January 10, 2014

January 9, 2014

Humans smarter than chimps, the high price of living and more

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2014

GOING APE

Scientists at Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute have confirmed that humans are better than chimpanzees at piecing together visual imagery.
A taxi driver in Utsonomiya who stopped at a police station to complain about his drunken passenger got a surprise when the man climbed behind the wheel of the cab, crashed into two cop cars and slammed into a pole in a nearby parking lot.
Officials with the Ground Self-Defense Force say they’re hoping to deploy “300 high-speed combat vehicles armed with cannons” to boost security around the Senkaku Islands.
Upper House lawmakers handed a 30-day suspension to pro wrestler-turned-politician Antonio Inoki for his unauthorized visit to North Korea in November.

One year after a French newspaper ridiculed Japan’s nuclear crisis by publishing a cartoon depicting mutant sumo wrestlers with three arms and three legs, officials from Fukushima launched a PR event in Paris to show off reconstruction efforts.
A group called the Japan Love Project is sending 60 college students to Canada in March to help clean up tsunami debris on islands off the coast of Vancouver.
First Lady Akie Abe and Princess Takamodo tried their hands at kimjang—the making and sharing of kimchi—at an event hosted by the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo.
An elderly couple whose car veered off a cliff in Shiga Prefecture survived for 12 days in the wild by drinking “mountain runoff water.”

Officials at Japan Post say that, in response to the consumption-tax rise in April, they will issue a ¥2 stamp for the first time in 11 years.
That’s to help customers cover the cost of mailing a regular letter, which will increase from ¥80 to ¥82 on April 1.
Meanwhile, passengers using IC cards on the Yamanote line will see their base fare rise from ¥130 to ¥134.
But passengers buying dead-tree tickets will have to pay ¥140.

The National Police Agency says that 9.8 percent of all arrests in 2012 were for shoplifting.
Meanwhile, officials at the justice ministry say that 27 percent of women arrested around the country were aged 65 or older.
In response to a drastic rise of stalking and domestic violence cases, the MPD has set up an 80-officer taskforce to help prevent the crimes.
Japan Airlines opened an exhibition hall at Haneda Airport commemorating the 1985 jumbo jet crash that killed 520 people.

Matsuya department store in Ginza has unveiled a rooftop skating rink that features artificial snowfall every night at 8pm.
Engineers at the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology have developed an unmanned research probe to look for natural resources on the ocean floor.
A Japanese research firm has hooked up with Twitter on a new TV ratings system that will be based on “the number of people who tweet about a show and the number of retweets related to [the] shows.”
Education officials in Tokyo announced a plan requiring high school English teachers to spend a year abroad honing their language skills.

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