Two toy poodles have been tied up doing promotional events instead of crime-fighting duties since they became police dogs in Tottori Prefecture in January. The female poodles — Karin, who turns 2 on Sunday, and Fuga, also 2, — passed the police canine exam in November and have been making TV appearances ever since.They debuted in mid-January at a Tottori Prefectural Police event to publicize 110, the emergency telephone number
Read the rest of the story: Police dogs busy with PR not crime.

Google paid tribute on Wednesday to the “father of the modern origami” Akira Yoshizawa by transforming its celebrated homepage logo into an homage to the folded-paper art pioneer.To mark what would have been Yoshizawa’s 101st birthday, the letters in Google’s name are formed by folded paper shapes created by origami artist Robert Lang.
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Hatsune Miku is a Japanese pop star who draws thousands of fans from across the world. She is tiny, has green hair and sings whatever fans want her to. Hatsune Miku is also a hologram.
Miku is a Vocaloid, or singing synthesizer, created by Crypton Future Media, whose voice was created by sampling the sound of Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita.
Reuters reported that Miku’s farewell concerts on Thursday and Friday sold out within hours of the tickets going on sale, at $76 per ticket. Her final performances were projected onto 24 packed …

Sawajiri Erika (25) will star in a drama special on TBS titled “Akujo ni Tsuite,” it has been announced. This will be Sawajiri’s first time acting in a television drama (not counting mobile TV) since a special episode of “1 Litre no Namida” in 2007.
“Akujo ni Tsuite” is an adaptation of a 1978 novel by the late writer Ariyoshi Sawako. The novel was a masterpiece of its time, and it was also notable for having a television drama airing as it was being serialized in a magazine.
Sawajiri plays Kimiko, the …

Talento Saeko (25) is making her way back into television. Starting this spring, she will be a regular on a variety show for the first time in roughly 7 years, serving as an assistant host on NTV’s new series “Chou Saigen! Mystery.”
Saeko married baseball pitcher Darvish Yu in November 2007 and gave birth to her first child in March 2008. That same year, she let her contract with her management agency expire to focus on supporting Darvish and being a mother, though she continued to be active as a blogger …

Avril Lavigne has scooped a gong at the 2012 Billboard Japan Music Awards. The singer was named Top Pop Artist by the ceremonys bosses but wasnt able to attend the event due to other work commitments.Artists eligible for the prize topped one of the Billboard Japan charts, including Billboard Japan Hot 100, Billboard Japan Singles Sales and Billboard Japan Top Albums. Fans cast their votes online and in return Lavigne thanked her supporters via the same medium.
Read the rest of the story: Avril Lavigne wins Japan Billboard Awards Top Pop …

During SKE48’s concert in Nagoya on Sunday, Team S member Ono Haruka (24) announced that she is graduating from the group. She stated that she had been considering leaving since about 1 or 2 years ago, and she finally decided to make the move. She will officially withdraw from SKE48 at the end of March.
Ono joined SKE48 in 2008 as part of the group’s 1st generation and was later assigned to Team S. In November of last year, she finally became a “senbatsu” member for the group’s 7th single, “Oki …

Kishi Yusuke’s bestselling suspense novel “Aku no Kyoten” (“Lesson of the Evil”) is being turned into a live-action movie. The movie will star actor Ito Hideaki (36) and be directed by Miike Takashi (51), bringing them together again for the first time since “Sukiyaki Western Django” in 2007.
The novel was published in 2010 and ranked #1 in both the “Kono Mystery ga Sugoi!” and the “Shukan Bunshun Mystery Best 10″ rankings.
Ito plays Hasumi Seiji, a teacher beloved by his students and trusted by his peers. However, in reality he is …

The Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Japan’s biggest yakuza group, an organized-crime syndicate that operates with relative impunity there and whose far-ranging criminal activity has become a significant concern in Washington.
In an announcement on Thursday, the department said it would freeze the American-based assets of the group, the Yamaguchi-gumi, and two of its leaders. It will also bar any transactions between Americans and members of the penalized crime syndicate. Yakuza have been tied to drug trafficking and other crimes in the United States, with particular prominence in Hawaii and …

Some supporting cast details have finally been revealed for the “Yamikin Ushijima-kun” movie that was announced last August. AKB48’s Oshima Yuko (23) has been cast as the heroine of the story, playing a young woman who has to shoulder her mother’s debt.
Starring Yamada Takayuki (28), “Yamikin Ushijima-kun” was a 2010 television drama adaptation of a manga by Manabe Shohei. Yamada plays a ruthless loan shark named Ushijima, and the story depicts the unfortunate lives of the people he collects from.
Oshima plays Suzuki Mirai, who begins working part-time at a “dating …