Japan News

For the first time in almost three decades the Salt Industry Center of Japan has announced it will raise the price on many of its products by around 15 percent, indicating inflation has finally arrived in at least some industries. (Japan Times)

SoftBank Group has set the stage for what is likely to be one of the largest initial public offerings ever, with its move to float mobile phone unit SoftBank Corp. But as Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son completes the conglomerate's divergence into an investing holding company and a wireless provider, market watchers see significant risks on both fronts. (Nikkei)

With Japan having suffered extensive damage from a number of natural disasters this year, the country's three top damage insurers are expected to pay out a record 1 trillion yen ($8.7 billion) in combined insurance claims in fiscal 2018 through March 2019. (Nikkei)

The dark side lurking within the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward — today, something like a mix of a theme park and a strip club — can easily get lost amid its blinking lights and the roar of Godzilla. (tokyoreporter.com)

Health officials in Japan say nearly 2,000 people have contracted rubella, or German measles, this year. (NHK)

Oriental Land Co. ltd., the operator of Tokyo Disneyland, asked a court Tuesday to reject a suit filed by two female workers seeking damages for overwork and harassment while they were working as costumed performers at the theme park. (Japan Times)

Japan's government has projected up to 47,000 foreign workers could come to the country in fiscal 2019 under proposed revisions to the immigration law. (NHK)

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged greater cooperation with the United States on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. Abe met US Vice President Mike Pence in Tokyo on Tuesday. (NHK)

SoftBank Group Corp. is seeking to raise ¥2.4 trillion in the initial public offering of its domestic telecommunications operations scheduled for Dec. 19. (Japan Times)

The Imperial Palace grounds in Tokyo will be partially opened to the public early next month for autumn foliage viewing. (NHK)

Canned mackerel developed by high school students in central Japan has been officially certified as space food by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. (NHK)

A 71-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an assault on a woman in Yokohama, after he was apparently filmed walking right behind her with a stick. (NHK)

A capsule ejected from a space cargo vessel returned to Earth on Sunday, bringing back experiment samples from the International Space Station (ISS) in the first such mission for Japan. (Japan Times)

A whale shark believed to have strayed into a river in Tottori Prefecture, western Japan, has been found dead. (NHK)

Police in Tokyo said Saturday they have arrested a 27-year-old woman on suspicion of killing an American airman in his 30s who was stationed at the U.S. military’s Yokota Air Base. (Japan Today)

The series of quality compliance scandals that has rocked Japanese manufacturing has unmasked the sobering truth that workers were often tempted to take shortcuts in quality testing as they struggled to keep up production at decaying and short-handed plants. (Nikkei)

TV Asahi Corp. said Thursday it had canceled a live performance by K-pop group BTS amid a furor over a member having worn a controversial T-shirt, said by some to celebrate the use of atomic weapons against Japan during WWII. (Japan Times)

A Keio University team hopes to carry out Japan’s first clinical research into transplanting wombs to women who do not have the organ, according to sources. (Japan Times)

Kyoto on Saturday will unveil a trial system that monitors, predicts and manages the flow of visitors to high-demand tourist spots, with the popular fall foliage viewing area in Arashiyama as the system’s initial focus. (Japan Times)

On Oct. 15, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirmed during an extraordinary Cabinet meeting that the government would raise the consumption tax from 8 to 10 percent next Oct. 1. (Japan Times)