News stories by Suvendrini Kakuchi, page 9

Japanese employees are marking the countdown to the new year with the usual parties that they traditionally indulge in to 'forget the past and start afresh’. But how they celebrate — and how much they spend on these ‘bonen-kai’ celebrations — are a harbinger of the state of the economy.

Forget dropping names or slipping the hostess a bill or two. It’s luck that’s important in snagging a reservation at Dhaba, an average-priced Indian restaurant that has become such a must-go place for Tokyo residents that guests are limited to a maximum stay of two hours.

Japan’s prolonged economic woes seem to have helped worsen the country’s problem with domestic violence.

It recently handed down two death sentences just a few days apart, leaving many of those against capital punishment upset. But legal experts say Japan’s lay-judge system is changing this country’s criminal justice process for the better, largely because it is making this process closer to the public.

The days after North Korea’s shelling of a South Korean island have seen anger rise from Seoul and its allies, but some analysts say this plays into Pyongyang’s agenda and call for a more sober approach to one of Asia’s most serious security flashpoints.

Thorny territorial disputes with neighbours China and Russia appear to nudging Japan’s pacifist public toward accepting what has so far been an unpalatable prospect: a more assertive and militarily strong country.

For years, Kanako Nashimura longed to have a child, but was diagnosed as having a blocked fallopian tube. Encouraged by her husband and in-laws, she tried various fertility treatments, but not one of them worked.

Rising opposition is likely to block the passage of a bill giving voting rights to foreign nationals who have permanent residency in Japan — even though the majority of this group has been born here.

The son had cared for his sick father, and when the old man died, he buried the body in his garden. But the son did not tell the authorities about his father’s death, as required by law. Instead, he continued to act as if his father was still alive, and collected the old man’s pension.

A processed fish cake, made of a mixture of deep sea fish species pounded into paste and sold either deep fried or frozen, is the brain child of Takuhira Kaneko, head of Act for Company, which trades in fish and located in western Fukuoka city in Japan.