Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2013

KIDS THESE DAYS

• A survey by the sports ministry has found that the average Japanese fifth-grader can throw a baseball just 23.18 meters, compared to 29.94 meters back in 1985.
• Officials at the education ministry say that, during the past nine years, the ratio of schoolchildren with food allergies has risen from 2.6 percent of the total to 4.5 percent.
• A junior high school student in Fukuoka who brought a pistol to class told police he thought the gun was a fake
• A teacher who fired the weapon in the instructors lounge, hitting a chair, said the same thing.

TANGLED WEBS

• Stay with us on this one: Law enforcement officials say a 27-year-old female dentist in Osaka sent an unspecified number of dead cockroaches to two women in Tokyo at the behest of a 43-year-old city man who wanted to harass his ex-girlfriend. The suspects apparently met through a “revenge website.”
• Japanese manufacturer Daio Paper Corp lodged a complaint with authorities in Beijing after counterfeit versions of its disposable diapers began appearing in Chinese supermarkets.
• Customs officials seized 46 counterfeit ¥10,000 coins in an unidentified “international freight shipment.” The coins were modeled on a commemorative series minted in 1986 to mark the 60th anniversary of Emperor Showa’s reign.
• The LPD has come up with a novel way to raise public awareness of the disputed Senkaku and Takeshima islands: adding coverage of the territories to nationwide weather forecasts.

OOPS

• After wowing members of the International Olympic Committee with its plans for a spiffy new National Stadium, the Japan Sports Council determined that the design is “bloated” and will reduce the size of the facility by 25 percent.
• Officials at the health ministry say several articles that appeared in a magazine for cancer patients were actually “tie-ups” with pharmaceutical companies to promote anticancer drugs.
• The MPD busted 27 people for watching premium TV channels for free by using modified digital cable cards.
• Headline of the Week: “Rescue Officials Apologize After Climber Dropped from Helicopter” (via Mainichi Japan)

FAMOUS FIRSTS

• A medical team led by a professor at Kumamoto University has used iPS cells to create “three-dimensional kidney parts.”
• Scientists at a conservation center in Kanagawa have discovered “a hinoki cypress tree that does not release pollen.”
• A JAXA-led research team has tested a tsunami-warning system that uses a satellite to transmit data about giant waves generated far out at sea.
• For the first time ever, the Japan Guide Dog Association has certified a white German shepherd to assist people with disabilities.

AND FINALLY…

• Analysts at the Tokyo-based Recruit Works Institute have formulated a 16-point plan to boost the ratio of female corporate managers from the current 6.8 percent to 33.6 percent by 2030.
• Officials in Shizuoka say that if a major earthquake were to hit the Nankai Trough—an event with a 60 to 70 percent likelihood of occurring in the next 30 years—shinkansen service between Tokyo and Osaka would be stopped for more than a month.
• NTT has announced that, in response to the consumption tax rise on April 1, a ¥10 call on a pay phone will last just 57.5 seconds, not 60. Which begs the question: What the heck’s a pay phone?
• Bottom Story of the Week: “Rakuten Cheerleader Keeps Disaster Victims in Her Thoughts” (via The Asahi Shimbun)

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