Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on July 2013

WAR STORIES

• Officials in Sasebo, Nagasaki, have opened to the public one of the three radio towers that played a pivotal role in the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. It’s believed that operators at the facility sent the coded message—Niitaka-yama nobore! (“Climb Mount Niitaka!”)—giving the go-ahead for the attack.
• The MPD says that bicycle thieves are developing high-end tastes—the number of thefts of bikes worth ¥1,000,000 or more has nearly quadrupled during the past five years.
• A cop in Yamaguchi has been referred to prosecutors for stealing a pair of handcuffs from a colleague.
• Headline of the Week: “Monk Matchmaking Event Proves Hit with Ladies Looking for that Enlightened Someone” (via Mainichi Japan)

NEWS FROM THE CAPITAL

• Authorities in Sumida-ku have accepted residency applications from 69 people who set up households… in a local self-storage facility.
• In an effort “to revitalize the community,” officials at a shopping street in Nerima-ku have unveiled a promotional mascot called Superhero Shoeider.
• A part-time worker at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities has filed an ¥11 million sexual harassment against the company. The 41-year-old woman alleges, among other things, that her boss told her “he enjoyed having extramarital affairs.”
• If you’re planning to go on a jog around the Imperial Palace, don’t bring your iPod—officials in Chiyoda-ku have banned people from “listening to portable music players” in the congested area.

WATERWORLD

• A man in Nirasaki, Yamanashi, was busted for using a fire hydrant to water his rice paddy.
• Scientists in Fukushima believe a lack of rainfall is threatening the habitat of forest green tree frogs, which make their home in a local marsh.
• Real estate agents in Asakusa say street-side property is skyrocketing in value due to the increase of visitors to nearby Tokyo Skytree, which lies just across the Sumida River.
• Officials in Shinagawa-ku are setting up a website for students to send reports of bullying.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

• Representatives of public and private entities in Saitama are bidding for the right to host the 2017 World Bonsai Convention. The gathering takes place every four years but hasn’t been held in Japan since 1989.
• A group opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership says that if Japan were to take part in the free trade pact, it would cause “annual agriculture income to plunge 14 percent.” But of course they’d say that.
• A noted Japanese archeologist was killed in a motorcycle accident on his way to a dig in Vietnam, where he had worked for more than 20 years.
• Officials at the National Consumer Affairs Center say they’ve received a “sharp rise” in complaints about the crappy service provided by budget airlines.

THE HIT LIST

• Sayonara Keikoku (“The Ravine of Goodbye”), the latest effort from director Tatsushi Omori, won a jury prize at the Moscow International Film Festival. The movie depicts the romantic relationship that develops between a rapist and his victim.
• Researchers at the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace say “territorial disputes” are the main reason that Japan fell from fifth to sixth in their annual Global Peace Index. (Iceland topped the list and Syria came in last.)
• It was reported that an elderly couple living in Kodaira, western Tokyo, has climbed Mt Fuji for 14 straight years.
• Officials at the Meteorological Agency say they will, for the first time ever, allow private companies to issue tsunami forecasts. The agency retains the sole right to issue advisories and warnings, though.

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