National Topics

Sep 30, 2013

Korean author issues call for talks on sex slave issue

The South Korean author of a much-discussed book on “comfort women” is calling for broad-based talks between Japan and South Korea to seek a resolution on the women, who were forced into prostitution for Imperial Japanese soldiers. In a recent interview, Park Yu-ha, a ...

New trap allows boars to be caught by smartphone

Sep 30, 2013

New trap allows boars to be caught by smartphone

Teaming with an experienced hunter, researchers at Kyushu University have come up with a boar trap that can be activated remotely with a smartphone. Wild boars are to blame for increasingly costly crop damage as their areas of activity expand and the number of ...

Sep 30, 2013

Abe hosts Mongolia's chief at home

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting with Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj at his private residence in the Tomigaya district of Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, on Sunday afternoon. Elbegdorj decided to stop by Tokyo on his way home from New York, where he attended the ...

Sep 30, 2013

Chinese held in fatal tanker collision

The Japan Coast Guard has arrested a Chinese crew member over the fatal collision Friday between two cargo ships south of Tokyo. Xia Hongbo, 35, was on duty when the 2,962-ton Jia Hui collided with the 498-ton Eifuku Maru No. 18 and was at ...

Sep 30, 2013

China not planning meeting with Abe

China has no plans to arrange a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of a summit of APEC leaders next week in Indonesia, a senior Chinese diplomat said Sunday. “We don’t have such a plan at this ...

Sep 30, 2013

Ex-brokerage exec fined ¥1.5 million

A former executive of SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. was sentenced Monday to 2½ years in prison, suspended for four years, and fined ¥1.5 million for abetting insider trading by leaking undisclosed business information in 2010 and 2011. According to the Yokohama District Court, Hiroyoshi ...

Sep 30, 2013

Mizuho to punish yakuza loan officials

Mizuho Bank will punish officials swept up in a scandal involving loans to anti-social groups including yakuza crime syndicates, President Yasuhiro Sato said Monday. “We need to take very stern action. We will discuss what the punishment would be appropriate retroactively,” Sato told reporters. ...

Sep 30, 2013

Japan, U.S. to OK deal on transfer of marines

Japan and the United States plan to give the go-ahead at a high-level meeting this week to revise the bilateral accord on realigning U.S. Marine Corps personnel in Okinawa, as well as defense cooperation guidelines in response to China’s military buildup. The planned revision ...