Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2010

We’ll Drink to That

• For the first time since people started keeping track of these things in 1974, Asia overtook Europe as the world’s top beer-producing region.
• A worldwide survey of sea life found that the waters around Japan are the most diverse on the planet, containing 33,629 species, or 14.6 percent of the global total.
• A government council has recommended that Japan increase its minimum wage from ¥713/hour to ¥728/hour.
• Popular dining chains Mos Burger, Yoshinoya and Watami all announced major expansion plans throughout Asia.

Strange Days

Illustration by Phil Couzens

• Staff at a ramen shop in Osaka were stunned when a customer paid his bill and then handed over an extra ¥1 million, “saying he wanted the restaurant to offer children free meals.”
• Cops in Gunma were stymied by the mysterious explosion of a tractor trailer truck that was carrying construction machinery from Maebashi to Yokohama Port. The blast destroyed a nearby shop and injured a local resident.
• A nearly complete skeleton of a 110-million-year-old frog was discovered in Hyogo. Scientists say this is “a very important find for researching the evolutionary history of frogs.”
• Researchers from a trio of Japanese universities claim to have found a protein in the brain that limits depression. They made their discovery by inducing stress in mice by forcing them to swim.
• A 54-year-old Nagano salaryman who spent over ¥1 million beefing up his PC claims to have calculated pi to 5 trillion decimal places, which would be a world record.
• Headline of the Week: Hacker Arrested for Octopus Virus (via The Asahi Shimbun)

Animals!

• A pair of elephants from a zoo in Chiba were allowed to cool off by taking a dip at a local beach. One of the creatures is said to have “dazzled children” by painting a picture of a cherry blossom with a brush held in its trunk.
• It was reported that floor traders gave out a cheer earlier this month when Hello Kitty rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
• A group of Japanese authors have declared that Tono City in Iwate is “a location holding valuable mythological history that should be passed on to future generations.” The area is said to be the birthplace of legendary Japanese beasts like the kappa and zashikiwarashi.
• In an extreme example of belt-tightening, the trade ministry has scaled back the number of ports where it will carry out major reconstruction projects this year, from 103 to 43.

By the Numbers

• It was reported that sales of three-seat bicycles, which are marketed at families with two children, are soaring. The new-style mamachari cost anywhere from ¥40,000 to over ¥100,000.
• The National Police Agency said that there were 181 cases of child abuse nationwide in the first half of 2010, resulting in 199 arrests. That’s a 15 percent increase from last year.
• The agriculture ministry said that Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate dropped for the first time in three years and is now 40 percent.
• Meanwhile, McDonald’s restaurants in Japan enjoyed their highest ever sales in the first half of the year, raking in some ¥268.30 billion.
• Lovers of sanma can expect to pay dearly for their seafood this fall, as catches off the eastern coast of Japan totaled just 421 tons in June-July, down from 1,726 tons last year.
• It was reported that, for the first time in 25 years, Sapporo had a “tropical night,” which occurs when the temperature remains above 25C until daybreak.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

• The communications ministry is offering grants to property owners to help them equip their buildings with technology to avoid poor reception of digital TV broadcasts.
• Refugee groups are up in arms over the government’s decision to stop paying living allowances for repeat asylum-seekers.
• The finance ministry said that Japan held over $1 trillion in foreign exchange reserves in July—an increase of $13 billion from the month before and the second highest total ever.
• It was reported that officials in Osaka are considering whether to offer merit-based pay increases to prefectural employees instead of the traditional annual wage increase.

Welcome to the 21st Century

• MUFG says it will start keeping electronic records of its customers’ ATM transactions. Previously, the banking giant had kept only paper records.
• Koto Ward became the first municipality in the nation to require construction firms to install charging stations for electric cars and trucks in the parking lots of new condos.
• For the 15th consecutive month, the Toyota Prius was Japan’s top-selling car. The automaker announced that sales of the hybrid have reached over 1 million.
• Sumitomo Mitsui said it will become the first Japanese bank to allow “individual customers to transfer money overseas via the internet.”
• Scientists at Keio University have developed a remotely operated surgical robot that lets its operator “feel” whatever the robot feels.
• Claiming that it wants to spread “a new culinary culture in China,” House Foods Corp. has begun introducing its Japanese-style curry to company cafeterias and dorms in Shanghai.

Here & There

• Among the features of Fujitsu’s new Raku-Raku (“easy-easy”) computer, intended for elderly users, are “a troubleshooter key [that] allows them to jump to a special website” and a mouse “made with textured plastic to make it easier to press.”
• Four workers at a Tokyo Gas plant in Yokohama were seriously injured in a fire that resulted from them “using burners to eliminate moisture around a gas pipe.”
• Former PM Yukio Hatoyama landed a new job as head of a DPJ-led group that seeks cooperation between Japan and China on environmental issues.
• Bottom Story of the Week: “2nd Oldest Hippo, 58, Dies in Ishikawa Pref.” (via Kyodo)

Compiled from reports by Bloomberg, BBC, Japan Today, The Japan Times, International Herald Tribune/The Asahi Shimbun, The Mainichi Daily News, The Tokyo Reporter, The Daily Yomiuri, AP and Kyodo