Narita airport jam-packed with returning holidaymakers

Narita airport jam-packed with returning holidaymakers

NARITA, Japan - The arrival lobby of Narita International Airport is jam-packed with holidaymakers who returned to Japan after spending summer holidays overseas. According to airport officials, 54,000 people are expected to fly back to Japan on Saturday alone.

Gov't counts on help from 'Tama-chan' to clean up rivers

Gov't counts on help from 'Tama-chan' to clean up rivers

YOKOHAMA, Japan - The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry's construction office in Yokohama said Nov. 12 it will prepare about 54,000 copies of a four-page pamphlet featuring a popular but elusive wild seal named ''Tama-chan'' (shown in photo) for help in a campaign to clean up rivers. The bearded seal was spotted in the Tama River, the Tsurumi River and the Katabira River in Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures.

Tokyo Olympic ex-exec faces fresh bribery charge

Prosecutors on Tuesday served a fresh arrest warrant on Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee executive already embroiled in suspected corruption cases, for allegedly accepting bribes totaling 76 million yen ($54,000) from major publisher Kadokawa Corp. The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office also arrested former Kadokawa executive Toshiyuki Yoshihara, 64, and another person for allegedly bribing Takahashi, 78, as well as Kazumasa Fukami, 73, who heads a consulting firm, for allegedly receiving bribes from the publisher. The prosecutors also searched the home of the publisher's chairman, Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, over the case. The move comes after the prosecutors searched on Monday the offices of Daiko Advertising Inc., including its Osaka headquarters and branch in Tokyo, on suspicion of bribery.