Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2013

BIRDS IN A CAGE

• When Crown Princess Masako visited quake survivors in Iwate for two days earlier this month, it was the first time in nearly four years she had left the Imperial Palace on an overnight trip.
• A landlord in Hyogo was ordered to pay ¥1.44 million in compensation to a man who didn’t know that the previous tenant of an apartment he was renting had committed suicide.
• A high-ranking Buddhist monk at a temple in Kagawa is in hot water for beating a trainee who was having difficulty reading the sutras.
• A married couple in Ota-ku who abandoned their infant daughter on a park bench near their home said they “didn’t have enough money to raise a child.”

DATA DUMP

Newly declassified foreign ministry documents reveal that…

• …in 1957, Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi told US President Dwight Eisenhower that Japan was keen to regain sovereignty over Okinawa because “the Japanese public might otherwise become nervous about US intentions.”
• …in 1964, US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara expressed hope that “the war-renouncing Article 9 of Japan’s pacifist Constitution would be revised.”
• …in 1977, US officials believed that Japanese scientists would be able to use spent nuclear fuel from light-water reactors to produce nuclear weapons.
• Meanwhile, 17 people have sued the TMG and other entities over leaked documents that contain “personal information on Muslims and their family members.”

GAME TIME

• Enjoy Yoyogi Park while you can—TMG officials have earmarked ¥37.2 billion for “clearing and developing” areas around the new Olympic stadium.
• At the same time, authorities at the communications ministry have vowed to improve their “multilingual speech translation system” in time for the 2020 Games.
• And JR East officials are laying out the welcome mat for Olympic visitors by constructing a new train line that links Haneda Airport and downtown Tokyo.
• A fried noodle dish from Fukushima called Namie yakisoba taikoku took top honors at the B-1 Grand Prix food festival, held earlier this month in Aichi.

BRANIACS

• Researchers at Tohoku University have discovered that senior citizens can improve their cognitive functions by performing an “intensive 30-minute exercise program.”
• Authorities at the education ministry have threatened to cut financial aid to law schools whose graduates do poorly on the national bar exam.
• Tohoku Electric Power Co has begun operation of a “floating wind turbine” located 20 miles off the coast of Fukushima that can provide electricity to about 600 homes.
• Officials at the NPA say the operator of the 2channel internet forum deleted just 9.9 percent of illegal posts during the first half of the year, compared to a 96-percent deletion rate for all other chat-room operators.

SLIP-SLIDING AWAY

• Officials at a fruit company in Yamagata are mulling whether to establish a cherry production area in Hokkaido because of expected temperature rises due to global warming.
• LDP officials are considering legislation that would allow assisted-reproduction technologies such as surrogate pregnancies and third-party donations of eggs and sperm.
• Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corp was forced to recall more than 1.2 million tires because of “a possible defect that could cause punctures.”
• Bottom Story of the Week: “Mascots Carry on Late Anpanman Creator’s Contribution to Human Rights Awareness” (via Mainichi Japan)

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