From The Yomiuri Shimbun:
The bus will travel at speeds of up to 12 kph along an 800-meter loop of road at the Haneda Innovation City complex in Ota Ward, Tokyo. For the time being, a staff member will be aboard the bus, which can carry 11 passengers, and may switch to manual operation in some situations. The bus’s operations will be monitored from a base in Ibaraki Prefecture.
From Kyodo:
Tokyo Disneyland on Wednesday closed its highly popular Space Mountain ride for renovations until 2027, its operator said, after the roller coaster traveled a total of 22.6 million kilometers since its maiden voyage in 1983, equivalent to 29 round trips between the Earth and Moon.
While its general design will not change significantly, new sound and lighting effects promise to dazzle guests even further, said Oriental Land Co., which will invest around 56 billion yen ($372 million) in the makeover.
Pour one out for one of the classics. I do trust that Oriental Land Company will actually improve the ride as their work over the past decade has usually been exceptional compared to the drastic decline of the Disney parks on the other side of the Pacific.
From The Mainichi:
The main mutation of the virus currently spreading is KP.3, a subvariant derived from the omicron strain. KP.3 has strong transmission capabilities and can evade immunity, so even those who have been vaccinated or previously infected need to be cautious.
Of the past 10 waves of COVID-19, four have peaked in August. The virus has been replaced by new variants approximately every six months, and experts believe that the trend of infection spread in summer and winter will continue for the foreseeable future.
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.
From The Mainichi:
A veteran Japanese lawmaker known for advocating close ties with Russia is visiting Moscow for talks with senior government officials, a source close to him said Monday, in defiance of a government advisory against such trips.
Marking his second trip to the country since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Muneo Suzuki, a 76-year-old independent House of Councillors member, arrived in Russia on Sunday and is scheduled to return home on Thursday, according to the source.
His reasons for pushing Russian ties are not disclosed in the article.
From The Yomiuri Shimbun:
Around 4:15 p.m., local fire authorities received an emergency call from a male passerby reporting that a helicopter crashed in the city of Yanagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture, and that smoke was rising from the accident site.
According to sources including the aviation department of the prefectural government of Saga, next to Fukuoka, the crashed helicopter was from the four-seater Robinson R44 type and was operated by SGC Saga Aviation Co., based in the city of Saga.
Kotaro Ono from The Mainichi:
According to the complaint, in 2023, when the man was still a student, he visited hospitals in Kobe and Chiba Prefecture to look for a job, but his teacher and others pointed out that he was not allowed to do that during his on-the-job training period. He was told, "We have to punish you somehow" and "Will you waste a year?" suggesting that he would have to repeat the year. He was then demanded to apologize in front of all his classmates and submit a letter of reflection.
Preventing students from job hunting seems completely backwards.