Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2014

NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT

• An advisory panel has determined that the government-affiliated Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction can keep the word “prediction” in its name, despite the committee’s failure, on March 11, 2011, to predict the fourth largest earthquake in recorded history.
• .nagoya became the first top-level internet domain based on a Japanese place name.
• The US Naval War College published a digital version of the operational diary of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who commanded American forces in the Pacific during World War II… and the response was so overwhelming that its servers crashed.
• Officials at Universal Studios Japan have announced plans to build amusement parks in Kyushu and Okinawa; they’re also considering new venues in Jakarta, Mumbai and Taipei.

ROYAL PUNCH

• During a ceremony at Waseda University, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz received an honorary doctorate—and a “bouquet of flowers from a humanoid robot.”
• Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito says he “respects” his parents’ decision to break with imperial tradition by deciding to have their remains cremated, not buried.
• Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told a Diet committee that the government may allow the US to deploy nuclear weapons in Japan “in times of emergency.”
• The Japanese icebreaker Shirase ran aground near a base station in Antarctica, although, to be fair, it’s probably hard to tell the difference between ice and rocks down there.

FOOD FIGHT

• About 60 farming and fishing companies in Kyushu are organizing a promotional event in Hong Kong to raise awareness of their products.
• Meanwhile, Calbee has set up a UK subsidiary to peddle its dried-pea snacks to Brits.
• The government says it will allow foreigners enrolled at Japanese culinary schools to extend their visas after graduation… provided they find an apprenticeship at a local restaurant.

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• Engineers at JAXA have unveiled a “power controller for home and office appliances” that’s based on technology developed for the Hayabusa space probe.
• The helpful folks at TEPCO have invented a dosimeter for personal use that can measure radiation levels as low as 0.001 microsievert.
• Meanwhile, fishery officials in Fukushima have created a website that provides information about radiation levels in locally caught seafood.
• The Consumer Affairs Agency issued an alert to smartphone users after receiving hundreds of complaints about people suffering burns “while speaking on their phone as it charged.”
• Japanese automakers took seven of the top eight spots in the annual ranking of the world’s best car brands conducted by prestigious US magazine Consumer Reports.

AND FINALLY…

• Defense ministry officials made a disturbing find while investigating the site of the crash of a US military helicopter in August: levels of arsenic more than 21 greater than those permitted by the government.
• The education ministry is spending ¥980 million to publish a textbook that encourages youngsters to “think independently about moral values and social norms and act accordingly.”
• Zookeepers in Kanagawa celebrated the birth of an Indian rhinoceros—just the sixth such animal ever born in captivity in Japan.
• Bottom Story of the Week: “Students Create Mural for Tainted Soil Storage Site” (via The Japan News)

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