The magazine proceeds to make its case. An increasing number of students, it finds, are kanji-illiterate, ignorant of history, at sea in math, allergic to reading anything more serious than manga. As for the nation as a whole, 30 million Japanese, it says—roughly one-quarter of the population—don’t read a single book in the course of a year.

The "hanzaki holes" are a key conservation tool in a land where many rivers are now sculpted not by nature, but by the hand of man.

Kirin plans to launch a new brew, called 1000, that uses hard water and contains elevated amounts of calcium and magnesium to give it a distinctive flavor.
Asahi Breweries is to release Strong Off, which has a relatively high alcohol content of 7 percent and 60 percent less carbohydrates, whilst Suntory is using seven different types of hops into its new Relax beer-like drink.

There's been a spate of amazing animal discoveries recently--the giant rat-eating plants found in the Philippines, a huge woolly rat discovered in a volcanic crater--and now, yet another creature has emerged that could be right out of a sci-fi film. It's a bizarre creature that survives by eating its hosts' tongue and then attaching itself inside the mouth.

"Junior idol" collections, the euphemistic term for DVDs and photo collections featuring young children, have come under the scrutiny of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, who are looking at issuing cautions for guardians who allow their children to be exploited.
The Office for Youth Affairs and Public Safety has stated that they "need to consider how to regulate" these publications.

The WHO's links to drug companies were questioned at a hearing by the Council of Europe's health committee.

Three people were fatally shot by a man Tuesday evening at a bar in Habikino, Osaka Prefecture. The gunman then committed suicide, police said.

With suicides topping 30,000 for the 12th consecutive year in 2009, the international community has not proved immune to the mental health challenges posed by this stressful country, and the prolonged economic downturn has only made problems worse.