This week in Japan

Brief summaries of a few of the main stories, translated from Japanese, that have featured on either Japan’s national television station (NHK)’s nightly news or on Yahoo Japan’s online news:

27th: Famous Taiko drummer, 84 year old Daihachi Oguchi, dies after being hit by a car.

26th: Japan’s inflation rate jumps to decade high.

26th: Prince Naruhito arrives in California.

25th: Japan’s ex national football coach, Zico, meets Prince Naruhito on his last full day in Brazil.

25th:  A district court in Naha orders compensation for the neighbours of Futenma Air Base (Okinawa).

25th:  A moderate earthquake of 5.3 hits Hokkaido which is north of the area’s effected in last weeks 7.2 magnitude earthquake.

24th:  Japan plans to bring up the issue of North Korean abductions of its nationals at the G8 summit next month in Hokkaido.

23rd: Fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Chiba killing 4 people, with 13 still missing and 3 confirmed survivors.

20th: Fire breaks out in the early hours in the Palace Hotel in Marunouchi, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.  It was put out in twenty minutes and no-one was injured.

19th: The rainy season has started in Northern Japan, hindering rescue searches and repair work to the earthquake affected zone.

19th: Japanese Emperor, Akihito, meets Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev in the Imperial Palace.

18th: Crown Prince Naruhito meets Japanese descendants during his visit to Brazil.

17th: Japan’s cannibal, Tsutomu Miyazaki, executed, 20 years after murdering and partially eating four young children.

16th: Nahomi Matsushima (one part of the comedy duet Osero) marries in Tokyo in a traditional style wedding.