Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2013

SLOW NEWS WEEK

• An art gallery in Yamanashi hosted an exhibition of “of stones marked with patterns that bear an uncanny resemblance” to Mt Fuji.
• As part of its 100th anniversary celebrations, Keio Corp opened a “rail-themed museum park” in the western Tokyo city of Hino.
• Meanwhile, officials at JR East and JR West announced the names of the bullet trains to be used on the Hokuriku Shinkansen line, which will connect Tokyo and Kanazawa when it opens in 2015: Kagayaki, Hakutaka, Tsurugi and Asama.
• It was reported that Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics has triggered “a growing interest among many Japanese in acquiring presentation skills.”

YUCK!

• Researchers at Kochi University have found that an increasing number of people are experiencing allergic reactions to mites lurking in okonomiyaki pancake mix.
• A Saitama man rammed a delivery truck into a neighbor’s house, then attacked the 84-year-old resident with a saw before returning to his apartment and trying to hang himself from the balcony.
• Just before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided not to visit Yasukuni Shrine for an autumn festival last month, a poll found that 47.8 percent of Japanese voters would have approved of such a visit.
• Headline of the Week: “Radiation Exposure Study Finds No Abnormality in Fukushima Bull Testis” (via Mainichi Japan)

THE WAGES OF SIN

• A top official in NHK’s technology research department was canned for placing a bogus order for audio equipment totaling more than ¥2 million.
• An 87-year-old death row inmate failed for the seventh time to get a retrial in the case of five women who died after drinking poisoned wine at a community gathering in Mie in 1961.
• Trade officials in the US have begun an inquiry into 14 companies—including Panasonic, Nintendo and Toshiba—over suspicions that they violated the patents for optical disc drives held by an American firm.
• Tokyo officials have exempted a shopping association in Setagaya from paying taxes on public statues depicting characters from the popular comic Sazae-san. It was determined that the statues are “part of an effort to revitalize the area, not promote business.”

FINDINGS

• Officials at the OECD say Japan ranked first among 24 nations in a survey of literacy and numeracy in adults.
• A team of researchers at Doshisha University have developed a substance that may inhibit “the formation of a protein believed to cause Alzheimer’s disease.”
• It was revealed that, during the past ten years, the government has failed to inspect about 40 percent of all exports of equipment for nuclear power plants.
• Officials at the Fire and Disaster Management Agency say a record 58,729 people were rushed to the hospital with heatstroke this past summer.

NICE HAUL

• Officials from Taiwan’s National Palace Museum say they will exhibit 230 items in Japan next year, including “calligraphy, pottery, porcelain and bronzes.”
• Authorities at the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna raised Japan’s quota for catches of the fish by about 40 percent, to 4,737 tons a year.
• Soccer star Shinji Ono was named a “cultural ambassador” for the 17th Japan Film Festival in Australia.
• Officials in Hokkaido are deciding whether to impose a 6 percent power-saving program this winter.

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