Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2014

IT’S ALL RELATIVE

• Administrators at Keio University displayed a collection of 14 letters that Albert Einstein sent to a Japanese doctor following a visit to the country in 1922.
• One of the notes urges the Japanese people to “protect everyday objects, their control of their personal desires, and their pure and peaceful hearts.”
• A labor ministry survey found that 37 percent of men in their 20s who earn ¥4 million a year have girlfriends, while just 17 percent of those who earn under ¥1 million do.
• The Philippine government has declared Yoko Ono’s childhood home in Chiyoda-ku—which now serves as the Philippine ambassador’s official residence—a national historical landmark…the first and only to be located outside of the Philippines.

MILESTONES

• Archaeologists in Fukui say they’ve discovered the world’s oldest avian eggshell fossils.
• Staff at Tama Zoo welcomed the 20 millionth passenger on their “lion buses,” which offer a close-up view of the park’s big cats. The service debuted in 1964.
• JR East has introduced a train on the Yamagata shinkansen route that offers Japan’s first-ever onboard footbath facilities.
• For the first time since 1987, the government has designated a new national park: the Kerama Islands in Okinawa, which are renowned for their coral reefs and biodiversity.

GRIM TIDINGS

• Officials at the health ministry say 1,546 people in Japan were diagnosed with AIDS last year—the second highest total ever.
• Authorities at the environment ministry say that if a major earthquake were to strike the Nankai Trough, it would generate 11 times more debris than the March 2011 quake and tsunami.
• Meanwhile, researchers at Tohoku University have found that people in disaster-hit areas of Miyagi are three times more likely to suffer from depression as folks in other parts of the country.
• The Fire and Disaster Management Agency is teaming up with Yahoo on a smartphone app that will convey real-time emergency information, including “reports of ballistic missile attacks.”

ON THE ROAD

• Hats off to Kanagawa native Yuki Nagata, who won the prestigious Les Masters de la Boulangerie baking competition in France.
• A newspaper investigation has found that Osaka and Kagawa are the two most dangerous prefectures to ride a bicycle.
• Authorities at the NPA say they dealt with a record-high number of cases involving victims of child pornography last year.
• The officials say many of the victims “were coerced into taking photos or videos of themselves naked.”

HOW DO YOU SPELL “NIMBY” IN JAPANESE?

• It was reported that residents of the resort town of Yufu in Oita are objecting to the construction of a new solar power plant because they’re worried it will “wreck the area’s scenery.”
• A ban on off-base drinking is being credited with a drastic fall in the number of crimes committed by US military personnel in Okinawa.
• Officials say the number of crimes reported last year was the lowest since 1972, when Okinawa reverted to Japanese control.
• Bottom Story of the Week: “Photos Depict History of Saw-Tooth Roofs” (via The Japan News)

Compiled from reports by AP, Japan Today, The Japan Times, Jiji, The Tokyo Reporter, The Mainichi, The Japan News, AFP, Reuters and Kyodo