Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2012

THIS JUST IN…

• JAL has followed ANA’s lead by taking delivery of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The twin-engine jet will be used on the Tokyo-Boston run.
• The Coast Guard unveiled its first-ever minesweeper made of a material other than wood. The 570-ton Enoshima was constructed from fiber-reinforced plastic.
• Japan’s space agency, JAXA, offered a glimpse of Japan’s first domestically produced passenger jet, which it developed in collaboration with Mitsubishi.
• Scientists from Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute believe that humans began walking upright because doing so allows them to “to carry more precious food at once.”
• Researchers in Miyazaki say they have discovered traces of Japan’s oldest cooked meal—acorns, soybeans and other edible plants that were prepared in a kiln some 13,000 years ago.

POLICE BUSINESS

• A cop in Gunma was charged with indecent assault after allegedly knocking a 21-year-old female college student off her bicycle and attempting to lift up her skirt.
• An Osaka police officer was fired for selling cop uniforms and handbooks on an auction website. The man is believed to have made ¥10 million since 2005.
• Meanwhile, a patrolman in Yamanashi is being investigated on suspicion that he tried to auction off a colleague’s uniform online.
• Oh, the irony: three highway patrol cops in Hyogo were busted for avoiding a total of ¥170,000 in tolls while driving their private vehicles.
• Sentence of the Week: “A senior official at Chiba prefectural police has noticed that officers at a police station took a pleasure trip and postponed investigating a stalking case that soon developed into a murder case last December, but failed to mention the trip when police apologized for the delay earlier this month, police sources said Friday.” (via Kyodo)

DISASTER (UN)PREPAREDNESS

• The Meteorological Agency admitted that nearly two-thirds of the earthquake early-warning alerts it issued during the past year were “inappropriate.”
• At the same time, officials in Bunkyo Ward issued an apology after an early-warning system erroneously announced a major earthquake would strike—twice—during a 24-hour period last month.
• The Tokyo Fire Department says it may introduce “bystander insurance” to “promote public participation in first aid in cases of natural disasters or accidents.”
• A record 2,799 “medical accidents” were reported by hospitals and other health-care institutions last year.
• Researchers have discovered two previously unknown active fault lines off the cost of Chiba.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

• A high-ranking Chinese lawmaker visiting Japan said that Beijing is “easing its restrictions on Japanese food imports, while taking into account scientific factors.”
• Japan and Turkey agreed on a deal in which Japanese companies will export atomic technology to Turkey for civilian nuclear reactors.
• A 50-foot-long fishing vessel swept away in the March 11 tsunami was spotted 150 miles off the Haida Gwaii islands in British Columbia.
• Talk about an unlikely pair—industry minister Yukio Edano and actress Ryoko Yonekura were among those taking part in a fashion show in Ginza to promote Japanese-made denim.

THE CRIME FILES

• A Filipino man is in custody after his Japanese wife was found stabbed to death at their home in Cebu.
• The National Police Agency says that although the number of stalking cases decreased by 10 percent last year, the number of cease-and-desist orders issued by courts against stalkers reached an all-time high of 55.
• It was revealed that a healthcare company with the goofy name of Toyookakai scammed the government out of ¥5 billion in medical fees.
• A court in Osaka handed down 15-year sentences to a man and a woman convicted of killing their one-year-old daughter in March 2010. Prosecutors had demanded just 10 years.

YEAH, THAT’LL WORK

• Officials in Osaka’s Izumi-Sanno City, home to Kansai Airport, are trying to stave off bankruptcy by offering naming rights to public works, including “pedestrian overpasses and dams.”
• In an effort to promote a local food delicacy, JR Shikoku has changed the name of a station in Kagawa Prefecture to Sanuki Udon station.
• Among the biometric procedures being considered for immigration control at Japan’s airports are “facial, iris and hand vein identification.”
• Twelve bronze statues modeled on characters from the popular TV show Sazaesan were unveiled in Tokyo’s Sakura-Shinmachi district, where the manga’s original author once lived.

AND FINALLY…

• Officials at Ueno Zoo had high hopes that their two pandas mated successfully after the female of the pair “showed signs of excitement in a matchmaking meeting.”
• Police were able to save the life of a mentally ill 45-year-old man in Saitama after his mother (and caregiver) suddenly died in their home, leaving him alone. A Yakult deliverywoman contacted the authorities after noticing that no one answered the door two weeks in a row.
• It was reported that farmers in Iwate will need about 1.57 million cubic meters of soil to replenish land damaged in the March 11 disaster. That amount is enough to fill the Tokyo Dome 1.3 times.
• Bottom Story of the Week: “1 Ibis Pair Begins, 1 of 2 Pairs Stops Sitting on Eggs on Sado Island” (via Kyodo)

Compiled from reports by AP, Japan Today, The Japan Times, The Asahi Shimbun, The Tokyo Reporter, Japan Probe, The Mainichi Daily News, Daily Yomiuri, AFP, Reuters and Kyodo.