister Taro Aso set off for a G20 meeting earlier this year, he did it in style, sporting a natty felt hat, pulled rakishly down over one eye. No sooner had he stepped out in public in this getup than Twitter was abuzz with comments celebrating the finance minister's "gangster style." (Japan Pulse)

Teachers, students and guardians appear not to have argued against corporal punishment at the high school in this western Japan city where a 17-year-old student committed suicide after receiving physical punishment from his basketball teacher, a report by a team of lawyers said Wednesday. (Jiji Press)

Two gangsters were hanged in Japan last week. More executions are likely under new Prime Minister Abe, who has expressed strong support for the death penalty - and says the public backs him. (csmonitor.com)

A Japanese hair salon is rewriting the meaning of cutting edge after taking fashion inspiration from the humble tomato. (Daily Mail)

Osaka Prefectural Police on Tuesday arrested a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime group for illegally taking bets on boat races. (Tokyo Reporter)

Grand Front Osaka, a brand new commercial and residential complex, opened Friday in the center of Osaka. (Yomiuri)

A government survey says that 840 public school teachers used corporal punishment during a 10-month period starting in April 2012 - more than twice the 404 cases tallied in all of fiscal 2011. (Japan Times)