Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2013

THAT SINKING FEELING

• A survey conducted by a Japanese NPO and a Chinese newspaper found that more than 90 percent of people in the two countries basically hate each other.
• Officials at the National Police Agency say that although crime levels in Japan are at historic lows, 81.2 percent of people believe “the domestic security situation is deteriorating.”
• A survey by the health ministry found that 6.4 percent of Japanese boys consider themselves addicted to the internet.
• The figure for girls was 9.9 percent.

LIKELY STORIES

• Authorities at the environment ministry say messages on an internal email list were accidentally made public after officials “failed to change the service’s default setting.”
• A Gifu man busted for selling computer-generated images of child porn told police, “I thought that because CG pictures are not photos, I might get away with it.”
• Cops in Tokyo arrested the 72-year-old great-grandson of Meiji Era samurai/politician Shojiro Goto for stimulant use.
• Officials at the MPD say that for the first time since they’ve been keeping records, the number of shoplifters aged 65 or older is greater than those under 20.

WEIRD SCIENCE

• NASA scientists have asked their counterparts at JAXA for help on a mission “to grab a near-Earth asteroid… and haul it back to a stable lunar orbit.”
• Among the items added to Japan’s Mechanical Engineering Heritage list were the Rotopark mechanical car-parking system and a type of steam hammer used at Yokosuka shipyards in the 19th century.
• A physician at an anti-aging clinic in Ginza says one-quarter of women suffering from baldness lose hair from their forehead first—just like men.
• Archaeologists in Nagasaki claim to have discovered tooth fragments from a carnivorous dinosaur in an 86-million-old layer of rock.

A B.A. BY ANY OTHER NAME…

• A newspaper survey found that since 1991, when the education ministry relaxed its rules on the types of bachelors degrees universities can award, the number of official fields of study has skyrocketed from 29 to 696.
• Among the hard-to-decipher degree programs are Global and Regional Studies (Doshisha University) and Body Expression and Cinematic Arts (Rikkyo University).
• The situation led one school administrator to fret that kids who want to study abroad won’t be able to “sufficiently explain [their majors] to universities overseas.”
• Meanwhile, the education ministry says it will offer a handful of Japanese universities ¥10 billion a year over the next decade to help them win higher spots on global rankings lists.

FINDINGS

• Researchers at Nara Medical University say that nitric acid may help ease the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
• An ornate Edo-era chest that went missing in 1941 was rediscovered and bought by Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum for 7.3 million euros.
• In response to a request from a middle school student in quake-hit Iwate, retailer 109 set up more than a dozen specialty shops for a three-day event in the city of Kamaishi.
• Bottom Story of the Week: “Princess Kako Leaves for US Homestay” (via The Japan News)

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