TRAVEL

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)

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)

Koyasan Shingon Buddhism, the Japanese owner of a cluster of World Heritage Site temples founded in the 9th century, reported losses equal to about a quarter of its assets after bets in the Australian dollar and structured bonds soured. (financialpost.com)

From a cliff above the tiny cove, a stocky, bald man could be seen between tightly drawn lengths of green tarpaulin, a metal rod in one hand, and something long, black and smooth wriggling helplessly under the other. (Japan Times)

Japanese scientists have produced 26 generations of clones from a single mouse, the lead researcher said Friday, possibly paving the way for the mass replication of valuable livestock. (rawstory.com)

Tsunami 40 cm high were observed at Hachijo Island in the Izu chain off Tokyo Wednesday afternoon following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, the Meteorological Agency said. (Japan Times)

Two men were found dead Tuesday in a sauna at a business hotel in Wakayama City. (Japan Today)

A court in Japan has jailed a 66-year-old man for a year for stealing 10 yen (12 cents) from a temple offering box, reducing his original sentence by eight months. (AFP)

Japanese local governments are borrowing from banks to cover their outlays as a political standoff over financing legislation adds to risks for the world's third-biggest economy. (Bloomberg)

Japanese researchers have erected large radar systems in the sea off Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, in a bid to observe tsunami at an early stage. (NHKReloaded)

A 20-year-old Maritime Self-Defense Force member was discovered drowned in the submarine Soryu, which was on a trial cruise off Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, the MSDF said Tuesday. The MSDF said it has launched an internal investigation commission to look into the accident. (Yomiuri)

A female giant panda born in early August has been given the name Yuhin, which was selected from around 20,000 suggestions submitted by the public, an animal theme park in Wakayama Prefecture said Friday. (Mainichi)

Submerged breakwater to be built in Wakayama Prefecture Work has begun on a submerged breakwater in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan that will surface in the event of a tsunami. (NHKReloaded)

A town in western Japan has held a drill to build temporary bridges to restore passage on the assumption that coastal roads become impassable due to a tsunami. (NHKReloaded)

With the Tokyo Sky Tree having welcomed over 16.66 million visitors by August 29 - the tower's 100th day in business - Shukan Jitsuwa (Sep. 20) has discovered a new sex business taking advantage of the interest in Tokyo's latest landmark. A 45-year-old who runs a tangerine (mikan) farm in Wakayama Prefecture encountered the operation towards the end of August, when he went to see the 634-meter-tall structure with three of his colleagues. (Tokyo Reporter)

A prominent climber was arrested Sunday on suspicion of rock climbing at Nachi Falls, a World Heritage site, in Wakayama, western Japan, police said. (Mainichi)

Large parts of southern Wakayama city were inundated with water as a rainy front and a low-pressure system brought heavy precipitation over a wide area from the Kyushu to Kanto regions from Thursday through Friday morning. (Yomiuri)

A powerful typhoon made landfall Tuesday for the first time this year in southern Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, with evacuation orders issued for more than 150,000 people in central, eastern and northeastern Japan. (Japan Times)

A 17-year-old girl was arrested on Monday afternoon after she allegedly stabbed her classmate in a university gym in Koyacho, Wakayama Prefecture. According to police, the incident took place at Koyasan University at about 2 p.m. (Japan Today)

Male panda Eimei, 19, and the female Rauhin, 11, spent three days together in the same pen at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture. The pair mated four times during their stint together raising hopes of a new generation of pandas at the zoo, according to reports in the Yomiuri newspaper. (telegraph.co.uk)

A whale museum in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, held a memorial service Monday for a whale that died there shortly after its birth in fiscal 2011. Katsuki Hayashi, the general manager of the museum, said that recent improvements in workers' skills at the facility have minimized the number of animal deaths. (Japan Times)

Wide swaths of the Pacific coastline stretching from Honshu to Kyushu may be hit by tsunami over 20 meters high if a newly feared megaquake occurs in the Nankai Trough, a Cabinet Office panel warned Saturday. The new warning comes after the panel revised its 2003 estimate to reflect new findings from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the coastline of the Tohoku region last year. (Japan Times)

A Japanese town known--and internationally criticized--for its hunting of whales and dolphins plans a huge dude "ranch" to promote tourism and research on the ecology of these mammals. Under the plan, small cetaceans, such as Risso's dolphins, short-finned pilot whales, false killer whales and common bottlenose dolphins, would be kept in a 28-hectare closed-off section of Moriura Bay in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture. (Asahi)