As part of a survey documenting abuse among Jehovah s Witnesses, 81 percent of second-generation followers report possessing cards showing their refusal to receive blood transfusions.
An exceptionally rare document listing the names and ranks of members of the Imperial Japanese Army’s notorious wartime Unit 731 has turned up in Tokyo.
Oct. 15 marked 20 years since North Korea permitted five Japanese nationals it abducted in the 1970s and ’80s to return to Japan. Since then, no further abductees have been released.
Sept. 17 marked the 20th anniversary of a landmark summit meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that for a brief moment raised hopes the thorny issue of Pyongyang’s abductions of Japanese nationals would be resolved once and for all.
An expert government panel recommended that female members of the imperial household retain their royal status regardless of marriage but avoided the key question of succession.