Society

Japan's five-year cancer survival rate at 66.4%

Dec 15 (Japan Times) - The five-year survival rate for people diagnosed with cancer in 2010-2011 stood at 66.4 percent, up 0.3 percentage point from 2009-2010, the National Cancer Center said in a report Saturday.

The national rate was calculated from data of some 650,000 people diagnosed with cancer between 2010 and 2011 at 318 medical institutions, including core hospitals for cancer treatment. The data excludes patients who died of other causes.

Five-year survival is widely used as a benchmark for determining recovery from the disease.

By cancer type, the survival rate for prostate cancer stood at 98.9 percent, the highest figure, followed by female breast cancer at 92.2 percent.

The lowest rate at 9.8 percent was for pancreatic cancer, which is difficult to detect at an early stage, and no effective therapies have been established for it.

Source: ANNnewsCH

Do Bears Prefer Acorns or Berries?

Bear sightings across Japan have already climbed to nearly twice the level recorded during the same period last year, prompting entry bans in mountain areas behind Kyoto’s Ninna-ji Temple and the cancellation of hiking events in Kansai, while new research suggests that the key to reducing encounters may lie in understanding what bears eat in each region.

Copper Thieves Target Japanese Shrines

Copper roofing panels were stolen from several shrines in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, including a city-designated cultural property, in the latest case amid a nationwide surge in copper thefts targeting shrines and temples across Japan, where soaring metal prices have fueled crimes that leave historic religious buildings damaged, exposed to the elements, and facing repair costs of millions of yen.

1200-Year-Old Temple on Miyajima Reduced to Ashes

Flames broke out on the morning of May 20th on Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture, home to one of Japan's World Heritage sites, destroying Reikado Hall near the summit of Mount Misen.

From Bento Boxes to Garbage Bags, Rising Costs Hitting Daily Life Across Japan

Uncertainty surrounding the situation in the Middle East is beginning to affect daily life in Japan, as concerns over crude oil supplies spread to restaurants, cleaning services and even household garbage disposal systems across the Kansai region.

Tochigi Robbery-Murder Suspect’s Wife Posted Dance Videos on Social Media

A 25-year-old woman arrested as a suspected ringleader in a robbery-murder case in Tochigi Prefecture once posted cheerful dance videos on social media and was remembered by those who knew her as an energetic and outgoing young woman.

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