News On Japan

Princess Kako meets Austrian president

Sep 17, 2019 (NHK) - Princess Kako, the second daughter of Japan's Crown Prince and Princess Akishino, has paid a courtesy call on Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen.

The princess is in Austria to mark the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. This is her first official trip abroad.

Wearing a long-sleeved kimono, she was greeted by Van der Bellen at the president's office in Vienna on Monday.

In the meeting, the president mentioned that the famed Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Vienna Boys' Choir have performed a number of times in Japan.

The princess responded to the remarks by saying she is very happy that there are such cultural events.

She also reportedly conveyed a message from Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, expressing hope for the deepening of bilateral ties.

She later visited a palace for a performance by the boys' choir.

The princess is scheduled to deliver a speech at the Japanese ambassador's residence on Tuesday as part of a commemorative event marking the anniversary.

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

JR Central and JR West on June 17 announced pricing and service details for the new private-room seating that will be introduced on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen from October, creating a new top-tier class above the existing Green Car service.

A draft of the joint statement from the G7 summit in France has revealed that all proposals put forward by Prime Minister Takaichi on energy security and critical minerals have been incorporated into the agreement.

A Japanese man suspected of serving as a key coordinator for a Cambodia-based fraud syndicate that allegedly caused losses totaling billions of yen was arrested by Japanese authorities after being deported from Thailand on June 16.

Japan's Fair Trade Commission has conducted on-site inspections of six major food manufacturers over suspicions they formed a cartel to coordinate ice cream prices, with authorities investigating whether the companies exchanged information and unfairly adjusted planned retail price increases in response to rising costs.

A parent bear and two cubs were spotted near an interchange in Kyoto Prefecture, just a few minutes' drive from a nursery school, in one of many bear sightings reported across Japan in recent days.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

A 37-year-old man previously arrested for allegedly attempting to set fire to a company and residence operated by a Pakistani national in Ebetsu, Hokkaido, has been rearrested on suspicion of setting a blaze that destroyed a mosque building used as an Islamic place of worship.

A man was found dead after a house fire destroyed a residence in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, early on June 16, after a police officer on patrol spotted smoke and flames rising from the property.

A stone-skipping tournament on the Nagara River in Gifu Prefecture has drawn attention to 32-year-old Kosei Kigo of Nagoya, whose extraordinary dedication to the childhood pastime includes spending hours searching for the perfect stones, taking private coaching lessons, and competing against some of Japan's top athletes in pursuit of stone-skipping mastery.

More than 900 packs of the food linked to a food poisoning outbreak at a Costco store in Nagoya were sold over a two-day period, health authorities said.

Police in Osaka have arrested 41 men and women in a fraud case involving more than 600 million yen in suspected losses, uncovering what investigators believe was a scheme in which real influencer accounts were bought and used to impersonate their original owners and solicit followers into costly side-business programs.

The number of foreign residents living in Japan surpassed 4 million for the first time by the end of 2025, reaching a record high and underscoring the increasingly important role foreign workers play in supporting the country's labor-short industries.

A court in Shiga Prefecture has sentenced a 29-year-old former sex industry employee to life imprisonment for the murder of a company president, the theft of his cash card, and the disposal of his body in Lake Biwa.

The Hokkaido Community Chest, which operates Japan's annual Red Feather Community Chest fundraising campaign, has revealed that approximately 180 million yen in donated funds are unaccounted for, with a senior official suspected of misappropriating the money over several years.