TOKYO - Taxi fares in Tokyo will rise for the first time in 15 years from the middle of October. The increased fares will be implemented in all 23 wards of Tokyo, as well as Musashino and Mitaka cities.
According to the transport ministry, the starting fare will go up from 420 yen for the first 1,052 meters to 500 yen for the first 1,096 meters. Currently, for 233 meters thereafter, the fare rises 80 yen. That will change to 100 yen per 250 meters. ...continue reading
Source: ANNnewsCH
Typhoon No. 15 continued moving west across central Japan on August 12, but heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms remained a threat far from the storm's center, with intense rainfall reported in parts of Tokyo and damage including fallen and broken trees in Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures.
Hiroko Saito was 19 years old when she left Japan for North Korea in June 1961 with her Korean husband and their one-year-old daughter, persuaded by assurances that they were heading to a "paradise on earth" and that she could return to Japan after three years. Instead, she would spend four decades in North Korea, enduring chronic hunger, the deaths of her husband and children and a desperate struggle to survive before finally escaping and returning home in 2001.
Transport disruption caused by Typhoon No. 15 was easing across eastern Japan on the morning of August 12, with most major railway and airline services returning to normal after dozens of flight cancellations and widespread rail disruption during the storm's landfall in Ibaraki Prefecture the previous evening.
Japan's H3 Rocket No. 9 successfully placed the Michibiki No. 7 navigation satellite into its planned orbit after lifting off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture at 4:23 a.m. on August 11, marking the country's second consecutive successful H3 launch.
The Tokaido Shinkansen operated its first overnight service ahead of the Obon holiday period, offering travelers a 15,000 yen trip from the Tokyo area to Kyoto and Shin-Osaka while allowing them to save on hotel costs and arrive earlier than the first regular morning trains.
Summer festivals are in full swing across Japan, with distinctive local dances ranging from long-established traditions to unusual routines born at fishermen's banquets and even performances set to the music of American rock band Bon Jovi.
The Tokaido Shinkansen operated its first overnight service ahead of the Obon holiday period, offering travelers a 15,000 yen trip from the Tokyo area to Kyoto and Shin-Osaka while allowing them to save on hotel costs and arrive earlier than the first regular morning trains.
A fireworks festival that had been promoted as a simultaneous display of more than 10,000 fireworks across three cities on Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture was abruptly canceled on August 9, with organizers having failed to submit applications for permits required to hold the event.
Nara Park's famous deer are increasingly spilling into residential areas and farmland as their population reaches a record high, creating new problems for residents even as the animals remain a major attraction for visitors to the ancient capital.
Japan's dating scene has its own vocabulary, its own etiquette, and — for the arrangement style commonly known abroad as sugar dating — its own dedicated clubs.
Maids from Akihabara maid cafes joined shrine maidens from Kanda Myojin and members of the public on August 8 to sprinkle water across the shrine grounds in Tokyo, calling out "Cool down!" as they took part in a summer tradition aimed at easing the midsummer heat.
Disney On Ice opened its Osaka run on August 8, bringing Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters to the rink for a special production celebrating the show's 40th anniversary in Japan.
All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines are expected to lower fuel surcharges on international tickets issued in September and October after a decline in the fuel prices used to calculate the additional fees.
