MUCHO MOJO
Two women in western Japan are suing the operator of a yoga studio for threatening them with possession by evil spirits if they didn’t fork over millions of yen. They’re being supported in their efforts by the delightfully named National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales.A professor at Keio University has developed a robot that can pass along the sensation of the things it touches to human hands.
A trio of climbers was arrested for attempting to scale Nachi Falls in Wakayama Prefecture. The falls and a nearby shrine are both UNESCO World Heritage sites, which led the head of the shrine to say the stunt was “an insult to our religion.”
Meanwhile, a delegation from UNESCO will travel to Gunma to judge whether the Tomioka silk mill is worthy of World Heritage status. The mill was established by the government way back in 1872.
stats
298
Tour bus companies that were investigated by the transport ministry for unsafe business practices following the fatal crash of a highway bus in April250
Number of the companies that were found to be in violation of the law96.1
Percent of Japanese who are “aware” of the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea, according to a Cabinet Office survey10,000
Estimated number of babies born through artificial insemination in Japan since the procedure was first adopted in 1949
RED SCARE
After officials at the Japanese Communist Party purged their membership rolls of anyone who has “not paid dues or no longer appeared active,” the membership tally plummeted from 400,000 to 320,000.
It was announced that information stolen in a cyber-attack on the Diet last summer was sent to “an email address used by a former senior member of China’s People’s Liberation Army.”
Government officials are permitting about 100 North Koreans to enter Japan for next week’s under-20 Women’s World Cup. It will be the largest delegation of North Koreans to visit in six years.
The MPD is sending a team of cops to the Philippines to try and trace a gun that was used in an unsolved triple homicide in Hachioji in 1995. Three female supermarket employees, aged 16, 17 and 47, were killed in the shooting.
A Rock
Leads To Jail
Again And Again
Tokyo professor creates digital maps of A-bombed cities
August 11, 2012
By SONOKO MIYAZAKI/ Staff Writer
A new website uses Google Earth technology combined with historical photographs and personal testimonies for a neighborhood-by-neighborhood view of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in the closing days of World War II.Developed by Hidenori Watanabe, the “Hiroshima Archive” examines the city in the immediate aftermath of the morning of Aug. 6, 1945.
The 37-year-old Watanabe, an associate professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University, specializes in information design. In 2009, he created a 3-D map of Tuvalu, an island country in the South Pacific.