4 fall unconscious, probably due to gas at hot spring
December 29, 2005A family of four slipped into unconsciousness near a hot-spring inn in Yuzawa, Akita Prefecture, on Thursday afternoon, probably affected by hydrogen sulfide gas from hot springs, police said. At the inn, 21 people suffered eye pain in February 20...
JR East chairman apologizes for fatal derailment at site
December 29, 2005Masatake Matsuda, chairman of East Japan Railway Co, apologized Thursday for Sunday's fatal derailment of one of its express trains in Yamagata Prefecture. "I cannot find any way to apologize for the serious accident," he said after placing an offeri...
Fertility rate seen hitting record low 1.26
December 29, 2005Japan's total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman can have during her lifetime — is likely to fall to another record low 1.26 in 2005, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Thursday. The estimate was made through an analysis o...
Student killed, 10 injured in 8-vehicle pileup
December 29, 2005A junior high school student died and 10 other people were injured in a multiple vehicle pileup Wednesday evening on a road loaded with snow in Namerikawa, Toyama Prefecture, highway police said. The accident, which involved eight vehicles, includ...
11 died from treatment delay over nonpayment of insurance fees
December 29, 2005At least 11 patients have died over the past six years for apparently having been unable to receive prompt medical attention after having returned their national health insurance cards upon not paying the insurance fees, according to a Kyodo News sur...
Boy survives scrape with 120 kph express train in Kanazawa
December 29, 2005A 14-year-old boy had a scrape with an express train in Hakusan, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Wednesday night but survived the accident without life-threatening injuries, the police said. The second-year junior high school student was walking near the...