From South China Morning Post:
Grilled eel, a popular summer delicacy in Japan, is behind a department store food poisoning incident that has left more than 140 people sick and one dead, the store’s president said.
Shinji Kaneko of Keikyu Department Store in Yokohama – about an hour from Tokyo – apologised after the customers, who last week bought lunchboxes containing eel, suffered vomiting and diarrhoea.
Motoyori Arakawa from The Mainichi:
Gov. Hideaki Omura appeared before 16 cosplayers from eight countries who were dressed as Naruto Uzumaki from the manga "Naruto," Ponyo from the animated film "Ponyo," Oscar from the manga "The Rose of Versailles," and other characters, with his hands spread out like airplane wings. The governor was dressed as Arale Norimaki from "Dr. Slump," which was created by famous manga artist Akira Toriyama, who passed away this spring.
Adding this to my 'images of midlife crises' folder.
From The Yomiuri Shimbun:
Kishida said, “The situation [of Russo-Japanese relations] is very tough, but the government’s determination to resolve the issue of the four islands’ ownership and concluding a peace treaty is unshaken.”
He also said the resumption of the four-island exchange program, including letting islanders’ descendants visit their family graves, “is one of our top priorities,” and that he would continue to urge the Russian side to engage in the program.
Yeah, my money is on Russia never restarting this program until there is major structural change to the current regime in Moscow. Things are too far gone to allow goodwill programs like the former visitation scheme.
Timothy Hornyak from The Guardian:
“The chief reasons behind the record-low inventory is a decline in production last year due to high temperatures combined with water shortages, and the relative cheapness of rice prices compared to prices of other crops such as wheat,” farm ministry official Hiroshi Itakura told Agence France-Presse.
“The increase in demand by foreign tourists has also contributed,” Itakura said, and added that “we are not in a situation of facing shortages of rice”.
This is the headline that would stoke the most outrage in the country. Never mess with the rice.